ATLANTA (February 25, 2021) | This week, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus (GLBC) Chairwoman, Senator Tonya Anderson (D – Lithonia), along with members of the Caucus, the Georgia National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, and others, stood in solidarity to announce their support for House Bill 45 and House Bill 479. They announced their support of legislation to end the practice of citizen’s arrest in Georgia on the one-year anniversary of the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
“Today, we stand together in support of legislation that will end the practice of citizen’s arrest in Georgia,” said Sen. Anderson. “A practice that began in Antebellum Georgia where individuals and mobs became judge, jury and executioner without fear of legal reprisal.”
HB 45 is sponsored by GLBC member Rep. Carl Gilliard (D – Garden City). He and Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) spoke on the bill as well.
Rep. Gilliard, in offering remarks, said, “We have led the movement for House Bill 45, we stand in unity with the Governor and with those in the House and Senate that are ready to move Georgia forward. We shine our light in the darkness of a day of death, and in memorial for Ahmaud Arbery.”
“We stand here together on House Bill 479 and of course the original bill House Bill 45″, said Dean Calvin Smyre. “And we stand together, we stand up. I have a feeling that nobody can break your back unless you bend it. And it is time for us to stand up, and we stand together, we are standing because we are going to work together, and we are going to be at the table, the table of change in our state.”
Support for HB 45 and HB 479 is part of a continued effort by the GLBC to reform the criminal justice system in Georgia. As GLBC member Rep. William Boddie states, “It is about time we make our laws in Georgia reflect that our state is now diverse and a progressive state which needs progressive laws that protects its citizens.”
Established in 1975, the GLBC is a 501(c)3 non-profit, nonpartisan organization comprising of 65 Georgia House and Senate members.
For more information about the GLBC, please visit www.gablackcaucus.org or write to media@gablackcaucus.org.
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For Immediate Release:
Feb. 25, 2021
Kami Briden, Sr. Communications Associate
404.656.0028