When you’re the mayor of a Capitol city and the Governor has filed a lawsuit against you, support from hundreds of thousands of your “sisters” could be a confidence booster, at the very least.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms recently announced that she was rolling back plans to reopen the City of Atlanta. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health cases of COVID-19 are increasing by the thousands daily. As of Friday afternoon, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the state was 161,401. That’s 4,813 additional cases in a 24 hour period.
Bottoms also issued an Order that masks be worn in the city. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued an Executive Order voiding such local mandates. On July 13, Kemp sued Bottoms and the Atlanta City Council. According to Kemp “Mayor Bottoms’ mask mandate cannot be enforced.” Kemp added, “Her decision to shutter businesses and undermine economic growth is devastating.” He also said “I refuse to sit back and watch as disastrous policies threaten the lives and livelihoods of our citizens.”
Thursday, clad in masks and waving signs of support, hundreds of members of the national sorority Delta Sigma Theta showed up at the Georgia Capitol building in Atlanta. Outside they chanted about their solidarity with Bottoms. While on the inside members like former Georgia State Representative Dee Dawkins Haigler attempted to speak with Governor Kemp. Haigler told V013 News they are advocating for a statewide mask mandate in Georgia. “Many African American women got together, were very disturbed that the governor was trying to silence Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms when he had not done this to any of the other male mayors across the state.” Haigler called it “very egregious, especially in a time when Georgia has over 100,000 citizens who have tested positive for COVID-19 and over 3,000 deaths. It is just incredulous to us that the governor would be trying to get a mayor to rescind a mask policy or for it not to be enforced.”
Delta Sigma Theta local chapter member Cheryl Lynn Mitchell told V103 News “I participated because I stand with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City of Atlanta by supporting the wearing a mask mandate. I also participated because I am against the Governor trying to silence her in the press. He is trying to stop her from exercising her First Amendment rights.”
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. has a membership of more than 200,000 college-educated women worldwide. It is a public service organization founded on the campus of Howard University in 1913. Mayor Bottoms became a member while a student at Florida A&M University (FAMU). Utilizing #PowerInOurVoice and #SororsInSolidarity members across the United States expressed their support for Bottoms. She expressed her gratitude via Twitter.
Bottoms has also received support from the Georgia Municipal Association which represents municipal governments in the state. GMA President Vince Williams, who is also the Mayor of Union City, told V103 News that the GMA filed its own grievance with the court.
“We made a decision to file this brief in opposition to the Governor’s actions since the lawsuit goes beyond the case against Atlanta and includes provisions that affect all Georgia cities, including every city’s right to have a policy for their buildings and their property.” Williams goes on to say, “this brief is to protect Home Rule and for all cities.”
Williams says that approximately 100 cities in Georgia have already adopted a policy regarding the wearing of masks in public buildings in order to protect their employees and local citizens.
Union City instituted a face covering mandate on July 10th.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson was among the first to mandate the wearing of masks in Georgia. In reaction to Kemp’s rejection of Atlanta’s efforts, Johnson said “How can we take care of our local needs when our state ties our hands behind our back and then says ‘Ignore the advice of experts?’”
As for the Kemp vs Bottoms lawsuit, after two judges recused themselves from hearing the case, a third judge has ordered Bottoms and Kemp to reach a settlement on the matter.
Bottoms addressed the issue this week on the Jimmy Fallon Show. She said that she and Kemp had spoken and hoped they could settle it without having it play out in court.