11-08-2026 12:39pm

AFTER THE VOTE

S RENEE GREENE Editor

FROM "The LAAAAW" Collection_Lenox & Malcolm. (The League of Activated Afro-Asiatic American Women)

AFTER THE VOTE

As the world congratulates Georgia for finally stepping beyond its Confederate past and into its future, I am left with a harder question:

What happens after the vote?

Will we treat this historic moment when Black women are governing from high positions in the State (now and forever known as a "Black Job") as though electing the right person instead of just the "white" person automatically creates the right government? They ditched Kamala, so we voted for "I'm EVERY Woman" in her place. And we can keep doing so.

If only 50-percent of the voting public (instead of the usual 25-28%) showed up and did that much, guess what happens when "running trying to make 100 because 99 and a half won't do" shows up and shows out?

Will we celebrate, take photographs, cash community checks and then disappear—leaving the people we elected to fight alone?

We did too much of that with President Barack Obama, and then blamed him when he couldn't get anything done on our behalf because we didn't "fight like hell" like the Capital Cockroaches did during the insurrection.

We called it an insurrection, they called it 1860s Patriotism "Boston Tea Party" style, switching from TEA to MAGA-ots.

Many people did not believe Obama could win, and 'win' he did, we celebrated the victory without preparing for the work of SOCIAL JUSTICE that would follow.

LIFTING AS WE CLIMB

Obama entered the White House with a pen in his hand and an opposition already determined to obstruct him. He rolled up his sleeves and told us, “We have work to do.” And too many of us heard, “We won. You may go home now. I got this.”

And when all we barely got was healthcare (that we no longer have now due to economic Trumpism), we got mad at him instead of ourselves. We didn't 'fight like hell', even when he did. We let them have it and then pointed the blame at him when they took it down and left us crying over the loss AGAIN.

Baby that ain't how government works.

"Too busy out shopping instead of checking the deed", as MADEA once said, the deed to our land and our communities and resources. And speaking of Tyler Perry. that is where his billions and celebrity status needs to get off a rocking boat. He can't help us right now.

One early warning sign for me is the elevation of celebrity around the new administration, particularly that of Tyler Perry.

Don't get it twisted. I have followed Perry’s work since his plays circulated on VHS tapes when he was "homeless". This is not a denial of his talent or what he built in film and TV, but of how Black women BUILT HIM from scratch. But once they get there, there is where they need to stay. We can't go to their million-dollar homes and expect them to feed us while they are living the dreams we granted them BY SHOWING UP and PAYING MONEY to see it.

If it's a question of governmental priorities now, we have no more room for elevating billionaires and celebrities just to satisfy a stuck up person with "Seven Sisters" eltitist HBCU status.

Republicans vet celebrity and have paid for it. Dearly.

We should know better by now, and vet POLITICIANS who WORK FOR A LIVING, not people who show up at frat/soror parties blind-folded and acting all "charitable" only when they look good doing it. The State of Georgia does not need Hollywood-style government like a Trumper does.

It does not need billionaires serving as attractive substitutes for working class people, it needs neighborhood organizations and public-interest professionals. Celebrity access must not become public policy in the face of demonstrative racism and sexism and ethnic purging. Wealth must not become proof of wisdom.

A familiar face cannot be allowed to cover the same old arrangements under newer, prettier packaging.

We need a working government—not a stage cast and production starring future Governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. To Stacey Abrams, we sayy yes. To Tyler Perry, we say keep lifting that boat of the "rising tide" because that is your proper position no matter how much money you put into this election.

YOU, sir, cannot help us like we helped you get where you are.

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While we celebrated the symbolism of a Black family in the White House, Black neighborhoods still needed organized agendas, documented proposals and people prepared to carry those demands into the rooms where decisions were being made. If Tyler Perry wants to show up, we don't need his face in the Governor's office, we need his behind in the streets LIFTING AS WE CLIMB.

It never took a celebrity for us to get here. Our Ancestors became celebrities because of their work, not because they used celebrity to get the work done.

Too many self-appointed Black representatives appeared for photo opps with Obama, raised money in the community’s name and spent it on their salaries and benefits far more than they spent it on helping the people that they claimed to represent and serve.

We cannot repeat that pattern with future Governor Bottoms—or with any other elected officials preparing to govern this state and it's many facets. We can't be harder on them than we were on others, but we can't afford to VOTE AND GHOST either.

Party now and pay attention - have a plan, a purpose and a vision while you are drinking those mimosas with champagne chasers, because they danged sure have an agenda to defeat her and everyone else on our Party Ticket.

It was ONE Party, not 99 separate ones, who did this. And the work does not begin when Governor Bottoms takes the oath.

The "START HERE--START NOW" button has already been pushed. The Partying comes AFTER we truly win, not now. Right now, Georgia needs leaders and citizens prepared to "fight like hell" without compromising the laws that got us here, like THEY did.

"We've Come This Far By Faith" activates now, not some given day next year.

The political equivalent of a magazine cover is unnecessary now and forever. The new administration must hear from teachers, Unions, healthcare workers, renters, homeowners, small-business owners, rural communities, Black neighborhoods and families who cannot write enormous checks but still live under every decision the state makes. We have become too accustomed to “vote and ditch”—or, more accurately, “vote and ghost.”

WHAT SHALL I DO?

We elect somebody, congratulate ourselves and then expect the official to solve problems that took generations to create. Then we disappear until something goes wrong, then want to rage about what they "nebba did for blat people" when we ain't doing nothing for Black people ourselves.

Then we ask why the person we elected has not done more.

Partying with no purpose is not civic participation. That is civic abandonment. Once we elect an official of our choosing, the work becomes more demanding.

Civic duty requires sustained attention, organized support and accountability. It means showing up when legislation is being introduced and written—not merely when campaign signs are being printed.

They pay for learning the hard way, we still think it's free. Our sacrifices AIN'T NEVER BEEN FREE and still aren't now.

We can be gathering evidence right now, not waiting for some elected official to do it for us. Who remains engaged after the celeb cameras leave and there is work to be done?

That Tyler Perrry seat needs to be occupied by Stacey Abrams and by ALL of those who have fought with her for YEARS since she won the office and Kemp ended up sittiing in her seat. She worked hard trying to get a Black woman elected Governor of this state even when Tyler Perry was nowhere to be found and we can't afford to lose it. Stacey Abrams work OBVIOUSLY WORKED, even if it took these many years later.

Many came before 'Keisha for Georgia'. Acknowledge that and get to work.

We got off our hands and voted, now is the time to get off our hands and ACTIVATE and EXECUTE THE PROMISE our Elders left us with.

Now the door is open for many to come after us, but we need to show up in the same numbers in which we voted.

Fifty percent showing up to vote THIS TIME was good enough to get in the door, but going forward '99 and a half won't do'.

Trumpism has not disappeared because Georgia elected a Black woman as Governor. Donald still occupies the White House, and his movement will not politely step aside while Gov. Bottoms tries to govern this state. She'll be expected to do what Kemp did or she will be pushed there without her supporters already in position to SUPPORT and DEFEND. And no, she can't do it alone no matter how 'proud' we think we are now.

She can afford to think of her father's celebrity status, we can't.

The racial and sexist and biased WHITES ONLY attacks have already begun against her. I'm getting emails, Reels, Threads, TikToks, YouTubes, podcasts, and all else on the prep work needed to defeat her for her entire term because we too hung up on celebity.

I get that. I've been civic-minded enough to watch my enemies since the 1970s when I was old enough to vote and the Internet just made it easier to do. Research comes faster now and doesn't take as much time to vet. YET ...

They will "bigotedly" question her intelligence, her character, her sexuality, her family and whether she earned the office at all. And they don't CARE that she won and all else was conceded.

As far as they are concerned, skin color automatically makes you "didn't earn it/dei" material, and they don't CARE that you've proven yourself capable for decades.

Anything they can do to make her look bad and make her spend too much time defending her actions instead of governing - her and ALL THOSE OTHER BLACK WOMEN - will stand if we aren't in place and on our A-game when it starts,

And it already has and will continue to, until we let them know we aren't allowing the word of a bunch of hardened adjudicated rapists and hardcore felons and insurrectionist thugs and political criminals to overtake a Black woman with unction who more than likely did make a few human mistakes in life, but has no criminal history to speak of and connect to it.

They are testing the waters for sewer spillage and SWAMPY MESSAGES from the day she is sworn in, because that's all they got left to defeat us, and this time, our WHITE FRIENDS who voted against Trump's constituency need to be paying attention to something besides FAUX NEWS when they do.

The 'dancing puppet hand' on FOX should be dead by now and the REAL WORLD should be sharply in focus. Ignoring those attacks will not make them harmless.

'Positive thinking' does not cancel organized propaganda, it's just a starting point to fight back. You can't "speak righteousness into existence" when FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD.

I have led smaller organizations and watched supporters get on and off the boat according to the rising tide.

I watched the same thing happen to Obama. People cheer "change agents" when victory feels exciting and new, but governing requires compromise, coalition-building and difficult choices.

When supporters disappear, opposition fills the empty space. The house is swept out clean and there ain't nothing there to fill it with, but they KNOW how to sabotage when we ain't paying attention and even when we are.

WE NEED TO BE CHECKING THE DEED AND ITS RIDERS right now.

And when the most dangerous question of all gets asked - the QUIET PART SPOKEN OUT LOUD: “Where are all those people who voted for you now?”

Answer: Out here mad now because they didn't get what they wanted and Tyler Perry did.

Georgia’s political map remains divided and bleeding red, and it's still early. Play now, pay later. She will be the governor of ALL even if Kemp was not and didn't get pushback for his one-sided operations and agenda.

Authoritarianism, Dictatorship, and Christian nationalism did not vanish on Election Day 2026. We cannot leave our elected officials isolated and then complain when constant obstructionism pushes them toward caution, compromise, or certain defeat.

That does not mean giving Governor Bottoms blind loyalty because she's a black woman either.

Support without accountability becomes just another form of political laziness and Trumpism, and of being "too busy" without substance. Our responsibility is to defend the democratic choice we made while also demanding transparency, ethics, and EFFECTIVE government.

Do not merely ask what Governor Bottoms will do for Black people.
Ask what Black communities are already building that her administration can support, fund, protect or sign into law. That's how governing works, not on drama and celebrity and hoaxes. Know WHY before you have to ask why.

Ask who has written the proposal. Ask who has gathered the evidence. Ask who will attend the hearing, read the budget and follow the money?

Ask what happens AFTER THE VOTE.
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President Kennedy said what he said for a reason: "Ask not what your country will do for you, ask what you will do for your country" and he was already President when he said it. He won, but he wanted to know "what are we doing next."

SHOW UP, 'don't vote and abandon the cause', he said. And he was right.

KEEPERS OF THE FLAME

Our elders did not fight, ignite, organize, march and often shed blood so that we could become drunk on a victory that has not yet produced change and long term results.

Winning an election opens a door. It does not walk through it and complete the journey.

Until then, girtlfriend, the Mimosas and "shopping for shoes" bag has to go.

Later for that after the community is restored and thriving. They are still riding on those "bad ads" they put out against Bottoms. Tackle that first. Pull the deed. Read the budget. Attend the first meetings and the last ones. Read them the RIOT Act without taking your head off your shoulders.

Make that call for CIVIC ENGAGEMENT. Get off your hands and get civic. The work of defeating Trumpism—and building something better in its place for a future we can ALL LIVE IN and thrive—has only JUST begun.

Tweet about that on her way in, not to the kitchen door, but to the FRONT door this time.