On a day dedicated to celebrating her retirement as executive director of ACLU Georgia, part of Andrea Young’s attention remained fixed on the work.
After nearly a decade leading the organization, Young said she is stepping away from her role, but not from her commitment to the issues that have defined much of her career: protecting voting rights and defending civil liberties.
Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young has described his daughter’s lifelong work as answering “a higher calling.”
Her public service has spanned decades, from fighting the death penalty to working with the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and helping establish the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Her many previous roles also include vice president and interim president of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington.
A retirement celebration honoring Young was held on May 15 at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Monica Pearson and Candace Pressley hosted the event which drew Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, state officials and numerous others who paid tribute to her career.
In a conversation with SaportaReport, Young said a recent Supreme Court decision weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is another step in what she views as a long-term effort to erode voting protections. The Court’s 2013 decision removed a protection for voters of color by striking down a provision of the Voting Rights Act that required jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before changing election laws.
“The Supreme Court has made it almost impossible to bring a successful racial gerrymandering case,” Young said. “And if you are successful proving intentional discrimination, which they did in Alabama, then they don’t want you to consider race as the remedy. It’s almost to the point of absurdity.”
On Friday, the New York Times reported that Louisiana approved a new congressional map that eliminates “one of the state’s two majority-Black districts.”
Young said that a goal of the ACLU before the November midterm elections is to help voters understand the issues at stake and the power they have to influence public policy.
It’s possible, she said, to have better-funded public schools and improved healthcare in rural communities.
Georgians are aligned on many issues, she added, including abortion rights.
“If you talk to Georgians, they all have some idea about when they think abortion would be appropriate,” Young said. “[Lawmakers] have now taken it out of the hands of you and your doctor and put it in the hands of the district attorney. And that’s not what people want.”
Young said she believes democracy itself is at stake in November.
“Essentially, people will be voting on whether they want democracy to continue,” she said. “The party that is in the majority right now, controlling the Governor’s Mansion, the House and the Senate in Georgia, is attacking democracy at every turn.”
Young said retirement will give her more time, but she does not see it as the end of her advocacy work.
“I plan to stay engaged in things that support our democracy,” she said. “Just not in an official capacity.”
