Baseball League Enters Georgia Vote Battle

The logo of the All-Star Game that was to be held in July in Atlanta, Georgia. TODD KIRKLAND / AFP

A Georgia law passed last March that imposes voting restrictions has sparked a political storm and a boycott of the baseball league and two large Atlanta-based companies, Delta and Coca Cola.

The classic baseball midseason game was scheduled for July 13 at Truist Field in the southern capital but MBL (Major League Baseball) decided to withdraw the 91st edition of the All-Star Game from Atlanta and the

this year following the recent approval of the law limiting the right to vote and President, Joe Biden, called "Jim Crow of the XXI century", referring to the rules that institutionalized racial segregation in the

US at the end of the 19th century.

The White House declared that Biden agreed with the MBL's decision, since the president had made very clear his concern about the law passed in Georgia that imposes regulations that will make voting by mail more difficult and, for example, criminalize it is a crime to give food or water to people who spend long hours waiting in queues to vote in elections.

Most of the people who will be affected by the new law are African American citizens.

MBL Commissioner Rob Manfred said the decision was made after discussing the boycott with the players and with the Players Alliance, an organization of African-American players created after George Floyd's death last year due to police violence, which sparked the Black Lives Matter social movement.

"The MBL fundamentally supports the right to vote for all Americans and opposes restrictions on going to the polls," said Manfred.

Barack Obama, former US president, added his voice to the MBL's decision and congratulated it for "taking a position on behalf of the rights of all citizens to vote."

Obama mentioned in his statement, via Twitter, Henry Louis Aaron, a legendary African-American baseball player born in Alabama and who "led by example", according to Obama, in the fight for civil rights.

Delta chief executive Ed Bastian called the voting law "unacceptable," while Coca-Cola chairman James Quincey called the legislation a "step backward."

Congratulations to @MLB for taking a stand on behalf of voting rights for all citizens.

There's no better way for America's pastime to honor the great Hank Aaron, who always led by example.

- Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 3, 2021

The Governor of Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp, suffered the first social and economic setback after the signing of the law on March 25.

Kemp called the MBL measure a hasty decision that assumes that "the culture of cancellation and the resurgence of political activists are coming to end each and every aspect of our lives, sports included," declared the governor. .

"If the left does not agree with you, the facts and the truth do not matter," said Kemp, who assured that he would not back down on his legislation and that he would not allow his citizens to be victims of intimidation.

For his part, former President Donald Trump also joined the controversy and the battle of Georgia and urged all his followers to fight against "THE AWAKENING OF THE CULTURE OF CANCELLATION" by boycotting baseball and the entities that had demonstrated in favor of the MLB decision.

In passing, Trump recalled that the elections had been stolen.

"Baseball is already losing quite a few followers and now they are leaving Atlanta because they fear radical left Democrats who do not want desperately needed voter identification to have anything to do with our elections," Trump alleged.

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