I’m Raphael Warnock: This is why I want Georgia’s vote in the midterm election…
I am a graduate student at The George Washington University and a member of the National Student Association. (Yes, I know, the National Student Association is not a real organization, but let me assure our readers that this is not a rant. Rather, this article is about another issue not being discussed at the N.S.A.)
I live in the Capital Region of Georgia, and despite all of the issues in the region (namely, the rise of the alt-right), my campus feels like it doesn’t have many problems. There are black people and Hispanics and Asians on my class floors. There was some racism towards my friend in middle school when I walked him to class. But, I get the sense that if I spoke up, nobody would listen. So, I stayed quiet and, frankly, made a lot of my classmates laugh. And that’s what I’m here to do: share jokes and stories that you might actually laugh at. I’m not here to call you out. I’m not here to lecture you on how awful the things I am going to speak about are. I’m not here to make you feel sorry for me. (The truth is, I’m not even sure what I’m here to do, except spread joy.)
On Sunday, my friend, Kamai, and I are both going to a rally of white nationalists in downtown Atlanta. He works at The Wall Street Journal and I’m a graduate student in political science. Before I went to bed that night, I found Kamai’s Twitter feed and immediately realized that we both had the same friend.
I messaged him and asked if he was going to the rally, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to make it. My friend is a conservative white nationalist who supports Donald Trump, and therefore, I thought that would be fine. He agreed to go together. And, I was right!
But then I read Kamai’s tweet the next day:
As we walked into a bar in Norcross, he said, “Are you here to