The newly formed Ethnic Media Collaborative premiered its “The New Face of Georgia Speaker Series” with a voters’ forum featuring gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
The Ethnic Media Collaborative is a joint venture between The Atlanta Voice, Mundo Hispánico and the Georgia Asian Times. According to the Ethnic Media Collaborative, the venture is an unprecedented attempt to unite communities of color throughout Atlanta, in order to positively impact the economic and political landscapes of the city’s increasingly diverse population.
The venture is spearheaded by Janis Ware, publisher of The Atlanta Voice; Rene Alegria, president and CEO of Mundo Hispánico; and Li Wong, CEO and publisher of the Georgia Asian Times.
“The Ethnic Media [Collaborative] is a pioneering journalism effort to better inform the fastest growing ethnic communities in metro Atlanta, and Georgia,” Alegria said. “Mundo Hispánico, The Atlanta Voice and the Georgia Asian Times are the founding pillars of the Ethnic Media Collaborative. This collaboration is the first time that platforms of ethnic media have partnered for the greater good of the people of Georgia.”
Abrams began by thanking the Ethnic Media Collaborative for inviting her, and then spoke about the benefits of diversity from a political standpoint.
“When I became Democratic leader in 2010, I stood for office, in part, because I saw that we were losing ground on so many issues. But I also saw that the state legislature did not look like Georgia,” Abrams said. “My responsibility as a state leader – first as a representative, then as a Democratic leader – was to be in solidarity. To say that our communities were linked together, not only by our differences, but by our commonalities.”
Abrams also emphasized the importance of reaching out to those communities that were often overlooked in terms of their importance in the political realm. By making efforts to more vigorously involve communities of color, Georgia now has a more diverse constituency.
“When I ran for governor in 2018, we were lambasted by many for focusing on communities of color,” Abrams said. “For saying that this could not be a conversation just about Black and white in Georgia; that this was a conversation about the complexity and diversity of our state.
“And it worked. We tripled Latino turnout. Tripled [Asian American and Pacific Islander] turnout. Increased Black turnout by 40%. We reflected the values and…the composition of Georgia.”
Abrams appears to be well supported in her bid for Governor of Georgia. As of April 30, her campaign has received $11.7 million in donations in three months.