Will Smith Pulls Movie Out of Georgia Over Jim Crow Voting Laws

Fear is the motivation behind Republican politicians in 40+ states, changing voting rights laws to disenfranchise minority voters. The power of the minority vote along with the current blatant voter suppression and intimidation led to a Democratic majority in the House and helped make Donald Trump a one-term president.

Now, Republican lawmakers are crying foul and are in the process of changing voter rights laws in more than 40 states to make it even harder to vote. Major League Baseball took immediate action over the Jim Crow laws and said the opportunity for equal voting rights is important. The baseball franchise said it could not support the state in deliberately disenfranchising voters and moved the all-stars to another state.

Much like the MLB, actor/rapper Will Smith is following suit and has uprooted production of his new movie in protest to Georgia's new voting laws. Smith and movie director Anthony Fuqua were filming Emancipation in the state until Governor Brian Kempt signed voting restricting laws into place. They released the following joint statement on the matter:

"At this moment in time, the Nation is coming to terms with its history and is attempting to eliminate vestiges of institutional racism to achieve true racial justice." The statement continued, "We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access."