Accelerating Change is a series by @amandngocnguyen profiling the world’s top changemakers
Members of TABL from left to right: Christina Johnson, Simone Marshall Hayes, Mario Knox, Mohamed … [+]
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Chattanooga native Chicoya Gallman was shocked and disappointed to realize she was the only eligible and registered voter out of her more than twenty cousins.
Jamichael, the star of Gallman’s family and all-regional, all-state, record-breaking football player, lost access to the ballot box when he was arrested for driving with drugs in the car during a college trip with friends—a one-time lapse in judgment, according to Gallman. He was arrested, charged and convicted of drug trafficking and fined $350,000 by the state of Georgia. Jamichael has since completed his sentence and is now married with children, a successful entrepreneur and a tax-paying Tennessean. Yet he cannot vote in Tennessee because he is still paying off his fine to Georgia. The irony? In Georgia, he would be allowed to vote. But in Tennessee, the state where he resides and pays taxes, he remains disenfranchised.
“Voting is American. To be able to vote means to engage in the very democracy that is the foundation of America. To suppress the vote means to suppress democracy,” says Gallman, who serves as assistant district attorney for Davidson County in Tennessee.
This belief fuels Gallman’s work with an all-Black team of lawyers who spend their nights and weekends working to expand voting access to all people in their community.
The Tennessee Alliance for Black Lawyers (“TABL”) is a delegation of African American attorneys representing all areas of the state of Tennessee. TABL is a registered affiliate chapter of the National Bar Association, the oldest and largest organization of Black lawyers in the world.
“When I saw how voter disenfranchisement affected all Black and Brown communities, but especially poor Black and Brown communities, I knew I had to do something to change it,” says Simone Marshall Hayes, who chairs TABL’s political initiatives committee, which spearheads TABL’s work on voting rights.
More than two million Tennesseans did not vote in the 2020 election, with Tennessee ranking second out of fifty states for voter disenfranchisement. Tennessee also places second in the nation for the highest number of disenfranchised Black voters, as more than 20% of the Black community within Tennessee cannot vote due to a felony conviction.
Since 2020, TABL has actively combatted decreased access to the ballot box in the state of Tennessee by researching, authoring and advocating for legislation to expand voting rights in the state.
Named for the nineteenth-century African American journalist and abolitionist who called Tennessee home, the TABL-authored Ida B. Wells Voting Rights Act would provide Tennesseans with translators at the ballot box, ensure returning citizens receive proper documentation to regain the right to vote and remove unnecessary barriers to obtaining absentee ballots.
TABL’s campaign to expand voting rights in the state builds on the legacy sowed by previous generations. Gallman, Marshall Hayes and their colleagues follow in the footsteps of generations of civil rights activists who used their voices to protest against societal inequities and systemic ills. In 1960 Gallman’s grandparents marched out of Howard High School in downtown Chattanooga for a peaceful sit-in to demand the right to vote.
Beyond passing the Ida B. Wells Voting Rights Act, TABL aims to catalyze a grassroots movement dedicated to educating Tennesseans about the voting process. Through voter registration drives and civic engagement outreach events, they want people in their communities to understand why voting is important and how to vote.
To start, they will be partnering with Tennessee high schools to educate and register new voters. “Our goal is to start this movement through schools as soon as possible to drastically increase the participation of younger voters,” Marshall Hayes explained.
TABL members register voters at a Tennessee State University football game in April 2021.
Tennessee Alliance for Black Lawyers
She has the following advice for other activists: “Stick to it, take care of yourselves and each other and never give up. But always be willing to learn and grow in your understanding.” More tactically she adds, “The best time to email legislators is in the morning!”
The work is only beginning. TABL plans to expand its voting rights campaign by seeking volunteers with digital skills and raising funds to continue the work.
To learn more or donate visit TABL’s website.
