Welcome to KnowThis Live I'm Zinhle Essamuah.
Joining me today is Georgia representative Nikema Williams. Last month,
she became the first Black woman to represent Georgia's fifth congressional
district, a seat held by the late John Lewis for more than 30 years.
Representative Williams also chairs the democratic party in her state.
Thank you for being here with us.
Thank you for having me Zinhle.
Of course. and just jumping right in, I know you were sworn in last month.
What are your priorities as a new member of Congress?
So I was sworn in just last month and what I'm realizing is that
there, we just hit the ground running.
And so initially I have been very consistent.
I have a five-year-old son who you may or may not hear at some point during this
interview. Um,
but I have a five-year-old son who's been doing learning from home and virtual
kindergarten.
And so we gotta get this pandemic under control and a national response and so
we can get our children back to school in person safely,
get our economy back on track,
and also make sure that we're getting people the care that they need:
getting vaccinations distributed equitably throughout this country.
But the pandemic continues to reveal so many other inequities in our
country.
We saw what happened during the electoral season here in
Georgia and across the country with absentee ballots while people were trying to
vote in the midst of a global pandemic.
And so I've noticed that the pandemic has just impacted so many different things
and have revealed so many critical needs in our country,
like our care infrastructure,
our voting rights legislation that needs to be updated to meet the times.
And so I am looking forward to getting to work on those things.
We've already hit the ground running.
I'm on the House Financial Services committee,
as well as transportation and infrastructure.
And we've already passed a budget reconciliation measure out of committee to
move forward in the Biden, um, American Recovery Plan.
And so we're doing the work of the American people and I'm eager and ready to do
more.
And I know there's been no shortage of shortage of events and crises to address,
um, including impeachment. And we saw this week,
the NAACP filed a lawsuit against former president Trump, uh,
for the capital insurrection that happened in January saying it violated the
KU Klux Klan act, um, and other democratic lawmakers are expected to join in,
will you be signing on?
So I just, you are very timely with your question.
We just had a briefing from Derrick Johnson,
the national president of the NAACP and my colleague Congressman Bennie Thompson
during our last Congressional Black Caucus call and going over the specifics and
the timeline. And so I'm definitely following up with Derek.
We've worked together on many issues and I want to make sure that we're
holding people accountable because that is something that the United States
Senate did not do. I did my part as a member of Congress,
I voted to impeach Donald Trump for the insurrection that he incited and caused
in this country.
And if what we saw on January sixth was not enough reason to impeach a president
then nothing is.
And so we need to move forward in holding our elected officials accountable in
this country. And it does not stop because you're at the end of your term,
you still must be held accountable.
And so I am having further conversations with the NAACP about how I can be
supportive in their efforts.
And you referenced that call with the NAACP,
I believe with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Should we be expecting more lawsuits coming forward,
whether from the NAACP or your fellow lawmakers?
Well,
I think that we're looking at something collective and how can we support the
NAACP and Congressman Bennie Thompson and what they're already doing.
And other members will be given the opportunity to sign on as plaintiffs in this
current lawsuit.
Got it, thank you for clarifying that.
And I know that the district attorney in Fulton County,
which is your home state opened a criminal investigation,
looking into whether laws were broken by President Trump or excuse me,
when President Trump asked the governor to find more votes,
and this is referring of course to the 2020 election, um, if it is criminal,
what should happen?
So in my opinion, it is not a question of if it is criminal,
but if we have enough to convict him of the criminal acts that he's already
done. So, um, but I will leave that up to my DA.
And when you commit a crime, there are consequences.
And the United States Senate use their political
issues within their own party because we saw that it was the Republican party
that Donald Trump still very much controls who refuse to convict him of the
crimes that he committed,
but that does not preclude other people who are not beholden to Donald Trump
from holding him accountable in criminal and civil courts across the country.
And so I know that I have an abled prosecutor here in my DA Fani Willis,
and I'm looking forward to what is coming down the road.
Georgia continues to save our democracy.
And of course, Georgia continues to make headlines.
I know the Georgia GOP released a report calling for voting limits to be enacted
after the party lost both the presidency and two Senator seats, uh,
the aim for that being to justify the voting system overhaul that they've been
calling for, of course, uh, this isn't fully agreed upon, uh,
between Republicans. It is dividing them.
You are the leader of the democratic party in your state.
All of that said, um,
how are you going to make sure voters are not continually disenfranchised in
Georgia?
So we have activists on the ground who are continuing to elevate their voice.
But what I know is that there are some things that should be standardized across
the board,
and it should not matter if you live in Georgia or if you live in Washington
state, your right to vote should be safe, fair, and secure in this country.
And that is why I am continuing to move forward with my work on HR1 and HR4
in the United States Congress,
because some of these things should be done on the federal level so that it is
standardized across the board and are protections of your rights to vote.
What the Georgia general assembly is doing right now led by Republicans in our
state is appalling.
We saw large numbers of Black and Brown voters show up to vote in the November
election and the January election voicing their concerns and making the
will of the voters heard should be first and foremost.
We even have Republicans who have said, well, the elections were fair.
The elections were secure and there was no evidence of fraud in our elections,
but then in the same mouth, Zinhle, they're saying,
but yet we need to make it more difficult for these Black and Brown people to
show up to vote. It's appalling, it should not happen.
It is 2021. And I am still sitting here in this seat,
held by John Lewis, fighting to protect our right to vote.
And I'm glad that you referenced that this is not just specific to Georgia,
but a national issue.
I know that the Brennan center identified at least a hundred bills trying to
restrict voting across the country, knowing all of this,
how do we actually practically fix this problem?
So I think when you look at things like HR1 and giving people more access to
the ballot, and these are,
these are federal bills that have already passed the United States House of
Representatives. And we got held up in the U.S. Senate, but we have,
Georgia has delivered senators Rafael Warnock and Senator John
Ossoff.
So I am hopeful that now we can look at how do we make some small changes to
HR1,
which includes the Voter Empowerment ct that was championed by John Lewis
for session after session in Congress. And then also looking at HR4,
which has now been renamed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act,
which will get us back to a point for pre-clearance where states like Georgia,
who have a history of voter suppression, not just in the 60s and 50s,
but as recent as 2018. States,
like Georgia would have to go through the department of justice to get some of
these measures that they're trying to enact cleared before they can be, um,
become law.
Thanks for that.
And I know that you also were a part of the public policy team at Planned
Parenthood. One of the contentious issues in Georgia of course,
was the heartbeat ban. Um, that was struck down. However,
a number of other States have similar restrictive laws and bills.
We know that the White House said they're committed to codifying Roe V. Wade,
are you planning to be involved in that?
Absolutely.
That is one of the things that is at the forefront of what I believe in.
And we should not only codify Roe v. Wade,
but we should also make sure that we are not looking,
that we are addressing things like the Hyde Amendment that continue to restrict
access.
So it's one thing to have a law the books to say that abortion is legal for
everyone in this country, but it's another thing for people to access it.
And when you look at things like the Hyde Amendment,
what that tells me is that people of means would have access,
but people that are living on the margins of our society would not.
And so I am, I would take it even a step further and say, we need to codify Roe,
but we also need to make sure that the Hyde Amendment does not continue to
restrict low-income women from the same access that other women have.
And I want to talk about the pandemic, of course,
which is probably the biggest issue of our time presently.
You had coronavirus yourself, um,
and Georgia is falling in the bottom quarter of States when it comes to
vaccinations given. Knowing that,
how do you see your state ramping up vaccinations and vaccine distribution?
So vaccinations have definitely been a challenge here. Um,
I've been looking at the numbers and tracking them on the department of public
health website, where when we look at,
and my son has just joined me on this screen, my apologies.
No worries. Hi, welcome. This is the reality-.
To get me to download a game. See?
We gotta get our children back to school safely. Carter is home today,
and I will talk to you in one second, Carter.
Oh yes, no, it's true.
It's a real reality that I think working moms especially are grappling with.
But, um, back to the coronavirus, which is why my baby is home.
Um, and not in person school,
he's in kindergarten and Wednesdays are asynchronous learning days.
And so we do the best that we can, but I,
I suffered from COVID-19 in March of last year.
I was one of the first people in the state of Georgia to contract the virus and
I got it at the state legislature. And as we looked at,
who was contracting COVID-19,
it was disproportionately affecting the Black community.
And now when we look at the vaccine roll- vaccine rollout and
how many, who who's getting the vaccine,
it is not the same people who are disproportionately affected that have
access to the vaccine.
And so I've been tracking the numbers in the department of public health
website, and the numbers have slightly increased in the Black community.
Last week,
it was around 60% of the vaccines that have been delivered were in the white
community,
whereas only 5.4% of the vaccines delivered in Georgia
had been to Black people. Um, I saw last night,
that number had risen to about 16% and there have been some
people that have been advocating to get more sites located,
co-located with churches helping to do outreach and
with some of our larger, um, facilities on the South side of Atlanta,
where we know we have large Black populations to make sure that we're doing
outreach to communities that were hit hardest.
So my office is continuing to advocate for that,
and we're doing some partnerships and looking to continue to get the word out.
Um,
I myself got the vaccine two weeks ago and I'm looking forward to my second dose
so that I can be fully vaccinated and continue to be a champion for us getting
people back to school safely in person.
So that Carter can go to school and getting people back to work and our economy
back on track.
And it's clear, there's so much happening in Georgia, and I'd be remiss,
of course, not to acknowledge, uh, the late John Lewis,
you are in the seat that he held for several decades.
I know your husband was close to him and you knew him for some time.
Is there any wisdom he imparted to you before, um,
you took this office and began this role?
I think one of the things that I learned from Congressman Lewis by being around
him for so long is he always remembered who he was sent to Washington
to serve. It didn't matter what was going on. Um,
he made time for people.
And so I reflect upon that as I'm doing the work,
and it's easy to get caught up in what your caucus wants or what someone else
wants or some group wants, but just making, being mindful that,
that I am here to be the voice of the people of Georgia's fifth congressional
district.
And I intend to elevate them in every conversation that I'm a part of to make
sure that they are represented.
Congressman Lewis taught us that it is never the wrong time to do the right
thing. And we must find a way to get in the way.
And if that means me speaking up to make sure that my district has access to
COVID vaccines, then I need to find a way to get in the way.
If that means me speaking up and being the poster child for why we
need to make sure that care is a part of our infrastructure,
because my child needs the same care that everyone else needs,
who is trying to work and make this work during the pandemic,
then I'm happy to tell my personal story to elevate the conversations and
the lived experience of people in the fifth district.
So I think that is the biggest takeaway.
Find a way to get in the way and make sure that you never forget the people that
you're in Washington to serve.
Well,
thank you so much Representative Williams for your time and making your way over
here to be with us.
Thank you. Of course. And thanks to everyone for watching.
This has been KnowThis Live, I'm Zinhle Essamuah.