Warns of Walker wanting to “police wombs of women”
In an exclusive interview with the Chicago Crusader Monday, Georgia City Council Woman Karen Rene, who is also program director for the Atlanta NAACP, said Tuesday’s special election between Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will be the day the “rubber hits the road.”
Tuesday’s runoff, Rene said, is a choice between Warnock, who has been working on behalf of all people and Walker, who wants to “police the wombs of women.”
Asked how African Americans are doing in this race on the eve of the special high profile election and with seven million votes available in Georgia, Rene said, “Warnock has a slight lead over Walker. We have about five teams on the ground, and the NAACP has canvassers all over the state of Georgia knocking on doors.
“We are excited about this race and excited about how this election is moving forward,” she said.
“Over 52 percent of the voters say they plan to support Warnock for the Tuesday runoff. Even though that is a narrow margin, we’ll take it,” Rene said referring to a recent CNN poll.
“We are knocking on doors all over the state of Georgia,” she said, and what she and her supporters have found is that Walker “has a credibility problem, his honesty. He suffers from a favorability rate. He is not really clear on the issues.
“When we talk about Black and brown voters, you have 99 percent of the people are voting for Warnock. That is pretty cool,” Rene said.
“Independents favor Warnock about 61 percent. That’s a pretty good number; however, on the Republican side, when they speak of Warnock, they still have challenges because of who he is.
“They are not necessarily voting for Walker,” she said. “They are voting against Warnock. Ninety three percent back Warnock in our recent polls. Seventy one percent of white voters favor Walker.”
When asked if those supporting Walker are Evangelicals, Rene said, “Yes and that is amazing. I am really sad about that because all of my life I have been raised in a Christian church. To see how so-called Christians have an agenda so contrary to what our teaching is, I find that extremely disturbing.
“I think it is really sad when we’ve been asked to be trained and brought up a certain way but when reality hits us it seems all of that goes out the window,” Rene stated.
“Walker is ill-equipped for this position. It makes no sense, when we talk about the issues he is talking about werewolves and coyotes. It is so outrageous. You can’t make sense out of it.”
Referring to Senator Warnock, Rene said, “Here you have a man who has intellect, who speaks to the issues and has been fighting for the people in Georgia. He has proven success. He is working across the board. He is not just concerned about the Democratic Party. He’s concerned about the residents in this state and how he can improve the lives of others. You have to give him credit to that.
“It cannot be just a Republican and Democratic Party. It has to be about the people,” Rene said.
“When you got someone in office who really cares and sincerely wants to work for the benefit of others, I am really baffled when it comes down to the Christianity part about this. It really blows my mind. I don’t know how they justify the teaching of Christianity. They are standing with and upholding Walker,” Rene said, referring to the Evangelicals.
“What is not clear is we know that Walker is a liar,” she said. “He has lied on everything. He is not equally yoked for this position; yet they still stand with him.”
Asked if it bothers her about the allegations lodged by several women including his family about his abuse of women and allegedly paying for several abortions, Rene said, “The Evangelicals are saying they are pro-life and yet this man has paid for more abortions that you can probably count. He has denied and was then caught in lies in reference to that.
“Some of these women have been forced to have abortions but some of them really wanted to bring these babies to term, but he didn’t want that and made sure that the abortion was carried out,” Rene stated.
“As a Christian leader, and I am pro-life, but I am also pro-choice because I want to make sure that women are making the right decisions from where they stand that no-one is pushing them one way or the other,” she stated.
“When we stand in our church with God, He should be the judger at the end of the day. The audacity of Walker pushing them or demanding them to abuse including his ex-wife who had to move six times in six months. This comes out of the mouth of his son.
“Walker is an abuser. He is everything that they taught us in Sunday school when we were kids, that we should not do; yet they are standing with him. I can’t wrap my head around that. This is a man who believes in the policing of the wombs of the women, and if he has his way, that will definitely happen,” Rene stated.
She further noted in comparison of the two candidates’ educational and intellectual levels, Warnock graduated from Morehouse University but said Walker never finished the University of Georgia.
In describing Tuesday’s runoff, Rene referred to the NAACP poll. She said they are having a party to the polls. “We have ordered food trucks, DJs. We are asking them to stay in line, but if they are hungry, we will be across the street 150 feet away because we know the lines will be long tomorrow as well.
“We are shopping for ponchos because it’s supposed to rain, and if it does, we will protect them,” she said. “If they have any problems at the polls, the NAACP will be on the ground to assist them.
“One of the biggest problems we have is that people go to the wrong polling places. They think they early voted, they can go back there, but we’re hoping we can get everybody in and voted,” Rene said.
“Tomorrow, the rubber will hit the road. We are expecting long lines, but we will be there until the polls close. We think that Warnock will pull it off. Every vote will count,” she stated.
