‘Democrat. Fighter. Mother.’ Lucy McBath Is Redefining Social Justice in Politics.

I wish Ms. Lucy McBath the best of luck in her run for Congress.

Robert Kennedy, 50 years ago in his quest for the presidency, made social justice issues a core plank of his candidacy. Today, history lauds his stance. Advocacy of social justice is just as appropriate in these times, as it was 50 years ago.

I am a life-long Democrat and I would like to see more Black politicians--and the liberal/left media--speaking out against Black-on-Black crime and homicide, which locally and nationwide far exceeds police violence against Blacks. Police violence against Blacks or non-criminals is abhorrent and should of course be reduced or eliminated, but the numbers of Black-on-Black victims are truly horrific and surely deserve the immediate attention of both white and Black politicians and activists.

The real issue here is guns. Jordan was probably a typical annoying teenager (of any race) playing loud music, perhaps profane. And the white adult foolishly lost his temper and shot Jordan over petty annoyance. This is like road rage. It also is why we don't have guns in our family as we keep our feuds to words, sleep on the couch, and then kiss and make up.

I have great sympathy for Ms. McBath. And I consider myself a lifelong liberal. But I also try to make myself at least aware of the best arguments on both sides of an issue. Black Lives Matter has created the false impression that young unarmed black males are being shot is very disproportionate numbers. But the U S Dept. of Justice., who keep records of these types of things happening all over the country shows that only 10% of all unarmed victims of fatal police shootings were African-American males. This is tragic, of course, but it doesn’t substantiate the claim. The perception articulated by Black Lives Matter persists. The other unsubstantiated claim by Democrats is the gender pay gap. Many people believe that women get 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. “Equal Pay for Equal Work” was one of Hillary’s war cries. But everyone knows that the 77/100 ratio was in the aggregate and when factors like education, skill, time served, hours worked etc, the “gender wage gap disappears. It’s been illegal to discriminate in pay based on gender since the Civil Right Act was adopted in 1965 Democrats would do better to talk about the tax give-away to billionaires and what Trump has done to health care and is positioning himself to do on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And I don’t think this is the time to be talking about “Medicaid for All”. Something concise on immigration reform would also help. To quote The Boss “trade in those wings on some wheels”

@Shay, @Alex, @tintin Please read up her stand on issues before you cast a stone, generalize on the establishment Democrats or dismiss her based on? preconceived opinions? From her website: "I believe we can provide a great education for our children, and that we should make affordable healthcare available to all, because a healthy Georgia is a strong Georgia. I’m running because I want America to be the kind of place where companies feel good about investing and keeping jobs, knowing that their employees won’t feel disparaged by who they are, who they love, or what they believe. I’m running because I believe that we can all work together to provide better infrastructure options for our country, and level the playing field so that all of our citizens receive equal pay for equal work." Her personal tragedy is what motivated her to get involved, people have various reasons and that is what pushed her. She is just like the rest of us. Probably like some of you, I left the Democratic Party because of their Center Right policies, ignoring the middle and the working classes. I hope more FDR type Progressives push the establishment into retiring. Even more radical I don't want any politician over the age of 60 to run for office. We and they have caused too much damage in a lot of areas of public life. I hope Ms. McBath succeeds, her opponent clearly is doing nothing for her district.

Issues like social justice are critically important, but if Democrats want to win elections (rather than just being correct about the issues), they need to start talking broadly - about economic and legal fairness, civility, restoring democratic norms, and integrity and honesty in government. Let's start with easy things - gerrymandering and dark money in politics (i.e., Citizens United) - things on which most Americans can agree. America is having a terrible national argument that's spiraling out of control. Like any argument, is it more important to "win," score points, and be right in the heat of the moment? Or are there better ways and tactics to win the argument in the long-term? Democrats need to take a long, hard look at the playbook they've been using, because it's just not working well at a national level.

Ms. McBath is an extraordinary woman who has transformed her grief at losing her son to gun violence, and the murderous mindset prompted by the wrong-headed "Stand Your Ground" laws of Florida, to energize her into a political dynamo. She is soft-spoken, but insightful, intelligent, and forceful in stating her positions. Having watched how she conducted herself through the ordeal of two trials of the man who murdered Jordan Davis, her son, because Jordan refused to turn down the loud music in the car in which he was riding with friends, it was clear that this woman would be a difference maker if she chose to pursue political office. I would vote for her if I lived in her district.

Every race has its bad apples, and sometimes their victims are of other races. I can think of cases in which the races were reversed. If you descend to this level, you will soon have candidates talking about "outraged white womanhood". Is that what you want? Arousing a sense of racial grievance is not a good idea.

I am a Ga. D-6 voter. I am white. Lucy has my vote, my donations, and my time. Black lives matter.

Time for Radio Free America, broadcasting facts and truth, on a frequency next to Limbaugh's frequency, on every one of the 600 stations broadcasting his and the other right wing hate radio shows. Give truth a chance in places like Candidate McBath's Georgia.

Everything changes because everyone changes, We grow up, we grow old, and our world is not as it used to be. Add the effects of the digital age and of robotics-- agents of major change in our lives. Mexicans did not do these things to us. We all did them. To blame immigrants for change verges on the criminal. To justify the casual killing of black men by cops is criminal complicity.

As long as the Dems run with the platform of Social Justice and Intersectionality they will continue to loose races. This secular religion is a snake that eats its own tail and does not appeal to most voters. If the Dems want to appeal to voters they really need to work on broad base appeal for the masses instead of pandering to groups on a narrative of victimhood.

I am seeing so many comments that take this article as a full summation of Ms. McBath's campaign. Her son's death and its implications for gun laws and race relations is not the whole of her campaign. She's running to represent a district that has been largely ignored by Karen Handel since she beat Jon Ossoff. McBath pledges to meet with and listen to her constituents. She has policy prescriptions for healthcare, the economy, etc. All the issues about which voters are concerned. As for advice that she run to the middle and stay away from social justice, that is precisely what Mr. Ossoff did. He tried to avoid the culture war. He ran on national security and government waste. He failed to turn out voters in DeKalb County, who are traditionally Democrats. McBath is not making his mistakes.

This is only right to care about the senseless, extreme death for music playing. I can remember blasting music in my car well through my 20's. Godspeed to her.

Racists might not be a majority in the U.S., but they vote in greater percentages than non-racists. That, and the fact that racists can be easily convinced to vote against their own economic interests, is the basis for the Republican party since, yes, Nixon. Until non-racists turn up to vote at the same percentage as racists, we are stuck on the road to fascism.

I've been to events with Lucy McBath. One of her signature lines is, "I'm here to represent you." That may sound trite, but her point is that she has her finger on how the people of the 6th district feel. She is trying to run a local race, saying she will represent us. Karen Handel, on the other hand, has been largely absent. She's resting comfortably in this historically Republican district -- we elected Newt and Tom Price -- and aligning herself with Trump. She's following a classically partisan style. She has no accomplishments to speak of after a shortened first term. It will be very interesting to see how these strategies play out. The Times sees this in broader terms. Locally we see this as, who represents us best.

Moderate white swing voters will not be swayed by a campaign platform of social justice. It just fuels more Trumpism us against them.

Democrats STOP with the social justice advocacy! You need to WIN first by talking about healthcare that Repubs have voted time and again to take away, the tax cut giveaway to corporations, the divisiveness and callous position of Repub candidates, their plan to diminish SS and Medicare, etc. Once you win then you act to increase social justice. But it does not win elections.

What happened to Ms McBath is heart breaking and overwhelming to consider. But Democrats must realize that relying on identity issues to win elections will likely backfire badly. Hillary Clinton did this, and it alienated far too many voters. There may be an initial advantage from a platform based on personal identity, whether experiences like Ms McBath's or rhetoric like Kamala Harris, but that will quickly fade. If you consider how ineffective military service has become as a campaign advantage, even heroic service, why would other versions of personal identity be significantly different? In the end, what mobilizes voters is not a candidates personal story, but his or her ideas. Bernie Sanders demonstrated this. Sadly, so did Trump. Democrats need to move away from identity platforms and instead pick-up the gauntlet of economic justice. If they fail to do so yet again, they will lose yet again.

I applaud Ms. McBath for putting herself out there to make a difference. I wish with all my heart that she had never been put in this position.

Father Coughlin created the Social Justice movement. Does it still follow him?

As a Democrat who wants to win, lets dial down the social justice talk (which I agree with, by the way). Lets talk more about the difference between talking the talk and walking the walk about pre-existing conditions. Virtually all Democrats would be smart to point out that their Republican opponents voted against insurance that covers pre-existing conditions and, only now as the elections loom, claim to be for that insurance.

Business first please. An LGBTQ who has lost their healthcare, a young ESL first generation freshly arrived mother of a 1 yr old who gets denied SNAP food stamps. Infrastructure where a bridge falls on a car with both Republicans and Democrats. Brainiac elite immigrants that go to Germany rather than work for our quantum computing enterprises. An economy that will fall apart due to greed and recklessness of the Trmpublicans.

In a normal world Lucy McBath should be leading by double digits, but of course it isn’t, and Lucy is down in the polls. The 6th District is just to the north of where I live in the 5th, and these suburbs are just so normal looking, folks we all know and see each day at the work place or shopping. But the world of politics is so poisoned today by Trump and other right wing politicians, and no if ands or buts about it, the Republicans are fomenting hatred amongst their constituents. It’s an “us against them” Democrats speak to the issues. From Lucy McBath’s website; “LGBT Rights, Women’s Rights, Infrastructure”. Those three are headlined. From her Republican opponent' Karen Handel’s website; “Lucy McBath’s Tax Liabilities Are Adding Up …But Her Story Doesn’t Lucy McBath has more explaining to do” Those two are headlined. Fear, attack, that’s all the Republicans know how to do, they can’t speak to issues because it would demonstrate their lack of knowledge and commitment. And at the top is Trump. Just tragic what’s taking place these days.

And we all know what a political winner this is! The motto of the left: if at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail again.

Republicans stand for law and order and support police to do their job with justice for all. The fringe of the democrat party shield common criminals based on Mob actions rather than individual criminals. The Us does not have a problem with law enforcement.... we have a problem with being lax on vicious criminals.

We are living in 1920s Germany. The dire economic circumstances of that time after WW1 (like how globalization and technology are destroying jobs now) pushed massive amounts of people to accept communism (or this extreme social justice warrior brand of identity politics). What happened was a rebuke and response of leftist ideology and an acceptance of extremist right wing ethno-nationalism called Nazism (Trump, alt-right). The difference between Germany then and the US now is that the US is a much more diverse country. We don’t all share the same ethnicity, ideas, culture, religion and beliefs that 1920s Germans did. If both sides continue to play extreme identity politics we will descend into a civil war. The Democrats’ and Republicans’ America are not compatible. I believe there needs to be a multi-party system to break this deadlock of extremism on both sides. Us vs. them mentality might help the Dems and Repubs, but it is destroying this country.

Yes, threats didn't accompany the profane, blisteringly loud music....Fortunately, someone was prepared for the behavior that's normal in Chicago and other cities when it's just them, and who become "gentle teddy bears" when they're bullying someone outside of their community.

"A new advertisement from the National Republican Campaign Committee about who “owns” the Democratic Party," I wonder who "owns" the Republican Party? Trump? Koch, Mercer, Adelson...? The Party of Wealthy White Men. Not an ounce of shame in Republicans, and not a shred of irony either, apparently.

And we are watching in slow motion home Democrats lose elections, and this is from someone who early voted a straight Democrat ticket yesterday. How these candidates and the core of the DNC do not see how offensive the Social Justice movement is to most reasonable Americans is beyond me. With terms like "white priviledge" and "the patriarchy" thrown around liberally, many swing voters are deeply taken aback when accused of taking part in 'systemic' racism/ sexism. This is not the way to win over voters or elections. According to Gallup polling in 2018, race relations is only considered by 7% of the electorate to be the most important issue facing the country; the economy is number one for 22% of people. This statistic doesn't differentiate between those who are for or against the Social Justice movement. So, in reality the percentage of people that are SJWs may actually be a lot less than that. To sum it all up, the Democrats are beating a drum that has very little ability to bring voters to the polls and may actually be dis-swaying many for voting for them.

America is in the middle of a nervous breakdown. We are no longer a European suburb, nor a fictional mini-England attempting to demonstrate our success to the mother country. We are multi-racial, multi-cultural, and profoundly hostile to the idea that good Americans are supposed to be white, christian, straight. Even Europe and Africa got over that delusion. Time for us to catch up.

I am grateful for Ms. McBath's courage to run for political office. It is shameful there is so much hate involved, and we all know where it starts; at the top. This where President Trump casts aspersions in any direction which will serve him or his constituents. Many are born of lies and deception. On November 6th, please vote against these haters. Thank you.

Good luck! I knew and worked with her late father Dr. Lucian Holman a prominent black Chicago dentist when he was an NAACP National Board member and leading light with the South Side Branch. He was a great mentor. And a gentleman who schooled and supported me behind the scenes. Her late son Jordan Davis looked like my two grandsons. My paternal black ancestors were enslaved in Georgia where they were owned by and bred with my white ancestors before becoming separate and unequal while black.

That the country seems strange to some is no surprise. Their innate racism being exposed by BLM is strange to them indeed, and well should be. Just as #MeToo exposed men's privilege as an element of patriarchy, some men feel strangers in their own country. Just as obscene wealth in glaring opposition to homelessness and working poverty should make us all feel strange in our own country. That the Republicans respond in purely reactionary language and ad hominem attacks should come as no surprise. The sins of our country are long overdue for a dose of clarity and reform. Dems will win or lose in this midterm, but they should never lose their focus on what's right. These are moral issues, not just economic, self-interested issues.

In spite all of the electoral "gimmicks" the folks will still vote with their "pocketbooks!".

They are talking more about social justice-- during the campaigns. Then it is back to dormant mode.

The CorpoDems do not want to discuss economic justice. That's why they are going the way of the Whigs.

This mid term election is a test of the character of the American population. After 2 years of attacks on all of the democratic institutions of civil society, lies and divisive rhetoric if the Trump Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate the rest of the world will realize that DJT was not an electoral college anamily but a true mark of the USA. Character is destiny.

“I don’t want to be represented by someone who has shown contempt for law enforcement.” I don't want someone who has shown contempt for minorities, the LGTBTQ community, women, or anyone else representing me whether or not they shown contempt for law enforcement. My more recent experiences with law enforcement have led me to believe, based upon their actions, that police and others like them, hold us in contempt and are looking for any reason to assault or arrest us. I don't appreciate having a president like Trump who denigrates anyone he can at every opportunity he gets. This is not what he's paid to do or expected to do as president or as an adult. What he and the GOP call politically correct behavior/statements and sneer at is often what makes our daily lives more bearable. I didn't appreciate Hilary Clinton's calling some people deplorables either. Doing that in response to Trump let him set the tone of the election. I think we all understand that wish to say the perfect cutting remark to an annoying person. Sometimes, most of the time, silence is better or a simple statement to the contrary. My wish for these elections is to see adults elected and adults working on behalf of every American, not just the ones who voted them in. If you can't, as legislator, work for all your constituents, you don't belong in politics. If you prefer to rabble rouse, go stir up trouble at a sports venue.

Democrats continue to talk social justice and identity politics. Democrats will continue to alienate voters they need to win national elections. It’s pretty simple.