Great Barrington — The current state of American democracy was the main topic of discussion at the Du Bois Freedom Center’s Juneteenth event on Wednesday, June 19, at Saint James Place. The event, the first in the Freedom Center’s “Reflections on Democracy” series, included a discussion with Michael Blake, CEO of Atlas Strategy Inc. from New York City, and Georgia Congresswoman Nikema Williams.
Blake is the Freedom Center’s Visiting Scholar and has served as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, as well as three terms as a member of the New York State Assembly. Congresswoman Williams is a native of Columbus, Ga., and previously represented the 39th district in the Georgia State Senate from 2017 to 2021.
In July 2020, however, the Georgia Democratic Party chose Williams to replace the late Congressman John Lewis on the November 2020 election ballot. Lewis, a civil rights leader, served 17 terms in the U.S.
House of Representatives before his death on July 17, 2020. Williams was elected to the U.S.
House of Representatives in November 2020 and was sworn in on January 3, 2021, three days before the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol by rioters who protested the results of the 2020 presidential election. “[Earlier in the day,] I got a phone call from Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi about Georgia being one of the states where our Electoral College votes were being challenged, which had never happened in this fashion in the history of our countr.