'A Way Out of No Way' Review: Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Symbol of Hope for America
- The Guardian, June 18, 2022. - Ed.
- The Democratic Georgia senator has delivered an inspiring memoir, well-timed as the US tears itself apart. -
We live in an age of miracles but we spend very little time noticing that. After four years of Donald Trump, two years of Covid and four months of vicious war in Ukraine, it’s hardly surprising many feel overwhelmed by seemingly relentless bad news. Raphael Warnock’s inspiring memoir arrives just in time to remind us that even in our darkest days, America offers at least as much hope as despair. Warnock was at the center of the most recent set of miracles, which came about in large part because of the registration and activism of Black voters in key states in 2020.
In Georgia it began when a former state house minority leader, Stacey Abrams, identified 800,000 eligible but unregistered voters and formed the New Georgia Project to get as many on the rolls as possible. Warnock joined Abrams’ campaign. Despite the outrageous efforts of then secretary of state (now governor) Brian Kemp, who falsely accused them of voter fraud, by 2019 they had registered 500,000 voters. That made three miracles possible: Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Georgia in 28 years and Warnock and Jon Ossoff became the first Black and Jewish senators elected from the state, miraculously giving Democrats (tenuous) control of the Senate.
Nothing is more filled with hope than the trajectory of Warnock’s life. He was the 11th of 12 children. His father made his living collecting scrap metal and preaching while his mother was a homemaker until she became the preacher in the family. Warnock’s life is proof that the federal government has done important things to level the playing field in crucial ways. Warnock got his first leg-up through Head Start, one of the greatest legacies of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Then he got enrolled in Upward Bound, a federally financed summer college preparatory program that strengthened his confidence “and provided the path for the pursuit of my dreams”.
For a kid growing up in a neighborhood where no one had a bachelor’s degree, this “demystified the idea of college and gave me a clear vision of what was possible.”
But the advantages he started with were even more important, especially a mom who is “a preacher with a God-given sense of spiritual discernment”, who “could read people & situations better than anyone I’ve ever known”. Warnock grew up in a housing project devastated by crack & Aids, “but in a place where there were too many missing fathers, I had 2 devoted parents at home, & they kept church at the center of our lives”. His parents never let him forget that while we live in a nation “in need of moral surgery”, with “hope, hard work, & the people by our side anything is possible”. He chose Morehouse College, a vital Black institution with alumni justly famous for “world-changing accomplishments”...
- More, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/18/a-way-out-of-no-way-review-raphael-warnock-georgia-senator-democrat
- Raphael Warnock, Stacey Abrams and Jon Ossoff.
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- Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker.
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- ''Social conservative crowd cheers Herschel Walker after revelations of undiscussed kids,' June 18, 2022, Politico.
- The former Heisman winner got applause from the Faith & Freedom crowd, after a week of reports that he had more children than he’d publicly acknowledged.
NASHVILLE — Herschel Walker received resounding applause from evangelical Christian activists on Saturday, following revelations he had fathered three children he had not previously discussed publicly. The half-full room of conference-goers at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual gathering in Nashville went wild for Walker — perhaps the most high-profile Republican Senate candidate this cycle running in one of the most contested races. In an onstage interview with Walker, Faith & Freedom founder Ralph Reed addressed the recent barrage of news stories by saying “Democrats and the media” were “firing artillery” at the candidate.
Walker, in turn, said he loves and has never “denied” any of his children, before accusing unnamed forces of trying to mislead his family members. “They didn’t do anything but make me want to fight harder, because I’m tired of people misleading the American people,” Walker said. “I’m tired of people misleading my family.” From there, Walker quickly pivoted to the need for America to become energy independent and decried those trying to “confuse” people “with racism over here” and the “Build Back Better Plan over here.” The reception Walker received at the conference is an early indication that self-identified religious conservatives will give him a pass for a biographical detail at odds with their stated mission.
The former Heisman winner stands accused of hiding from the public three children that he had with multiple women outside of marriage. And both Walker and his oldest son, Christian Walker, have been critical of absent fathers. The Daily Beast reported that at least one of the mothers of Walker’s unacknowledged children had to take legal action to receive child support payments. Paulina Macfoy, an Atlanta resident attending the conference, said “Jesus Christ will answer” the question of how Walker’s parenting decisions square with his faith and his repeated criticism of absent fathers. Macfoy maintained that she believes Walker is a “good candidate” because he “stands for family,” and said it was a “waste of time” to report on his personal life.
“He who is without sin, cast the first stone,” she said...
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/18/herschel-walker-fathers-day-weekend-pass-social-conservatives-00040710
