Activists push Coca-Cola to take stand against Georgia election law

Activists in Georgia are calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola until the Atlanta-based company comes out against the state’s new election-law changes.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church, which represents 500 black churches, on Thursday called for the boycott, and the hashtag #BoycottCocaCola was trending into the weekend.

If “Coca-Cola wants black and brown people to drink their product, then they must speak up when our rights, our lives and our very democracy as we know it is under attack,” Bishop Reginald Jackson said at an Atlanta rally Thursday outside the Georgia Capitol, as state lawmakers voted to adopt the new provisions and Gov. Brian Kemp signed them into law.

The new rules impose additional identification requirements for absentee ballots, restrictions on drop boxes and earlier poll closures, among other measures.

Biden on Friday called the new law “Jim Crow in the 21st century.”

Coca-Cola said in a March statement that the company supports “improvements that would enhance accessibility, maximize voter participation, maintain election integrity, and serve all Georgians.”