STACEY ABRAMS:
A WOMAN WHO SPEAKS FOR THE VOICELESS
MICHELE J MARTIN
As the valedictorian of Avondale high school in 1991, Stacey Abrams had earned an invitation to the Governor's mansion — an opportunity to meet him and celebrate her accomplishments with other valedictorians from around her state. Because she was poor and her family could not afford a car, they took MARTA (public bus system) and got off at the bus stop outside the mansion. After walking up the long driveway to the gates of the property, and being passed by cars of students driving in with their families, they stood before the guard station.
As Stacy Abrams has told the story over the years, "the guard looked at my parents, then he looked at me, and he said, “This is a private event, you don’t belong here.”
My parents pushed back, and I got in."
When Abrams looks back on that day she doesn't remember meeting the Governor of Georgia or celebrating her accomplishments with valedictorians from 159 counties and 180 school districts. What she remembers is a man blocking the gates of the most powerful place in Georgia, telling her that she did not belong. "He looked at the MARTA bus driving away and told himself a story about who would be on that bus – and that they did not belong in the Governor’s mansion." she said.
Now, it is her mission to be the one to open those gates. To welcome everyone in. Not just young black women like herself who had were told they didn't or don't belong. It is Stacey Abrams' mission to open those gates wide for everyone in Georgia, because they all belong there.
Because I know we have to have women who speak for the voiceless. I know we have to have people of good conscience who stand up against oppression. I know we have to have people who understand that social justice belongs to us all. And that wakes me up every morning, and that makes me fight even harder. Because I am moving forward, knowing what is in my past.
By 2018 Stacey Abrams was a lawyer, the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, and would soon became the first Black female major-party gubernatorial nominee.
In 2019 she started Fair Fight an organization that helped build voter protection teams in not just her own state of Georgia, but in 20 states across the country. The 2020 Gubernatorial race in Georgia has gone down in history as the closest race since 1966. The final results of the race — Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp with just 50.2% of the vote. While she didn't win this race, this is just the beginning for Stacey Abrams and her mission to open those gates.
I know what I want, and that is justice. I know why I want it, because poverty is immoral, and it is a stain on our nation. And I know how I'm going to get it: by moving forward every single day.
It was announced on February 1, 2021 that Stacey Abrams had been nominated for The Nobel Peace Prize by Lars Haltbrekken, a Norwegian lawmaker.
Haltbrekken credits voting rights activist and politician Abrams with playing a critical role in helping to register thousands of voters for the 2020 presidential election and Senate runoff election in Georgia. He nominated her for her work to “promote nonviolent change via the ballot box.”
“Abrams’ work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights,” said Lars Haltbrekken.
Stacey Abram's vocal style is warm, friendly, and relatable. She sounds like that respected friend, family member, or teacher that you go to for advice. Her voice sounds confident in whatever she says. It motivates and inspires. Her voice sounds like trust and humility. We love that.
Voice matters to us. As speech scientists and technologists that work in voice technology, we spend a lot of time listening to voices and thinking about what the voice is saying, beyond the words themselves. Whether we are making cutting edge digital voices available to businesses that need voiced content that scales or building AI-voices for individuals living with loss of speech — our goal is to for a world of digital voice that is truly representative of the world of human voice.
Imagine the possibilities, if the world of digital voice matched the world of human voice. If it was as dynamic and expressive? If it was representative of the world we hear everyday. If digital voice could sound authentic and nuanced and express everything that voices like Stacey Abram's voice does, rather than the flat text-to-speech voices of yesterday. Guess what, it can — learn more about AI-Voice.
Beach Ball voices are defined as Soft, High, Modal, and Nasal. Learn more about the unique characteristics that make up our voices and voice types here: VOCALiD Voice Types.
This is the fifth in our Iconic Black Voices series. Make sure to come back to our blog every day this month as we highlight more iconic Black voices in celebration of Black History Month.
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