Today we’d like to introduce you to André D. Fields.
So, before we jump into specific questions about what you do, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Service — for as long as I can remember, has always been at the center of my life. Since I was a child, I have always felt I had a voice and was encouraged to use it, especially if that meant to help improve the lot of others. I have always been guided by the words, “Service is the rent we pay for living.” The way I see it is that adding to the sum of human happiness, while lessening the tide of human suffering has always been at the core of who I am. In high school, I led a protest against the Board of Education when they did not hold their commitment to my peers. In undergrad, through what was abecedarian organizing, I won the campus-wide office that allowed our Student Association to be more reflective of the people it served. I have always found a way to serve I am grateful to have had opportunities to be in spaces that have allowed me to help improve a lot of others in both large and small ways. After undergrad, I organized in New York City with the Working Families Party — a place where I learned the framework on how to create real and lasting change. Today, I lead the political department at a voting rights organization, where it is our key mission to promote fair elections in Georgia and around the country, encourage voter participation in elections, and educate voters about elections and their voting rights. We bring awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engage in targeted voter registration and other voter outreach programs and communications. I handle a great of our electoral work and all of our legislative & policy advocacy. It is because of great mentors and even failure in some instances that I have made it into this space today.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No road is ever easily traveled. My journey has been one of ebbs and flows. However, along the way, I have learned many valuable lessons. Someone smarter than me once wrote that “defeat is often an orphan, while victory has a thousand fathers.” In my moments of struggle or defeat, I have always tried to use the lessons to growth for whatever fight I took on next. Working in politics, organizing, and fighting harmful institutions can be difficult, but it can also bring joy. Joy is an emotion that I have tried to hold tightly because, without it, my work would be even more difficult. I find joy when we can inspire people to step out on faith and cast a ballot, even if they have never voted before; and have had the core belief that all politics is a joke. I have found joy when after a long day, or week, or month, that we have achieved small victories, despite the forces and circumstances that are often aligned against us. I have found joy in working with a band of warriors who wake up every day and stand shoulder to shoulder with me to make good on the promise that we seek to form a more perfect union, where the least of us are lifted up and never forgotten or left behind. There are many days when defeat is that orphan, and during those days, that is when I dig deep to fight because none of us can truly be free until we are all free. These struggles, these losses, these moments of despair and confusion have all helped develop the strength I have used to always lift up those who are unseen and unheard. So, while the ride hasn’t always been smooth, it has been worth it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Fair Fight Action story. Tell us more about it.
I am and have always been an organizer, activist, and servant who is committed to seeing that our most marginalized communities are lifted up in ways that will center them in all discussions about the change we wish to see. In regards to Fair Fight, we were founded by Stacey Abrams in 2018 in response to the mismanagement and irregularities of the 2018 gubernatorial election. We promote fair elections in Georgia and around the country, encourage voter participation in elections, and educate voters about elections and their voting rights. Additionally, we bring awareness to the public on election reform, advocate for election reform at all levels, and engage in targeted voter registration and other voter outreach programs and communications. We do this because voters face countless obstacles in Georgia that we stand ready to remedy in a lawsuit that we have launched against the state. They include: Registration forms that don’t get processed. Exact match laws: Requires that citizens’ names on their government-issued IDs must precisely match their names as listed on the voter rolls. If the two don’t match, additional verification by a local registrar will be necessary; 8/10 voters impacted by exact match were voters of color. Use-it-or-lose-it laws: Voters who don’t cast ballots in multiple elections can be removed from the voter rolls; 1.4 million voters purged from the rolls under Brian Kemp’s tenure as Secretary of State. Long lines: While some people wait two minutes, others wait three or four hours. Closed polling locations. 214 locations were closed on Brian Kemp’s watch as Secretary of State. Provisional ballots: Issued when registration or identification cannot be verified, these ballots are only counted if voters prove their eligibility within three days of the election. Vote slippage: Happens when you have an old touch screen that’s miscalibrated, you touch it and it doesn’t register your vote correctly. Votes disappearing: 100,000 votes missing in Georgia’s 2018 lieutenant governor’s contest.
The work that we do is crucial for the current and next generation of voters. If we want to expand the electorate, then we must make sure that people have confidence in the system. In our case against the state, we have formed major alliances to seek remedy: Fair Fight Action, Care in Action, and more than 500 congregations including Ebenezer Baptist Church (Martin Luther King Jr.’s home church). What we are seeking is the following: The suit seeks to bail Georgia back into Voting Rights Act preclearance requirements that were dismantled in Shelby v. Holder for any changes to voting in the state and, the suit seeks relief for Georgians from an elections system in this state that violates the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. We often say that this case is the Brown v. Board of Education case of civil rights for our time. I am most proud that we have been able to organize faith groups, allied organizations, and elected officials to bring light to the malevolent actions of this state.
What sets me apart from others? I think my ability to form and maintain relationships and alliances to actually make a difference has been a key strength as I navigate the icy waters of this political ocean. I think my deep love of the people and remembering that they always come first is what keeps me grounded and motivated. I think of my ancestors who labored through the sins of this nation, and how my voice is my inheritance that has been bequeathed for a purpose greater than anything I can imagine. I think of my teenage mother, who probably didn’t know how they were going to raise a baby without having yet finished High School, but a community, a tribe lifted them up and covered her so that her dreams could be fulfilled — as could her child’s. I see my teenage drug-dealing father, who lost his way because he believed the world couldn’t see him. This invisibility led to a life of bad decisions, and once he attempted to atone for those mistakes, it had already become too late. He died without having truly received that vindication that he so desperately sought. So when I go Now, I have met and worked with Presidents, Governors, Senators, Members of Congress, Mayors, and some of the most dynamic leaders of our time, whose names will certainly one day be etched in the stones of history. I am forever guided by the words of the Prophet Micah, who informed us to, “do justice, [and] love mercy…” It is because that I hold these things near and dear that I will never lose sight of my purpose. Furthermore, I am grateful for all of the spaces that I have been invited into and the trust that has been afforded to me by dynamic leaders such as Stacey Abrams, and Lauren Groh-Wargo.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I would not say that luck has played a role in my life. However, I will say grace is a huge factor in why I am where I am today. As I said earlier, had it not been for previous generations who sacrificed for posterity, I would not be where I am today. Grace has covered me. Praying elders have covered me. I am grateful for a tribe of friends and family who have consistently encouraged me to be strong and of good courage. I am blessed for the people who have consistently poured into me. My teachers in elementary school, Mrs. Miriam Trice, who first sparked my love of history; Mrs. Lillian Watson, who was my elementary school Principal, always encouraged us that Black is beautiful and how we should never forget it even when the world tried to show us something different every day. There was Mr. Donald Jackson, Mrs. Dawn Sherwood, Mrs. Dearl Topping, and Mr. Robert Amoroso who all made me dig deep and helped prepare the way for the greatness that I am not stepping into. In college, I had professors like Helen Knowles and Tony Caputo and Dr. Ken Marshall who challenged me to take my critical thinking skills to levels where they had not yet reached. Professionally, I think of all those who played a major role from Richard Bell and Velma Berry who took a High School kid and taught him how to first navigate a corporate setting. When I came to Atlanta, I remember DeAndre Jones pouring all of the oracle like knowledge and wisdom that he possessed into me; along with Genny Castillo and Ashley Robinson. I’m thankful for the strong black women in the small towns of places like Americus, Buena Vista, and Plains who opened their doors told me their stories and fed both my soul and my mind. More importantly, I am thankful incredible leaders and bosses such as Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo, who every day make sure we wake up in a world, where the least of us are never unseen and unheard. Their leadership, their wisdom, their love and their guidance has provided me with a blueprint on how we win, while always operating from my moral core.
Most importantly, I am forever thankful for the grace, and love of my family and my tribe. To the Black woman, Jamila Atiya-Lyn that gave me life reared me and continues to love me in spite of my flaws, I am grateful for your love and lessons. To the Black man, Ray Wooden who gave me life but could never find his way, and died all too sudden, I am grateful. To the Black man, Daren Lamont who took another’s son in and raised, reared, and loved him as his own, I am eternally grateful. To brothers, Jahi Daquan and Daren Lamont, Jr. — I love you and I am thankful that we share both blood and experiences that have shaped me into the man I am today. To my sisters, Darius Shane, Monae, and Tyqueshia, you both have consistently shown me what strong, independent, black women look like. The world is better for your examples and for presence. My nieces and nephew: Jada, Aria, and Kai, this work is done for you all so that the world you grow up in will be gentler, kinder, just, and always acknowledge that you all are beautiful and black. To my grandparents Carolyn and Richard, your prayers have sustained and guided me; To Doris and John, your love, lectures, and blunt advice have encouraged me to never lose my voice. To my friends Asa Fludd, Cruz Alvarado, Cameron Jones & Cameron Woods, Chance Craig, Aadon Penny, Taurean McCrea, Jameelah Tucker, Jacoria Borders, Lilli Jackson, Chelsey Hall, Michael Holloman, Hillary Holley, Troy Harvey, Jonathan Leon, Kimone Allen, Brittany Grant, Idowuo Osinowo, Rodney Johnson, Jeremy Sanders, Yussef Adams, and Andrew Chance thank you for your love, thank you for criticisms, thank you for your ears and thank you for your prayers that have lifted me up from the darkest of times and encouraged me in the happiest of moments. To my dearly departed Nahiir, your love, your partnership, and your criticism helped me to grow into a better man. I hate that you are not physically there to see what has been transpiring, but I am almost certain that you have been smiling down in amazement from above. Thank you for standing me in both life and in your spiritual form. Lastly, I must thank all those who have advocated for me over the years. Faces that I have never seen or have forgotten, it is because of you that I have been able to continue to pay it forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: fairfight.com
- Email: aduanefields@gmail.com
Image Credit:
@kevloweryphoto
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