#Saytheirnames: Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss
“My mom was just handing me a ginger mint.” — Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, witness at the January 6th committee hearings.
Happy 4th of July! America’s day to celebrate our independence and the brave people who make it possible. I’ve been thinking about our democracy and freedoms of late as I have watched the January 6th House committee hearings. I’m pretty sure I’ve watched every minute of them. I guess semi-retirement affords me the luxury of flex time so I can watch the hearings at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Tuesday. I’m glad because it feels important. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it feels like the health of our democracy is at stake. These hearings have given me a measure of hope as brave Democrats and Republicans have stood up to protect our democratic processes.
I’ve listened to hours of testimony by former white house staffers, Department of Justice attorneys, even election officials who have detailed how they endured threats of violence against themselves and family members after refusing to overturn 2020 election results. The Arizona State House Speaker, a seemingly devout Christian and conservative Republican, testified as to the pressure exerted on him by Donald Trump and his allies to toss out the results of his state’s election. When he refused, “things got ugly”. Protestors camped outside his home, calling him a pedophile and corrupt politician. His gravely ill daughter was forced to hear this ugliness. She died months later.
But it was the story of a volunteer election worker in Fulton County, Georgia, that I found most compelling. The lives of Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, were upended by the president of the United States and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Donald Trump invoked Ruby Freeman’s name eighteen times in a conversation with Georgia election officials, accusing her and her daughter of stealing the presidential election. Rudy Giuliani said the two women “were passing around USB drives like vials of heroin or cocaine.” What were they really passing? A ginger mint.
That now infamous ginger mint cost these two women their homes, their reputations, and even their names. “Do you know what it feels like to have the President of the United States target you?” Freeman queries the investigators during her video testimony.
The targeting resulted in racist attacks and threats from Donald Trump’s sycophantic minions. Trump supporters forced their way into the house of Shaye Moss’s grandmother, saying they were there to make a citizen’s arrest. The FBI urged the women to leave their homes for two months for their own safety. They were afraid to use their names in the grocery store or with restaurant orders for fear of repercussions.
They were afraid to use their own names. Imagine that. Being fearful of saying, “Hi, I’m Liz Kitchens.” My name is my calling card. I can’t imagine being afraid to give my name to the Starbuck’s barista or list it as next of kin on my husband’s medical forms for fear of retaliation.
#SayTheirNames is a movement encouraging people and publications to focus on the humanity of black Americans targeted with violence because of the color of their skin. I first became aware of this movement following the death of George Floyd in May 2020. This social movement sought to illuminate the names of victims of violence, such as Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile, and Breonna Taylor. Though thank God Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman are still alive, their names now join this list. They were victims of politically motivated abuse and threats of violence.
Ruby Freeman has been known in her community as “Lady Ruby”. Ms. Freeman operates her small business, Lady Ruby’s Unique Taste & Treasures, out of a mall kiosk. She even sells tee-shirts in various colors that say, “Lady Ruby.” I want one of those shirts, but I want to buy it from her, not an unrelated company trying to make money off her misery.
Ms. Freeman testified she stopped wearing these tees out of fear she might be recognized and suffer harm. I wanted to help. Perhaps post about my indignation on Facebook or help with a GoFundMe campaign. I typed in the hashtag #Rubyfreeman and was shocked at what I saw. Here is one example Coyle posted on FB on January 5, 2021:
“If you haven’t looked at the evidence for this stolen election it’s probably because you are being coddled by a mainstream media that wants to lull you asleep like a frog in boiling water. This is no longer about Donald Trump; this is about election integrity for you and your children’s children. If you can’t wake up now when your republic is being taken from you by a minority of corrupt individuals, you truely (sic) never will. If 75 million people can’t elect a president for the Republican party, the Republican party will never again have a president. If 18/19 bellwether county’s (sic) are proven wrong you can’t say this was a free and fair election. If you don’t even know the name #RubyFreeman, you are truely (sic) lost.”
There were many of these kinds of posts. Prior to their Tuesday, June 21st testimony, people had hijacked Ruby Freeman’s name for evil. Following the airing of her testimony. Ruby took her name back. Comments have become supportive rather than hateful. Someone using this hashtag said, “I declare today Ruby Tuesday.” As The Late Show host, Stephen Colbert said, “America is going to have to choose between Shady Rudy and Lady Ruby.”
I choose Lady Ruby and Wandrea Shaye Moss. #Saytheirnames. Help them take their names and lives back in this land of the free and the brave.
