Voting isn’t the end all be all; nor will it mitigate the issues overnight that cause frustration. It will, however, create leverage for communities, and that’s a powerful component to any negotiation.
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Saturday, March 21st, 2015, will be a busy day for the President of the globally recognized nonprofit organization, Hip Hop Caucus, whose latest project is a climate change awareness hip-hop album, which features Common, Ne-Yo and Elle Varner, to name a few.
On the road, making appearance, giving speeches and organizing communities, Rev. Lennox Yearwood has a schedule that would rival many of those who he features on the H.O.M.E album.
But despite the busy days and nights – some which include rubbing elbows with the policymakers around Washington, D.C. – the co-founder of the popular Vote or Die campaign always finds time to talk about a right that every American, who is able, should exercise.
Carving out the 1-2pm block on the third Saturday of March, Rev. Yearwood will join a stellar, multi-city panel of black male thought-leaders for an online town hall presented by Black and Bold Voices entitled “WHY THE BLACK VOTE MATTERS,” a conversation powered by Techbook Online and heard live exclusively on www.TheDrVibeShow.com, 2012 Black Weblog Award Winner for Best International Blog.
Accompanying the Shreveport minister and community activist for the wide-ranging, yet focused targeted discussion is Mr. Ari Merretazon, a decorated Vietnam veteran who won the 2013 Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust Award for his decades of service and advocacy on behalf of vulnerable veterans and who next month in Philadelphia will host a candidates forum specifically on veteran’s issues; Mr. Desmond Meade, who chairs the Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s Black Men’s Roundtable and who is currently engaged in a campaign to re-enfranchise the over 5 million returning citizens nationally who are prevented from voting; Mr. Paul “Frosty” Jackson, a millennial thought-leader, writer, budding activist and member of the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice Steering Committee; lead activist organizing around the high-profile, Bridgeton fatal officer involved shooting death of Mr. Jerame Reid, Mr. Walter Hudson, who serves as Chairman for the National Awareness Alliance, and more!
Mr. Hudson, in an interview with Techbook Online following a tense ending to an otherwise peaceful protest against police violence, said that in addition to pushing for a civilian oversight board of the Bridgeton Police Department and the arrest of the officers who killed Mr. Reid, he’s attempting to connect with residents to show them the link between the policing and politics.
Bridgeton, a poor, predominately black and brown city, had low voter turnout in its last election, Mr. Hudson informed me. But that truth could be applied to almost any city in America. In fact, according to The Washington Post, “General Election voter turnout for the 2014 midterms was the lowest it’s been in any election cycle since World War II.”
It’s my truly mind boggling when you think of all the individuals and communities nationwide expressing frustrations about rules, policies, or practices of government and yet no uptick in voter turnout.
The only explanation I can muster is that people just don’t get it – they literally don’t understand the connection. Voting isn’t the end all be all; nor will it mitigate the issues overnight that cause frustration. It will, however, create leverage for communities, and that’s a powerful component to any negotiation.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™