A major challenge that we have increasingly been facing is voter outreach amongst groups with distinct concerns and struggles. Whether it is students, elderly, or members of different socio-economic or racial backgrounds, voting is relevant to all of our situations and tied to our history. We are continuously reminded that our liberation is tied to each other and our community. Recently, we attended a table-talk with various community leaders discussing outreach strategies to engage the Hispanic-American population. We presented several ideas that will allow us to experience a different culture in the context of our work, with a much different approach. We will be working with various Hispanic organizers to discuss appropriate outreach methods—translating voter registration kits and educational pamphlets into Spanish, going to various markets, and stepping up our “Souls to the Polls” program to Hispanic churches. Our struggles are different, yet similar. At the end of the day, if not for ourselves, we need to vote to represent and speak on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.
In our experience, students have also been a difficult group. You find that voter registration rates are particularly low for college campuses. It’s difficult to convince students of the importance of registering to vote at their college residency even if by law, we are required to be registered to vote where we spend the majority of our year. We were able to engage in this conversation with a Professor at High Point University, a beautiful and expanding institute in the Triad area. We were asked to be a part of a service learning project that will allow Political Science students to engage in our passion for organizing in our fight to take back our democracy. We are shaping the experience these students will have for the semester, and hopefully, beginning a new effort at HPU. It is important to remind ourselves that our work is the most patriotic of all. If students see that our work is the work of democracy, only then will we see effective change.
Our next adventure involved working with the ex-offender community. We are developing plans, systems and best practices for the various re-entry organizations and groups that work with that population to increase civic participation. By education and advocacy, we hope to restore their pride in our democracy, since so many have been misinformed and have lost all hope in the political system. So far our experience has been good, and has shown us that often times people just need to know that someone cares. Just as my liberation is bound to students all across the state, these ex-offenders’ liberation was bound to ours. There is nothing more powerful than being told that you still have a voice and that your voice matters. We have a responsibility to each other; it is this sense of community that we want to invoke in others.
Keren Salim
Tyshia Gray
Triad Team
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