By Shannon Dawson
Black Voters Matter (BVM) is heading to Houston ahead of HBCU All-Star Game to educate college students on critical voting issues.
The “Take The Field” initiative, which is being spearheaded alongside the Transformative Justice Coalition, will inform students about social justice issues and educate them on their voting rights. The exciting event will be jam-packed with student panel discussions and engagement events, highlighting topics such as mental health, police violence, student loan debt and voter suppression, according to BVM’s website.
“Students have always been a critical part of movement-building,” said Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter said in a statement.
“As our attention this year turns from national politics back to state and local politics, BVM is closely monitoring the censorship that we see happening in our public schools and the voter suppression tactics that continue to impact states around the country. We are committed to protecting the voting rights of Black and brown communities, and seek to mobilize students across the country to engage on these issues in meaningful and impactful ways.”
The important initiative comes at a critical time in Texas politics. Lawmakers have proposed to eliminate election sites across college campuses with House Bill 2390. Some politicians have even introduced legislation that aims to form an election fraud task force to assess votes. This could hurt voters of color and negatively impact Houston’s Independent School District.
“The takeover of Houston’s public schools – which are predominantly composed of and overseen by Black and brown communities — ties into a larger national strategy to strip power from Black institutions, similarly seen with proposed legislation in the majority-Black city of Jackson, MS,” BVM noted.
