Politics
How Advocates Are Working to Organize, Energize Black Voters in 2024 Election
While a Black woman at the top of a major party ticket for the first time in history has certainly energized many Black voters, some organizers say it’s not enough.
A local church, with the support of Black-owned foundations, is launching a strategic voting initiative. The church is bringing in local and national star power like the Rev. Al Sharpton to engage more Black voters and encourage them to coalesce around one candidate.
“Strategic voting was an initiative by the church to be able to move and educate our congregation and the community about not just voting our individual personal interest but how we vote for our children and our children’s children,” said the Rev. Byron Brazier, pastor of Apostolic Church of God. “It is an educational forum about how we strategically look at voting and the electoral process as part of our ongoing work.”
The Black eligible voter population in the U.S. is projected to reach 34.4 million in November 2024 — up 7% from 2020. Advocates say the stakes for this presidential election are higher than ever.
“When we think about what’s at stake, considering democracy, considering all the things that we see in Project 2025, it’s important that we educate,” said Rufus Williams, host of WVON The Morning Show with Rufus Williams.
Project 2025 played a pivotal role in the process behind organizing this weekend’s upcoming town hall, slated for Sunday night in Chicago’s Woodlawn community.
“When you take a look at Project 2025, they want to produce a way of life that goes back to the 1950s,” Brazier said. “That’s not the life we’re going to vote for.”
Brazier and his fellow organizers plan to address several talking points during the event including ways to improve the quality of life for African American youth and future generations. Part of their efforts involve including a young adults panel to target Gen Z voters.
“This is my opportunity to push and promote the agenda to vote because it affects us all,” said Quonyel Shelton, a youth activist and intern at the Louis Carr Foundation.
Shelton believes it’s important for her generation to research and understand how voting and choosing not to vote will affect the generation in the future.
“Each vote does in fact matter,” Williams said. “Not voting is even more egregious, because there are people, in my lifetime, who lost their lives trying to just have that opportunity to do so. It is such a slight to all of them by not participating in the process.”
The group wants community members not only to vote but to vote with a purpose. Casting a ballot is the first step to a multifaceted approach that goes beyond strategic voting.
“You have to fight the giants for your generation,” Brazier said. “You can’t leave them for the next. The fight begins at the ballot box, but it doesn’t end there.”
The strategic voting town hall will take place at 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, at the ACOG Banquet Hall, 6320 S. Dorchester Ave. Panelists include Sharpton, Williams and several other prominent members of the community. The young adults town hall will take place at the same location in the Kenwood Sanctuary.
