PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (October 19, 2020) – The 2020 Presidential Election is proving to be one of the most consequential elections in American history. Choosing a president during a pandemic would be difficult on its own. Nevertheless, in true 2020 form, we are combining a deadly coronavirus pandemic with a severe economic downturn and increasing racial hostilities. Some may say the need to register your views through voting is literally a matter of life and death.

This is why Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) hosted a powerhouse conversation last Tuesday, the first day of early voting in Texas. Scholars, activists, and elected officials contributed to the online discussion to help viewers understand what is at stake in the election.

“In less than a month, our nation will have to decide who we really are and what is important to us. Are we a democracy that values all of its people and their contributions, or are we a nation that hoards resources and opportunities for the future?” said Melanye T. Price ’95. Price, an endowed professor of political science at PVAMU, and host of the virtual discussion entitled PVAMU Votes 2020: Voting in the Midst of a Pandemic.

The dialogue streamed live on YouTube and featured leading political commentator and scholar Melissa Harris-Perry as the moderator. Dr. Harris-Perry is the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University and a former MSNBC host. Panelists a part of the hour-plus-long discussion included U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver II ’72 (D-MO); Bishop Leah Daughtry, 2016 Chair of the Democratic National Convention and founder of Power Rising; Leah Aden, deputy director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.; Tylik McMillan, youth director for the National Action Network; and Jayla Allen ’19, the lead litigant in PVAMU’s voting rights case.

“I cannot imagine a more important time to have this discussion,” said PVAMU President Ruth J. Simmons. “Our assumptions about our rights under the U.S. Constitution have quite frankly been offended in recent years by policies, practices, and intentions that are being designed to impede civil and human rights advances,” she said. “We must stand up, turn back the tide of racism, insist on equal rights, and exercise those rights lest they be lost to future generations.”

The Power Rests in the Hands of Younger Generations

Harris-Perry kicked off the conversation with Allen and McMillan, whom she dubbed the “Political Science Posse.” They explained their views on this year’s elections and the tremendous impact younger generations have on them.

“There are so many young people out there who are just like me, who are moving away from home for the very first time, and who are registering to vote and going to cast their ballots. But, what’s so important?” said Allen. “The fact is, yes, it is a presidential election, but there are state and local officials who are on that ballot as well. We need to make sure that those people we’re electing to represent us are doing just that and making sure that we’re holding them accountable any way that we can.”

McMillan, on the other hand, said young people do not need reminders. Most of them already realize the power they have.

“We know what we want, and we know what we deserve,” he said. “We see voter suppression on our campuses, where our vote is being diluted, and we see how folks are trying to keep us away from the ballot. So, we understand that they wouldn’t be trying to suppress our vote if our vote was not important.”

Aden represents Allen, along with several other PVAMU students, in a voting rights case. Their goal is to ensure university students have full access to full voting opportunities in Waller County, the county where PVAMU is located.

“There is, in some ways, a source of pride over what this community has overcome over multiple generations. But, it’s also quite sad, the amount of suppression that this one community has experienced,” she said. “It is suppression at some of the most acute levels – indicting students for participating; that is a remarkable thing, to have the power of a county try to criminalize voting.”

According to Aden, it is up to the people to make the legal system work for them.

“We have to show up and vote because we are ceding power when we don’t,” she said.

Another Demographic Also Holds the Power

Harris-Perry says there are two sides to voting: voter turnout and voter choice. Turnout is actually showing up to vote, which one group of people did not have a problem doing in 2008 and 2012.

“According to a U.S. Elections report, Black women had the highest turnout rate of voting in 2008 and 2012 of over 70-percent,” said Harris-Perry. “In other words, in 2008 and 2012, Black women voted as though it was illegal not to show up and vote for Michelle’s husband. Their turnout in those elections was the reason President [Barack] Obama was elected and then reelected.”

Harris-Perry asked Daughtry to weigh in on the power of the Black woman’s vote.

“Seventy-two-percent of black women are registered to vote,” Daughtry said. “All you got to do is give us half a reason—half a reason to show up, and we’re going to show up. Because we know we’re not voting for ourselves, we’re voting for our communities, voting for our families, and we understand that we’re carrying this nation on our back.”

A Difficult Season Ahead

Unfortunately, COVID-19 is looming over this election season, which could make voting a life-threatening situation. Cleaver tweeted earlier that race is one of the strongest predictors of how long someone has to wait in line to vote. The lines to vote in African American communities are sometimes as much as three times as long.

“But Black folk are essentially saying you can do anything you want to do to me. I’m going to vote, and I’m going stand in line a long time to vote,” Cleaver said. “When I saw this, I got excited, and chills started to run through me like they did when I saw people spending the night to vote for Nelson Mandela, and then doing almost the same thing for [President] Barack Obama.”

Remaining Steadfast Voters throughout the Years

All of the participants agreed this same zeal for voting must continue every year, not just for presidential elections.

“There are so many decisions that people were making about your life, and you have a role to play in them. It does not end in 2020,” said Aden.

“Show up and vote so that it is not close. This is not just about Democrats versus Republicans. This is about our own lived history,” said Harris-Perry.

Watch PVAMU Votes 2020: Voting in the Midst of a Pandemic in its entirety at www.youtube.com/pvamu.

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