The Obama campaign turned the old school way of political outreach on its ear once again, this past weekend. Rap music mogul Jay-Z and his crew hit Detroit, Michigan, Saturday, for a free concert at Cobo Hall, in an effort to register young voters before the deadline (today, October 6th). The strategy seemed to work, with nearly 12,000 young people, of all ethnicities, showed up to hear the rapper put on a full concert and to show their support to the campaign of presidential candidate Barack Obama. In addition to the 75 minute concert, there were hundreds of young Change We Can Believe In volunteers with clip boards registering young voters and signing them up to volunteer in the critical days left in the campaign. While final numbers aren’t in, Brent Colburn, a member of the Michigan Obama campaign staff said “we registered thousands of people through that event.” He estimates that one in three people who got tickets also got registered to vote. Many who scored tickets were already registered.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Sean Carter, told the crowd that “this is the most important election of your lifetime, and your parents’ lifetime.” Carter, who has been an ardent and vocal supporter of Obama said, “I just wanted to make sure that I have done everything I can do to help elect the first black president of America.”
One concertgoer said, “I came to see Jay-Z, but I registered because of Obama.” One of the volunteers said that the flow of people coming up to her to get registered had been constant. “In the last hour I have registered 30 people myself,” she said. She added that they were also signing up volunteers to help get registered voters to the polls. Volunteers asked for phone numbers, addresses, and emails in order to make future contact.
Will the concert Jay-Z held in Detroit and the one in Miami on Sunday translate into young people actually hitting the polls? We won’t know until November 4th. But if this and the other strategies the Obama campaign has used, such as social networking sites and text messaging to engage younger voters where they are, prove successful, look for the rules of political engagement to change from now on. As comedian Bill Maher says, “New Rules!”
See my post on Huffington Post on the Forest Whitaker visit for Obama
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-king-collier/actor-forest-whitaker-stu_b_133303.html
When I was about 8 years old, I went to the A&P that used to be on Grant Street in Gary, Indiana with my grandfather. It wasn’t unusual to go there, in fact, we went almost every day.
But on this particular day, a white woman was screaming because her toddler was choking. The people in the store stood there, not quite knowing what to do. The next thing I know, my grandpa, takes the baby from the lady’s arms, turns him at an angle and does something I know now was like the Heimlich maneuver. The woman looked even more horrified that this black man snatched her baby, than the fact that the kid was choking. In just a second, a big piece of candy shot out of the boy’s mouth, and Grandpa handed the boy back to his mom. I don’t know that the woman thanked him, but the store manager gave us a ham.
That moment taught me a lot about my grandfather, a proud black man, and the America that we lived in back then. Over the years it was one of many times that I would see him as a type of superhero. It was through him that I set my standards of what a truly decent man should be. He was my blueprint of what a father was about. And through the circles that he and my grandmother moved, I was introduced to other wonderful black men who worked hard, loved their families, and believed that America could and should be better. Born in 1908 in the deep South, he had seen the worst in this country and the best. When I was 8, I didn’t understand how brave it was for him to take that child from his mother’s arms, even if to save his life.
When I went away to college, he had lost most of his eyesight. But he sent me a letter that I still carry with me. It was in the scrawl of an old man who could hardly see. It wasn’t a long letter but it was a reminder of who I was, and he, my grandmother and my mother had invested in me. “Don’t ever forget who you were raised to be,” he said. When I read it then, and when I pull it out of its safe hiding place, I think about a lot of things, and I wonder if it means that I have to be a superhero too. I am far from a superhero, but I have never forgotten the lessons he taught by word and by example.
My grandfather died over a decade ago, but I always ask myself what he would think of my life, and of the progress this country has made. Would he and my grandmother think that the life I lead honors all that they tried to instill in me. The first big test was having one of my own kids graduate from college or even high school, because they believed that education is the key to opportunity. Another was finally being able to replicate his super secret recipe for his homemade ice cream, because it meant that I have been able to bring their home into my own. The fact that I work for myself, out of my home is something else that would make him smile.
And now I wonder what would he say if he knew that America has come far enough to even consider the possibility that Barack Obama, a man of color could possibly be elected president? Back in the 60s my grandfather took me with him to register black folks to vote (some for the first time). He believed that one of the main ways that political progress would come, was if people—all people had a voice.
He and so many people who fought hard to level the playing field would be beaming with pride. He’d probably be slightly disappointed, because he told me that one day he expected me to be the first black president (no pressure there). Yet, I know he, and all the people who fought for equality—a fair shot, are cheering. When Barack Obama becomes the people's POTUS (President of the United States), all those who paid a high price for us to get this far will be cheering. And so will I.
