This week’s show on Tuesday, September 27th from 12:00-1:00 p.m. will cover the Millennial Votes Matter Convening and the Charlotte Uprising following the police killing of Keith Scott. We will explore the question of how these events will affect the 2016 Elections while reminding everyone to Register to Vote on National Voter Registration Day. Of course, we will discuss perspectives on Monday’s Presidential Debate. Our expert guests will include activists and leaders from Charlotte and some of the participants from the Millennial Votes Matter Convening including Charlotte leader, Rev. Glencie Rhedrick; New Mexico Native American Rights youth activist, Hope Alvarado; and Michigan young leader, Rasheed Atwater and more to be announced!
A great group of 30 young leaders including students and grassroots activists from 15 states were convened by the Transformative Justice Coalition for an intensive non-partisan training and dialogue focusing on Millennial Votes Matters at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. The program had many highlights! The young leaders and activists including African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asians and persons with disabilities, were themselves remarkable in the breadth of their local, state and national activism. They shared amazing learning among themselves. The informal and highly interactive programming covered a review of voting rights challenges from now until 2020. Voter registration, voter education, GOTV, election protection and accountability were main subjects of this convening. We also covered reapportionment and redistricting, voter suppression, voter purging and recent court victories.
Throughout the training current issues such as Flint water crisis, police killings, felon disenfranchisement, and Renowned civil rights attorney Junius Williams gave a riveting speech about SNCC and student organizing in the South and in Selma. There were panels of millennials that covered many issues including vulnerable communities including disability rights. Another highlight was the interactive media training conducted by Hands Up United leaders TDubbO and Rika Tyler. Everyone left the training with more knowledge and skills than they had beforehand. Many stated that they were going to train others and share their learning.
Sadly, since our last show, there have been more unjustified police killings of Black men and women. The slaying of Keith Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina by the Charlotte Police Department has ignited the Charlotte Uprising! Mr. Scott who suffered from a brain injury had been sitting in his car waiting to pick up his child from school when police who said they had observed him smoking weed and brandishing a gun inside the car jumped out in plainclothes and demanded he come out the car. All the time, Mr. Scott’s wife was screaming for the police to not shoot yet he was shot dead when he exited the car. Video footage, family accounts, and police accounts have highlighted the issue of police lies, deceptions and deflections while enraging a community.
Our show will talk with those who have been in the street demanding justice in Charlotte. What are the next steps for the Charlotte community! We also will discuss some of the overlooked police killings such as that of #TerrenceSterling in Washington, D.C.
Will the issue of the epidemic of police killings be raised during the presidential debates? How will the candidates answer? What other issues regarding racial, gender, economic and environmental justice will be raised during the debates.
And Tuesday, September 27th is Voter Registration! Be sure to check your voter registration to make sure that you are registered by calling your local Board of Elections or using tools at Rock the Vote and 866-OUR-VOTE. And if you are not registered, resolve to register now by using on-line registration form these sites.
We will discuss all of these HOT issues during Tuesday’s show!
You don’t want to miss this show!!
Be sure to Spread the Word!
Rev. Glencie Rhedrick
Difference Maker, Social Justice Advocate, Preacher, Public Speaker, Educator, Broker and more. Member of JAMN (Justice Action Mobilization Network), CCCJ (Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice), […]
Rasheed J. Atwater
I am an Afro-Saginawian who lives MAAT and works towards community autonomy. My primary focuses are education and community development. I use Afrocentric history as […]
