The final days of any election season are the time when candidates make their “closing argument.” This is the idea, the pitch, they think will best convince you to choose them when you get in the voting booth. After speaking with the likes of Russell Simmons, Cedric The Entertainer, Jeezy, Eva Marcille, Too Short, B.o.B., and activists and students all over the country for this special feature, REVOLT’S closing argument is more fundamental. It’s more essential. It is: GO VOTE. Whatever your party. And not just for president.
Yes, the person on top will affect change and tone, and this is a consequential election with the composition of the Supreme Court hanging in the balance. But it’s all of the local offices — what people mean when they talk about a “down ballot” — that will even more directly impact your culture, your community, and your future.
“Here’s Voting” airs on REVOLT TV on Tuesday, November 8 at 1 p.m. ET.
In this piece we meditate on the stakes and the opportunity of this election season, and how social media and technology have enabled us to affect change and policy on a local level. Civil rights attorney John Burris implores us of the importance of voting for the judges and local officials who shape the policies that affect our streets. Bay legend Too Short observers that activists and interest groups contact him for rallies in presidential election cycles, but fail to drum up enthusiasm during other election years, when the stakes for local officials remain high, but largely forgotten.
We look at the candidates — Hillary Clinton’s historic run as first female major party nominee for for president, and Donald Trump’s relationship to the black electorate. And we revisit the catalyzing moments in the movement.
Producer Ephraim Walker takes us to Fruitvale Station, walking us to the spot where Oscar Grant’s death at the hands of police, in public, “started a revolution” of public consciousness. Students share their fears of high “incumbency rates” — wherein members of Congress get entrenched and are rarely ousted, creating a culture of a governing class that’s increasingly insulated and out of touch with the concerns of their constituents.
Other students pause to appreciate the momentous historical fact that’s been overshadowed by this campaign season’s circus-like antics: The knowledge, as a millennial, that generations have been working since the 1800s to see a moment like this, where a woman could be a major party nominee for the highest office in this country.
This election is not likely to be decided by last-minute “swing” voters, making up their mind in these final hours. No, this election will be determined by which side does better in getting people to the polls and turning out its vote. And for many, the fatigue of this election and the long, unsavory histories of these candidates, may dampen enthusiasm. But that’s not how change gets done. Real change requires real work. And our work, as a body electorate, begins at that ballot box.
The system is flawed, but it’s built upon the participation of its people. The more we show up, the more stake we have, the more we change the direction. That’s the message sprinkled throughout this show. And it ends with the great artist and activist Harry Belafonte, on stage, imploring his audience as he has for decades: “Let us wake up.” The best way to do that is to open your eyes, and see what’s at stake in the voting booth. Go vote. REVOLT 2 VOTE.
“Here’s Voting” airs on REVOLT TV on Tuesday, November 8 at 1 p.m. ET.