At one of Hip Hop’s largest annual events, Hip Hop Caucus is working with activists, academics, and artists to drive social justice and environmental solutions through advocacy and non-partisan electoral organizing
Atlanta, Georgia – October 6, 2017 – This week at one of the world’s largest hip hop festivals, Hip Hop Caucus has partnered with A3C to train and organize young people on the power of art, music, and hip hop culture advance social justice and civic engagement. Founded in 2005, A3C has grown from a local showcase to become one of the most important hip-hop events of the year, and is commonly referred to as “Hip-Hop’s Family Reunion.”
The Action Summit at A3C powered by Hip Hop Caucus is two days of dedicated programming at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in the center of the festival stages and events in Atlanta. The programing includes a series of events and workshops featuring activists, academics, and artists that explore how to best address social justice challenges through community driven solutions and develop actionable initiatives for young people. Three major tracks for the Action Summit are Police Reform, Getting Out the Youth Vote, and Climate Change and Environmental Justice.
As part of the Action Summit, Hip Hop Caucus joined forces with the Center for Civic Innovation for the A3C Action Pitch National Competition to find, support, and invest in new, innovative ideas that use hip-hop culture as a vehicle to advance social justice and civic engagement. Five finalists will do their final pitches in front of judges and a national audience at the A3C Action Summit this evening. Finalists are competing for $10,000 in cash and business development training. More information on the pitch competition can be found here.
“Social justice movements need innovation and need the energy of young people to drive bold agendas,” said Liz Havstad, COO and Executive Director of Hip Hop Caucus, who will be one of the judges of the Pitch Competition. “Hip Hop Caucus invests in creative communities and young people to be the drivers of change through advocacy and non-partisan electoral organizing, and we are proud to bring empowerment to cultural spaces like the A3C Festival and Conference.”
The Action Summit at A3C powered by Hip Hop Caucus will also feature keynotes from No Malice, formerly of the acclaimed rap duo The Clipse, and Mustafa Santiago Ali, Senior Vice President of Climate, Environmental Justice & Community Revitalization at Hip Hop Caucus.
“At this moment in our country, we must use hip hop – the artform and the culture – to help us organize our collective voices to create change,” said No Malice. “There is a moral voice in Hip Hop that speaks to injustice and struggle, and that is what we are tapping into at the Action Summit at A3C powered by Hip Hop Caucus, and it is what we are tapping into right now in my home state of Virginia to get young people out to vote in our election this November.”
For more information about Hip Hop Caucus at A3C, please visit www.HipHopCaucus.org/A3C and www.a3cfestival.com/action-summit. You can also continue the conversation with us on social media, @HipHopCaucus on everything.
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Antoniewicz, mark@hiphopcaucus.org, 202-870-8476
ABOUT HIP HOP CAUCUS: Formed in 2004, the Hip Hop Caucus (HHC) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that connects the Hip Hop community to the civic process to build power and create positive change. Through a collaborative leadership network and support of community-driven solutions, HHC focuses on addressing core issues affecting underserved and vulnerable communities. HHC hopes to establish the culture and practice of voting as part of a desired civic lifestyle as well as empower and train leaders and volunteers from our communities to be strategic leaders, messengers, and spokespeople for issues critical to equality, justice, and opportunity.
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Hip Hop Caucus’ non-partisan initiative reaches young voters and voters of color with Virginia cultural influencers issuing a calls to action to register to vote by October 16th deadline
Washington D.C. – Respect My Vote! kicked off a final push to make sure people across the Commonwealth are registered to vote ahead of the November 7th elections. The campaign is promoting young Virginia media, artist, activist and social media influencers as spokespeople.
Last Friday marked the 100th birthday of the civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer and the campaign joined the civil rights community to call for people to honor her by registering to vote. Rev Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus President & CEO, wrote an op-ed in RVA Magazine connecting her spirit to the importance of voting in the upcoming Virginia elections. This year’s Virginia campaign is being lead by No Malice, formerly of the acclaimed rap duo The Clipse and Virginia Beach native. The deadline to register in Virginia is October 16th, and people can do so by visiting RespectMyVote.com.
For more information and to stay updated, check out:
- Read Rev Yearwood’s new op-ed in RVA Magazine
- New Website
- Register to Vote (October 16 deadline in Virginia)
- Sign-up for Updates
- Follow @HipHopCaucus on social media
Respect My Vote! was first launched in 2008 and has since engaged millions of people during election cycles throughout the United States . Through partnerships with nonprofits, businesses, media and entertainment companies, and celebrity spokespeople, the campaign focuses on voter registration, voter education, get-out-the-vote, and voter rights . Spokespeople have included Vic Mensa, T.I., Charlamagne tha God, Keke Palmer, 2 Chainz, Amber Rose, Future, and hundreds of other artists and community leaders. Respect My Vote! is a non-partisan, voter registration, education, and mobilization campaign of the Hip Hop Caucus
Formed in 2004, the Hip Hop Caucus (HHC) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that connects the Hip Hop community to the civic process to build power and create positive change. Through a collaborative leadership network and support of community-driven solutions, HHC focuses on addressing core issues affecting underserved and vulnerable communities. HHC hopes to establish the culture and practice of voting as part of a desired civic lifestyle, as well as empower and train leaders and volunteers from our communities to be strategic leaders, messengers, and spokespeople for issues critical to equality, justice, and opportunity . More at HipHopCaucus.org.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Antoniewicz, mark@hiphopcaucus.org, 202-506-5882
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Hundreds of people gathered for our #RespectMyVote Rally in front of the White House the morning of July 19th to protest Trump’s “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The conversation also grew online, as #RespectMyVote rocketed to the #3 trending topic in America on Twitter, and stayed trending all day long. In addition, over a half million people signed petitions pushing back on Trump’s plan to suppress voters, and those petitions were at the rally in front of the White House for delivery.
The commission, more appropriately known as Trump’s “Voter Suppression Commission”, is nothing more than a sham — as noted by the Washington Post — created in response to the blatant false claim of voter fraud in America.
Ever since losing the popular vote by almost three million votes in the 2016 election versus Hilary Clinton, President Trump has been obsessed with proving that there was wide-spread voter fraud. Earlier this year he claimed, without one shred of evidence, that 3–5 million Americans voted illegally during the election.
Now he is out to prove this false claim and is using the power of the Presidency (and your tax money) to set up a which-hunt team full of voter-suppressor all-stars. Each of member of the commission has a long track record of suppressing the vote and blatant attacks on the Voter Rights Act.
Instead of focusing on solutions to ensure more people are able to vote, such as modernizing voter registration, this commission is going to embark on a which-hunt in order to prove a false claim and set up the justification for actions that will make it harder for Americans to vote. They have long decided that those who are the most vulnerable in our country — young people, seniors, people of color — need to have more between them and the ballot box.
Voting is the fundamental right of our democracy. It is a cherished right that our soldiers die for. The United States should be a beacon for democracy throughout the world and lead by example. This new commission completely goes in the the opposite direction.
However, we have seen all of this before. And just as Dr. King and so many others did throughout this country’s history, we are going to fight with everything we have to protect our voting rights. We will always be there to protect voting for all.
We had a very special guest join us for the rally — No Malice, from the legendary hip-hop duo Clipse. No Malice also wrote an article about why he was there. Check out “No Malice Writes Letter ‘Why I’m Rallying at the White House’”. buy Super Cialis
Here’s what the #RespectMyVote Rally and trend online looked like:
You can help push back and demand that voting is made easier. It’s our American right! Click here to say #RespectMyVote!
Add your name here: actionnetwork.org/forms/respectmyvote-modernize-voting
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