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Campaigns Making Their Pitches at HBCUs

By Black College Wire

Photo credit: Reginald Christian/Albany State University "We fight to the death for that which we do not have, and once we get it, we take it for granted," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said at Albany State. "That is ingratitude."

With the national election less than a month away, historically black colleges and universities have become magnets for get-out-the-vote activists and the presidential candidates' campaigns.

Many have targeted African American students with voter drives that peak this month with the states' deadlines for registering to vote Nov. 2. In a number of states, registration ended Oct. 4, but in many others the clarion to sign up now and vote in November still sounds on college campuses.

"I am somebody! Keep hope alive! Let's go vote! Everybody scream!" Florida A&M students chanted, echoing the exhortations of Jesse Jackson when his "Hope is on the Way" tour stopped through Tallahassee on Sept. 30.

The black vote can shift the upcoming election, Jackson said, encouraging students to use the voting rights won by previous generations.

"Students have so much invested in this election and don't even realize it. This election will affect tuition rates, scholarships, job availability after graduation and the ending of the war," Jackson said. "When you decide to come alive and choose future over funerals and hope over dope, you can change the dynamic of the playing field and shape our world. Go vote!"

Some in the parade of celebrities, civil rights leaders, hip-hop artists, activists and politicians had the backing of nonpartisan voter registration groups, such as the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation's Unity '04 Voter Empowerment Campaign. But a noticeable majority pushed the Democratic Party agenda and counted on being welcomed by a well-established base of supporters on many campuses. Republicans also have stepped up their appeal to young black voters; President Bush's support for historically black colleges has become a staple of the Republican campaign.

At a Southern University football game, the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus showered students with gifts and T-shirts while signing up voters.

The daughters of Democratic hopefuls John Kerry and John Edwards praised their dads at North Carolina Central University.

Al Sharpton told Florida A&M students that their votes would affect the selection of future Supreme Court justices.

"He really made it clear that this election is much deeper than Bush vs. Kerry," said Kori Scott, a business administration graduate student.

Photo credit: Carla Aaron-Lopez/The Campus Echo The daughters of Democratic hopefuls John Kerry and John Edwards made a stop at North Carolina Central. From left, Cate Edwards, Alexandra Kerry and Vanessa Kerry.

Separately, the speakers stressed community empowerment and national issues that student voters can influence, including the fate of affirmative action, the war on terrorism and the potential for a future military draft.

Many expressed the view that college students represent untapped voting power.

Only about 42 percent of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds voted in 2000, compared with about 64 percent of eligible voters ages 25 and older, according to University of Maryland civic engagement research. The proportion of young adults who voted in non-presidential elections was even smaller. That leaves lots of room for recruitment.

"There are more students enrolled at Southern than there are members in the [legislative] district where the university is located," said Suchitra J. Satpathi, executive director of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. "If every student voted, they would have enough power to elect any individual they wanted into office."

Photo credit: C. Chappelle/The Famuan The Rev. Al Sharpton talks to a FAMU student´s mother after an impromptu speech on that campus about on the importance of student voting.

At North Carolina Central University, Chancellor James H. Ammons declared September "Voter Registration Month," and faculty and students manned registration tables across the campus.

"Much of our political involvement is based on how we are socialized as we grow up in the family, churches, schools and things of that nature, said Jarvis Hall, chairman of political science and leader of the registration drive. "If it's not something that is promoted in the family, then you will find a lot of young folk -- and unfortunately a disproportionate number of minorities -- don't participate as well as they should."

However, Hall added, students are too often branded as not caring. "There is an incorrect stereotype of our students being apathetic, as being detached from the political system," he said.

North Carolina Central freshman Taissa Jones agreed.

"It's very, very important to vote because we need to get things in our community that we need," she said.

At Albany State University in Georgia, junior Robert Williams, a business management major and president of the NAACP student chapter, said of the right to vote, "We are a generation that has had this given to us on the backs and through the blood of those before us. We are going to do whatever is necessary to make sure people get out there to vote."

Contributing were Keith Jones of The Famuan, Florida A&M; Khadijah Darboe of The Campus Echo, North Carolina Central University; Jonathan Platt of The Campus Echo, North Carolina Central University; Fallon Hamilton of The Southern Digest, Southern University; and Brianca Holloman, The Student Voice, Albany State University.

Posted Oct. 8, 2004