Founders of ‘Black Voters Matter’ and ‘Woke Vote’ Discuss Black Electoral Empowerment in the South | The Harvard Crimson

Southerners Organizing Urgent Transformation through Harvard College, a recently formed student group, and the Institute of Politics’ Politics of Race and Ethnicity program co-hosted “Black Voters Matter: Conversation on Black Electoral Empowerment.” The event was intended to engage students from Harvard, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi, and University of Alabama.

The “Black Votes Matter” and “Woke Vote” programs were designed to mobilize African-American voters in Georgia and Alabama, respectively. According to Brown, there is an unrealized potential of black electoral power in the South.

“We have a particular kind of framework that says there are red-states and blue states,” Brown said. “If you use that as your analysis around who’s progressive and who’s not progressive, then you completely overlook that there are progressive pockets of voters in the Deep South.”