CBCF-ALC Town Hall Meeting Breaks New Ground in the Campaign to Boost Voter Registration and Turnout for the 2004 Election

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Getting out the right messages to the African-American electorate is in large measure going to increase the level of participation of the Black vote in the 2004 presidential election, according to officials who headlined the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference (CBCF ALC) Town Hall Meeting, Voter Mobilization: Preserving Our Legacy, Strengthening Our Base. The special event was seen by tens of thousands of concerned citizens across America over the Internet, with live audiences in Jacksonville, Fl., Birmingham, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Houston and Atlanta.

Viewers from each site asked the expert panelists questions via E-mail. This new cyber-audience augmented the ALC audience of more than 500 people at the new Washington Convention Center. Embracing new communication technologies while fully utilizing older media vehicles is absolutely essential to reaching our key stakeholders, which include the largest group of inactive African-American voters, young people between the ages of 18 and 25," said CBCF President Weldon J. Rougeau. "Our Webcast of today's Town Hall Meeting builds on the CBCF's unique capacity to convene the brightest African-American thinkers and doers, and engage them in substantive dialogue about the issues most important to the survival and advancement of our people."

Moderated by Emmy-award-winning broadcast journalist Ed Gordon, the meeting challenged the panel of 11 nationally renowned public policy-makers, political strategists, educators and civil rights activists to go beyond describing the problems of voter apathy and disenfranchisement, and begin developing and implementing effective ways to motivate, activate and protect the African-American electorate.

"This Town Hall Meeting is a major step toward achieving our mission to stop the newest trend of African-American disenfranchisement in the U.S., which began with Florida in 2002 and continues today with the gubernatorial recall election in California," said ALC Chairwoman Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA.). "This proceeding will help us convey the seriousness and urgency of our situation and find the means to enlarge and energize the African-American electorate. Our people must understand that they have the power to change things by exercising their precious right to vote. Without higher levels of participation, Democracy cannot realize its potential to advance the cause of freedom," she continued.

"The vote is as crucial to us today as it was when Dr. King and I marched on Washington 40 years ago," said Town Hall panelist Dr. Dorothy Height, President of the National Council of Negro Women. "We have to get back to the basics and do things the way we used to do when we were fighting for the right to vote in the 1960s. If we do this, we will fulfill Dr. King's dream."

Panelist Wade Henderson, Executive Director, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, told the audience that African Americans must understand that the failure to maximize their vote is equivalent to being complicit in their own demise. Many other panelists echoed the sentiments of Henderson and Dr. Height, calling on the audience to go back to the proven voter mobilization tactics of tirelessly knocking on doors and working the phone banks. Former Gore 2000 Campaign Manager Donna Brazile, who is now President of Brazile and Associates called for the aggressive enlistment of more foot soldiers, especially young people in the campaign to get out the vote. Other solutions offered by the panel included the following:

Take time to understand the reasons why African Americans are not voting and develop specific communication initiatives to address the reasons.
Do a better job of teaching youth the history and evolution of the African-American s life-and-death struggle to gain the right to vote.*
Engage young people in the political process before they reach voting age.
· Establish an oversight body and verification system to ensure that Black votes are counted.**
Do a better job of demonstrating to African Americans how voting can make a difference in their personal lives.
Make the Black media a fully invested partner in the voter participation efforts.***

"This Town Hall Meeting is designed to be a catalyst for the important voter education work that lies ahead," said Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA), Chairman of the CBCF . "The panelists provided invaluable new insights into African-American disenfranchisement and gave us a tangible course of action that can turn voter apathy into voter activism," he concluded.

The Town Hall participants were Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women; Cory Booker of Booker & Rabinowitz Attorneys at Law; Kimberle Crenshaw, Professor at Law, UCLA Law School; Portia Pedro, Organizing Director, U.S. Student Association; Mayor Shirley Franklin of Atlanta; Wade Henderson, Executive Director of Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Bev Smith, Urban Radio Network; Donna Brazile, Brazile & Associates; Ronald Walters, Dept. of Government and Politics, University of Maryland; Regina Thomas, Secretary of State, Trenton, N.J.; Omar Wasow, Executive Director, Blackplanet.com; and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

DIRECT QUOTES FROM PARTICIPANTS:

Dorothy Height "We have to do a better job of telling our history. Too many young people are going through doors and don't know how they were opened."
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fl.) "We must make sure that what happened in Florida in 2002 will never ever happen again. & I will have President Jimmy Carter and the United Nations come in and monitor the elections in Florida. Everything depends on what we do in the next election."
Bev Smith, Urban Radio Network "Black leadership doesn't come to the Black media until the last minute. &We need to start talking to each other. &Work with us. &Use us till you use us up."

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The Annual Legislative Conference is the premier fund-raising event for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. (CBCF), which supports the creation and administration of innovative programs addressing issues critical to the well-being and advancement of African Americans and the African Diaspora. CBCF, which is located in Washington, D.C., was established in 1976 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit, public policy, research and educational institute. The CBCF educates future leaders and promotes collaboration among community and business leaders and organized labor to effect positive and sustainable change in the African-American community. Learn more about the work of CBCF by visiting the official Web site at www.cbcfinc.org.

The CBCF serves as a nonpartisan, policy-oriented catalyst to educate future leaders and promote collaboration among community and business leaders, minority-focused organizational leaders, and organized labor to effect positive and substantive change in the African American community.