Unmasked: Attacks on the Black Vote

Join us for the second installment of our Unmasked voting series as we discuss voter suppression and ways we can combat its effects.

As a follow-up to our first informational voting conversation, we invite experts and civil rights activists to shed light on how voting rights, particularly for people of color, have been obstructed in both overt and concealed ways. We provide a historical foundation to voter suppression, starting with the Jim Crow era and the often-deadly repercussions of voting efforts in the past. We then answer questions of how those familiar themes in American history have cultivated a space for today’s contemporary disenfranchisement efforts - namely gerrymandering, inconvenient polling precincts, the defunding of USPS, and more.

The conversation will predominantly shed light on those aforementioned present-day efforts and how their entanglement with the pandemic has created an unprecedented barrier that may impede even the most unfaltering voters. Beyond the implications of COVID-19, we examine how societal framing has been an underestimated voting restraint that influences our perspectives, such as the incorrect stereotype of low Black voter turnout and the ever-growing belief that individual votes are useless. Join us to discuss why voting in this year’s election is more important now than ever, as we collectively forge a way to make our voices heard in spite of suppression.

Survey Participation

Share your views with us prior to the discussion by participating in an anonymous survey. Click/tap here to take the survey.

Viewing this program is free and open to the public. To chat during the program and contribute your perspective, you will need a YouTube account with a Gmail email address prior to the program. If you do not have a YouTube account, click here for a step-by-step tutorial on creating a YouTube account.