FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Tenley-Ann Hawkins for The Black Women’s Agenda, Inc.
(914) 841-9717 thawks812@msn.com
I MATTER, I VOTE:
THE BLACK WOMEN’S AGENDA, INC. HOSTS VIRTUAL VOTING RIGHTS
TOWN HALL DURING ITS 43rd ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM
The Color of Change’s Heather McGhee; Rev. Dr. William Barber II; Anthropologist, Educator, and National Council of Negro Women Chair Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole; Princeton Educator, Author, and Commentator Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., and Political Strategist and Social Impact Advisor Aisha C. Mills discuss Protecting and Mobilizing African-American Voters
WASHINGTON, DC – Friday, September 18, 2020 – The Black Women’s Agenda, Inc. (BWA) went on the offensive today, hosting a virtual town hall devoted to protecting and securing the voting rights of African Americans and other people of color during its 43rd Annual Symposium. Moderated by Heather McGhee, Board Chair, The Color of Change, a panel of prominent political activists and observers – including Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, President, Repairers of the Breach and Co-chair, Poor People’s Campaign; Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, anthropologist, educator and Board Chair of The National Council of Negro Women, Inc.; Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr., an esteemed author, commentator and Chairman of Princeton University’s Department of African-American Studies, and Aisha C. Mills, a nationally renowned political strategist and social impact advisor – discussed strategies for combatting voter suppression, registering and engaging African-American voters, and ensuring that they have the opportunity to make their voices heard.
BWA’s Annual Symposium Workshop & Awards Luncheon traditionally draws nearly two thousand attendees, including elected officials, journalists, corporate and community leaders. Many of those supporters participated in today’s town hall, along with members of BWA’s 24 national collaborating organizations – sororities, civic, service, and faith-based – representing millions of women worldwide. BWA is actively supporting voter registration, education, and mobilization drives its National Collaborating Organizations are leading in cities and towns across the country. It is also partnering with Common Cause, a 50-year-old network of democracy experts and supporters dedicated to modernizing elections and making them more fair, secure, and accessible.
“Misinformation, disinformation, call it what you like. In the small town in Georgia where I grew up, a lie is a lie,” insisted BWA President Gwainevere Catchings Hess. “African Americans have an extraordinary opportunity to impact this election, but we have to be smart about the attempts to manipulate us. We can’t let people tell us our vote doesn’t matter, because more than ever it does. A wise woman once shared, ‘Voting is not only our right; it is our power.’ On November 3, we vow to be powerful.”
Founded in 1977 in Washington, DC, The Black Women’s Agenda, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization that generates awareness and support for issues that secure, protect, and advance the rights of Black women and their families. Through the establishment of a social priorities agenda, BWA facilitates discussions that lead to effective policies and meaningful change. For additional information about BWA, please visit www.bwa-inc.org.
OTHER NEWS
July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month
In 2008, the US House of Representatives designated July as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, which is now known as National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reports that “racial and ethnic minority groups in the U.S. are less likely to have access to mental health services, less likely to use community mental health services, more likely to use emergency departments, and more likely to receive lower quality care. Poor mental health care access and quality contribute to poor mental health outcomes, including suicide, among racial and ethnic minority populations.”
SPOTLIGHT FEATURE ON JACK AND JILL OF AMERICA, INC.
To be valued and loved. To know who you are and that you have the power to make a
difference. These are the aspirations that most mothers have their children. In 1938, in the midst
of the Great Depression, twenty African-American mothers in Philadelphia came together not to
hope or to dream, but to provide the opportunities, experiences, and life lessons that would
enable their children and others to live these truths. Their group became Jack and Jill of
America, Inc. – an organization that’s mission is as relevant today as it was some 80 years ago.
JUNE IS AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC APPRECIATION MONTH
This June, The Black Women’s Agenda, Inc. (BWA) joins our nation in celebrating the 40th Anniversary of African American Music Appreciation Month.
The month-long observance, which was first inducted on June 7, 1979, by President Jimmy Carter was christened as Black Music Month. President Barack Obama renamed the national observance as African-American Music Appreciation Month. The observance was created to recognize and celebrate the historical influence African-Americans have had on the music industry and is intended to pay homage to the many artists, writers, songs and albums that have inspired music lovers and shaped American pop culture.
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