Thread by @karlajstrand

Next up at #asalh2020 @AsalhConvention is a plenary featuring @MsLaToshaBrown @ProfCAnderson @cliff_notes @RepTerriSewell @Dr_JZ "The Ballot is Our Bullet: The Power of the African American Vote"
#citeblackwomen @BlackVotersMtr

.@harris_duchess is also here moderating. @RepTerriSewell starts off: acknowledges centennial of 19th Amendment despite all women not being included. Black women's participation threatened some. #asalh2020

Rep. Sewell: We must know our history. For Black women, suffrage history is one of great pain and great progress. Sewell is Alabama's first Black congresswoman. Represents Selma. Honors Barbara Jordan and Sojourner Truth. #asalh2020

Rep. Sewell: Voting rights are under fire. She is working to restore the Voting Rights Act. Unfortunately it sits in the Senate, having passed the House in Dec 2018. The courage of ordinary people got us many gains, more work to be done. #asalh2020

Rep. Sewell: We must be prepared to go to the polls, or vote however we must, at any cost. Progress is only one Supreme Court justice away from disappearing. Power concedes nothing without a demand. Must demand better. #asalh2020

Rep. Sewell: Black women vote 88% for Democrats. African American women are the major power and voting bloc. Must organize communities and have a plan to go and vote. Our lives depend on it. Change comes from the streets; we each have a role to play. #asalh2020

Rep. Sewell is here to partner, inspire, and motivate. Not just legislate. It's critically important that we vote and vote like our lives depended on it. Honors John Lewis and Bloody Sunday in Selma. The ballot is our bullet. #asalh2020

For more on Selma from one who was there and the importance of the vote: msmagazine.com/2020/08/18/civ…

Carol Anderson is next: Honors Amelia Boynton and the violence she and other Black women have dealt with in protecting democracy. She also discusses the importance of bureaucratic violence that happens to African Americans on the regular. #asalh2020 @ProfCAnderson

Anderson: Bureaucratic violence against Black people is often shrouded in neutrality and legitimacy. It is using income and wealth for access to the ballot box. It is a literacy test. It is voter ID laws and closing polling places and voter roll purges. #asalh2020

Anderson: These are actually an assault on democracy, on Black women and men, on voting and on Civil Rights. #asalh2020

.@cliff_notes is up next: The ballot or the bullet: Malcolm X talked about the ballot as a weapon but it must be wielded intelligently. It must be more than ritual, must be strategic. #asalh2020 #blackvotersmatter

Albright: Elevate the local issues and engage individuals via local races. State, county, and city council actions are just as important. Must use the it strategically up and down the ballot. And it is just one weapon. There are other tools in the toolbox. #asalh2020

Albright: Other strategies should be employed as well. Marching, protesting, boycotts, direct action, legal cases, etc. @BlackVotersMtr works to bridge many strategies on many sides. They encourage using many tools together. #asalh2020

Albright: "Out of the flames of Ferguson" came the recognition that many weapons must be wielded together and strategically. It's not the ballot that's the bullet, it's us. It's our use of the ballot that is the weapon. #asalh2020

Albright: No one works so hard and so long to take away something from a group of people if it isn't important. The use of the ballot is imperative. And Black women hold the key. Prioritize and invest Black women as leaders, candidates, strategists, etc. #asalh2020 @cliff_notes

Duchess Harris @harris_duchess gives a shout for #Vanguard by @marthasjones_ . Go get yours! Out Sept 8. #asalh2020

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