HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. – On Tuesday, the national voting rights organization called Black Voters Matter brought their message and caravan to Southeast Michigan -- including in Ypsilanti, Detroit and Highland Park -- to encourage people to turn out on Nov. 8.
“There is power in each and every vote”: the message they brought to Avalon Village. They spread that even further by going block to block in Highland Park, engaging everyone they saw.
“This is the first time I ever saw this,” Egloris Turner said.
Turner was a bit surprised to see full-size buses rolling through her Highland Park neighborhood. Her excitement only grew once she realized what all the commotion was about.
“We’re here to tell them that we won’t back down and to remind people that election day is Nov. 8,” a BVM member said said.
Cliff Albright is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. He says that they’ve been taking their message to small and large cities across the country.
“We believe that we have the power to decide elections in key states, whether it’s Michigan or Ohio or Pennsylvania,” Albright said.
He says that for proof of that power, look no further than the 2020 presidential election.
“It made them want to try and discount not just the entire county of Wayne County, they just wanted to get rid of which votes? The Detroit votes -- which by definition means what? Black votes,” Albright said.
But it’s not just the presidential elections that matter. Because of redistricting, there could be no Black representation in Congress for predominately Black neighborhoods.
“They want you to get out and vote, tell your family to vote, everybody get five people to go vote,” Turner said.
Turner has been doing just that in hopes of bringing about the change she wants to see in her neighborhood.
“Highland Park, we need a school,” Turner said.
As for Shamayim “Mama Shu” Harris, she’s just excited to see messages of positivity and power in the form of mobilizing the vote come to her community.
“It’s happened a couple of times, and it’s happening more often, and I think that’s a good thing,” Harris said.
Black Voters Matter donated $5,000 to Mama Shu’s Homework House where she continues to help kids in the community.