On Palm Sunday, the Pastor’s wife, LaVon Bracy took the stage at the New Covenant Baptist Church in Orlando and announced plans to participate in an effort by 50,000 black congregations nationwide to register 1 million voters by Easter Sunday.
STORY: New Version! Police Report Reveals New Information In Trayvon Martin Case
The mass-voter registration drive is headed by Rev. Jamal Bryant of Baltimore who is one of the black civil-rights leaders trying to transfer the injustice served in the Travyon Martin’s untimely death in to lasting action.
Although Bryant began organizing the drive prior to Trayvon’s shooting, the civil-rights activist has found new passion behind his drive, encouraging young black Americans to get more involved in the proceedings of their legal system.
EXCLUSIVE: “We Need To Save Our Black Males!” Royce Reed Takes A Stand For Trayvon Martin
Bryant estimates there are as many as 5 million unregistered voters in the pews of America’s black churches, not counting the others who don’t attend church.
In addition to Bryant, other prominent civil-right figures are urging young people to vote. One of the newly registered voters, Reginald Willis, spoke to the Orlando Sentinel about Trayvon’s case and its link to voters:
“It’s essential for us to vote. If you don’t vote, you don’t count. The Trayvon case highlights the importance of voting if the minority community wants its voice heard after all the shouting is over. This raises the importance of voting and what it means when you don’t vote.”
Notable Reverend Jesse Jackson, who was also very vocal about the Trayvon Martin case, has also been using his Sunday sermons to preach voter registration as a way of creating permanent change out of tragedy and calling for the “Trayvon Martin voter-registration movement.”
At Allen Chapel AME Church in Sanford where Trayvon was murdered, the Rev. Valerie J. Houston thinks Trayvon Martin has become a seminal figure for his generation and that his death can motivate young black Americans to become more politically active.
As told to the Orlando Sentinel:
“If they don’t like the “stand your ground” law, they need to elect legislators who will repeal or change the law, she said. If they think racism resides inside the Sanford Police Department, they can elect city commissioners who will work to erase it.
SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel
