Hundreds of voters reached on first night; immigration and clean water take center stage as early election issues
Last night, VNM and Right to the City Alliance launched Southern Solidarity Summer, our campaign to move 20,000 Immigrant and African-American voters to the polls to elect progressive state legislators across Virginia.
The first of dozens of activists that are converging in Virginia from across the country to support the effort were addressed by Civil Rights hero Lawrence Guyot. Guyot dispatched them to visit voters in surrounding Centreville with the reminder: “You are the Civil Rights movement of today.” In just its first hour in action, the energetic organizers of Southern Solidarity Summer reached out to nearly 300 voters to talk to them about fair immigration policy and keeping Fairfax County’s drinking water toxic-free. Voters were highly responsive to the organizers.
“I live in a community that has been plagued by environmental problems that have a real impact on people’s health and safety, so I knew voters here would be eager to come together to do something about this,” said voter organizer Tenelle Pierce, who traveled from New York to participate in the program. “These voters are a sleeping giant in Virginia. It looks to me like the population out here has changed a lot in recent years, and if all these residents decide to take action, they can have a state government that really cares about them and some genuine democracy.”
[slideshow]
Centreville and the rest of Senate District 37 are currently represented by Democratic Senator David Marsden, who won the seat by a razor-thin margin in a special election in 2010. Two Republican challengers will face each other in an August primary for the right to challenge Marsden in November. The summer project’s voter organizers say that they want all three candidates to commit to ensuring that immigrants will be able to live and work in Virginia free from discrimination and that all residents will be able to drink water in their homes without worrying about radioactive waste from unsafe mining.
The project’s coordinators are also aware that winning the fight at the ballot box in 2011 will not ensure fairness and economic security for Virginians. “We have our eyes set on the 2012 election and beyond,” said program coordinator Sara Wallace-Keeshen. “The presidential and congressional elections next year are hi-stakes for Virginians. But more importantly, we believe that a progressive movement in Virginia is what can save our state in the long-term. That’s what we’re going to build, starting right here.”
Before heading out to knock on hundreds of doors, organizers had the opportunity to talk with Lawrence Guyot, the former chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Guyot told them, “You are following in a very effective tradition of organizing independent voters to win progressive change that comes from a fight against injustice. Virginia is facing extreme injustice. You have to become the opposite of the Tea Party. What matters most is how many voters you can turn into organizers just like you. That’s how we will win.”
The program will run through the August primary election on August 23rd. Virginia New Majority is planning for an equally ambitious fall voter organizing program prior to the November 8th general election.
Click here to help Virginia New Majority build the movement for fairness and economic security for all Virginians!
Leave a comment
