Hip-Hop Freedom Riders Get on the Bus to Mobilize Young People to Vote November 2nd
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--Sep 29, 2004--In a national effort to increase youth voter turnout in the upcoming presidential election on November 2nd, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) and America Coming Together (ACT) are launching a month-long 10-state Hip-Hop Team Vote GOTV Tour on October 1 from Washington, D.C.
In the wake of an unprecedented increase in youth voter registration, particularly in urban and minority communities in states that are predicted to be determinative in the outcome of the election, two tour buses with hip-hop celebrities, artists, DJs and activists will travel for the next 33 days through 26 cities in 10 states to mobilize young voters. The Hip-Hop Team Vote GOTV Tour is styled after the Freedom Rides of the 1960s, where young people got on the bus to challenge the denial of the right to vote.
The tour will be officially launched at a news conference at the National Press Building on 14th Street in NW Washington, D.C., on Friday, October 1, at noon. Two buses will begin the tour from the National Press Building at 1 p.m. One tour bus will head to states throughout the Midwest and the other will travel to the South, culminating in Florida.
In the face of the national question, ''Will young people and, more specifically, the hip-hop community, turn out to vote?'', the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and America Coming Together are committed to using the powerful influence of hip-hop culture to make sure the answer to that question is a resounding yes. The Hip-Hop Team Vote GOTV Tour will hold bus stop rallies, GOTV training sessions, community canvassing, town hall meetings and university campus mobilization events, which will support audio and video PSA messages and a grass roots campaign involving the participation of BET, MTV and urban radio stations in each market. In true hip-hop fashion, there will be DJs at each of the rallies and hip-hop street teams advancing each city distributing GOTV literature.
The Hip-Hop Team Vote GOTV Tour is being made possible by the support of America Coming Together (ACT).
''During the last three years, more than 12 million young people have registered to vote,'' emphasized Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President/CEO of HSAN. ''It is our goal to make sure more than 20 million young voters actually go out to the polls in record numbers on November 2nd.''
Added Jeff Johnson, Vice President of HSAN, ''In conjunction with our many partners, we have been able to successfully complete a historic youth voter registration campaign. This tour aggressively allows us to transition into addressing voter education, voter mobilization and the essential voter protection to make sure every young person that goes to the polls has their vote counted.''
''We`re proud to partner with the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network on this historic bus tour,'' said ACT national field director Patrick Gaspard. ''By taking our message directly to people in their communities, and with the commitment of these hip-hop artists and activists, we can help increase participation in the political process to record levels.''
Additional organizations supporting the Hip-Hop Team Vote GOTV Tour include Voices For Working Families, Citizen Change, Voice Your Choice, Rock The Vote and local branches of the NAACP.
The Hip-Hop Team Vote GOTV Tour route is as follows:
Midwest Tour:
October 1 (National Bus Tour Launch) / Washington, D.C.
October 1 / Cincinnati, OH
October 2 / Columbus, OH
October 3 / Cleveland, OH
October 4 / Dayton, OH
October 5, 6 / Cleveland, OH
October 7, 8, 9 / Columbus, OH
October 10 / Toledo, OH
October 10, 11 / Detroit, MI
October 12, 13, 14 / Milwaukee, WI
October 14, 15 / Minneapolis, MN
October 15 / Des Moines, IA
October 16, 17, 18, 19 / St. Louis, MO
October 20, 21, 22 / Kansas City, MO
October 23 / Columbia, MO
October 23 / Jefferson City, MO
October 23, 24, 25, 26 / St. Louis, MO
October 27, 28 / Kansas City, MO
October 29, 30, 31, November 1, 2 (Election Day) / Philadelphia, PA
Southern Tour:
October 1 (National Bus Tour Launch) / Washington, D.C.
October 1 / Durham, NC
October 1, 2 / Charlotte, NC
October 2 / Atlanta, GA
October 2 / Jacksonville, FL
October 2 / Tallahassee, FL
October 2, 3 / Tampa, FL
October 4 / Daytona, FL
October 5, 6 / Orlando, FL
October 7 / West Palm Beach, FL
October 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 / Miami, FL
October 12, 13, 14 / Orlando, FL
October 15 / Opalocka, FL
October 15 / Miami, FL
October 16, 17, 18 / W. Palm Beach, FL
October 19 / Gainesville, FL
October 20, 21, 22, 23 / Jacksonville, FL
October 24, 25 / Tallahassee, FL
October 26 / St. Petersburg, FL
October 26 / Tampa, FL
October 27 / Ft. Lauderdale, FL
October 28, 29, 30, 31 / Miami, FL
November 1, 2 (Election Day) / Miami, FL
About the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) and America Coming Together (ACT):
HSAN:
Founded in 2001 by Chairman Russell Simmons and President/CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) is a non-profit, non-partisan national coalition of artists, entertainment industry leaders, education advocates, civil rights proponents and youth leaders united in the belief that the ''hip-hop'' phenomena is an enormously influential agent for social change which must be responsibly and pro-actively utilized to fight the war on poverty and injustice.
ACT:
Unprecedented in scale and strategy, ACT is building the largest voter mobilization effort in the history to elect progressive candidates to federal, state and local offices in November.
For more information on the Hip-Hop Team Vote GOTV Tour, go to www.hsan.org or www.act04.com.
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