Paris's Birthday Pledge for Black Voters Matter

As some of you may know, my birthday is July 4th. I was just informed that it is also a national holiday or something like that?! Idk but that was news to me! Being a cancer sun, I obvi had to look this up. Here’s what I found:

The Declaration of Independence was meant to symbolize hope, freedom, and prosperity through opportunity. Unfortunately, many demographics have not seen the reality of this symbol. The number of eligible Black voters in U.S. is nearly 34.4 million this year (accounting for 14% of eligible voters in the U.S.)

However, due to various forms of discrimination, civic participation is out of reach for some folks.

Examples of aforementioned discrimination:

* Voter ID requirements

* Polling times being inaccessible

* Criminalization of the voting process (Crystal Mason and Hervis Rogers)

* Felony Disenfranchisement

* Redistricting and Gerrymandering

One organization that is working to remedy this broken system is Black Voters Matter. Their purpose is “to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities. [They] believe that effective voting allows a community to determine its own destiny.”

It has been 248 years since the debut of the Declaration of Independence. For my birthday, I want to raise $248 dollars for Black Voters Matter! Donate what you can, and share if you can’t! Civic participation is a right that should be granted and accessible to ALL Americans. Let’s take this (tiny) step together !

Disclaimer: VOTING IS NOT THE SOLE SOLUTION. Grassroots organizing, continual public pressure, informed criticism, mutual aid, community education, and solidarity are just a SMALL NUMBER of other things that we NEED oh so desperately to make true and lasting change.

Much love to all,

Paris