Local candidates pictures with SGA members, students from PA 500 class and attendees.
To ensure that Grambling State University students and the surrounding communities were reminded about the importance of voting, the students enrolled in PA 500 and 505, taught by Dr. Sarah D. Dennis, decided they would provide the informa- tion needed to make sound choices in the voting process.
The PA 505 class hosted a symposium featuring the Lincoln Parish Registrar of Voters, Mrs. Dianna Stone on September 26th. Stone informed the audience about voting laws and procedures.
In addition, she stated that although there are a higher percentage of African American registered voters in Lincoln Parish, their partici- pation in the voting process is far less than other demographics.
Considering our current political climate, this should not be the case. Voting participation should be at an all-time high in all communi- ties throughout the country especially in the African American community.
On October 16th, in collaboration with the SGA and other organizations, PA 500 hosted a forum for national, state and local candidates. The forum allowed the candidates an opportunity to present their platform.
Also, the students and the community were afforded an opportunity to interact with the candidates and to engage in a question and answer session.
The goal of the symposium and the forum was to stress to those in attendance the importance of registering to vote and actually partic- ipating. Furthermore, the audience was informed about the process and procedures for voting as well as the var- ious policies and issues that affects them directly.
In the 1960s the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reported, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”, he further stated, “Even when the polls are open to all, Ne- groes have shown themselves too slow to exercise their voting privileges.
There must be a concerted effort on the part of Negro leaders to arouse their people from their apathetic indiffer- ence… In the past, apathy was a moral failure.
Today, it is a form of mor- al and political suicide.” Here we are in 2018 and the cur- rent voting and participation statistics in the African American communities, supportDr. King’s ndings today, asthey did in the 1960s.
DON’T LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF, GET OUT AND VOTE!