Student mobilization for the 2012 presidential election has begun. This past week students from N.C. Central University and other historically black colleges and universities held its inaugural conference for their recently formed voter empowerment network.
The Student Empowerment and Engagement Network —or SEEN—will be a resource for students concerning issues such as voter mobilization and community organizing. SEEN is a statewide network of ten HBCUs.
Representatives from NCCU, Shaw University, North Carolina A&T and Livingstone College attended the conference.
According to Brett Stargell, a founding member, the organization settled on three immediate directives: drafting a position paper, reaching out to other student organizations and bringing the remainder of North Carolina's HBCUs into the fold.
"We want to be a resource for the campuses to focus on issues that students are concerned about," said Jarvis Hall.
Hall, a professor of political science, is director of the Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change at NCCU, which served as a catalyst for forming SEEN.
NCCU political science sophomore Stefan Weathers attended the conference. Weathers said many students are complacent when it comes to voting, both on the national and local levels.
"Students are one of the most powerful groups of people, but we don't realize the power or influence we have," said Weathers.
"It's apathy. They don't believe it [voting] makes a difference. We will try to combat that by engaging them."
Rajheim Fulton, a theatre arts sophomore at Livingstone College, said voter empowerment is about raising awareness.
"It's making people aware that voting is real," said Fulton. "The policies you vote on reflect growth in your own community."
The conference featured the Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP. Barber addressed the public and members of SEEN Nov. 10.
"Say it with me: we must fight any attempt to suppress, segregate, isolate, or steal the power of our vote," said Barber in his address.
Barber centered his address on the current North Carolina re-districting conflict. He drew parallels between partisan politics at the statehouse and post-Civil War ‘Reconstruction' and the eventual conservative ‘Redemption.'
He listed four areas conservatives attack in their attempts to monopolize power: voting rights, tax revenue, public education and white and black progressives.
Barber called for youth voters to mobilize. "There are a group of people in public policy that are looking at your generation and saying - ‘They will give it up,'" said Barber. "Always believe that you have power ... We are going to challenge those who would take us backwards."
Public administration freshman Myketa Mitchell was so moved by Barber's speech that she decided to register to vote.
"What Rev. Barber was saying really touched me," said Mitchell. "The cutting of funds for public education, taxes, picture ID for voting—it's up to our generation to be active to change things."
The conference also featured a hip-hop and politics panel on Nov. 11. NCCU adjunct professor and musician Pierce Freelon discussed hip-hop as a platform for social change with Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, a policy scholar and writer.
Rockeymoore called hip-hop a viable platform for inspiring change.
"I can go anywhere in the world and hear hip-hop," Rockeymoore said. "That is power. If you have a platform why not leverage it?"
Freelon implored students to seize control of the system. "Don't be passive consumers. Instead, be active participants," said Freelon.
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