A coalition of African-American Clergy has created the “Empowerment Movement,” a faith based voting initiative designed to get one million voters registered by Easter.
Their stated goal is to educate the African-American community in politics, Christian principles, education and economics. The Wall Street Journal reports that they have challenged every African-American church in the country to register twenty people per day in order to meet their goal.
BALTIMORE, March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Today, a coalition of African American Clergy announced the launch of a new voting initiative entitled The Empowerment Movement. This is a faith based voting initiative, that will bring together leaders of the faith based community of all denominations, designed to move the African American Community forward in politics, education and economics with the use of Christian principles. Rev. Dr. Jamal Bryant, Pastor of the Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, MD. has been named President of the organization. Their mission is a massive undertaking, with a goal to register one million voters on one day, Easter, April 8, 2012, making Guinness World Book history for democracy by challenging every black church in the United States to register 20 people on that day.
There are an estimated 500,000 Black Churches in America, and over five million unregistered voters inside those churches. Recently, representatives of leading black Christian organizations held a closed door summit to strategize on a collective effort of the church preparing for the November elections. As a result, the Empowerment Movement was formed.
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