Russell Simmons, Cedric The Entertainer, Meagan Good and Tisha Campbell-Martin are among some of the black Hollywood stars issuing a stirring PSA on the importance of exercising the right to vote.
This year, the celebrities say, is “too important of a year to sit out.” They encourage voters to consider Election Day a national day of service.
–White nationalists to hand out drugs, liquor to keep Blacks from voting polls–
“As people of color, we should expect hinderances and obstacles when it comes to exercising our right to vote,” they tell voters before giving instructions on what voters need to do and bring to the polls in order to be able to vote.
Eva Marcille, a co-founder of Artistic Alliance For Justice (AAJ), which put out the PSA, told Essence that voting is a “sacred franchise.”
“I have never had to take literacy tests at a voting booth or been turned away at a polling place, nor have I ever been told I couldn’t vote because of the color of my skin,” she said. “I’ve never experienced that because my right to vote is protected by the blood of our parents and grandparents. That’s why I’m voting and that’s why I want you to vote. Exercising our right to vote is what we owe.”
