EFOC 2024: Your voice is your voice. Use it to shape the future and drive change – Essence

During the “Our Voice, Our Vote, Our Power” panel during the Global Black Economic Forum at ESSENCE 2024, the discussion focused on the critical importance of voting, engaging communities, and the motivation behind exercising this fundamental right.

The panel featured a distinguished group of speakers, including Nikole Hannah-Jones, founding father of the 1619 Project and Knight Professor of Race and Journalism at Howard University; Brittany Packnett-Cunningham, activist and founding father of Campaign Zero; Flau’jae Johnson, LSU women’s basketball national champion; and Reyna Roberts, rapper/songwriter.

Addressing key issues in the upcoming election, the panel highlighted why voting is crucial, especially for the Black community. Hannah-Jones emphasized the power and responsibility of voting in a democracy. She highlighted the ongoing historic struggle between pursuing a multiracial democracy and maintaining a system that primarily serves one group.

“When we found out 60 years ago that we were finally as close to a democracy as we were with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, that set in motion a fundamental struggle about whether we wanted to be a multiracial democracy or continue to be a democracy for one racial group, which is white people,” Jones said.

The conversation then moved on to strategies for engaging communities around elections. Brittany Packnett-Cunningham emphasized the importance of standing in our power, even when it’s uncomfortable, as a catalyst for change and inspiration for others. She emphasized the need for transparency in the voting process and managing expectations about the pace of change.

“Sharing with people the why, reading the 900 pages of Project 2025 together and recognizing that when we tell people the why, we have to help them understand voting in a way that we haven’t been talking about,” Cunningham said. “Telling everyone that one vote, one election will save and fix everything is a lie that we have to stop telling. The truth is that your vote is a strategic weapon in setting the terms of your next battle,” she said.

The youngest panelists, Flau’jae Johnson and Reyna Roberts, shared their motivations for leading and discussing the election, fueled by a desire to create a greater future for younger relations. Johnson, particularly, channeled her personal loss to gun violence into advocacy, transforming the recording studio where her father was killed right into a community resource center.

“I try to use my voice for the voiceless because I have the confidence to speak out and face the consequences,” Johnson said.

From highlighting the historical context of suffrage to advocating for community engagement and transparency, a panel discussion at the ESSENCE 2024 Festival highlighted the power of collective motion and the critical importance of voting in shaping the future.