USA: LeBron James and Michelle Obama together to bring African Americans to the polls

---

The former First Lady and the NBA champion will organize a series of events in US cities to get as many voters to vote in advance and minimize the problem of gatherings at the polling stations on November 3

Former US First Lady Michelle Obama and NBA Champion LeBron James are working with many other African American athletes and artists to increase voter turnout early for the November 3 presidential election.

Between a pandemic that killed 215,000 people in the US, cuts in funds to the Postal Service just when an unprecedented number of voters will vote by mail and disinformation campaigns aimed at discrediting the result of the vote already now, those that are approaching will be without doubt the most contested elections in contemporary US history.

Forty-three states and the District of Columbia, however, offer citizens who fear long lines at polling stations or contact with large crowds of people who will gather in small spaces to vote in November an alternative. There is indeed the possibility to vote in person for the next president of the United States in the weeks leading up to the official day of the vote, but not everyone is aware of it.

For this reason When we all vote , a non-profit launched in 2018 by Michelle Obama together with, among others, the stars Tom Hanks , Lin-Manuel Miranda and Janelle Monae , is organizing itself together with More than a vote, an association founded by various champions of the NBA to help minorities understand the dynamics of the vote and make their voices heard. From Detroit to Atlanta, Los Angeles to Milwaukee, the two groups are working on several events spread across the country between October 18 and 31 to provide information, transportation, personal protective equipment and other support at early voting sites. .

In the past few weeks, all the major social platforms with the exception of YouTube have also collaborated with dozens of celebrities, including Snoop Dogg and Arnold Schwarenegger, to invite users to subscribe to the electoral lists.

Michelle Obama said, millions of Americans have already voted and there are only 21 days left until election day. It is vital that we organize ourselves to vote early. Now it is up to us to do everything in our power to prepare our friends and family to vote together early and safely. We cannot leave anyone behind.

A long history of voting suppression

The initiative aims to entice African Americans to go to the polls in record numbers, after their turnout fell to 59.6% in 2016 from 66.6% in 2012. The United States has a long history of voting suppression minorities by various more or less obvious means, despite the fifteenth amendment underlining that the right to vote cannot be denied for reasons of race, skin color or previous conditions of slavery.

Lyndon Johnson's Voting Rights Act required some states in the South to implement preventive controls to prevent the passing of laws preclusive of the right to vote of African American voters, given the long history of racial discrimination. However, the section was removed by the Supreme Court in 2013 with the Shelby County v. Holder, with which the Court essentially argued that racism in the country was now over.