[rhythmic drums beating]
Voter suppression is a series of policies designed
to stop key elements of the American electorate from voting.
And it comes in a series of policies
dealing with
and it is lethal to American democracy.
My students, when we talk about voter suppression,
the first thing that hits them is that this isn't a thing
that we're talking about in the past,
with the Mississippi Plan of 1890.
Or this isn't something that we're talking about pre-Selma
in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement.
But
and it is something that
is wiping out communities of voters.
I have seen a visible difference
in terms of the engagement of students,
and I think the big change came after the 2016 election.
And because of that incredible engagement
that students are having
and because students are generally seen
as being more liberal,
is that you're seeing massive voter suppression targeted
at students.
It happens in multiple forms.
So it happened when student IDs were,
from state universities,
weren't counted as viable, government-issued photo IDs.
You see it happening in Texas,
where in, at Prairie View,
they limited the number of early voting days
and the number of machines at Prairie View A&M [University]
so that the surrounding county had
than did this large HBCU,
historically black college and university, did in Texas.
You see it in North Carolina,
where in this gerrymandered district,
they drew a line right through the middle of the campus,
so on this side of the campus
is one congressional district, on this side is another.
A way to, again, dilute the power of the student vote.
I love teaching because my students begin to see
and realize the power that they have to
and one of those things is voting.
And so, I see voter registration happening.
I see educational, informational sessions happening,
where they're talking about this is voter suppression,
this is how we overcome it.
I see a kind of activism happening.
This is how we get the democracy we deserve.
We have to overwhelm the polls.
We have to turn out in droves.
We have to turn out in near full capacity.
until you get to the polls, and by then, it's too late.
I mean, and this is where we are.
This is citizen-driven, this is people-driven,
and this is civil society-driven.