Black Men Have The Power to Tip Elections

Men of color– young and old– gathered on Thursday for a frank conversation on voter apathy and the power of the Black male vote as the presidential election heats up. Are You Listening?, an all-male 2024 election panel discussion at Medgar Evers College, City University of New York, brought together young, voting-age students and local politicians. It was produced in part by MEC Male Development & Empowerment Center, the Brooklyn NAACP Youth Chapter, Office of Student Success and Office of Communications. In attendance for the discussion, moderated by GRAMMY-nominated poet, activist and author Kevin Powell, was New York City Public Advocate Jumane Williams, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, and former Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns Jr. The 93-year-old Towns gave a history lesson, recounting the story of how his grandfather’s voting rights were denied in North Carolina. After walking 15 miles to the nearest polling site, the elder Towns was given a rigged exam to test his worthiness of voting. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 and Towns’ grandfather passed a few years later, never casting a vote in his country. Audience members took turns posing questions to the speakers in the EOJ Auditorium, and the students’ prevailing consensus...