TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Chanting "Vote or Die" and "Six Days Left," Florida A&M University students – along with state and local leaders – rallied in front of the Leon County Courthouse here Wednesday as part of a student-led initiative aimed at encouraging more young voters to cast ballots in this year's presidential election.
Some 700 students from FAMU marched two miles to the courthouse as part of March Out 2004. Their ranks ultimately swelled to more than 2,000 when they were joined by students from Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College at an afternoon rally – where they heard speeches and admonishments about the importance of voting.
Organizers planned to march to the Capitol as well, but because of long voting lines they decided to keep the rally at the courthouse.
“I'm so happy right now," Derrick W. Wright II, a FAMU student and one of the principal organizers, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this. I've always felt indebted to (my elders) to make a contribution so I thought that this would be the perfect time to make a contribution to our community and our culture."
Florida, an election battleground state that was the focus of claims of voter disenfranchisement and irregularities during the 2000 presidential election, has been inundated with rallies and other efforts by politicians and celebrities to get out the vote this month.
But the importance of this year’s presidential contest between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat John Kerry made Wright and his fellow FAMU colleague Brandon A. Johnson want to do something to boost voter awareness among black students.
They came up with the idea of doing a student-led project, they said, after reading a story about the Rev. Jesse Jackson's plans to visit their campus. What struck them, they said, was the story came out only one day before Jackson was scheduled to speak, and they hadn't seen any other publicity about the visit. That influenced them to do something to generate early attention to other important things – like voting.
What they created was Operation Wake up – a consortium of student organizations from the local colleges and universities. The students ultimately came up with the idea for a march, and they pitched it in Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor's political science class at FAMU.
"The black vote will determine the outcome of this election, period," said Proctor, noting that polls have Bush with a slim lead in Florida. "All the polls are saying this is a dead heat. They have polled the suburbs but they haven't polled the urban (areas)," he said.
FAMU student Rikkia Relford, one of the event's organizers, said the march was meant to be a catalyst to get other young people, specifically young blacks, to vote. "One thing I thought was great about it, it's not one person doing one thing, it's a group thing," she said. "We want it to be a ripple effect. We hope to get other HBCUs [historically black colleges and universities] involved."
Another goal, Relford said, was to let the community and the nation know that young blacks were in tune with the political process. "They label us the 'bling-bling' generation," she said. "I think this will definitely open up their eyes and let them know we do care."
In Tallahassee, the numbers of registered voters ages 18-25 suggests that the so-called "bling-bling" generation does care. Ion Sancho, supervisor of elections for Leon County, where FAMU is located, said since the Aug. 31 primary, an additional 11,000 people ages 18-25 have registered.
But Sancho said he didn’t know if that state’s other counties have experienced such dramatic increases. "You have to remember I have Florida A&M, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College in my jurisdiction," he said.
