OUR PANELISTS + CALLS TO ACTION

MODERATOR JOY REID, H'91

@JoyAnnReid

National Correspondent, MSNBC

Host, The ReidOut

Joy-Ann Reid is a political analyst for MSNBC and host of “AM Joy,” which airs Saturdays and Sundays from 10 A.M. ET to noon ET. She is also the author of the book “Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons and the Racial Divide” (William Morrow/Harper Collins 2015), co-editor of “We Are The Change We Seek: The Speeches of Barack Obama” (Bloomsbury USA), and a columnist at The Daily Beast.

Reid was previously the host of “The Reid Report,” a daily program that offered Reid’s distinctive analysis and insight on the day’s news. Before that, Reid was the Managing Editor of theGrio.com, a daily online news and opinion platform devoted to delivering stories and perspectives that reflect and affect African-American audiences. Reid joined theGrio.com with experience as a freelance columnist for the Miami Herald and as editor of the political blog The Reid Report. She is a former talk radio producer and host for Radio One, and previously served as an online news editor for the NBC affiliate WTVJ in Miramar, FL.

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Reid served as the Florida deputy communications director for the 527 “America Coming Together” initiative, and was a press aide in the final stretch of President Barack Obama’s Florida campaign in 2008. Reid’s columns and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, New York magazine, The Guardian, the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, South Florida Times and Salon.com.

Reid graduated from Harvard University in 1991 with a concentration in film, and is a 2003 Knight Center for Specialized Journalism fellow. She currently resides in Brooklyn with her husband and family. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @JoyAnnReid and “like” her on Facebook at Joy Reid Official.

CALL TO ACTION (watch Joy give her call to action here)

• Create a personal “Democracy Survival Kit” with three key elements:
• • “Arrive with five”, reach out to five people in your life you can register to vote.
  • Support organizations that are doing the work.
  • Find your voice and be active on social media.

CLIFF ALBRIGHT

@cliff_notes

Co-Founder and Executive Director, 

Black Voters Matter Fund

Cliff Albright is a 2020 Soros Equality Fellow and co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund (and BVM Capacity Building Institute) which builds community and organizational capacity related to Black voting power.

BVM received national attention in 2017 when they helped mobilize Black voters during the U.S. Senate race between Doug Jones and Roy Moore. Since then, Cliff and the BVM team have traveled throughout thirteen primarily southern states in “The Blackest Bus in America” energizing voters and exposing voter suppression.

Cliff serves as an instructor of African-American Studies at several universities. Cliff previously lived in historic Selma, Alabama, where he focused on bringing financial resources to Alabama’s blackbelt region. Cliff attended Cornell University, where he obtained his B.S. in Applied Economics and an M.P.S. in Africana Studies. He also has an M.B.A. from the University of Alabama.

Cliff has contributed articles to and been featured on MSNBC, CNN, New York Times, Blavity, The Guardian, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

CALLS TO ACTION (watch Cliff give his calls to action here)

• Text volunteer to 25225 to connect to Black Voters Matter and help in their Texting Tuesdays campaign

• Follow Black Voters Matter at @blackvotersmtr on Instagram, X, and Tik Tok to see their work and the policies they support

• If we're going to fix this democracy and make sure this election isn't the last one, everyone needs to be connected to an organization.

LATOSHA BROWN

@MsLaToshaBrown

Co-Founder and Chief Doer, 

Black Voters Matter Fund

LaTosha Brown is an award-winning organizer, philanthropic consultant, political strategist and jazz singer with over twenty years of experience working in the non-profit and philanthropy sectors on a wide variety of issues related to political empowerment, social justice, economic development, leadership development, wealth creation and civil rights.

She is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, a power building southern based civic engagement organization that played an instrumental role in the 2017 Alabama U.S. Senate race. Ms. Brown is principal owner of TruthSpeaks Consulting, Inc., a philanthropy advisory consulting firm in Atlanta, GA. For more than 25 years, she has served as a consultant and advisor for individual donors, government, public foundations and private donors.

Throughout her career, Ms. Brown has distinguished herself as a trusted expert and resource in political strategy, rural development and special programming for a number of national and regional philanthropies. She is the founding project director of Grantmakers for Southern Progress.

CALLS TO ACTION (watch LaTosha give her calls to action here)

Short Term: This is not the year you can afford to stay on the sidelines

• Join Black Voters Matter's We Fight Back initiative
• Write a check for local groups doing frontline work
• Get involved with an organization on the front lines
• Amplify and multiply the work - let at least 10 people know how to vote this election
• • Although we cannot out organize voter suppression, but we can make a difference

Mid-term

• Call or write your Representatives about the Freedom to Vote Act 
• Call or write your Representatives about the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act 

Long-term

• Close your eyes, and imagine what America would look like without racism. It's important to imagine new ways of being, new systems, and a representative democracy. Radically reimagine the America we want to be a part of -- see yourself as a founder of a new America.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: PAINE THE POET

@OfficialPaineThePoet

Spoken Word Artist, Activist, Educator, and Public Speaker

Paine The Poet is a spoken word artist, activist, educator, and public speaker from Columbus, OH. He uses his gift of poetry and lyricism to bridge the gap between the “disenfranchised” and the society from which they have been detached. His experience as a formerly incarcerated individual of eight years makes him powerful voice for “convicted felons” and those deemed a “menace to society.”

As a teaching artist, Paine attempts to disrupt the school to prison pipeline by facilitating poetry courses in high schools across Washington, DC. Currently, Paine is partnered with the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services to prepare incarcerated youth for their return to society.

He has headlined at the National Gallery of Art, 93.9 WKYS, the U.S Capitol, the NFL and various social justice event throughout the United States.

CALL TO ACTION

• • Watch Paine the Poet's spoken word call to action here.
  
  

JUSTICEAID

CALLS TO ACTION (watch Steve Milliken '73, Founder of JusticeAid, give his calls to action here)

• Support JusticeAid; 100% of proceeds will go to Black Voters Matter. It's going to take money to fix this democracy.

• JusticeAid's Spring benefit concert for Black Voters Matter will take place May 21st at City Winery in NYC Tickets on sale now! The concert will feature powerful, soulful music from the late 60s and 70s, including songs from Stevie Wonder, Isley Brothers, Staple Singers, Roberta Flack, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and others. Tickets include a welcome reception and a 3-course dinner. Consider a sponsorship.

CLASSACT HR73

@ClassACTHR73

CALL TO ACTION (watch Therese Steiner, HR73 Board Member, give her call to action here)

• Get involved with our Justice & Civic Engagement committee, which has groups working on voter suppression in key states, reproductive rights, civic education, and more. Email us at classacthr73@gmail.com to get involved.