by Sharelle Burt
July 5, 2024
The multifaceted, intergenerational national voting rights campaign is a way to begin designing the future of democracy while paying homage to the Black women who have fought for freedom.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights is fighting back against the troubled 2024 election season by putting Black women on the battlefield with its “Ojo Asé: Black Women Answering the Call” campaign.
In a YouTube video, the organization’s Senior National Coordinator for Election Protection, Kimiya Factory, projected the multifaceted, intergenerational national voting rights campaign as a way to begin designing the future of democracy while paying homage to the Black women who have fought for freedom. “Ojo Asé is more than a voting rights campaign; it is a call for us to give Black women their flowers to see the invaluable contribution that Black women have made towards the future of our democracy,” Factory said.
“Democracy is on the line. Ojo Asé acknowledges that we need Black women now more than ever to help us turn out at the polls for the 2024 general election. Further, we will see the outcome of the election supersede that of our ancestor’s wildest dreams.”
The campaign, in collaboration with the Global Black Economic Forum, aims to celebrate Black women leaders in the political realm, recruit Black women to play a role as nonpartisan poll monitors on Election Day, and educate voters with nonpartisan resources to increase voter turnout. By also getting involved, volunteers will be able to nominate Black women defending our democracy with the Black Woman Voting Rights Champions In Your Network campaign.
For years, Black women have been at the forefront of fighting for what’s right in the political sector regardless of how outsiders try to stop them. In October 2023, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, LaTosha Brown, was honored at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights’ annual Higginbotham Leadership Awards Gala with the Civil Rights Advocate Award for her outstanding work in the fight for voter rights.
Brown’s organization played a vital role in the fight for voter rights in marginalized communities. Brown and her team hosted the ‘The Block Is Hot’ tour to “empower and mobilize communities to create a cleaner, healthier future.” The state of Georgia was their main stop as Black communities were under attack at the polls.
In December 2023, the world watched as former Georgia election worker Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, bravely testified in the defamation trial against former New York City Mayor and Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The women became the target of a conspiracy theory alleging the 2020 presidential election results in the state were rigged.
Trump supporters and allies falsely claimed Moss and Freeman were involved in “changing votes,” and the pair received death threats, harassment, and racist messages that had Moss in fear for her life. “I was afraid for my life. I literally felt like someone was going to come and attempt to hang me, and there’s nothing that anyone will be able to do about it,” she tearfully testified.
One part of the Ojo Asé campaign is to educate people on voter intimidation and how to avoid it. Under its valuable digital toolkit, the organization provides volunteers with a voter intimidation hotline to report issues, campaign messaging, and sample posts. To get involved, follow the group on X and Instagram for details.
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