Seeks to Reduce Growing Racial Tensions and Rise of Hate Crimes
WASHINGTON, DC — Recently, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), in partnership with the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, launches the Black Youth Vote! (BYV!) #STOPTHE HATE Organizing Campaign in Atlanta, Ga. BYV state partners leading the campaign include: Living Green Club/Building Green Initiative HBCU Green Fund @ Clark Atlanta University; FL BYV, Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Alabama BYV, Alabama Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Philadelphia BYV, Rising Sons; and Prince Georges BYV, Community of Hope AME Church in Temple Hills, MD.
The BYV! #StoptheHate Campaign is designed to empower campuses, universities and communities with the tools of civic engagement as a means to reduce the growing racial tensions and rise of hate crimes now impacting and threatening communities of color. Through the collective organizing efforts of BYV! State Coordinators and lead Black Millennial organizers, the BYV Stop the Hate Campaign is focused on:
- Increasing public and community awareness of hate crimes, racial discrimination and their impact on our communities.
- Promoting the 1-844-9-NO HATE Hotline.
- Organizing students on campuses and surrounding communities to support victims and targets of hate crimes.
- Advocating for laws that are more inclusive and comprehensive in the protection of our communities against hate crimes.
- Helping to improve data collection and public reporting of hate crimes and their impact.
- Creating city and/or regional taskforces to proactively respond to the increased violence, harassment and intimidation impacting millennials who are identified as either Muslim, Black, undocumented, LGBT, other communities of color and/or immigrants on campuses.
These organizing activities will be focused on the priority states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and the DC/MD/VA Metro area with the campaign kicked off on Monday, Oct 9, 2017 at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Ga. On Saturday, Oct. 14, the campaign will be activated with BYV community organizers in Boynton Beach, Fla.; on Thursday, Oct. 19, Friendship Center in Philadelphia, PA; and Monday, Oct. 23-27, Miles College in Birmingham, Ala., D.C.
The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) is one of the most active civil rights and social jus-tice organizations in the nation “dedicated to increasing civic engagement, economic and voter empowerment in Black America.” Black Youth Vote! (BYV!) is a national grassroots coalition of organizations and individuals committed to increasing political and civic engagement among Black youth and young adults between the ages of 18-35. On April 4, 1996, BYV! was launched under the theme “The Ballot, Not the Bullet” live on CSPAN to address the chronic decline in Black youth voter participation. The Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) is the women and girls empowerment.