AND OF COURSE,VOTE!
Claim Your Autonomy
No one should have authority over my body, period. This is a crime against women and birthing parents’ rights and is unnecessarily creating so many health risks. The human stories that have been shared since this happened have been horrifying. This is why it’s so important to vote during the midterm elections so we can elect the right people to protect our reproductive rights.
—Coi Leray
Use Experience To Fuel Empowerment
After birthing my children — namely Polo G when I was 17 years young — and inevitably being forced to make strategic decisions to navigate my son’s career amid the already maledominated industry, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn abortion rights is devastating. A male-dominated council is ultimately making decisions on how and when we procreate. I view this as a wake-up call that we, as Americans and leaders, have failed to appreciate the many civil liberties we worked so hard to attain. It is imperative that we vote and be empowered to take on roles within our justice system.
—Stacia Mac manager,
ODA Management
Get Over Politics
No one really likes politics. But if you want to protect your rights, if we want to protect all our rights, it’s very important that you vote. That’s really the most important action you can take if you want to stand up for Roe v. Wade or any other potential ruling the Supreme Court can hand down. Two voter registration organizations — Black Voters Matter and HeadCount — are confirmed to be present at this year’s Made in America Festival. —Desiree Perez CEO,
Roc Nation
Inform Yourself On The Issues
Because these Supreme Court rulings give power to regionalism, we need to pay extra attention to our local government, researching the shit out of potential congressional candidates running for office now and in November. [Republican] Mary Miller should have never won her primary [in Illinois’ 15th congressional district], and one of the main reasons why extreme right-wing candidates are doing so well right now is because of these new rulings — the far right are coming out of the woodwork to join in, they’re inspired. We need to have the kind of collective inspiration that we had when we were fighting for Biden to win the presidency. We will always need to stay informed on these issues, who these delegates are, what they support and how they financially are endorsed as they run. The NAACP has a good guideline for what to do to read up on local officials who may not have as much press.
—Angel Olsen
Prep The Next Generation
It’s our duty and responsibility to educate young people on the importance of voting. If we can get across to
[kids] in a fun, creative way that once they’re 18 they have a voice, or can hold office, or run a charity benefiting a certain cause (such as women’s reproductive rights), I believe we’ll be in a better position to make an impact. —Bob Celestin founding partner, Law Offices of Bob A. Celestin
I’ve had many casual conversations with minority youth about the voting process and some of them didn’t even know where to vote — or that they could vote for the local politicians that affect decisions in their very own neighborhoods. People from our urban communities are scared because they’re going into unfamiliar territory to vote oftentimes, and there’s big cages and they don’t know what to do when you walk in. I can imagine how many more young adults share similar feelings throughout the country. We can teach our youth how to do this early on and maybe have our clients go into these high schools to advocate for voting. We can even have mock voting, just like how in law school there’s mock trials.
—Navarro Grey founding partner, The Grey Law Firm
Learn Alongside Your Fans
It’s important we encourage and help mobilize artists to use their voices, platforms and influence for what they believe in — there are millions of people just like them that need encouragement or a push to take action. About two years ago, I had an artist who was interested in learning more
about how each branch and role within government affected decisions and policies. Understanding her audience could also benefit from the education, we created a weekly educational livestream where she’d bring experts on IG Live to learn more for eight weeks. The fact that the artist was learning about the topic with her fans humanized her and brought her and her fans even closer. We ended up flooded with testimonies describing the fans’ voting experience and how our program helped them cast their vote.
—Yaz Britt director of A&R, SoundCloud
Focus Local First
Voting in general is important, but now more than ever, participating in the vote at the local election level all the way up to national elections has never been more important. Real change starts from the bottom up, and electing officials who support your beliefs is our power to combat what comes next after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Primary elections are happening now across the country, and I hope we all take the time to learn about each candidate for every position and vote for those who will support our core values.
—Em Beihold
Read Up On Registration
Artists and music industry professionals can register, check their voter registration and then shout it out on their social media, email lists, text clubs, websites and during interviews. They can ensure their fans are registered by working with organizations such as Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote — a crucial nonpartisan resource that also supplies messaging on key registration deadlines and primary dates — as well as HeadCount, which can help to register fans at shows. Artists and their teams can also work regionally with organizations such as Stacey Abrams’ New Georgia Project, which has registered over 300,000 voters in Georgia alone. —Emily White partner, Collective Entertainment; founder, #iVoted Festival
Make A Plan For The Polls
Unfortunately, the power now lies with each state to decide the reproductive health of so many. The most powerful way to fight back is by heading to the polls for your state and local elections. If it’s available in your state, I’ve found requesting an absentee ballot ahead of time to be super helpful: It eliminates the additional stress of fighting long lines at the polls or sitting in traffic and allows you to focus from the comfort of your own home.
—Carianne Marshall co-chair/COO, Warner Chappell Music