Jessica Byrd is founding partner , Three Point Strategies , and Co-Organizer , The Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives . M4BL is a national network of more than 150 leaders and organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn , organize and take action .
Black People ’ s Unprecedented Political Power Won This Election
By , Jessica Byrd , The Root
For months , I ’ ve been anxious , yet hopeful . Despite all of what we faced this year from the pandemic to the economic crisis to racial violence , I held onto my faith in Black movement . We ’ re building a future where every Black person can live free with the resources they need to thrive , not simply survive . To do that , we believe we must contest for power everywhere .
And Black people did that . From Philly to Atlanta to Detroit , Black people defeated Trump and pushed back against white supremacy . We proved that the majority of people in this nation support our struggle for Black lives and oppose hate , bigotry and indifference .
We showed up despite the chaos and crisis of this year : a global pandemic that claimed over 235,000 lives , an economic crisis that cost tens of millions of jobs and renewed violence against Black bodies from George Floyd to Breonna Taylor to Tony McDade to Dominique Fells .
We voted in the face of the same electoral suppression Black people have experienced for decades , even after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which Black movement struggled and gave their lives for .
This election season , we built unprecedented Black
Political Power . In Florida , Dream Defenders Fight PAC mobilized young people of color to vote , phone banking hundreds of voters a day while creating and distributing voter guides . Young people voted in record numbers this election season .
In Madison , Wisconsin , Freedom Action trained over 100 election defenders , giving out backpacks and school supplies to support young people to both prepare for school and prepare to vote .
In St . Louis , Action St . Louis and Movement for Black Lives Freedom Fall organizing fellows knocked on over 50,000 doors to boost voter turnout , providing breakfast and lunch to around 8,000 people on Election Day . They supplied masks and hand sanitizer to keep voters safe .
For years , Black movement has mobilized to build Black political power and defend Black lives . Millions of us voted to condemn racial terror and tyranny by the Trump Administration and its supporters .
These organizing efforts paid off - Black Progressive Leaders won at the ballot all across the country including Black women , Trans and Non-Binary leaders . Bold progressive ideas prevailed and we got back in the ring with Donald Trump , and we won .
Jessica Byrd is founding partner , Three Point Strategies , and Co-Organizer , The Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives . M4BL is a national network of more than 150 leaders and organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn , organize and take action .