The topic of increasing civic engagement in the current political landscape was one of several topics discussed during a non-partisan forum, recently hosted by the Wake County chapters of Omega Phi Fraternity Incorporated, at the Omega Multipurpose Center, in Garner.
The Omegas of Raleigh co-hosted the forum representing the fraternity’s Sixth District Political Action, Voter, Registration, Education & Mobilization (VREM), and NAACP’s committees. The fraternity’s Sixth District consists of chapters located in North and South Carolina.
Randall Eaton, the Sixth District VREM Chair for the fraternity said that one issue that became a key take away from the forum is increasing engagement participation from young voters, in the 18-to-29 age bracket.
“We heard some ideas tonight that suggest we need to get away from the microphones and forums and go where the potential voters are - in the communities, churches, it doesn’t matter,” said Eaton.
Eaton added that in order to increase civic engagement among young potential voters and the disenfranchised citizens, it’s going to take the community to come together to take action.“Here in North Carolina we [fraternity] have done some great things in the last 6 years, such as participating in the D9 Legislative Day at the General Assembly, where all of the historically black fraternities and sororities come together for a common goal of encouraging our communities to take action by voting.”
Political experts attribute low voter turnout among African-Americans, and particularly young people between the ages of 18-to-24, to nationwide redistricting efforts to dilute the vote and attempts to purge voter rolls, causing some to question whether their vote matters.
One of the forum participants, retired North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan, who has been a member of the fraternity for over 50 years, said it’s critical to remind African-American voters on the importance of making their voices heard. “We’ve had generations of individuals in our community to make sure that all persons have a right to vote," said Morgan.
“It’s important that we don’t forget from whence we came, because we still have much to do to ultimately arrive at where we want to go.”
