Did Vote or Die, Die?

Four years ago at this time your favorite rapper, artist, or actress was most likely involved in some sort of voting campaign. With the possibility of having the first African American leader of the United States inaugurated, expressing the necessities of voting was the hip thing to do in 2008. People that never publicly expressed concerned about the importance of voting were now leading the way as voting advocates.

Diddy's (aka Sean Combs or Puff Daddy to the old heads)  Vote or Die campaign stood out the most to me as it was one of the most popular voting campaigns among young voters and people of color. (They also had to coolest t-shirts).  Many of the people that they sought to reach would be casting their ballots for the first time and lived in urban areas.  So where has the Vote or Die campaign gone?

Every presidential election is an important one and this year's will be no exception considering how several polls are noting how close this race may be. It seems that this current race would be an opportune time for the popular Vote or Die effort to have resurfaced. Through all of the painful repetitive campaign commercials I've sat through this year, I have yet to see one mention of Vote or Die.

After a recent visit to the Martin Luther King Historic Center in Atlanta, I was sharply reminded of why every black person, poor person, and disenfranchised person should cast a vote. Every tactic known to man was once put in place to prevent the aforementioned from voting which included ridiculous testing to physical attacks or intimidation. The fact that we can freely register and vote for our candidates of choice should be reason enough to do so.



Despite President Obama's popularity among black voters, we still have a long way to go and the fight is a long way from ending. We do not need another reminder that our votes or not voting can have huge effects on our lives. So do we really need entertainers, whose lives do not resemble the average working class American citizen, telling us the importance or exercising our right to vote?