A Nashville-based nonprofit is requesting Black Tennesseans help with crafting a statewide agenda, called The BlackPrint.
The Equity Alliance already has a few priorities of its own, including an extension of voter registration deadlines. Charlane Oliver is the co-founder.
“We need same-day voter registration — so that if you just move here, or if you just decide one day ‘I want to vote’ and its election day, you should be able to register on the spot and vote on that same day,” Oliver said.
Currently in Tennessee, a voter application has to be turned in at least 30 days prior to an election.
The Equity Alliance was founded in 2016 with the focus of increasing civic engagement amongst Black Tennesseans. It also helped organize rallies during the outcry over the murder of George Floyd by police, including the initial one in downtown Nashville that drew thousands to War Memorial Plaza. The group also registered voters and says its Tennessee Black Voter Project resulted in submitting more than 90,000 applications in 2019.
More recently, the Equity Alliance has been helping Davidson County determine how COVID-19 relief funds should be spent in the historically Black neighborhoods of North Nashville. But Oliver says the organization has built trust, so it’s broadening statewide to create The BlackPrint by gathering public input through online surveys.
“Essentially, this is going to be the agenda that becomes the platform that we are going to be advocating for policies the next legislative cycle,” Oliver said.
Oliver expects there could be broad support. What’s good for Black Tennesseans, she says, is also good for everyone.
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