Members of the NAACP Knoxville at the University of Tennessee. (Photo: Angela Dennis)
With a critical election Tuesday, organizers in Knoxville are working to energize Black voters, encouraging them not only to cast their ballots for president but also to help shape the city council election process amid recent legislative efforts to change the voting system.
Grassroots organizers in Knoxville say that this year’s presidential election stands out as one of the most pivotal in history. In 2020, the city saw an impressive turnout among Black voters with numbers reminiscent of 2008, when Barack Obama first ran for president. And organizers are determined to maintain the momentum in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota four years ago.
But in 2024, they say, the stakes are even higher.
“This is the most important election since that of 1860 when Abraham Lincoln won,” said Theotis Robinson Jr., former Knoxville city councilman from 1970 to 1977 and the first Black undergraduate admitted to the University of Tennessee.
“So much is hanging in the balance,” he said. “So it’s hugely important for everybody, but especially people of color and for women, to turn out to vote.”
Robinson also participates in voter education efforts across the city along with other groups committed to increasing the number of voters at the ballot box in a state and city with historically low turnout. He said misinformation is an ongoing issue this election season in the Black community.
“I think the narrative that Black men aren’t turning out or are somehow not participating is overplayed based on anecdotal evidence,” Robinson said. “ As far as Black folks are concerned, we’re turning out again. And different organizations are pushing that.”
The collaboration among community groups extends far beyond simple voter mobilization campaigns. Many are also gearing up for future local elections in hopes that this year’s national elections will energize Black voters to turn out for years to come. Black Knoxvillians make up only 16.1 % of the population according to 2023 census data, so organizers say working together should be a common goal rather than participating in divisive politics.
Umoja Abdul-Ahad, a longtime community advocate and co-founder of Knoxville’s City Council Movement (CCM), envisions a future where political activism in Knoxville reaches a new era of building Black political power.
He said that CCM along with Voter Turnout Coalition is focusing not just on voter turnout in next week’s presidential election, but in getting more progressive candidates elected to city council, which is the mission of the organization. They are also focusing on educating voters on Charter Amendment 2.
Casting a vote “in favor” of Charter Amendment 2 would result in the city adopting a fully at-large election system. The change would allow voters to choose candidates from any district during both primary and general elections. Voting “against” the amendment would maintain the current system in which residents vote for city council members within their specific districts in both primary and general elections.
The amendment stems from legislation proposed by Knoxville Republican Rep. Elaine Davis.
Abdul-Ahad said that educating voters on how the amendment will impact their voting power is critical.
“It takes voter education more than anything because most of the people that I know, the African American people in the community, still feel inferior and have to be reassured that every vote counts, and that you do have the knowledge and skills to do anything anybody else is doing,” said Abdul-Ahad. “So although we are all these years away from whatever it was for the first Black person did this, the first Black person did that, we still have a heavy sense of insecurity that we have to work ourselves through.”
Groups including the Knoxville Chapter of the NAACP are working not only to turn out the Black vote in Knox County but are also targeting college students and young voters who are exercising their right to vote for the first time.
On Oct 28, Pastor Sam Brown, Knoxville NAACP president, and Vice President Cynthia Finch held a meeting at the University of Tennessee to reach out to students and bring awareness about early voting. Finch said that her group was pleased to see a large turnout among voters aged 18 to 21.
“We had more than 50 students show up, and we talked about voter opportunities for them. We talked about some of the issues and why it was important for them to vote, and then they asked what they could do. They were engaged,” Finch said.
Finch has also been volunteering on the national presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris as well as ‘Win for Black Women’,’ a national collective of intergenerational Black women leaders throughout the nation. The organization’s mission is motivated by a collective concern with the narrative and treatment of Black women within the current political cycle.
She believes that taking part in volunteering across both local and national lines gives her the necessary experience to build stronger relationships with both individual voters and organizations across Knoxville.
Her efforts also include working with her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, and its chapters at the city, state and national level to help get-out-the-vote efforts. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. is the first African American sorority, founded in 1908 at Howard University, and is part of The Divine Nine, referring to the nine historically Black fraternities and sororities that are part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
On Oct. 30, local organizers including state Reps. Sam McKenzie and Gloria Johnson joined former President Glenda Glover of Tennessee State University — the state’s only public HBCU — at Knoxville’s Harris headquarters for a GOTV tailgate.
The election’s impact on Black communities is undeniable, according to Jack Vaughan, chairman of the Knox County Democratic Party. Turnout will play a major role, he added, especially in down ballot races, where just a handful of votes per precinct could really be what makes the difference.
President Joe Biden won 41% of the vote in Knox County four years ago. Since then, local Democrats have moved the needle up to 45%.
“Knoxville understands the stakes of the moment” Vaughan said. “And there’s a reason Tennessee Republicans have disenfranchised over 20% of its Black citizens and gerrymandered Knoxville’s Black communities into three state Senate districts with precision.”
When it comes down to it, representation remains on the hearts of many like Finch who say it’s all about Black women. Harris, the first Black woman presidential candidate, represents the first for many who look like her.
“Black women and women in general, have been the CEOs of their households and businesses, and there’s been a glass ceiling that has existed for many years,” Finch said. “It’s been a long journey for women to find their true place in leadership.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.