The stakes couldn’t be higher. We have a man in the White House who doesn’t believe people of color hold equal status to white Americans. We have someone who is seeking to enact legislation that will, in essence, rob us of our ability control our own bodies. This is someone who is seeking to overturn the 15^th Amendment that gives Blacks in this country the right to vote. A person who, in four short years, has turned back years of progress in protecting this planet we live on from climate change. And this is someone who has done all this while overseeing one of the greatest public health failures and pandemic responses; while also inspiring the kind of divisiveness and intolerance this country hasn’t witnessed in decades. Change must occur. It’s up to us to make it happen.

It was in 2012. I had just become a citizen a few months earlier. I helped elect Barack Obama. It was, and still is, one of the proudest days of my life.

So many elections in the US have been decided by a coin toss because the votes were tied. Every single voter that didn’t vote in those elections could have decided the outcome Just because you think your vote MIGHT not matter doesn’t mean it WON’T. Since you have no way of knowing ahead of time, the only good decision is to vote every time.

Artists are a critical voice of the community. By bringing our gifts to the struggle, we tell stories and capture truths. We speak words too often caught in anger and pain behind our collective lips. We paint pictures that speak to our struggles and showcase our strength. We sing the songs that fuel the movement and soothe our souls.  As artists we can bring all of these gifts to bear to inspire our community to hear the message about the importance of voting. But more than this, we can inspire them, in ways that arguments often to fail to do, to take action. To vote! To use their voice to make real change in all of our lives.