Black Voters Matter Invest Time, Effort and Energy in Grand Canyon State
By DL White
The Blackest Bus in the nation, arrived in the hottest City in the nation last Thursday, Oct 5, and made the round, covered the bases to encourage the those that are not register to do so and those that are, encouraged to Vote in the November election, scheduled for November 5.
Black Voters Matter National Policy Director – Wanda Mosley and her team landed and never looked back as they visited key spots distributing literature and sharing the importance of voting.
“Arizona is a battleground state, we believe this state can impact significantly the vote in November,” shared Mosley in between conversations with individuals entering ATL Wings on Roosevelt Row.
Roy Tatem, the Arizona coordinator for distribution and host for the BVM scheduled several stops for the visitors beginning with the ATL opened and operated by Brother Johnson and wife Rachel Johnson.
The Bus was parked on 5th street just off Roosevelt and quickly became the backdrop for photo opts all day into the late evening.
“We are honored to host the BVM team and National Policy Director Sister Mosley,” noted Tatem who has a long history of political involvement from the days of Bernie Sanders seeking the presidency and prior – working on Capitol Hill serving as aide for several elected officials.
The Blackest Bus in the nation crossed many intersections in the hottest city in the nation on one of the hottest October weekends on record – from east to west and north to south.
Stops included Grocery stores on the westside to the southside sharing literature and encouraging voting.
Saturday night the BVM bus pulled up to the American Legion and through collaboration with the Phi Iota, the Phoenix Graduate Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, hosted dinner for veterans and those registering to vote.
“We have been in this community since 1946, this establishment is actually named after one of our brothers who contributed strongly to this community,” noted Phi Iota Chapter Basileus (President) Anthony Gibbs.
The American Legion on located on Broadway and 16th Street was renamed in honor of Travis Williams several years ago. Williams and his brother-in -laws, the Jones, were responsible for the development of houses in South Phoenix during the late fifties and early sixties, giving Black folks in this area and the westside home ownership and upward mobility,” noted Gibbs.
On Sunday, the Mosley and her crew were up early at the Tempe Lake for the monthly walk, then the bus headed to Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church – where literature was distributed, and voter registration was in full effect.
All work and no nutriment makes for a long day. The Blackest Bus in the land pulled up to Lolo’s Restaurant on South Central where they were meet by stars of the silver screen – Kerry Washington ( ABC’s Scandal’s Olivia Pope), Jessica Alba (star of the Fantastic Four), Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction ), Michael Ealy, a host of appearances from Barbershop, to more recently – Reasonable Doubt.
“It has been a full weekend, we came, did what we planned to do and even more and now we are out,” shared Mosley, adding, there are more cities and places to visit to encourage the Vote in November. Major shout-out to Phoenix, this had been great! Shared Mosley.
Danny L. White currently lives in Phoenix, AZ. He is the author and creative lead for the Sensational letter “S”, a children’s book focused on early reading comprehension and word development. He is also a Adjunct faculty member at Maricopa College, and staff reporter for the Arizona Informant. He is an active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc, in Phoenix.
