Within the last year, a number of former and current NBA stars have worked to mobilize voters across the nation. Most notably, LeBron James, Jalen Rose, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Draymond Green have pooled their resources to launch the More Than A Vote campaign. Elsewhere, Chris Paul created a program that provided transportation to the polls for voters at historically Black colleges and universities in North Carolina. Now, Dwayne Wade is using his platform to discuss the importance of mobilizing Black voters as we near local elections in 2021 and congressional elections in 2022.
“What I wanna say to all the Black people out there, all the marginalized peoples, we understand why the politicians are trying to silence the black voters,” he told Wall Street Journal Deputy Chief News Editor Darren Everson during a recent interview.
“It’s because of our power.”
Wade went on to explain that citizens have power in their ability to mobilize. Beyond the scope of voting in political elections, the NBA star wants to encourage those who will listen to mobilize their efforts in their respective sectors.
“Understand if we mobilize and we utilize what we have, and that’s our power, that it scares everybody. No one’s scared because of our muscles and because of our skin tone, they’re scared of us because of our power. And so, we want our kids to understand where they come from, who they are and don’t let the world step on them because of it," Wade added.
“That’s the message for everybody out there, the community: let’s mobilize, let’s utilize what we have and that’s our power together to create change, to make change, to have the life that we say we want.”
Wade is doing his best to mobilize through his nonprofit, Social Change Fund. Alongside Paul and Carmelo Anthony, Wade works to officer financial assistance and other resources to marginalized communities.
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