YOU! HAVE THE POWER | Dr. Ellen Brown

What’s at stake — and who will sit at the table?

BY DR. ELLEN BROWN

One month.

That’s how much time we have left to decide who will get our vote in the upcoming midterm elections. The stakes are high for Nevadans: the ballot will feature a wealth of very high-profile races for U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Controller and a host of other state and local offices.

The date is Tuesday, Nov. 6 — and there will be no shortage of polling places throughout the Valley. Historic decisions will be made, but the questions are these: Will you be part of the process? Will you make it a priority to free up time to educate yourself about the candidates and issues? Will you continue to be part of a steady hum or unleash a mighty roar?

While we ponder those questions, there is an emerging force on the national scene committed to bringing people together to fight injustice.

Its mission: building a new and effective strategy for change, by focusing on changing the rules by which society lives. It is called Color of Change (colorofchange.org) — founded in 2005 by James Rucker and writer/commentator Van Jones, for the purpose of elevating advocacy for racial justice.

Through nationally focused advocacy programs, Color of Change has been the force behind several campaigns against racial injustice — the organization took up the cause of the Jena Six legal defense, the Trayvon Martin case, and privatized prisons to name just a few.

In our community, Patrina McKinney leads the Las Vegas branch of Color of Change. Her mission is finding and organizing Black women — a population that for too long has been wrongly labeled as politically inactive. Color of Change brings these women together several times throughout the year in a social but very focused setting called “Black Women’s Brunches” — where they learn about organizing their friends, families and neighborhoods.

Why? Because they have the power. They can empower the people in their lives to make change, and awaken us to what it takes to stop the perpetrators of “fake news” about Black people — which too often leads to us being portrayed negatively or simply ignored.

Patrina is passionate when she talks about Color of Change. In Las Vegas, the organization is focused on building the strength within our community so that our voices are heard as a roar at the polls in November.

Ellen Brown is an affiliate faculty member in the School of Contemporary Liberal Studies at Regis University and a retired associate dean and professor at Davenport University.