An activist group known as the Electoral Justice Project (EJP) has launched a black voter registration effort at screenings of “Black Panther” nationwide.
An offshoot of the Movement for Black Lives, EJP was founded by Kayla Reed, Jessica Byrd and Rukia Lumumba last October and aims to fight for and advance the rights of black Americans with the #WakandaTheVote campaign.
“We will be registering people to vote at movie theaters across the country so that we can #wakandathevote at the ballot box,” said one of the organizers in a story first reported by Blavity.
The founders told Blavity that the recruitment effort has been effective “because we meet our communities where they are, whether that’s in the streets, at the city council meeting, or in the movie theater.”
“This weekend we wanted to meet our people in Wakanda,” they added, referring to Black Panther’s fictional native East African nation. “We know that for some it’s a superhero world, but we know that the world we deserve is still waiting to be built — and we want to build it! This upcoming spring and November 2018 midterm elections are an important step in building that new world, and we want to take every opportunity to engage our communities in the conversation of electoral justice.”
For more information, head to the Movement for Black Lives website, which says recruiters will be wearing “Wakanda inspired outfits” to help filmgoers register to vote.