WASHINGTON – People For the American Way Foundation’s African American Ministers Leadership Council (AAMLC) applauded yesterday’s Census report confirming that African Americans turned out to vote at a higher rate than any other ethnic group for the first time last year.

Members of AAMLC, a nationwide network of African American clergy, worked through the nonpartisan “I Am a VESSEL and I Vote” program to train over 7,000 clergy and faith leaders in get-out-the-vote skills, including registering new voters and bringing voters to the polls.

“This milestone shows the power of strong, strategic organizing in the African American community,” said Minister Leslie Watson Malachi, director of AAMLC. “It also shows what happens when politicians threaten the rights of current and future African American voters. Across the country, we witnessed a variety of attempts by local, state and federal  officials to rig elections to make it harder for Black Americans to vote. In response, starting a year before election day, we raised awareness of suppression efforts from the statehouses to the courthouses, organized with other faith and civil rights communities, and turned out at the polls to proclaim victory for our hard-won rights.”

“This should be a lesson to elected officials who think they can keep African Americans from exercising our civic duty,” added Malachi. “We take the right to vote seriously, we know our power in this democracy, and we intend to use it. Every election counts and every African American votewill be counted. The movementto end oppression at the polls is here to stay.”

People For the American Way Foundation’s African American Ministers Leadership Council represents an ecumenical alliance of 1,500 African-American clergy working toward equality, justice and opportunity for all.

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