Operation Black Vote explain why we need to get political.
| If you just stand at the sidelines, no one is going to hear you... |
Would the sight of Craig David on a poster encourage you to go out and use your right to vote at the next general election? Well a man from Operation Black Vote (OBV) thinks it might.
'Yes we've used them in the past', says Ashok Viswanathan, OBV's deputy co-ordinator, when asked about the effectiveness of using celebrities to encourage young black people to register to vote.
'We're trying to get Craig David at the moment for the general election campaign. Obviously we have to keep up to date with the celebrities - if we're not speaking to the right ones then we're not speaking to young people. We think Craig David is a pretty good ambassador for young black people. They will watch something if he's fronting it.'
The next general election is expected to take place in early June but only one in four of the UK black population are registered to vote and many of those without a voice are between 18-25.
OBV is an organisation that aims to encourage people from ethnic minorities to use their vote and have their say. Visiting secondary schools and going to local communities has proven to make a difference, explains Mr Viswanathan.
'We go to schools and colleges. We run mock election programmes. We speak to school assemblies. We also run black political history programmes so that people have a good understanding of the black MP's we have in parliament, and so they understand the legacy of the black political struggle in the UK.'
For the past two years OBV have also run a mentoring scheme where 23 young black people shadowed a black MP for six months.
'We're trying to get young people to go out and act as ambassadors to say look: "We can make parliament look more like we do." That's worked very well for us. For example of those 23 young people, two have been sworn in as magistrates. Five are also standing for local council next year, two for the Tories, one for Labour and two for the Lib Dems.
However, the young people we interviewed think the political parties still aren't appealing to ethnic minority youths. Do they know we want, and more to the point, do they care?
Connection
OBV argue that many young black people feel a lack of connection to the political process. Potential first-time voter Senab Adekunle, 18, is typical. She won't be using her vote at the next election and at a young age is already disillusioned with politics.
'There's not one that particularly interests me at the moment', she explains. 'I don't see why I should bother voting. People say: "Oh, you're losing your voice." At the end of day they will do whatever they want regardless of what government is in power.'
Senab believes so many young black people don't vote because there aren't enough black members of parliament. 'If there were more we'd be more interested and we'd support our own. Although, I think this is a bit stupid.'
According to OBV there is definitely a good reason to get motivated. Says Mr Viswanathan: 'We've identified 100 seats around the country where we've said the black vote can decide who wins and who loses.
But if we're not mistaken, don't black people only make up five per cent of the British population? 'Yes', comes the reply, 'but five-seven per cent in key areas. If you think about London - it's one-third black and rising. That's an amazing amount of political power.'
But despite these solid arguments judging by our straw poll there's obviously a lot of groundwork to do. 'I don't feel that my vote really counts says Darell Philip, 19, who argues that the concerns of young people aren't addressed by the mainstream parties.
Crime
'I think that there're a lot of issues that young black people are interested in but they are not really counted, like crime and racism,' he says. 'But you don't really see this in manifestos so this doesn't really encourage them to vote.'
Darell does believe there have been changes for young black people since Labour came to power. 'There have been gradual changes', he observes. 'I think when we look at the Stephen Lawrence report and look at how the police have been using stop and search much less. I think that's helped and is encouraging a lot of people but there is still a lot of work to do.'
Darell continues: 'I noticed Tony Blair has talked about education a lot. If he said something about why young black children are failing in the education system - that would make young black people more interested in politics.'
Seventeen-year-old Chris Ainoo, is also unsure who he'd vote for if he were eligible to participate in this year's election. Chris says that no one is presently offering him a reason to.
'The parties have manifestos but they aren't accessible enough' says Chris. 'They need to be more proactive in order to appeal to young people.'
As for political parties using pop stars to enhance their 'cool' factor and thus 'appeal' to young people, Chris isn't impressed; 'It's funny but it's not effective', he says.
Rupal Patel, 17, agrees: 'It's quite stupid because it's really based on a stereotypical idea of young people. But they're so out of date and it's embarrassing.' However unlike her peers Rupal is certain who she'll vote for come the next election.
She explains: 'Recently, we had a mock election in my school and someone from the Lib Dems came in and his opinions seemed better than any of the others.'
Asked why voting is so unattractive to so many ethnic minority youth, she answers: 'Most of the campaigns target white middle-class people. I notice that the new Tory campaign has black and Asian people in it, but most of the party political broadcasts only feature white people and their policies are targeted to white people.'
OBV agree that the lack of black and Asian faces in parliament doesn't help when trying to engage ethnic minority youth in politics. Says Mr Viswanathan: 'But you also have to ask yourself how can we change that? Do you change that by stepping outside and throwing stones in or do you get in there and get involved?
'Like it or not, if you just stand at the sidelines no one is going to hear you. The political machine will keep chugging away regardless.'
About the team
This article was produced by Gillian Antwi, 14, and Della Hicks-Wilson, 15. It was published as part of Teen Talk, the Children's Express page in New Nation.
