By NAN Contributor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Oct. 12, 2018: Just one Caribbean-born celebrity has stepped forward in urging her followers to register to vote and vote in the Nov. 6, 2018 elections in the US.
That leaves millions of others absent, including thousands who are from the Caribbean or of Caribbean roots including Caribbean-born rapper Nicki Minaj, Caribbean roots rapper Cardi B, and the hundreds of other singers, actors, footballers and sports figures in the NBA and NFL.
The call by Barbados-born star Rihanna came days after Taylor Swift broke her political silence and joined Chance the Rapper, Common and John Legend by urging all to register and to vote.
It also comes more than two weeks after CaribPR Wire launched its voter education campaign urging Caribbean nationals to vote.
Rihanna wrote to her 65 million followers on Instagram urging them to vote on October 9th, the last day in many states where eligible voters could have registered to vote for the Nov. 6th mid-terms.
“Good Morning America. Who is awake this morning? And who’s woke?,” she questioned. “….I don’t care what responsibilities you have today, there’s no greater responsibility than being in control of your future and the future starts NOW!! We don’t have time, no procrastinating, don’t let the discouragement take you off course, that’s not how my people or my generation will go down…this is the loudest way to make your voice heard! REGISTER TODAY! Let’s go!!! ??????”
She accompanied the post with a picture of the deadlines for registration in various states and urged Americans to visit Vote.org to register and to double and triple check that they are properly registered.
CaribPR Wire, the PR Newswire of the Caribbean, shares Rihanna’s urgency, especially to Caribbean American nationals.
“This is the most critical election of our life-time as immigrants in this country, especially given the anti-immigrant policies being put in place by this administration,” said Felicia J. Persaud, the Guyana-born, U.S. citizen and media entrepreneur and founder of CaribPR Wire. “Those of us who have earned the hard-fought right to vote need to use it on D-Day, Nov. 6th, or we may lose it forever and be shocked to find ourselves sucking salt back in the islands and nations we came from.”
The 9 Caribbean-centric messages such as: “Lime, Wine, Vote” “Vote Or Your Lime Is History” and “Jam Up The Polls This Nov. 6th.” There are also culturally specific messages including: “Jab Jab To The Polls This Nov. 6th,” “Hot Gyal A Vote,” “Dutty Wine To The Polls This Nov. 6th” and “Ride De Riddim and Vote This Nov. 6th” can be found and shared here.
