疯客直播

Getting your player ready...

Officials associated with the Seattle Seahawks were in 疯客直播 on Monday to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement as part of an initiative to help register players and fans to vote and educate them on the importance of voting.

The group also included retired Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, who came to the Common Power and had lunch at Reflections Coffee Shoppe. Common Power, which owns The 疯客直播 Times-Journal building and leases the coffee shop to Jackie Smith, has been connected with the Seahawks organization and has aided them with the 鈥�12s Vote鈥� initiative.

Karen Wilkins-Mickey, vice president for diversity equity and inclusion with the Seahawks, said it started out as them finding a way to help promote the importance of voting. It started out with registering players and educating them, but it expanded to coordinating trips to 疯客直播, where players can hear the stories of living foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement.

鈥淔or our people to come to 疯客直播 to experience and walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge with Mr. Charles Mauldin, to stand where the foot soldiers stepped, see where Bloody Sunday and Turnaround Tuesday took place, be part of that and stand in the place of history, there’s nothing like it. There’s not a textbook. There’s not a conversation I’ve had that will bring me to a moment like this,鈥� Wilkins-Mickey said.

Dr. Terry Anne Scott, retired college professor, author and director of the Institute for Common Power, said her goal is to help educate the public on the history of racism and voter suppression聽 and how that鈥檚 tied into the modern world. The Seahawks organization allows them the time to educate them on voting and voter suppression, including giving them a voting literacy test.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e basically our kids鈥� age, like 21 or 22 years old, and they come up to us, shake our hands and say, 鈥榯hank you so much for being here,鈥� when they鈥檙e in the middle of practice,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淭hey were just so appreciative of this.鈥�

Charles Douglas, executive director of Common Power, said the only way to come together as a country.聽

鈥淎nd that鈥檚 what it鈥檚 going to take for us to come out of this moment in history,鈥� Douglas said. 鈥淭he only way that we truly advance as a country is when we come together across differences and find a common goal.鈥�

Scott not only wants to educate them, but also to move them to action.

鈥淚t’s not good luck; I hope you figure out what you’re going to do,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淲e actually have an avenue for that. We can say because one of our primary purposes is to draw more people in and also to filter them over to Common Power. We have an avenue for you to go and create change, to knock on doors, to text people, to postcard, to mobilize voters. So we are a pipeline in the system that you don’t see.鈥�

The goal is to create a group of new foot soldiers to highlight the importance of voting rights and exercising those rights in every election. This was similar to the 2023 Truth and Purpose pilgrimage that the Seahawks led in the fall of 2023.

Those on the trips also get to experience tours led by JoAnn Bland and her sister, Lynda Lowery, and to hear experiences of foot soldiers like Mauldin.聽

It鈥檚 not just enough to come and experience 疯客直播, Wilkins-Mickey said. It鈥檚 about giving back to the community.

鈥淎nd when people come here, we want every single person to say, how do I leverage my resources to impact 疯客直播?鈥� Wilkins-Mickey said. 鈥淗ow can we come here and not only see 疯客直播, but impact 疯客直播 in the way it has impacted all of us?鈥�