Actress Gabrielle Union Gets Out the Vote for Obama 2012

By Jocelyn Jones

            Actress Gabrielle Union reached out to student media representatives at several HBCUs during a conference call on Feb. 21 seeking their help in getting out the vote for President Barack Obama this fall.

             Union used the call to let students know that they shouldn't take voting for granted and to remind them of the president’s initiatives that have made it easier for students to attend college, such as $2.5 million allocated for student health care, $850 million set aside for HBCUs in the form of Pell Grants, a figure that has doubled since Obama took office in 2009.

                        “I love the fact that the President Barack Obama shares our value system,” said Union, who has starred in several feature films such as “Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls,” and “The Perfect Holiday.” “He gets it and he is not speaking above us but for us. He is the epitome of hard work.”

            The importance of the election is to enhance equal education and equal pay for equal work, Union said. It is important to target HBCUs so that and let their voices can be heard.

            Because many of today’s college students were too young to vote in the past presidential election, Union said it is important to educate them about the issues at stake in the Nov. 6 presidential election.  

            The Obama campaign has said that the president is seeking a second term to continue his work in the areas of providing health care, bringing military troops home, legalizing gay marriage, offering college scholarships and creating more jobs.

            The student summit is part of an overall campaign strategy to energize college students and other first-time voters who were critical to Obama’s success in 2008. Union encourages student media representatives to get the word out on their campuses about the campaign and the election process.

             The 2008 election had the most African Americans and youngest voters in election history, organizers said, adding that it is an effort it hopes to duplicate in the upcoming election. The student summit will visit many HBCUs nationwide in order to spread the word about the Obama re-election campaign and to register new voters, organizers said.

            “We want to come to where young people are and to seek energy that can be brought into the campaign,” Union said, adding that the Obama campaign wants students to “feel like you are invited to a party.”