Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi's political action committee hopes to engage Black voters in the political process.
When it comes to politics, money talks, and in 2012 — as the U.S.'s first Black president seeks re-election — its voice will be louder than ever. For the first time, independent groups known as super political action committees (PACs) can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to support a favored presidential candidate — or massacre the opposition. But a new super PAC, called 1911 United, has a more altruistic goal: raising $1.5 million to mobilize African-American voters in key swing states to support President Obama.
According to Sinclair Skinner, the committee’s treasurer, the role that African-American voters played in helping to elect the nation’s first Black president is cause for celebration, but should also be a huge motivation for them to be more engaged in the political process than ever before. Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi, two historically Black fraternities that celebrated their centennials in 2011, formed the PAC in December. They plan to organize and deploy volunteers in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, but by law cannot coordinate with Obama 2012.
