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| For
Immediate Release: |
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For
Further Information Contact: |
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| October
14, 2005 |
| Office
of The Attorney General
-
Peter C. Harvey,
Attorney General
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Tracy
Munford
609-341-3235 or 609-571-5101
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AG
Harvey, Student Who Won Spoken Word Contest,
to Record “Be
Powerful,
Be Heard” PSA
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AG
presents award plaque to James
Prendergrast, winner of
the "Be Powerful, Be Heard"
Statewide Spoken Word Competition
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TRENTON
– Attorney General Peter C. Harvey
will visit the East Brunswick Vocational-Technical
School in Middlesex County on Monday, October
17, to record a pro-voting Public Service
Announcement (PSA) with East Brunswick Vocational
student James Prendergast, winner of the
Attorney General’s statewide “Be
Powerful, Be Heard” spoken word competition.
When completed and edited, the new video
PSA will also feature hip-hop music impresario
Russell Simmons, whose portion will be recorded
separately.
According to Harvey, James Prendergast was
among 15 finalists who competed for the
opportunity to star in the new “Be
Powerful, Be Heard” PSA by reciting
original, spoken word creations focused
on the significance of voting. The competition
took place during the Attorney General’s
Hip-Hop Summit II in Trenton on September
30.
Approximately 5,500 high school and college
students from throughout New Jersey attended
Hip Hop Summit II, which took place at the
Sovereign Bank Arena. The event brought
together voting age and soon-to-be-voting-age
young people with representatives of the
Attorney General’s Office, popular
hip-hop recording artists and other celebrities
for a candid presentation about democracy,
governance, and the significance of every
individual's voting voice.
Paid for with federal Help America Vote
Act (HAVA) funds, Hip-Hop Summit II cost
less than $100,000 overall to stage. Included
in the cost was the rental and insurance
for Sovereign Bank Arena, food for the thousands
of student attendees, bus transportation
for students, and live video
“streaming” of the event
via the Internet. Participating celebrities
donated their time.
According to Harvey, the average cost-per-student
for Hip-Hop Summit II amounted to between
$17 and $18, an investment he called “a
good investment in youth by encouraging
personal responsibility and participation
in government through voter registration.”
The Attorney General noted that, by law,
HAVA funding is to be used by states not
only to acquire new election-related equipment
and create a statewide voter data base,
but also to promote public awareness and
increased voter participation.
“There is clearly an ongoing need
to generate awareness of, and enthusiasm
for, the act of voting and remaining a vital
participant in our democracy – especially
among young people,” said Harvey.
“Events like Hip-Hop Summit II are
an important part of that process. It would
be short-sighted and foolish to invest millions
of dollars in what is essentially the infrastructure
of democracy – state-of-the-art electronic
voting equipment, new data management systems,
etc., – and then ignore the human
component.”
“Through events like Hip-Hop Summit
II, and the 2004 Hip Hop Summit held at
the Trenton War Memorial, thousands of young
adults are becoming engaged in a discussion
about government, and the importance of
voting – perhaps for the first time
in their lives,” added Harvey. “In
addition, they have been given important
food for thought concerning such critical
issues as self-expression, individual responsibility
in a free society, and the ability of one
person to make a difference by channeling
his or her energy in a positive way.”
Among the celebrities who attended Hip Hop
Summit II were: Doug E. Fresh, Jim Jones,
Freeway, Jha Jha of the Diplomats, The Game,
Jaheim, Miss New Jersey Julie Robenhymer,
America’s Top Model Tocarra Jones
and Def poets Lemon, Black Ice. The celebrities,
along with 15 high school and college finalists
from the Attorney General’s “Be
Powerful, Be Heard” spoken word competition,
participated in a panel about voting, democracy
and governance. Also on hand for the discussion
were Attorney General Harvey, Def Jam Records
founder Simmons, and Dr. Benjamin Chavis
of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.
As was the case throughout last year’s
Hip-Hop Summit, discussion during Hip-Hop
Summit II focused principally on the importance
of voting and other issues related to civic
responsibility.
"BE POWERFUL, BE HEARD" is the
public outreach component, and slogan, of
New Jersey’s voter education initiative.
A campaign of PSAs, college bus tours, public
events and other voter registration and
get-out-the-vote efforts, the “Be
Powerful, Be Heard” initiative was
launched in April 2004 at the New Jersey
Center for the Performing Arts in Newark.
Among those who attended that kick-off event
were Rev. DeForest “Buster”
Soaries Chairman of the federal Election
Assistance Commission, and former New Jersey
Secretary of State.
“Most people believe the (HAVA) money
is to be used for voting equipment, and
that is true,” Soaries told those
attending the “Be Powerful, Be Heard”
kick-off. “But it does not matter
if the machines work and the votes all count
if people don’t vote. And it doesn’t
matter if people want to vote, if they’re
not registered. A little known fact about
the Help America Vote Act is that what we
are charged to do is not only related to
(voting) machines. These funds should also
be used to educate, and to motivate voters.
In 2004, the “Be Powerful, Be Heard”
initiative contributed to a record number
of new voter registrations -- more than
460,000 in time for the November 2004 Presidential
Election. The total number of registered
voters in New Jersey topped five million
for the first time in state history in 2004,
and voter turnout for the November election
was the highest it had been in 12 years.
_ag-ph_update.gif) |
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