Residents of a mostly Black town in Alabama and a mostly white town in Maine have taken their informal discussion about the importance of voting and made a short video to share with the public.
Residents of Tuskegee, Ala., and South Berwick, Maine, which are sister cities, created a three-minute video with powerful snippets from their hour-long conversation about why voting is a right, a responsibility, and even a pleasure.
“We were taught that voting was really the most important thing in our adult life that we had to do,” said a Tuskegee resident. “People died so that you could express your opinion at the voting booth.”
“Voting was something I was really, really excited to be able to do when I turned 18,” said a South Berwick resident.
Residents in these two towns, which came together in 2017 as the nation’s first domestic sister city relationship, have forged a friendship committed to addressing race relations in this country.
“We made this video as a way to use our combined voice, our relationship, to encourage Americans to exercise this precious right,” said David McDermott, a member of the Joint Sister City Committee.
The video, edited by Bill Rogers of South Berwick and specifically created to help get out the vote, focuses on the youth vote, on the chance all citizens have to make a difference, and on the history of Black citizens struggling to get the vote.
This effort is part of the sister cities’ larger “Together We Vote: Two Communities, One Nation” project launched in 2020. That earlier effort led to a book and a 10-minute video with residents of both communities talking about the importance of voting and obstacles they have faced.
The results illustrated the different experiences Americans from the two communities have as Black and white voters.
The new video can be seen here.
