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The NAACP is pouring $20 million into getting out the vote this fall. One wave of ads will try to persuade a particular group of Black voters that both parties are fighting for. NPR's Sandhya Dirks reports.
SANDHYA DIRKS, BYLINE: It's almost become a cliche. Black people are not a monolith, but they still often get treated like one, especially when it comes to voting, says the NAACP's Tyler Sterling. He says you can't mobilize young Black men with the same one-size-fits-all message.
TYLER STERLING: Being a younger Black man, we are not frustrated with a specific entity or individual. It's a frustration or cynicism with the whole political process and the lack of progress that we are seeing in our communities.
DIRKS: To overcome that cynicism, the NAACP has launched an expansive campaign to mobilize the Black vote in battleground states, including door-knocking, texts and ads like this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Dear dad, I don't say this enough, but you're my hero. I know you're not feeling this election, but please do me a favor - vote. Our Black history, my access to healthcare and our voting rights are under attack.
CHRIS TOWLER: With the dear-father radio ads, I think it has all the elements there that I'd like to see, but it's still very subtle, right?
DIRKS: That's political scientist Chris Towler, who runs the Black Voter Project. He says the messaging needs to be more explicit.
TOWLER: It just kind of quietly speaks to the part of extremists taking over the country when that needs to be, like, the highlight. That needs to be shouted to the mountaintops with examples, with clear ways as to how these extremists will hurt the Black community.
DIRKS: There's been more engagement since Vice President Kamala Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket. But Towler's hearing that a vague message of hope isn't necessarily going to speak to disaffected young Black men.
TOWLER: We want to see another Black president, but we're not going to just kind of blindly go into it this time, as we might have with Obama.
DIRKS: Under Obama, life didn't get better for a lot of Black people, Towler says. He says to activate young Black male voters, you have to center policy they want, like reparations or police reform, which isn't really coming from Harris. The other option is the NAACP strategy - doubling down on how much the Black community stands to lose if they don't get out and vote.
Sandhya Dirks, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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