Despite a Cape-wide cancellation of fireworks, community members were still able to celebrate Independence Day by attending Power to the Polls, a voter registration event held on July 4 in Hyannis.
The event was held in connection with a student-lead Black Lives Matter Hyannis rally and protest. Participants marched from Sturgis East to the Hyannis Village Green.
While the focus of the event is to raise awareness about the importance of voting in local elections, as well as for the upcoming November presidential election, Power to the Polls co-founder Danielle Tobey said the event is also a “call to action.”
“Power to the Polls was organized by a group of professional Cape Cod women of color who recognize that there is power in numbers,” Tobey said. “We want our community members to also understand that racism and oppression can be combated just by voting and getting involved in local politics.”
Because the Cape has also been filled with racial tensions, in alignment with the rest of the nation after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, Tobey, granddaughter of Harold Tobey, the first Black police officer for the Town of Barnstable, hopes this event can help bring new and dynamic leadership to Barnstable County despite a “difficult road ahead.”
“When protests were heightened in Hyannis, and Pride week was just about to begin, it was disturbing to see several local politicians deliver xenophobic messages targeting people of color and the LGBTQ community,” Tobey said. “This behavior is disrespectful to all other public servants – including my grandfather – who devote their life’s work to Barnstable.”
Tobey specifically refers to racially insensitive and homophobic comments that were “tweeted” onto social media by Barnstable County Commissioner Ron Beaty. After starting a petition aimed at unseating Beaty – a petition that currently has garnered 7,000 signatures – Tobey said she and the Power to the Polls group decided it was time for much of the Cape’s leadership to “change hands.”
“Everyone has the right to feel safe, physically and psychologically,” Tobey said, “and has the right to leadership that has our best interests in mind.”
For Tobey, who is also a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, “Power to the Polls” is an event that challenged and channel activism and energize change.
“There are powerful voices on Cape, and I believe that we cannot only spark conversation but also raise voices in our community that want to embrace diversity in every way,” she said. “Public officials will have no choice but to listen.”
