By Dionte Coleman
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—A national progressive organization has come to Indiana to mobilize black and other minority voters to cast their ballots on Nov. 6 and to stay involved beyond 2018.

Arianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, was in Indianapolis Monday to work with local activists to turn out the vote for Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly, a Democrat facing a tough election challenge from Republican Mike Braun.

BlackPAC was founded in 2016 by Shropshire to work with activists in black communities across the country to encourage people to vote and continue to participate in issues ranging from the justice system’s treatment of minorities to voter suppression.

In Indiana, she is working with Robin Winston, former chair of the state Democratic Party and his Progressive Thought Matters organization.

BlackPAC is investing $2 million in Indiana, with about half supporting Donnelly, and is working with local organizations to knock on 300,000 doors across the state to encourage voter turnout. Their total budget for the 2018 election is about $14 million, with other money going to support Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri as well as candidates in Virginia, Georgia, and Florida, she said.

“Our priority is the Senate for a whole host of reasons, but not the least of which is that we’re deeply concerned about the courts and the reshaping of the courts, Supreme Courts certainly, but the federal bench in general. So, the race here (Indiana) becomes really important in that mix,” Shropshire said.

Donnelly cast a vote against Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court last month. Kavanaugh, who had been accused of sexually assaulting a woman while in college, was approved in a controversial and mostly party-line vote.

Shropshire, who is originally from Seattle, said that voters need to be educated about the importance of the mid-term elections. Turnout in non-presidential election years drops by 15 to 20 percent, she said, a decline she is hoping to help reverse this year.

In talking to black voters across the country, Shropshire said that some common themes emerge, starting with jobs, the economy and wages.

“We did some polling a couple months ago to try to understand how black voters were weighting issues, what were the most important issues, and you have this narrative in the country about the economy improving and getting better, but that just does not ring true for a significant percentage of black voters,” Shropshire said.

Communities of color are also concerned about the quality and affordability of education, access to health care and the racism that persists across the state, particularly in rural areas, she said.

“I think one of the things that’s clear for me is how what happens here in Indiana is so connected to everything that is happening across the country,” Shropshire said.

She got her start as a community organizer in Los Angeles following the fires and protests in the aftermath of the Rodney King case. King had been beaten by white police officers who were subsequently acquitted of all charges. Shropshire has continued her work through labor, community, faith and economic justice campaigns in New York City, and advises labor unions, grassroots organizations, and political donors.

FOOTNOTE: Dionte Coleman is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.