Close your eyes for a few seconds and imagine your dream home. Where is it? What does it look like? Are you renting or buying? What is your community like? And it’s all affordable…right? Go ahead and take five seconds to visualize this — we’ll get to the point below when you open them.

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Hi, welcome back.

In our latest Civics for the Culture episode, host Chelsey Hall sits down with actor Manish Dayal to discuss how that vision you’re imagining right now is connected to how we cast our ballot at every single level of government. You can watch the latest episode here to get the full download.

One of the first steps we can take to make our dreams become a reality is turning out to vote — but not just for President, for every single position on the ballot — and during primary, runoff, midterm, and general elections. The names down the ballot all serve important roles that impact our day-to-day realities — from how much we pay for rent, to whether potholes get filled, to who gets justice and who doesn’t, and more.

Let’s circle back to our first question about your dream home. In the 1930s, public officials redlined the city of Atlanta and communities of color across the country, limiting where Black families were allowed to live and buy property. As a result, we still see segregated neighborhoods in Atlanta and from coast to coast — meaning these political decisions can make our dreams harder to reach for decades.

It’s as intentional as apple trees growing where apple seeds were planted.

But these policies can be changed by people — through the ballot box. We have the power to choose who serves our community, and the decisions they make have a lasting impact on our lives and the world as we know it. So let’s plant seeds of positive change.

These videos are part of our voter education programs — to ensure that young people of color have the information they need to take ownership of our democracy and make lasting change. Will you chip in $20 or anything you can today to make this work possible?

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and activism,

The Fair Fight Action team