LeBron James, Kevin Hart & More Form Voting Rights Group

Following the success of his More Than An Athlete movement, LeBron James, along with a group of other prominent black athletes and entertainers, have launched a new organization, More Than a Vote, focused on "protecting African-Americans’ voting rights."

As the name suggests, More Than a Vote and the celebrities behind the organization, which include current and former basketball stars Trae Young, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jalen Rose as well as entertainer Kevin Hart, plan to go "well beyond traditional celebrity get-out-the-vote efforts," the New York Times reports.

“Yes, we want you to go out and vote, but we’re also going to give you the tutorial,” the NBA star explained while discussing the upcoming November elections. “We’re going to give you the background of how to vote and what they’re trying to do, the other side, to stop you from voting.”

Given that the organization was birthed amidst the on-going Black Lives Matter movement and long overdue awakening to racial injustice in this country, one of More Than a Vote's main goals will be to "amplify [Black] voices in this fall’s presidential election."

“Because of everything that’s going on, people are finally starting to listen to us — we feel like we’re finally getting a foot in the door,” LeBron shared. “How long is up to us. We don’t know. But we feel like we’re getting some ears and some attention, and this is the time for us to finally make a difference.”

The NBA star and business mogul also spoke of how he will use his platform to draw attention to voter suppression, which has long plagued black communities. Just days ago, LeBron responded to a report from Politico on Twitter, which shared the hours-long voting experience of a woman by the name of LaTosha Brown, who compared her unnecessarily difficult voting experience at her assigned polling location to a predominantly white polling location she later drove to and saw no line.

"Everyone talking about 'how do we fix this?' They say 'go out and vote?' What about asking if how we vote is also structurally racist?" LeBron tweeted in response to her story.

With systemic racism finally being addressed on a global level, the basketball legend additionally acknowledged his role in ensuring that he, more so than ever, continues to fight for change. “I’m inspired by the likes of Muhammad Ali, I’m inspired by the Bill Russells and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbars, the Oscar Robertsons — those guys who stood when the times were even way worse than they are today,” he told the Times. “Hopefully, someday down the line, people will recognize me not only for the way I approached the game of basketball, but the way I approached life as an African-American man.”

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