What: RIGGED Screening and Q&A

When: Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.

Where: Ferguson Center Theater

Who is hosting the event? BSU, Dean of Students, University Programs

Why should you attend? RIGGED has been selected for seven film festivals and featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Texas Monthly and Sirius XM. According to a press release, the movie was filmed mostly during the 2016 election and exposes the nefarious playbook of voter suppression tactics used to subvert the growing demographic tide of non-white and younger voters (i.e., college students) from fully participating in our democracy.

The release stated that much of the voter suppression featured in the film is a direct result of the Supreme Court’s Shelby Co. vs. Holder decision, an Alabama voting rights case. This 2013 decision struck down the pre-clearance statute of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which required many Southern states to get prior approval from the US Justice Department before they could change their state voting laws.

“This decision by the court is a game changer and leaves virtually unprotected minority voters in communities all over this country,” NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Sherrilyn Ifill said in the release.

RIGGED is hosted and narrated by Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Jeffrey Wright.

“This is a story that needs to be told and heard,” Wright said in the release. “I was eager to play a part in telling it and I hope RIGGED sounds an alarm that wakes America up.”

The screening is free and open to the public. Following the screening, there will be an audience Q&A with Mac Heller, the film’s executive producer. Those interested can RSVP here.

What: Voting Rights Panel

When: Thursday, Feb. 27 at noon

Where: University of Alabama Law School, Moot Court Room 140

Who is hosting the event? UA Law’s chapter of the American Constitution Society, the Voting Rights Insititute, Campaign Legal Center and BSU

Why should you attend? To continue the conversation on voter suppression, the law school is hosting an all-star panel on voting rights. Panelists will include Gerry Hebert, Sr., director for voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center; former Alabama US District attorney and current Law School Professor, Joyce Vance; John Paul Taylor of the Southern Poverty Law Center; Kathy Jones of the League of Women Voters in Tennessee Valley and Blair Bowie of the Campaign Legal Center.

This event is free and open to the public. Those interested can RSVP here.