Activists Launch #WakandaTheVote to Register Voters at ‘Black Panther’ Screenings

“We are Effective Because we Meet our Communities Where They Are”

Activists are utilizing the newly-released cultural phenomenon “Black Panther” to register moviegoers to vote.

The film, based on the comic book character of the same name, is Marvel Studios’ and Disney’s eighteenth theatrical release set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As TIME has noted, it’s “a movie about what it means to be black in both America and Africa—and, more broadly, in the world. Rather than dodge complicated themes about race and identity, the film grapples head-on with the issues affecting modern-day black life.”

The film, already poised to debut with $210 million over President’s Day weekend, is drawing massive crowds across the world. It’s prompted the Electoral Justice Project, of the Movement for Black Lives, to engage moviegoers with their #WakandaTheVote initiative. Wakanda is the fictional African homeland of the Black Panther.

“In October, Kayla Reed, Jessica Byrd and Rukia Lumumba launched the Electoral Justice Project (EJP), which is a project by the Movement for Black Lives that aims to fight for and advance the rights of black Americans,” Blavity reported in an exclusive on Friday.

“The Movement for Black Lives is an ecosystem of black leaders and organizations fighting every single day for the healthy and happy lives of Black folks,” Byrd and Reed told the outlet. “We are effective because we meet our communities where they are, whether that’s in the streets, at the city council meeting, or in the movie theater.”

Blavity continued:

“This weekend we wanted to meet our people in Wakanda,” they added. “We know that for some it’s a superhero world, but we know that the world we deserve is still waiting to be built — and we want to build it! This upcoming spring and November 2018 midterm elections are an important step in building that new world, and we want to take every opportunity to engage our communities in the conversation of electoral justice. We will be registering people to vote at movie theaters across the country so that we can #wakandathevote at the ballot box.”

The Movement for Black Lives shared their initiative via Twitter as well:

“Over 1,000 people joined our launch call, and we’ve been building out an exciting campaign ever since,” Byrd and Reed said. “We will be engaged in actions all over the country to educate and motivate black voters as well as launching an intensive campaign manager institute this spring called the Electoral Justice League.”

The duo further advised that they “intend to have 1,000s of conversations with black people as well [as] build a fun and life-affirming political home that isn’t transactional, but transformational.”