Meet Cheree Meeks: She asks local candidates: “How do you engage with the Black community?”

When Cheree Meeks organizes voter forums, she asks local candidates to explain to Black voters not just what they’ll do for the community, but “what are you doing in our community?”

In this never-ending work of equity and representation, it’s uncommon to see Meeks without a smile on her face, and it’s hard to speak with her for long before she puts one on yours.

Through candidate forums, voter registration and education efforts, Meeks has been working with the Tucson Black community on civic engagement. Often, the questions at forums hosted by Meeks and her teams will center the Black community, while race might not even come up at other forums and events.

“You can bet that when the NAACP hosts a forum, we’re not asking generic questions about what are you gonna do to change the community? Or what are you gonna do to make the community safer?” Meeks said. “We are going to ask very specifically, how do you engage with the Black community?”

This Q&A is part of Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces.

In Arizona, a battleground state in the 2024 elections, about 6% of eligible voters are Black, according to the Pew Research Center .

Meeks wears many hats — as assistant dean for programs, diversity and inclusion at the University of Arizona Honors College; president of Tucson’s NAACP chapter; a member of the Tucson Alumnae chapter of the prominent Black sorority Delta Sigma Theta; and as a mother.

She focuses on creating equitable spaces for her students, for members of her community and most importantly, she says, for her daughter. It’s a fight she remains committed to in all aspects of her life.

Arizona Luminaria chatted with Meeks about accountability, elections and prioritizing Black voters. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Why is it important for underrepresented communities to engage in the democratic process, especially in local elections?

A: I think it’s incredibly important to be invested in the community in which you live. That’s where the greatest change can happen. I know a lot of people think of presidential elections, but a lot of the work that’s going to impact you and I is going to happen locally. It’s important for us to be involved in the process, because if we are not, our voices are not heard, which then means our needs are unmet.

People may think they know what communities of color need or marginalized communities need, but in many cases we’re not at the table to make the decisions. I think it’s important that we are positioned in such a way that we are leading the efforts that are going to impact us in our communities.

I know that there are many disparities in our community, and these disparities in most cases are detrimental to the Black community, and we need to be doing something about that and not just sitting by and noticing that these things are happening and being upset that these things are happening.

It’s important to hold people accountable. If folks are elected, and they’re elected because they’ve made promises to us, we need to hold them accountable. If those folks don’t do what they promised or what they said they were going to do, then it’s time to identify new candidates and to elect different folks who are going to make things happen for the community.

Q: How can local candidate forums influence voter decisions and promote transparency in elections?

A: They are critical because you now have these folks who are asking for your vote in front of you!

There are some topics that we know are broad topics, and many of the candidates — depending on what they’re running for — are going to talk about very specific things. But what I have found, and that many folks in the Black community have found, is that the questions aren’t direct questions about the Black community.

So you can bet that when the NAACP hosts a forum, we’re not asking generic questions about what are you gonna do to change the community? Or what are you gonna do to make the community safer? We are going to ask very specifically, how do you engage with the Black community? Whatever position it is that they’re running for, can they talk specifically about how that impacts the Black community?

We have experienced people kind of dancing around the question and giving us that, “Well, I wouldn’t do anything different for the Black community than I would do for the majority of the community,” and I understand that, but what we want to know is very specific.

Q: How do candidate forums help bring together voters and candidates, and what are some key topics that have emerged during these forums in Southern Arizona?

A: We come into the forum with three or four questions already prepared so that we can ensure what we want to ask is shared, and then we may open it up to the floor. We’re going to ask a question about the candidate’s involvement with the Black community hands down.

We’re gonna ask that because that’s not a question that they often answer. Candidates may talk about in general what they do in the community. But we want to know, what are you doing in our community?

Our biggest thing we’ve been working on for the last three years has to do with bail reform and cash bail and figuring out how we can create a system that does not criminalize poverty. So we will ask a question about that.

Since our audience is primarily African American, they’re going to ask the questions that are about us . We want to put the candidates in front of people to see the community member that’s in tears, because they’re struggling with how they’re going to pay their rent. And so when we talk about housing, what can be done with housing, the candidates need to see that this is not just a question, but there is life and livelihood behind these questions. And for some people, that’s what’s on the line.

Q: How do you encourage candidates to address specific issues facing Black and minority communities during these forums?

A: In the invitation that we send out to candidates to ask, ‘will you participate?’, it is very specific. There are a couple of sentences that specifically say, our purpose of this candidate forum is to focus on the Black community.

So I make it very clear that we aren’t asking, “tell us how you would improve small businesses in Tucson?” No, our question is going to be, “Tell us how you would improve Black -owned businesses in Tucson,” and so we’re going to be very specific.

If we don’t ask the questions about us, if we don’t prioritize us, if we don’t make sure that our needs and concerns are at the forefront, nobody else will. And I don’t feel like I am separating or dividing the community in any way by asking these specific questions, because, you know, as the saying goes, closed mouths don’t get fed.

So if we don’t ask the questions about our community, we won’t get an answer, and if we don’t ask the question, candidates also don’t know it matters. They don’t know it’s a priority. They don’t know that we intend to hold them accountable.

So this is all about just letting them know where we stand. And that’s why I love doing this work because we have to care about us in a way that no one else does.

Q: What role does the NAACP play in increasing voter turnout and awareness in Tucson and Southern Arizona?

A: We have a civic engagement plan, and we have priorities for the branch. Our priorities have to do with increasing voter registration, but also voter education and awareness, which is critical.

There are many, many organizations that are doing the wonderful task of registering people to vote, and that’s important, but that’s just the start. We need to move beyond simply registering people to vote. It’s not a one-and-done thing where you register folks and you’re done. Your organization could say you registered 1,000 people. What is important now is: how do you equip these registered voters with the information they need to make informed decisions so they can vote in a way that aligns with their values?

That means making sure they know: who are the candidates for Pima County Sheriff? Who are the candidates for Pima County Attorney? What is your legislative district? Do you know who your representative is?

So really, it is almost like a government or a civics lesson to share this information with people.

We’ve also been holding candidate forums. The intent of these forums was to ask candidates very specific questions about their engagement with the Black community, and how they would deal with some of the issues that are related to the Black community and some of those disparities.

Q: Can you share any success stories where voter education initiatives made a tangible impact on civic engagement in Southern Arizona?

A: We have, along with many other organizations, been reaching out to encourage our representatives to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act . We successfully supported the passage of Arizona Senate Bill 1432 regarding housing deeds. So there is work that we’ve done and are doing that we are seeing success in.

We’ve also seen success in our action alerts. We call it an action alert because it means that we need our members to take action. We provide a draft of an email, so you don’t even have to think about it, just copy and paste it, and send it to the email address to the congressmen, to Mark Kelly, to Kyrsten Sinema. We need to flood their mailboxes so they know that a hundred people on one day sent this information from Tucson. That is far more powerful than me sending one. So that’s what an action alert really is. We’re not just here to educate you or tell you about a thing, but now we need you to do something.

Q: How do you think political candidates can better engage and advocate for the interests of the Black community in Southern Arizona?

A: I think it’s important for candidates to reach out to Black community members, not just when they want our vote, but consistently show up. Show up to our events . Come support folks when they hear about events and commemorations and things like that.

Also when we call, when we ask you to show up, be there, make it a priority. I think relationship building is important for anyone who is running for office to just spend time in the communities that you want to serve. It sounds so simple, and I think it is, but I’ve never run for office. But just show up. Not for a photo-op, but to show up out of true care and concern, and get to know the people that are there and their needs.

Q: Anything you wanna add or leave people with?

A: In our work with the NAACP, we always say “vote like your lives depend on it.” And I believe that.

I just wanna encourage people to prioritize this always, not just during a presidential election, but pay attention to local elections. Pay attention to issues that you care about. Pay attention to what your candidate’s positions are and ask questions. Elected officials have a responsibility to respond to their constituents. So ask questions, reach out. They owe it to you.

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