NBA star Chris Paul led a march on Tuesday to an early voting site at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina.
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According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Paul led almost 2,500 to the polling location as part of the โMarch to the Polls Part 2โ event. Winston-Salem is Paulโs hometown, and the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard is currently enrolled in classes at WSSU. Paul spent about 2 ยฝ hours on campus, speaking with students and meeting with leaders of the universityโs Student Government Association who helped organize the event.
Before the march took place, Paul told reporters he felt a responsibility to encourage people to vote โgiven the magnitude of the election and everything that is going on right now.โ He added that voting โis something bigger than me.โ Paul had already voted early in Los Angeles and said his commitment to voting shows college students how important voting is.
Later in the day, Paul spoke to a crowd of students before leading the march.
โYโall see the power of having all of you together,โ Paul said to a crowd of almost 600 students. โYโall can really make a difference.โ After he spoke, WSSU cheerleaders gave a performance to the crowd, and Paul then led a crowd of almost 1,500 people to the Anderson Center on campus.
The WSSU marching band also marched alongside the crowd, which wasnโt only composed of students at the university. Hundreds of local residents joined, as well as some of the candidates running for local office. The band continued to play after they arrived at the Anderson Center, and there were also food trucks that provided attendants with free food.
Students told the Journal that the schoolโs faculty have continually stressed the importance of voting. โVoting is important. We are instructed since our freshman years to use our voices,โ Jeโden Clark, WSSUโs SGA president, said.
Alasia Gibbs, a sophomore at the school, attended the event even after already voting as a way to encourage others to vote. โI just wanted to make sure that everyone votes, and encourage all of my friends who didnโt vote,โ Gibbs told the Journal.
Both Clark and Gibbs felt that Paulโs presence helped draw a large turnout to the event.
While heโs currently a superstar in the NBA, Paulโs roots are firmly based in Winston-Salem. In high school, he played basketball at West Forsyth High School and played for two years at Wake Forest University before taking off for the NBA. Paul is currently taking two classes at WSSU and still considers himself a resident of Winston-Salem.
Dude reps his city so hard, he even bought a stake in Winston-Salemโs minor league baseball team.
โEven though Iโve seen a lot of stuff, and I travel and youโve seen me on TV, at the end of the day, my foundation will be always rooted here in Winston-Salem,โ Paul told reporters. โThe biggest thing for me is for people to see me, touch me and talk to me.โ
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