Penda Hair, co-director of the Advancement Project and the attorney involved with NAACP v. Katherine Harris, focused on the need for grassroots efforts to accomplish what litigation cannot.
"If energy comes at all to this issue, it will come from grassroots organizations," Hair said. "We are hoping that there will be some grassroots efforts around the Katherine Harris case because the law suit by itself will not solve the problem.
Despite the speakers' attempts to find possible solutions, some audience members said they felt discouraged by the current political atmosphere.
"There didn't seem to be much hope," said second-year Harvard Law student Yvonne M. Anderson after the talk. "What I see among the professors is as much frustration as the students are feeling."