Shauna Sias, 48, has lived in Opelousas, Louisiana, almost her entire life. And thanks to her father, a civil rights advocate who battled racial segregation in the Deep South, she’s always known about the massacre that shattered the small Louisiana city during Reconstruction. Over the course of around two weeks beginning on Sept. 28, 1868, […]
voting rights
Posted inPolitics & Policy
60 Years After the Civil Rights Act, Equal Opportunity Is Under Attack
There’s too much at stake with constant assaults on civil rights — and a new report is calling on Black Americans to organize and “fight for the soul of America.” The National Urban League’s State of Black America report comes just months ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Black Louisianans Enter a New Political Era
Baton Rouge resident Ashley Shelton was overjoyed when she learned that, after a years-long legal battle, Black Louisianans have secured greater political representation. On Monday, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law a map that follows the math by adding a second majority-Black congressional district. Previously, Black Louisianans had a fair shot at electing their […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Higher Education Wasn’t the Only Target of the Anti-Affirmative Action Movement
The moment the U.S. Supreme Court wiped out affirmative action in higher education in June, civil rights advocates warned that the effects could stretch beyond colleges and universities. Just months later, we can see that they were right. A venture capital firm run by women of color is in a legal fight to protect the […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
A New Report Card Evaluates Voting Maps in Every State. How Did Your State Do?
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently settling a case that will determine whether South Carolina Republicans designed a congressional map that benefits their party at the expense of Black voters. But South Carolina isn’t the only state with eyebrow-raising district boundaries. A new report card from the Coalition Hub for Advancing Redistricting and Grassroots Engagement shows that states across […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
The Next Big Voting Rights Case to Watch
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday hears oral arguments in a South Carolina case that could make it exceedingly difficult for Black voters to challenge racially discriminatory district maps and limit their ability to elect a representative who might fight for them. Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP is one of the most […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
What Black Voters Should Know About the Legal Battles Over Redistricting
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Alabama’s attempts to prevent the redrawing of the state’s congressional map, meaning that the process of creating new district lines will continue. Earlier this month, federal judges struck down Alabama’s new map, saying that it ignored the high court’s directive to design a second majority-Black district or “something […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
A New Voter ID Requirement Has North Carolina Civil Rights Organizers on Edge
The Republican-led North Carolina Supreme Court in April tossed out a ruling that had been handed down when the court leaned Democratic. The move reinstated SB 824, a 2018 law that provides a rigid list of photo IDs approved for voting in the Tar Heel State. This fall’s local elections will be the first contests […]
Posted inRural Issues
How Alabama and the Politics of Retribution Limit Black Representation
Alabama is becoming fertile ground for the dilution of Black voters’ political power, experts say. Last week, the state’s Republican leaders refused to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order to redraw a congressional map to include two majority-Black districts. Gov. Kay Ivey approved a map with just one majority-Black district. While Black Alabamians make […]
Posted inRural Issues
A Black Man Was Elected Mayor in Rural Alabama, but the White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve
NEWBERN, Ala. — There’s a power struggle in Newbern, Alabama, and the rural town’s first Black mayor is at war with the previous administration who he says locked him out of Town Hall. After years of racist harassment and intimidation, Patrick Braxton is fed up, and in a federal civil rights lawsuit he is accusing […]