With the midterm elections less than three months away, efforts to restrict access to the ballot box — efforts that could have major ramifications for Black voters — continue. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to move forward, at least for now, with its plan to restrict mail voting. For months, […]
Black voters
Posted inPolitics & Policy
The Battle Over Black Representation in a White Mississippi County
DeSOTO COUNTY, Mississippi. — Hester Jackson-McCray witnessed the beginning of the economic boom in this Mississippi Delta county when she moved south from Chicago in 1999. Year after year, she has watched the county attract newcomers and grow culturally and economically, cotton fields giving way to subdivisions and shopping centers. Other Black families like hers […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Surprise Wins in Florida Primaries Will Test the Future of State’s Black Political Power
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida won the Aug. 18 Democratic primary for the state’s historically Black 20th Congressional District — besting contenders including a hip-hop icon, a former congresswoman accused of stealing disaster funds, a Jamaica-born former mayor, and a progressive educator. Beneath some of the drama that’s captured headlines lie real stakes […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Delaware Gives Black Voters New Protections Against Election Discrimination
WILMINGTON, Delaware — Wearing his Sunday best, Corey Gordon Jr. drove 30 minutes to Shiloh Baptist Church in Wilmington, Delaware, to witness a historic event that would impact his fundamental right to vote. The 22-year-old graduate of the University of Delaware saw firsthand how anti-diversity backlash could unsettle a campus. Over the past year, the […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
What El-Sayed’s Michigan Win Reveals About Black Voters and Democrats
Abdul El-Sayed is projected to win Michigan’s Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat, concluding a bruising contest that became a national proxy battle over where the party is headed and how Black voters might shape that future. While many observers framed the race around whether El-Sayed could break through with Black Michiganders — who […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Black Organizers Are Preparing for a New Era of Voting Rights Battles
The mobilization effort was swift once it became clear that Black Georgians stood to lose political representation. LaTosha Brown and other voting rights advocates sprang into action after Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on May 13 called a special session to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative maps in ways that could erode Black voters’ […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Black Alabama Voters Lose Again as Supreme Court Greenlights Map
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a map that eliminates a district where Black voters had the opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. “The Supreme Court’s decision gives cover to Alabama and others to deliberately and openly discriminate against Black voters without fear of any consequence,” Deuel Ross, the […]
Posted inEconomy, Elections, Politics & Policy
Black Women in Mississippi Are Connecting Voting to Peace and Prosperity
Over the years, Gabrielle Wyatt has heard directly from Black women nationally who described wealth as not only earnings, but about the conditions to live fully with financial freedom, abundance of choice, belonging, and thriving health. With the attack on Black economic and political power, Black women have been hit the hardest, disproportionately suffering from […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
This South Carolina District Is at the Center of a Fight Over Black Representation
COLUMBIA, South Carolina — To Jasmine Broadwater, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina isn’t some distant power broker in Washington, D.C. He’s a hometown fixture. Broadwater, 32, grew up in Columbia, the state’s capital, and she said that Clyburn would sometimes “just randomly pop up at school.” His daughter Jennifer Clyburn Reed was one […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Black Voters in the South Want Leaders Who Fight but Also Deliver
Farmer Jeremy Peaches spends his days thinking about food: not only how to grow it and where to send it — but also whether people can afford it. The owner of the Fresh Life Organic Produce Co., he manages 25 acres of vegetables for restaurants, food banks, and residents in the largely Black community of […]
