MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Cicely Sharp never saw herself becoming a full-time voting rights organizer. After what happened in May, though, she felt like she had no choice. Her brother, who lives in New Jersey, was texting her to coordinate a visit to Memphis, but she wasn’t paying much attention to him. She was watching legislative […]
redistricting
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Justin Jones Wants Black Voters to See the Bigger Fight Behind Tennessee’s New Map
When Tennessee Republicans divided Nashville among three congressional districts in 2022, the move dismantled a Democratic bastion. Just four years later, Memphis got a similar treatment. Republican lawmakers in May approved a new congressional map that cracked Memphis, gutting the state’s only remaining Democratic congressional seat. For state Rep. Justin Jones, 31, a Nashville Democrat […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Black Voters in Kansas City Face Divided District as Federal Court Sides With GOP
Missouri politicians and residents are both pleading with the state’s Supreme Court over which congressional map to use just weeks before midterm elections. Earlier this week, a federal appeals court in Missouri said the state must use a Republican redistricting map weeks after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled against the decision twice. People Not Politicians, […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Voting
How the Congressional Black Caucus Is Organizing to Protect Black Voting Power
WASHINGTON — There’s a heaviness hanging over this year’s Congressional Black Caucus conference, as U.S. Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana and other caucus members talk strategy ahead of the midterms just months away. “Be angry enough to fight. Angry enough to vote,” Carter said Wednesday, the first day of the annual convening in the nation’s […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Kansas City’s Black Voters Keep House Seat as Missouri and U.S. Supreme Court Block GOP Map
In a setback for Republicans hoping to retain their hold on the House in the midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court once again rejected Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Missouri temporarily blocked the state from returning to its 2022 congressional map for the November election. The […]
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
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 inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Georgia Republicans Back Away From Redistricting Plan After Outcry
Efforts to begin redrawing Georgia’s voting district maps through a special session of the General Assembly have been canceled. The Republicans’ plan, which many feared would disenfranchise Black and brown voters, had already sparked multiple protests Wednesday at the Georgia State Capitol. “Changes to Georgia’s maps should take place only when members of the General […]
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 […]
