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’ […]
voting rights act 1965
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
The Plaintiffs Behind Alabama’s Voting Rights Case Are Ready to Fight Again
This story first appeared on For the Record: A Black Oral History Archive. The archive is a collection of over 100 firsthand stories of Black life in America. MONTGOMERY, Alabama — Evan Milligan was visiting Berlin when he learned that he had won a voting rights case against the state of Alabama at the U.S. Supreme […]
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 inCulture, News, Politics & Policy
‘We’re Not Going Back’: Black Voters March in Alabama Against Redistricting
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Roy Wilson remembers marching with his family before the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. More than 60 years later, the 77-year-old answered the nationwide call to action this weekend as hundreds mobilized across Selma and Montgomery against the direct attacks on the voting protections he fought for as a teenager. […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
Stevie Wonder’s Battle for MLK Day and the New Challenges to King’s Legacy
Stevie Wonder’s new album, Hotter Than July, had been burning up the charts for months by Jan. 15, 1981. But something bigger than music was on the artist’s mind that day. Along with other Black cultural giants, the 30-year-old was leading a rally of approximately 100,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Years […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
The Voting Rights Act Turns 60. Its Future Has Never Looked More Fragile.
Khadidah Stone will never forget the day in 2023 she learned that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld voting rights in her home state of Alabama. She was in a store when her phone buzzed, flooded with messages. “I was standing in the aisle crying,” she recalled. “And the guy at the front of the store […]
Posted inEverything's Political, Politics & Policy
Everything’s Political, Including a South Carolina Map
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s weekly news, culture, and politics newsletter! In this edition, learn about the U.S. Supreme Court’s devastating decision on a South Carolina congressional map, the pardon of a man who killed a Black Lives Matter protester, voting rights in Louisiana, the search for a missing Black woman in Mississippi, […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
How Some States Are Responding to the Worst Attack on Voting Rights in Decades
To Minnesota state Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, the mission was obvious: He had to do something to bolster protections against racial discrimination in voting. When a panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling limiting who can sue under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party member and […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
This Case Could Undermine Voting Rights and Black-Latino Political Solidarity
The only district in a Texas county where Black and Latino voters can determine election outcomes is under siege — and that county’s sole Black Democratic commissioner refuses to go down without a fight. Stephen Holmes has served since 1999, and he’s insisted that he and his constituents won’t “go quietly in the night.” Rather, […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
The Case That Could Destroy the Voting Rights Act
A new federal court opinion in an Arkansas case that would restrict who can sue under the 1965 Voting Rights Act is one of the most alarming attacks on the law in recent years. It would effectively prohibit most efforts to protect Black people’s access to the ballot box and continue the long assault on […]
