Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s news, culture, and politics newsletter! Every Thursday, I’ll take a look at recent stories that seem particularly noteworthy. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week. Biden’s Promise to Black America Janet Jackson put it best in 1986: What have you done for me lately? Today, Black voters […]
voting rights
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Has Biden Kept His Campaign Promises to Black Americans? The Answer Is Complicated.
Black Americans were largely responsible for delivering the presidency to Joe Biden in 2020, and the debate over whether he’s delivered on his campaign promises is endless. Yet, with this year’s November showdown between him and former President Donald Trump steadily approaching, the options for us are limited. Skepticism, confusion, and even pre-election fatigue are […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Federal Court Strikes Major Blow to Black Voting Rights
A federal district court’s order on Thursday allowing South Carolina to use a racially discriminatory congressional map for the 2024 election cycle is a gut punch to Black voters. “For over a century, the NAACP has worked fervently to protect Black Americans’ access to the ballot box. Make no mistake — these discriminatory maps are […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Biden, Bloody Sunday, and the Ongoing Fight for Black Votes
Fifty-nine years ago on Thursday, white state troopers brutalized voting rights protesters as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Footage of the carnage — one officer cracked 25-year-old John Lewis’ skull with a billy club — enraged the country, and galvanized widespread support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
How the Legacy of a Reconstruction-Era Massacre Shapes Voting Rights Today
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, […]
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 […]