The Greene County Democrat

Tag: black vote

  • Newswire: In the Wake of Black Exhaustion, the South is Still Fighting for Black Political Power

    Newswire: In the Wake of Black Exhaustion, the South is Still Fighting for Black Political Power

    by Waikinya J.S. Clanton, The Root

    I am tired. I want to say that plainly — not as an admission of defeat, but as an act of radical honesty that Black organizers in the Deep South rarely allow themselves in public.

    I am tired, and I am tired of being tired. (Shout out to Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer.) Tired of fighting for the same thing: respect for my humanity.

    When Nina Simone wrote “Mississippi Goddamn,” she did not do so as a song of surrender. She wrote it as a bellow born from exhaustion and love — the kind that only comes when you don’t have clean water but still find yourself at the door of the courthouse demanding justice. That’s where we are right now. That’s where we have always been.

    And then the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Louisiana v. Callais.

    In a 6-3 ruling, six people decided the fate of millions — striking down Louisiana’s congressional map and stripping the state of its second majority-Black district. Justice Kagan, in dissent, said plainly what the rest of us were already thinking: this ruling renders Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act “all but a dead letter.”

    Let me translate that for the people in Canton, Mississippi, where I’m from. Section 2 was our last legal line of protection against Jim Crow laws designed to silence our voices, specifically the provision that said you cannot draw maps designed to drown out Black votes. After the Court gutted preclearance in Shelby County v. Holderin 2013, Section 2 was one of the last remaining legal tools. Now the Court has dulled that blade to near uselessness.

    This is not abstract. This is not a legal footnote. This is about who sits at the table when they decide what your children’s schools look like, what your water pipes are made of, and whether your neighborhood gets a hospital or a highway. In Mississippi — where Black people make up nearly 38 percent of the population — fair maps aren’t a nicety. They are the difference between representation and erasure.

    When this decision came down, my plane had just touched the tarmac in Boston, and my phone erupted. Partners. Community members. Elected officials. Faith leaders. All are asking the same thing: What do we do now?

    What we do is what Black Mississippians have always done. We fight.

    That’s why THOUSANDS came together this week to Rally for Our Rights. These are our rights; we demand representation, and we will be heard.

    History will NOT repeat itself. We won’t let it.

    Now, I hear you. Black exhaustion is real. It is the compound weight of watching systems that were designed to harm us, functioning exactly as they were designed to. It is registering voters and knocking on doors, only to have six justices in Washington move the goalpost one more time. I carry that exhaustion, too.

    But I am a sixth-generation Mississippian. I carry the legacy of fighting for freedom. My great-great-great-grandfather, John “Booth” Boose, was a soldier in the 52nd Colored Infantry of the Union Army. The same battalion that first fought and won against the Confederacy.

    He didn’t just survive for freedom — he fought for it. That is the legacy I now hold and has become my obligation.

    The battle for Black political power in the South is not a regional story. It is the American story. The maps drawn here shape who controls Congress, who controls policy, and who controls the narrative about what this country is willing to be.

    To all those from across the state who converged in Jackson this week, this is only the beginning. There will be many more moments when we will need you to show up and show out again. In the meantime, check your voter registration and VOTE. Lines can only erase our power if we allow them to.

    If you are outside of Mississippi, understand what is at stake. Tell your elected officials that gutting Section 2 cannot stand without a Congressional response. Do not let the South be sacrificed for the comfort of inaction.

    We are exhausted — but we are not giving up, and neither should you.

    We are not done yet. In fact, we’re just getting started.

    Waikinya J.S. Clanton is the Mississippi State Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center

    Featured image credentials: No Kings Protest advocate

  • Newswire: SCOTUS Callais Decision Delivers Major Blow To Black Voting Rights

    Newswire: SCOTUS Callais Decision Delivers Major Blow To Black Voting Rights

    Above, Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, speaking at a “Fight for Fair Maps” rally.

    by Anoa Changa-Peck, NewsOne

    For months, voting rights advocates have warned that the Supreme Court would use its decision in Louisiana v. Callais to strip away Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, further eroding freedom. 

    And they were right. 

    Decided along ideological lines, Wednesday’s 6-3 decision blocked a Black-majority congressional district in Louisiana just weeks before voters head to the polls. A second Black-majority congressional district was created after voters and organizers fought for fair representation after the 2020 Census. 

    As NewsOne previously reported, Wednesday’s decision comes after the Supreme Court gave an anti-voting rights group a second chance to make its case. Originally heard in March, 2025, the case was rescheduled for rehearing in October, giving opponents of fair maps more time to invent reasons to deny Black voter power. 

    The majority opinion attempts to narrowly tailor the case to Louisiana only. Instead, by many accounts, Callais aids the Republican plan to lock up power for the next generation. 

    Joel Payne, spokesperson for MoveOn Civic Action, said the Court’s decision gave Republicans the green light to continue Trump’s “desperate power grab.”

     “Suppressing voters is another way for Trump and Republicans to rig the system so they can keep stacking the deck for billionaires and the Epstein class and avoid accountability for their failed leadership,” Payne said in a statement. “MoveOn members will fight this naked MAGA power play to hoard more power and wealth for themselves and the billionaires that fund their campaigns.” 

    Almost immediately after the Callais‘release, Florida House Republicans passed an even more extreme gerrymander than the state’s current congressional map. In many ways, Florida’s move is a replay of the aftermath of the 2023 decision Shelby County v. Holder, when Texas and North Carolina rushed to pass racially discriminatory laws previously blocked under the Voting Rights Act. 

    Pro-democracy advocates have consistently stressed the need for full voting rights and fair maps to ensure communities have a say in the issues impacting their lives. Affordable housing, healthcare access, the cost of living, gun safety, and fundamental fairness require leadership that listens to and considers people’s needs. 

    Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, highlighted the importance of educators being committed to basic values of fairness and equity as a part of teaching responsible citizenship. 

    “People died to protect and advance this right,” Pringle said in a statement. “The reason we have voting rights laws in America is to remedy discrimination against voters of color. If the Supreme Court does not recognize the need to continue upholding this basic value of one person, one vote, then Congress must stop stalling and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.”