A group of protestors hold a banner saying "Black Voters Matter" with a quote from Allen v. Milligan, a 2023 case that required Alabama to draw a second congressional district to give Black voters an opportunity to elect their preferred leaders, on May 4, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Protestors plan rallies on Saturday in opposition to the state's efforts to redistrict congressional seats. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
Thousands of people are expected to attend two rallies in Selma and Montgomery on Saturday to protest what organizers call a concerted Republican effort to dilute the voting power of Black voters throughout the South.
The All Roads Lead to the South National Day of Action is response to attempts by southern state legislatures to reconfigure their electoral maps to increase Republican majorities in Congress and in state assemblies in the region.
“Now we are seeing unprecedented assaults on our generation, on those rights that were paved for in the blood of our ancestors,” said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, at a media briefing Friday. “We take this seriously, and we know it is not just about Black folks because democracy is not secure for anyone if it is not secure for everyone.”
Booker will be one of scores of dignitaries and leaders scheduled to attend the event. Others scheduled to participate include Democratic U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell of Birmingham and Shomari Figures of Mobile, Alabama’s two Democratic House members. The state is attempting to adopt a map that would redraw their districts. Figures is considered particularly vulnerable should that take place.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais in April, which weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, preventing racial discrimination in voting laws, Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session for the passage of a law allowing special primary elections in in congressional and legislative districts under injunction by the courts for Section 2 violations. The federal courts blocked a 2021 state Senate map and a 2023 congressional map for not giving Black voters an opportunity to select their preferred voters.
After the Legislature passed the law, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday lifted an injunction against the congressional map, though plaintiffs continue to fight it in lower court.
Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday set special primaries in the districts for August in anticipation of the use of maps.
Lawmakers from other states are also expected, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia. Rev. Bernice A. King, CEO of the King Center, is scheduled to attend.
A morning gathering will be held in Selma, where peaceful civil rights protestors were attacked by law enforcement on March 7, 1965. The event, known as Bloody Sunday, led to the Selma-to-Montgomery march and was a catalyst for passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Faith leaders will march from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma to the Edmund Pettus Bridge and pray, not only for the day’s events but also for other gatherings that will happen in the coming months.
“We are walking silently, because we are being contemplative, we are being in prayer,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, at Friday’s media briefing. “We are grounding in the memory and (paying) homage to those who have laid the foundation, but also consecrating ourselves for what we know is a long road ahead.”
That will be followed by a mass rally in the afternoon in Montgomery near the Alabama State Capitol, where the Selma-to-Montgomery march concluded in 1965. Organizers expect at least 5,000 people to attend.
“We have got every sector of our movement who will be represented, from labor and young people to social justice organizations, to education groups that will come,” Brown said. “We also have people coming from all over the country.”
Organizers said the gatherings will kick off a slate of events aimed at mobilizing voters in opposition to mid-decade redistricting and to preserve the voting rights of vulnerable communities.
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Ralph Chapoco