Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is seen in downtown Montgomery, Alabama on Nov. 14, 2025. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. pastored the church from 1954 to 1960, and it held several mass meetings during the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
Thousands of protestors are expected to attend rallies in Selma and Montgomery on Saturday against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which substantially weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The court’s decision set off a frenzy of redistricting throughout the South, targeting Black members of Congress.
In Alabama, the Supreme Court on Monday gave the state permission to use a 2023 congressional map it previously ruled racially discriminatory. Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday set special primary elections in four congressional districts under the new lines, which will likely cause Alabama to lose at least one Black member of Congress. As of Friday afternoon, litigation in the case was ongoing, and Democrats and civil rights groups have argued the law setting the new primary dates is unconstitutional.
In this video, editor Brian Lyman walks down Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue, one of the sites of Saturday’s protests, and discusses the history of the street and what it tells us about southern democracy.
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Brian Lyman