Alabama organizers, advocates gather in solidarity with Milligan plaintiffs in Tuesday’s press conference focused on voting rights, equitable representation
Alabama – Grassroots organizers and advocates gathered in the Capitol City Tuesday, Oct. 4, for a Power On The Line Democracy Day press conference in conjunction with the Milligan v. Merrill Supreme Court oral arguments and to bring awareness to voting rights and the need for equitable representation.
Power on the Line is a pro-democracy social movement for fair maps and equitable representation.
Event attendees gathered at the Montgomery Interpretive Center for a press conference in which eventgoers heard from organizers about various topics from voting rights to community issues and an overview of the Milligan v. Merrill case.
Jerome Dees, policy director, at Southern Poverty Law Center spoke at the event saying that he thinks the Milligan plaintiffs will find success even with the Supreme Court’s new majority conservative leadership.
“Conservative justices on the court, as well as the more liberal justices on the court, I think without question were able to see that the plaintiffs were able to present such a map,” he said.
Dees told the crowd that it is expected that a decision will be handed down sometime in late spring.
The Rev. Kenneth Dukes of the Alabama NAACP also gave a call to action to eventgoers placing the responsibility for the fight in their hands.
“It’s our responsibility right now to persuade, to pray for, to inspire this conservative court to look at the law and to rule according to the law and not be partisan based off of their conservative beliefs, but to deal with the law. This affects the entire country,” he said.
Dr. Adia Winfrey, the founder of Transform Alabama, said that exercising the right to vote is a cornerstone of democracy, but redistricting lines are vital as well.
“In 2020, I was a democratic nominee for congress in Alabama’s third congressional district,” she said. “I saw firsthand how congressional lines were diluting the voices of Black Alabamians in parts of east Alabama, as well as parts of the Black Belt.”
Camille Bennett, founder of Project Say Something finished out the day by talking about the importance of representation and a voice.
Bennett spoke about bad bills that organizers have been fighting for the last few years one of those bills being the right to peacefully protest.
“When black people have no systemic power and no legislative voice, we must protest,” she said. “It’s how we gained our voting rights in the first place. No protest. No votes. No power.”
Winfrey called on Black Alabamians to mobilize and vote in numbers that they have not been voting in.
“Let the Supreme Court case prove to you that your vote does matter,” she said. “If it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t care. This wouldn’t be pushed through so fast and the eyes of the World wouldn’t be on us.”
For those who haven’t registered to vote, the deadline is Oct. 24 for the November 8 General Election.
