{"id":53193,"date":"2022-10-06T13:22:06","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T20:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=53193"},"modified":"2022-10-06T13:22:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T20:22:06","slug":"make-up-your-mind-voting-rights-activists-look-beyond-supreme-ct-to-people-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=53193","title":{"rendered":"Make Up Your Mind \u2014 Voting Rights Activists Look Beyond Supreme Ct. to People Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Khalil Abdullah<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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WASHINGTON, DC<\/strong> \u2014 Shortly ahead of arguing before the Supreme Court on a voting rights lawsuit that bears his name, Alabama attorney Evan Milligan was already looking forward to what needs to be done to secure permanent voting rights protections for all Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is not based on the court,\u201d Milligan said at a\u00a0recent news conference<\/a>. \u201cMy hope is based on the agency of my people and our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Invoking the 1964 Montgomery bus boycott driven by ordinary people who\u2019d simply made up their minds to end racial segregation, Milligan said, \u201cIf we make up our minds, there\u2019s a nonviolent path away from this momentum towards going off the edge that we feel building around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Milligan, the options are either a 28th Amendment to the constitution that will secure voting as a constitutional right, and\/or passage of the John L. Lewis Voting Rights Act which would restore portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) recently struck down by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Driving home Milligan\u2019s point, civil rights activists, supporters and college students \u2014 many of whom bused from Alabama and Louisiana to Washington \u2014 gathered at a nearby park the day of the hearing. Bracing against an unseasonably cold day with intermittent showers courtesy of Hurricane Ian, speakers encouraged attendees to persist in their quest for fairness and equity.<\/p>\n

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Evan Milligan (3rd from R) on the steps of the Supreme Court. Milligan is the lead plaintiff in Merrill v. Milligan, which seeks to secure fair representation for Alabama\u2019s African American population. (Credit: Khalil Abdullah)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rally was held under the banner\u00a0Power on the Line<\/a>, a social justice advocacy organization tied to the Merrill v. Milligan hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a sad day when we have to stand across from the Capitol to actually ask for and demand the right to the ballot box,\u201d said Jamaal Watkins, the NAACP\u2019s Senior VP for Strategy and Advancement.<\/p>\n

At issue in Merrill v. Milligan is the right of African Americans in Alabama, who now comprise 27 percent of the state\u2019s population, to have a second congressional district drawn under proportional representation guidelines based on 2020 census data. Alabama currently has seven congressional districts.<\/p>\n

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Listen to oral arguments in the Merrill v. Milligan SCOTUS case<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Rep. Terri Sewell, D-AL, holds that Seventh congressional district seat for Alabama\u2019s Black Belt population. \u201cIt\u2019s simply not fair,\u201d she said of her state\u2019s legislative map which limits her burgeoning constituent populace to one seat. Sewell said she supports a full restoration of the VRA and called for the U.S. Senate \u201cto do its job\u201d and pass voting rights legislation that has been languishing for years.<\/p>\n

Attorney Deuel Ross, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, echoed Sewell. \u201cWe fear that Alabama\u2019s congressional districts crack the Black Belt, which is an important Black community in Alabama that has been discriminated against for as long as there\u2019s been an Alabama,\u201d Deuel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPacking\u201d is drawing a congressional map in such a way that it concentrates a population into a single district while scattering other residents into neighboring districts where, as minorities, their vote is numerically reduced or \u201ccracked\u201d from electing a candidate of their choice.<\/p>\n

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Heaven Boudy and Elijah Crawford (R) were among a group of voting rights activists who traveled to Washington DC Tuesday ahead of the Merrill v. Milligan SCOTUS hearing. (Credit: Khalil Abdullah)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe stand here holding a spot in history today that sadly has to repeat itself over and over and over again,\u201d exclaimed Ronald James, Jr., an Alabama organizer for Black Voters Matter, who denounced what he sees as the continuing indifference by the country and the court to rights of minority communities.<\/p>\n

James, who was accompanied on the trip from Alabama to Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court by his father and sister, exhorted the crowd in a boisterous chant: \u201cAin\u2019t no struggle like the struggle of the people because the struggle of the people don\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melanie Campbell, president and CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and the convener of the\u00a0Black Women\u2019s Roundtable<\/a>, reserved a pointed observation for the youth in attendance about their potential impact in the upcoming midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause if you show up like you did \u2014 I\u2019m talking to the young folks \u2014 if you show up like you did in 2018, all bets are off. So let\u2019s get this done y\u2019all!\u201d<\/p>\n

Heaven Boudy, a native New Orleanian, said, \u201cI am here to protect my rights and make sure our voices are heard \u2014 and we demand fair maps.\u201d She said her parents were excited that she was attending the rally.<\/p>\n

Elijah Crawford, born in Portland, Oregon and now living in Baton Rouge after just having graduated from Southern University as a political science major said he was inspired by working with Power on the Line coalition members and is considering law school to pursue a career as a lobbyist or crafting legislation.<\/p>\n

Boudy and Crawford accompanied a delegation from Louisiana headed by the founder, president and CEO of\u00a0Power Coalition for Equity and Justice<\/a>, Ashley Shelton.<\/p>\n

Washington, D.C. residents also made an appearance at the rally. Sydney Alexander is a grassroots activist and a member of the D.C.-based organization\u00a0Harriett\u2019s Wildest Dreams<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s Harriett as in Tubman,\u201d exclaimed Alexander and Luci Murphy, the latter a longtime social justice activist.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the rally, Alexander said, \u201cThis is about voting rights, and that\u2019s serious, and a lot of people fought and died for us to be able to vote.\u201d She said she is going to be vigilant in opposing attempts to constrict that right. \u201cI\u2019m not going to continue to live in a world where this is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s decision will likely be announced in the spring of 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween now and then,\u201d Milligan said, \u201cwe will be continuing what we\u2019re doing \u2013 going to people throughout Alabama to talk about the importance of voting, the importance of the Voting Rights Act and, really, just democracy as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Howard University journalism major Jason Ponterotto.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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