‘This is not democracy’: voting rights activists shocked by speed of US states moving to stifle Black voters

Key Points:

• Following the US Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v Callais, several southern states swiftly moved to redraw congressional maps that dilute Black voting power, including Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
• These redistricting efforts aim to eliminate or weaken Democratic-majority, predominantly Black districts, often using tactics such as packing Black voters into fewer districts or dividing them across multiple districts to reduce their electoral influence.
• Voting rights activists and Democratic lawmakers have condemned these actions as racially motivated gerrymandering akin to disenfranchisement since Reconstruction, with some describing the redistricting process as a return to Jim Crow-era tactics and white political dominance.
• Legal challenges are underway or anticipated in several states, but Republican legislatures have moved quickly, sometimes bypassing normal procedures and public input, to implement these new maps despite widespread opposition.
• Activists warn that this wave of redistricting represents a severe threat to Black political participation and democracy in the South, calling for renewed mobilization and resistance reminiscent of the civil rights movement era.