{"id":15719,"date":"2026-05-15T23:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/?p=15719"},"modified":"2026-05-15T19:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:07:16","slug":"erasing-the-black-vote-in-the-deep-south-five-voting-rights-activists-fight-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/?p=15719","title":{"rendered":"Erasing the Black Vote in the Deep South &#8212; Five Voting Rights Activists Fight Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On April 29, the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana\u2019s congressional map with two majority-Black districts, gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting procedures that dilute minority representation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within hours, state legislators across the South called for emergency redistricting sessions in what voting rights advocates see as the latest in a decades-long pattern to dismantle Black voting power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our speakers today, all voting rights activists from Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia, will discuss the impact not only on Black voters but on all voters, as well as the strategies being used to fight back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"984\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15732\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1.jpg 984w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1-520x293.jpg 520w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-1-1-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mitchell Brown<\/strong>, Voting Rights Senior Counsel and Coordinator, Southern Leadership for Voter Engagement Network (SOLVE), a project of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. Based in Durham, North Carolina.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"987\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2.jpg 987w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2-720x406.jpg 720w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2-520x293.jpg 520w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-2-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 987px) 100vw, 987px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Amir Badat<\/strong>, Voting Rights Attorney and political strategist at Fair Fight Action. Fair Fight Action was founded in 2018 by Stacey Abrams to address voter suppression in Georgia and across the United States. Based in Georgia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Davante Lewis<\/strong>, Elected in 2022 to serve as Louisiana Public Service Commissioner for Louisiana\u2019s Third District, which includes Baton Rouge and New Orleans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"986\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15728\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4.jpg 986w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4-768x429.jpg 768w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4-720x402.jpg 720w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4-520x291.jpg 520w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4-320x179.jpg 320w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-4-600x335.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 986px) 100vw, 986px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Jerome Dees<\/strong>, Policy Director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Birmingham, Alabama.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"951\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15729\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3.jpg 951w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3-768x447.jpg 768w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3-720x419.jpg 720w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3-520x303.jpg 520w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3-320x186.jpg 320w, https:\/\/aacyf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260515-ACOM-3-600x350.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 951px) 100vw, 951px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Anneshia Hardy<\/strong>, Cultural narrative strategist and Executive Director of Alabama Values.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On April 29,&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,19,21,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-others","category-21","category--others"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15719"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15734,"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15719\/revisions\/15734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacyf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}