Voting Rights Act

Congressional Insider -  A sitting Democrat claimed the Trump administration would rather see Black Americans “pick cotton” than pick their leaders — an incendiary charge delivered without documentary proof. Rep. Ayanna Pressley used a racially charged line to accuse Trump’s team of anti-Black intent. Her remarks were tied to disputes over voting rights and “racial gerrymandering." Pressley has repeated themes of a “hostile” and “racist” government across her platforms.

MS NOW - After the Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Voting Rights Act, lawmakers across the South sprinted to redraw congressional maps to reduce Black representation. This is a crisis for democracy, but people are making their voices heard in testimony and rallies across the region, including large peaceful demonstrations this weekend, argues voting rights attorney Molly McGrath. “People are doing what the generation before them did: refusing to be silenced and disenfranchised,” she writes. Polls show the vast majority of Americans oppose gerrymandering, believing voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around. “We have been here before, and we know what to do, thanks to the courageous actions of previous generations of civil rights leaders,” she writes. Read the column here.