Still Tired? Mass Protest in AL Is Proof Black Americans Are Done ‘Resting’ in the Face of Trump

As thousands of Americans board flights and fill buses bound for Alabama for the “All Roads Lead to the South” National Day of Action,” Black communities across the country are mobilizing to combat renewed attacks on the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Ironically, the demonstration comes after months of Black folks watching national protests unfold from the sidelines. For a long time, Black Americans stayed back—not out of apathy, but out of a profound, bone-deep exhaustion. It’s no secret that many Black Americans were tired of always being the ones in the crosshairs, tired of dying and tired of being the ones to scream into the void about what would happen if President Donald Trump won a second term. Black Americans laid out the stakes of Trump 2.0, and still, so many chose not to listen.
A recent Supreme Court decision and the spirit of the upcoming Montgomery march have both marked a definitive end to that period of rest. No longer watching from the periphery, Black folks decided there’s far too much at stake– namely, fundamental civil rights under the knife– to remain quiet. Black Americans are now preparing to take to the streets themselves, reclaiming a fight that has historically been our cross to bear.

“I refuse to sit on the sidelines for this, especially for something so important as the Voting Rights Act,” @blackgirlswhobrunch said on Tiktok. With her own plans to head to Alabama this Saturday, the tiktoker and many other Black Americans are coming to terms with a promise they once made when President Donald Trump first returned to office.

“The march is not over. That has become very clear to me in the last few weeks,” @blackgirlswhobrunch said.

For many, Saturday’s demonstration is deeply connected to the historic Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights marches of 1965. During that movement, Black students, clergy members, activists and elected officials marched peacefully while facing police violence, attack dogs and racist mobs. The demonstrations helped pressure then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act later that year.

Six decades later, Black Americans say the nation is witnessing a troubling return to battles they believed had already been fought.

“They know your vote is powerful, and that power is what scares them,” @carringtonw said. “It’s a new week, but it doesn’t make last week any less painful.”

We previously reported on the fallout from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Since then, Republican-led redistricting efforts across Southern states have triggered backlash from voting rights advocates who argue the new congressional maps dilute Black voting power and weaken majority-Black districts.

According to CNN exit polls, more than 86 percent of Black voters supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the last election. Still, many in the community say their concerns continue to be ignored as Trump’s second term has reignited debates over Black history, federal agency cuts and threats to social safety net programs. In response to that, many had sought a reprieve from political cycle. But now, the stakes have reached an all-time high for the Black community.

These renewed redistricting fights are more than political disputes for Black people. They are reminders of the Jim Crow era, when discriminatory laws and policies were used to suppress Black voters and enforce segregation across the South.

“It’s crazy I’m witnessing the same thing as my grandparents,” @hopefulbond7 wrote on TikTok. Black folks are now prepared to do exactly what their ancestors did in the face of injustice: protest en masse.

“All God-dang roads lead to the South. You need to be in Montgomery this Saturday because they’re trying to take all our rights,” @maconyoulaugh31 said on TikTok. “Y’all president is racist and white supremacy is real… Bring y’all ass to Montgomery,” she ordered.

The National Day of Action for Voting Rights is set to begin at 9 a.m. CT Saturday with a prayer gathering at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Then, a national rally is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Montgomery.