These Southern Icons and Leaders Rally to Protect the Black Vote
Several Black celebrities, activists and elected officials are continuing to raise concerns in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the ripple effects from redistricting battles unfolding across the country.
We’ve continued following the fallout as Southern states, including Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama, face criticism over redistricting efforts that advocates say could divide and weaken majority-Black voting districts. For many Black leaders and cultural figures with deep roots in the South, the fight is deeply personal– and they say they have no plans to stay quiet.
Former Ga. State Rep. Stacey Abrams
Former Ga. State Rep. Stacey Abrams called out Republicans for not playing by the rules of democracy. “We’ve got to point out that they are not just rigging the game,” she said, according to the Guardian. “They are not just cheating. They’re kneecapping the players. They are taking out the opposition. That’s not fair. That is not right. That is not American.”
The wave of GOP-led gerrymanders was first championed by President Donald Trump. “Let’s be clear,” Abrams continued. “This is evil. When evil is about what you strip from another in pursuit of power, this is evil. This is evil incarnate.”
Actress Octavia Spencer
A Montgomery, Ala. native, actress Octavia Spencer has been using her social media platforms to keep her followers informed about the SCOTUS decision.
“They are gutting the Voting Rights Act and erasing Blacks from the voting process because of how powerfully the 92% overwhelmingly voted for Democrats and for the people,” she wrote on Instagram. “So what is your plan? What are you going to do now? Are y’all alive out there?”
Tenn. State Sen. Charlane Oliver
Tenn. State Sen. Charlane Oliver rose to prominence after standing on her desk during a state legislative special session to vote on redistricting. She called it a last-ditch effort to protest the Republican-controlled district scheme.
“They made a mockery of our legislature,” Oliver told The 19th. “People didn’t send us here to draw racist maps. They sent us here to figure out how to fix the roads, and get out of traffic, and lower our grocery prices, and figure out why our job growth is zero.”
During her protest, Oliver held a spray-painted sign that read, “Jim Crow 2.0” and “Stop the TN Steal.” She continued to the outlet, saying the vote was “disrespectful.” She added, “Let’s call out the real culprits.”
Rapper, Activist Killer Mike
Atlanta native and rapper Killer Mike is a known activist. He took to Instagram following the court’s ruling. “They gutted it. They literally eviscerated it and is now trying to make it easier– or allow it to be easier for states to redraw district lines to annex those most [left] out,” he said. “This is not just Black people and African Americans. This is poor people.”
Mike called for Americans to turn up and show out at the polls this coming November midterms in response to the landmark ruling. “Right now, you need to be putting pressure on our local politicians,” he added. “We’re gonna do more than just march and protest. We’re going to the polls.”
On X, he urged “every single Georgian and Georgia legislator” to oppose any future votes on unprecedented redistricting in the state. “Our Governor is wrong on this call. We should be loud in our opposition,” he tweeted.
Tenn. State Rep. Justin Pearson
For Tenn. State Rep. Justin Pearson, the ongoing fight against redistricting in the state has reached a new threat with the SCOTUS ruling. The representative spoke to The Root this week on why more folks should be focused on gerrymandering going down in Tennessee.
He told us, “Tennessee is the lab rat for autocracy in the United States of America. What gets incubated in Tennessee then gets dispersed out to other places, particularly across the South.” He continued calling the redistricting effort “racist,” adding, “Losing Black representation means losing perspectives, ideas, advocacy.”
Civil Rights Leader Rev. Al Sharpton
Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton called the court’s decision “a bullet in the heart of the voting rights movement.” In a statement with the National Action Network, he blasted the Supreme Court for undoing the progress made by past Black leaders like civil rights icon John Lewis.
“The Supreme Court has not just weakened a law, it has humiliated and dismantled the life’s work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and every man and woman who marched, bled, and died for Black Americans to have an equal voice at the ballot box,” he continued.
