In the birthplace of Civil Rights Movement, groups rally to defend Black
political representation
[May 16, 2026]
By KIM CHANDLER
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people are rallying Saturday in the
cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting
rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that
helped secure Black political representation.
“The bottom line is we are seeing a full-fledged, coordinated attack on
Black political power that can actually reshape the entire political
landscape, not just on the South but throughout the nation,” said
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter.
The rally will begin in Selma, where a violent clash between law
enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for
passage of the Voting Rights Act. It will then move to the state
Capitol, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “How Long, Not
Long” speech that same year.
“We’re picking up where it was left because we still have unfinished
business,” Brown said. “There will not be a new Jim Crow.”
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out
voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in
2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way
for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on
early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once
needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because
of their historical discrimination against Black voters.
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the
rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice
have been weakened in little more than a decade.
Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers
attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A
white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the
streets.
“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched
during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and
civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after
60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we
fought for back then.”
Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being
altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
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Randall Williams protests outside the Alabama state house during a
special session of the Alabama Legislature, Monday, May 4, 2026, in
Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama's 2nd Congressional District
after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power
of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The
court said there should be a district where Black people are a
majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their
candidate of choice.
But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could
let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under
litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new
map.
Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in
2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people's
opportunity to have representation.
“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what
representation, what the faces of representation, look like, what
the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look
like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with
people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.
Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the
Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was
forced on the state by the federal court.
“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court,
the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,”
Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to
try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly
what happened in that one.”
Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case,
said there is grief over the implosion of the Voting Rights Act but
it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.
“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it
or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be
the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”
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