An Alabama special session that's focused on congressional and legislative districts led over 150 people to protest what some referred to as "Jim Crow 2.0."
Alabama Gov. Kay Iveysaid in a statement Friday the special session was meant to focus on procedures for conducting special primaries if district lines change for the next election cycle. Currently, there is an injunction on Alabama barring the state from redrawing its congressional maps before 2030, an injunction Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed emergency motion asking the court to lift on Thursday.
Ivey said in a statement on Friday that Alabama's ongoing litigation on the matter could be impacted by the recent 6-3 decision in aLouisianaredistricting case that limited how Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can be applied in map-drawing disputes.
Should the lines change, Ivey in a statement said the plan was for the state to revert back to the maps drawn by the Legislature for congressional districts in 2023 and state senate districts in 2021, the maps that prompted the injunctions in the first place.
'Taking power away'
Many people, both regular Alabamians and a collection of nonprofit organizations — including Alabama Arise, the ACLU of Alabama, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, Faith in Action Alabama and more — protested the potential changes and the meaning of those changes leading up to the start of the special session at 4 p.m. on May 4.
Randy Kelley, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, said that Alabama's "long history of discrimination, gerrymandering and every other trick in the book" makes the situation even more significant.
"People in Alabama, they were beaten," Kelley said. "...We came this far because we walk across a carpet painted with blood, especially that of Black people, and particular white people of goodwill that helped us fight for the right to vote."
Kelley said he thought the Republicans in power would "try to eliminate all of [the Alabama Democrats in the delegation]," given that the districts most impacted by potential redistricting would be majority-Black districts currently represented by Democratic U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell of Birmingham and Shomari Figures of Mobile.
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"The thing is, the political climate is at first, to the Republicans, regressive policies," Kelley said. "You've got all these people, all these No Kings marches, people are dissatisfied with the Trump administration, so they're desperate. They're gonna do anything in their power to stay in power."
'They are trying to erase us'
Many local Alabamians, such as Auburn resident Damarius Nolan-Watts, said that the potential change to the districting is concerning due to a sense of "complacency" among the public that needs to be addressed.
"A lot of things are at stake, there's a lot on my mind," Nolan-Watts said. "Our very existence is at stake right now. A certain group of people are trying to erase us, erase our voice. ... We need this [protest] energy to keep going consistently, not just for like, a day, or like, a week, or even days, days and days. We need years."
Ida Gary, lead organizer of Black Voters Matter, said the mobilization of Alabamians protesting and using their voices reflects the larger issue of what's at stake — everyday aspects essential to quality of life.
"Power is about fair representation, and it is about resources," Gary said. "This is about healthcare. This is about school funding. This is about equity, jobs and the resources that communities have, and them being able to pretty much force their own destiny. Every community should have a say-so in those resources. ... That's what this is about. That's what's at stake."
Sophy Shore, another Alabama resident, said that she hopes that Alabama will be "going in better directions" after the special session concludes.
"All Alabamians have a stake in this because when everyone has their vote represented as it should be, we're able to make the state the way it should be, pass policies that are gonna be good for the people," Shore said. "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
Sarah Clifton covers business for the Montgomery Advertiser. You can reach her at sclifton@montgome.gannett.com or follow her on X @sarahgclifton and TikTok @sarahgclifton.To support her work, pleasesubscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser:Alabama crowds hold mass protest against redistricting
