Sixty-one (61) years after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, America is still warring with equal access to the ballot box and minority political power. The 1963 March on Washington had ten (10) demands for the United States government. The one (1) which has yet to be fully challenged through legal channels is "Enforcement of the 14th Amendment by reducing congressional representation of states where citizens are disfranchised." The dilution of the black vote qualifies southern states to lose congressional representation. I question, "When and by whom will this litigation be filed in federal court?"
I propose the state legislatures to fairly and proportionately draft the maps to give African Americans opportunity congressional districts and restore those lost in recent cycles and mid-decade apportionment:
Alabama (AL-02, AL-06, and AL-07)
Arkansas (AR-02)
Delaware (At-Large)
District Of Columbia (The 119th Congress pass the D.C. Admissions Act)
Florida (FL-05 FL-20, FL-24)
Georgia (GA-02, GA-04, GA-05, GA-06, GA-13, and possibly as seventh)
Louisiana (LA-02 and LA-06)
Maryland (MD-01)
Mississippi (MS-01)
North Carolina (NC-01, NC-02, NC-05, NC-06, NC-10, NC-12, and NC-14)
Oklahoma (OK-05)
South Carolina (SC-01 or SC-05)
Tennessee (TN-05 and TN-09)
Texas (TX-09, TX-18, TX-23, TX-27, and TX-30)
Virginia (VA-01, VA-02, VA-04, and VA-05)
When the Democratic Party regains power at all levels of government and among the three (3) coequal branches (especially in the South), because the pendulum will swing; every mechanism, principle, and rule must be applied for the enshrining of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act in the U.S. Constitution; as well as introduce the Freedom to Vote Act during the 119th Congress (2025-2027).
Sixty-one (61) years later, we must devise new structures, new institutions to replace those that have been eroded or to make the present ones responsive to a new agenda. For, the African American and African, Native American, and minority voting experiences in this land are not new. It is weaved into the tapestry of America. The problem in the twenty-first (21st) century is the vote. For, the expansion of democratic values are global and local. They are far reaching. They are timely. They are prophetic. They are liberating. And, this November and beyond, we have a unique chance to demonstrate when light is strong, it rises. We shall rise because the Divine says so. We shall rise because history is on our side. We shall rise because "we are sick and tired of being sick and tired." We will rise because we are called to a perfect mission in an imperfect Second Civil Rights Movement. We will rise cause be are caught up in "a single garment of destiny" "to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to teach the illiterate, to provide jobs for the jobless, and to choose the human race over the nuclear race" and that begins and ends with the ballot.
Sincerely,
Dr. Quintessa Hathaway
Founder And Organizer, The Hathaway PAC
2025 Democratic National Committee Chair Candidate
2022 Democratic Nominee, Arkansas' Second Congressional District (AR-02)
2006 Democratic Candidate, Tennessee House Of Representatives
