Friend,

The march for voting rights started in Alabama. It is where John Lewis
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and other civil rights foot soldiers faced violence and death to
march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, a heroic act that led to the
passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The SPLC was founded in Montgomery and has spent more than 50 years
fighting to protect and preserve voting rights in Alabama and beyond.
Yesterday, SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang spoke outside the
Supreme Court to urge the justices to uphold a district court's
decision to strike down Alabama's racially gerrymandered
political maps.

The case before the Supreme Court, Merrill v. Milligan, is not just
about Alabama's racially gerrymandered congressional maps. If
the Supreme Court reverses the district court's decision, Black
Alabamians will be denied an equal opportunity to elect congressional
candidates they choose. This case was brought on behalf of

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Greater Birmingham Ministries, Alabama State Conference of the NAACP,
and several individuals who are being represented by the SPLC and our
allies. All of those represented face disenfranchisement and vote
suppression under Alabama's oppressive system of racial
gerrymandering

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.

Through Milligan, forces acting against our democracy are challenging
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act

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. They are targeting one of our best defenses against racial
gerrymanders that deny communities of color fair representation in
government. Huang called on the Supreme Court to protect our democracy
from one of the strongest efforts to take voting rights from
communities of color since the Voting Rights Act was signed into law
nearly 60 years ago. And, she urged each of us to play our part in
protecting our democracy by calling out voter suppression wherever we
see it, standing against politicians who wish to strip away our
democracy and exercising our fundamental right to vote at every
opportunity.

This case will determine how we will honor our past and how we will
leave our society for future generations. We will continue our fight
give all people fair and access to the ballot box and ensure their
vote is counted both through the courts and outside the courts. Right
now, the best way to defend our voting rights is by mobilizing our
communities to make their voices heard and by advocating for federal
legislation to restore and enshrine voter protections.

In solidarity,

Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center

 

The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond,
working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy,
strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
all people.

Friend, will you make a gift to help the SPLC fight for
justice and equity in courts and combat white supremacy?

DONATE

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