Blackmon was part of a generation of Black Americans across the South who fought in courtrooms and in the streets to dismantle barriers to voting<\/a> and achieve political representation in a region scarred by the legacy of slavery and its aftermath<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the crown jewels of that struggle, the Voting Rights Act<\/a>, was hollowed out this week by the U.S. Supreme Court<\/a>. The court\u2019s conservative majority<\/a> said states should not rely on racial demographics when drawing congressional districts, a ruling that opened the door to transforming how political power is distributed<\/a> and making it harder for minorities to get elected<\/a>.<\/p>\n The majority opinion<\/a> described racism as a problem of the past. Others saw the decision as another example of its resurgence \u2014 \u201ca defibrillator to the heart of Jim Crow,\u201d as one Louisiana politician put it. <\/p>\n Blackmon\u2019s son, Bradford, a 37-year-old state senator in Mississippi, said how the political lines are drawn \u201cshapes who has a real chance before anyone ever votes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just sad that we made progress and then they are always trying to roll it back when it shows that minorities are making more progress than I would guess that those in charge think that they\u2019re allowed to make,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The elder Blackmon, now 78, said he was resigned to the reality that the fight of his youth is not over. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just another cycle \u2014 an ongoing struggle without a foreseeable ending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Attorney Edward Blackmon Jr., 78, left, reacts to Wednesday\u2019s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a decision that limits how the Voting Rights Act can be used to challenge voting maps, as his son, State Sen. Bradford Blackmon, D-Canton, listens Friday, May 1, 2026, in Canton, Miss. (AP Photo\/Rogelio V. Solis)<\/p>\n Attorney Edward Blackmon Jr., 78, left, reacts to Wednesday\u2019s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a decision that limits how the Voting Rights Act can be used to challenge voting maps, as his son, State Sen. Bradford Blackmon, D-Canton, listens Friday, May 1, 2026, in Canton, Miss. (AP Photo\/Rogelio V. Solis)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n A legacy at risk<\/p>\n The case, involving a challenge to Louisiana\u2019s congressional map<\/a>, clarified how the Voting Rights Act can be used to contest district lines that may weaken the voting power of Black residents.<\/p>\n For many Black Americans, the decision was a death knell for a cherished pillar of the Civil Rights Movement<\/a>. Before the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Black voters in the Deep South had no guarantee of equal access to the ballot. Within a year of its passage, more than 250,000 Black Americans had gained the right to vote. By 2024, nearly 22 million Black voters were registered nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. <\/p>\n The United States is now witnessing the unraveling of nearly a century of organizing, civil disobedience and personal sacrifice by ordinary people who helped build Black political power to heights unseen since Reconstruction. Veterans of the voting rights movement \u2014 people who bled with John Lewis<\/a> on the 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, that became known as Bloody Sunday<\/a> or marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. \u2014 are seeing those hard-won victories stripped away from their descendants.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the first generation of Americans born with equal rights,\u201d said Jonathan Jackson, a Democratic congressman from Illinois who is the 60-year-old son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson<\/a>, the late civil rights leader. Jonathan Jackson said the idea that his children could grow up with fewer protections was \u201csurreal and devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n For Charles Mauldin, who was beaten by law enforcement as a teenager on Bloody Sunday, the ruling reflects a skirmish that was never as settled as some hoped.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m disappointed but not surprised,\u201d said Mauldin, 78, of Birmingham, Alabama. \u201cThey\u2019ve been chipping away at the 1965 Voting Rights Act for the last 60 years.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Congressman Jonathan Jackson stands with his siblings during a news conference regarding the death of their father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, outside the family home Feb. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo\/Erin Hooley, File)<\/p>\n Congressman Jonathan Jackson stands with his siblings during a news conference regarding the death of their father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, outside the family home Feb. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo\/Erin Hooley, File)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Who holds power now<\/p>\n In Louisiana, younger Black politicians say the high court\u2019s ruling could reshape not just who wins elections, but whether candidates can compete at all, particularly in down-ballot races that often serve as steppingstones to higher office.<\/p>\n Davante Lewis, a 34-year-old Democrat who serves on the state\u2019s utility regulatory board, said he expects districts could be redrawn in ways that make it harder for candidates like him to win.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can target my communities \u2026 to ensure that I can\u2019t get to an elected office,\u201d said Lewis, who one of several plaintiffs in the original Louisiana gerrymandering case that went to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n Jamie Davis, a Black farmer in northeast Louisiana and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, said the decision risks discouraging voters already skeptical that their voices matter.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be optimistic, but how can you be optimistic when voter turnout in the past election cycles has been really low,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n Tennessee is among the states bracing for new redistricting efforts. State Rep. Justin Pearson<\/a>, who represents Memphis and is running for Congress, said people who struggled to pass the Voting Rights Act are \u201cshocked and devastated that they\u2019re having to relitigate the same fights that they fought 60 years ago.\u201d <\/p>\n But he also predicted that efforts to reduce Black representation could \u201creinvigorate a civil rights movement in the South that demands equal representation, that demands fairness, that demands justice and equality.\u201d<\/p>\n Supporters of the Supreme Court ruling said it reinforces a race-neutral approach to redistricting and they say political lines should not be drawn primarily based on race.<\/p>\n Mississippi state Rep. Bryant Clark said that view ignores how race and party align in the state. In Mississippi, where most Black voters are Democrats and most white voters are Republicans, he said the two are often indistinguishable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a roundabout way to basically legalize racially discriminatory redistricting in the state,\u201d Clark said.<\/p>\n In 1967, his father, Robert Clark Jr.,<\/a> became the first Black lawmaker elected to the Mississippi Legislature since Reconstruction. <\/p>\n With Black residents making up about 38% of Mississippi\u2019s population, Edward Blackmon Jr. said the current maps allow Black voters to elect candidates in some districts while keeping Republican majorities intact across much of the state.<\/p>\n He said lawmakers have little incentive to change that balance because moving Black voters into more districts would make those seats less reliably conservative and force candidates to compete for a broader electorate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere do you think the population goes? They don\u2019t just disappear,\u201d Blackmon said. \u201cWhat incumbent wants that type of district right now?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Attorney](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777760483_487_.jpeg\")
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