Hundreds gather in Mississippi to protest Republican redistricting: ‘This fight is familiar territory’ | Mississippi

Hundreds of people gathered Thursday evening outside the Mississippi State Capitol to protest aggressive efforts by Republicans to draw maps favorable to their own party.

Shortly after the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, who severely weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Tate Reeves, the governor of Mississippi, followed the lead of other Republican governors and legislators in calling for a special session to redraw the maps. However, before this special session could take place, Reeves canceled it and wrote on X that he expected “lawmakers to redraw congressional lines BETWEEN NOW and the 2027 elections!” »

In August, members of the Mississippi Legislature’s Joint Redistricting Committee began a tour of eight redistricting hearings across the state. The last of these hearings took place Thursday evening in Jackson, the state capital.

“This fight is familiar territory for all of us. The giants of the civil rights movement did not fight so that we could let this fight go. They fought so that we could stay exactly where we are right now and finish what they started,” Safia Malin, political director of One Voice, a civic organization, told the crowd before the hearing.

Malin was one of several speakers who reminded those gathered of the history and fight for voting rights in the state, from the 1890 Constitution, which disenfranchised black voters and ushered in the Jim Crow era, to the 1964 efforts of the Democratic Party for Mississippi Freedom and the work of Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer and others.

After the rally, those gathered marched toward the Capitol holding signs, their chants of “Leave our cards alone” and “Whose cards?” Our cards” echoed through the Capitol building.

An hour before the hearing began, the room was full, with a few people leaning against the walls. Others sat in an overflow section outside and watched the proceedings on television screens.

Before the debates, House Democratic Leader Robert Johnson, who is black, encouraged audience members to make sure they set a historic record.

“It’s a testament,” said Johnson, one of several Democratic lawmakers present to observe or speak during the proceedings. “And at some point, that might constitute evidence. So let’s make sure we’re heard.”

The committee, handpicked by legislative leaders, is made up of mostly white men. It consists of 16 Republicans, all but one white, and four Democrats, all black. The commission did not answer questions, provide information on what the redistricting process would look like, or explain how citizen testimony would affect their decision.

And in a room filled with dozens of black men and women, six of the first ten speakers were white. The first black woman called to testify was the 15th person to speak. In total, 67 people spoke. Each person had two minutes to speak. The debates lasted a little less than two hours.

Auditor Shad White, who is considering a run for governor, created controversy almost as soon as he began his comments.

“The Delta deserves better leadership than Bennie Thompson. It absolutely does,” White said, to boos from audience members. Bennie Thompson, who is black, is the only Democrat in Congress from Mississippi. White, Reeves and other state Republicans have openly targeted Thompson and his district.

Through incessant booing, White said there was a “silent majority” of people who “want better representation for the Mississippi Delta,” not someone who “is focused on leading the January 6 committee.”

Jesse Otto Smith, born and raised in Mississippi, said the issues in the redistricting hearing were personal.

“I’m 76 years old. My father was born in 1926 – he couldn’t vote. My grandfather was born in 1891 – he couldn’t vote. That’s why I’m here. My great-grandfather was born as a slave, considered less than human, in 1861 – he couldn’t vote. He was property,” he said. “That’s why I’m here. My mother graduated from Rust College, grew up in Starkville, but couldn’t go to school in the state of Mississippi and paid taxes without representation.”

Walter Boone, who is white, called the redistricting efforts the “Mississippi Plan 2.0.”

“Mississippi’s original plan resulted in our 1890 constitution, and we can’t ignore that history. I’m not an academic or a trained historian, and even I know Mississippi has been here before,” he said. “Our first Reconstruction ended much the same way, culminating in redistricting and fraud. Our black elected officials were stripped of office and black voters didn’t see them represented for 75 years by another person who looked like them.”

Lauren Wilson, a sophomore at Tougaloo College in Tupelo, spoke out against redistricting. She questioned why the committee held hearings on redistricting, but not on Medicaid expansion or any of the myriad issues in the state.

“If I’ve learned one thing from history, if I’ve learned one thing from the Lord, if I’ve learned one thing from my educators and my pastors, I’ve learned, it doesn’t matter who’s in office, it’s the people who have the power,” she said. “Pharaoh had the job, but Moses had the power. Woodrow Wilson had the job, but Ida B Wells had the power. Lyndon B Johnson had the job, but Martin Luther King had the power.

“We stand before the committee today that must make a decision on whether we need to redraw the lines that seek to disenfranchise the people. So I want you to know that even though tonight you hold office, we hold the power.”

The entire Legislature is expected to meet in special session later this year to redraw the state’s legislative maps. Although these maps will not affect the November midterm elections, lawmakers will likely target Thompson’s seat before he is up for re-election in 2028.