This is not democracy': voting rights activists shocked by speed of US states moving to stifle Black voters

"And activists watched Tennessee lawmakers vote Thursday morning to eliminate its one remaining Democratic district around Memphis, a city of about 610,000 people, about two-thirds of whom are Black. Donald Trump's demand to tear up political norms has been met by Republican states eager to dust off a segregation-era playbook that maximizes the political power of white voters. What's happening right now is probably the swiftest disenfranchisement of Black folks since Reconstruction"

Louisiana’s governor ordered an ongoing congressional election to be set aside while lawmakers redraw maps to eliminate a Democratic-majority, Black-majority seat covering Baton Rouge. Alabama’s legislature is drafting legislation to allow results of a completed primary to be set aside later if courts lift an injunction on its redistricting. Florida passed a congressional map for 28 districts that concentrates Black and brown voters into four districts on the south Florida coast and Orlando, eliminating other Democratic majorities. Mississippi will convene in a Confederate-era capitol to eliminate the Democratic majority in its one district held by a Black representative. South Carolina extended its legislative calendar to consider removing its sole Democratic-majority, Black-majority district held by James Clyburn. Tennessee lawmakers voted to eliminate its remaining Democratic district around Memphis, where about two-thirds of residents are Black.

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