A Louisiana resident who identified himself as Marshawn delivered a fiery, emotional speech to lawmakers during a state Senate hearing over redistricting Monday, accusing Republicans of trying to “cheat” Black voters out of political power.
“The MAGA party is the last breath of the Confederacy,” he told lawmakers. “If y’all could give us less than zero seats, you would do it.”
Marshawn’s testimony came as Louisiana Republicans advance a new congressional map after the Supreme Court weakened key protections in the Voting Rights Act.
“There will be no more of your party,” he said. “The midterms gonna come, y’all gonna get wiped out,” he said.
After last month’s Supreme Court ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act, organizers and civil rights leaders across the South are warning that Black political power could be reshaped for generations.
@mslatoshabrown , co-founder of @blackvotersmtr and @southernblackgirls , reflects on what this moment means and what Black people need to do now.
“The protections our grandparents bled for can be revoked,” she said. “We are not in the business of preserving their version of America. We are in the business of building ours.”
Read more at the link in our bio 🔗
@codydanielle_ interviewed Tennessee state Rep. @justinjpearson at the National Day of Action march in Montgomery, where activists and lawmakers gathered to push back against attacks on voting rights.
Pearson called this moment one of the defining fights of this generation.
“This is one of the most significant moments that we will ever live through,” Pearson told The Root. “This is our moment. This is the one that 10 years, 20 years from now, we’re gonna look back on and say: What did we do?”
As Tennessee and other states face battles over redistricting, Pearson also pushed people toward action.
“We got to get back to familial organizing, reclaiming our democratic power in this moment in time.”
Follow The Root for continuing coverage of the movement.
@codydanielle_ spoke with political commentator and activist @angelarye at the National Day of Action march in Montgomery, Alabama, on Saturday.
Reflecting on where the country is now, Rye said many Americans underestimated what was coming.
“People thought we had arrived,” Rye told The Root. “They didn’t realize that was the tide change — and that these folks did not want to ever share power with us.”
Rye pointed to voting rights, redistricting battles, and growing concerns around political power, warning that what’s happening now stretches far beyond a single election cycle.
Senator Cory Booker says “we are our ancestors wildest dreams” as he talks about honoring the sacred ground in Montgomery. #AllRoadsSouth #FreedomSummer2026
Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (@brotherjones_ ) is in Montgomery, Alabama, for the National Day of Action march. He and fellow colleagues have been on the frontlines of a state redistricting battle over the last few weeks, fighting for equal representation of Black and brown Tennesseans. But Jones notes, this is about all Americans: “If they come for one of us, they come for all of us.”
Tennessee Representative Justin Pearson who was famously apprehended by Alabama police with his brother while fighting against Jim Crow maps took the stage at #AllRoadsSouth and said: “you can rig a map but you can’t rig a movement.”
#FreedomSummer2026
Alabama @repterriasewell and New York @repaoc are in Montgomery with thousands of other demonstrators.
“When the flare goes up, we have to pull up,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That's what our assignment is ... We have to show up ... We cannot allow the rights of people here to be eviscerated.”
The Root interviewed the Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, @stevenlouisreed , at the National Day of Action march. He said this moment is about much more than symbolism.
“Some people have miscalculated that they can, through fear or through power of bullying, silence the people,” Reed remarked. “And the people have always shown that they have the power.”
He also warned that change won’t happen through voting alone. “You cannot have a movement of impact without economic opportunity,” Reed said, pointing to lessons from the Montgomery bus boycott and the power of applying economic pressure.
