Thousands gathered Wednesday in Jackson to protest proposed redistricting that participants said would reduce Black representation and to mobilize voters for the Nov. 3 midterm election, Mississippi Today reported.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the state’s lone Democratic member of Congress, told the crowd Republican leaders would “have a fight on their hands” if they redraw the state’s congressional map by slicing up the majority-Black Delta and Jackson metro area. “We can’t let short-minded people turn us back,” Thompson said. “Now, we don’t have to act like the crazy folks did on January 6, but you’re going to know we’re upset,” he added.
Speakers at the rally criticized a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling they said weakens the federal Voting Rights Act and denounced efforts by Republicans in Southern states to redraw districts to weaken Black voting strength. U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., said he was “mad as hell” about a comment Gov. Tate Reeves made earlier this month calling Thompson’s “reign of terror” in the 2nd Congressional District “soon” to end, Jackson told the crowd.
Reeves canceled a special legislative session that had been scheduled to begin Wednesday to redraw a Supreme Court voting map, his office said, and has said he expects the Legislature to redraw congressional, state legislative and judicial districts before the 2027 election cycle. House Speaker Jason White said Wednesday he expects the governor to call lawmakers into a special session soon to redraw state legislative districts, Mississippi Today reported. Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Scott Colom criticized Reeves’ remarks and praised Thompson’s record of sending federal infrastructure dollars to the state.
Speakers invoked the Civil Rights era as they warned against what they called an erasure of majority-Black districts. NAACP President Derrick Johnson urged boycotts of athletic programs at public universities in states that reduce Black political representation, calling the use of Black athletes for revenue without protecting Black voices a form of “sharecropping.” Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones closed the event by urging attendees to turn their anger into votes on Nov. 3, Mississippi Today reported.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
