‘Trying to dilute the Black vote’: Alabama congressman warns GOP map push could reshape power

0:01 map is already facing its first legal challenge.

0:05 A pro-voting access nonprofit has filed a lawsuit alleging

0:08 the map that Governor Ron DeSantis is signed into law today,

0:12 violates the state's ban or constitution's ban on partisan gerrymandering.

0:17 Meanwhile, just across the way,

0:20 Alabama state lawmakers convened a special SESSION STARTING

0:25 TODAY FOR REPUBLICANS TO REDRAW THEIR CONGRESSIONAL MAP.

0:29 GOVERNOR KAY IVEY REQUESTED THE SESSION IN THE WAKE

0:31 OF THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION TO WEAKEN THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT.

0:35 ALABAMA IS CURRENTLY PROHIBITED FROM CHANGING ITS MAP BEFORE 2030.

0:40 YOU KNOW WHY?

0:41 BECAUSE IT'S LAST MAP VIOLATED THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT.

0:47 NOW THE STATE IS ASKING THE SUPREME COURT

0:49 TO REVERT BACK TO ITS OLD GERRYMANDERED MAP FROM 2023,

0:52 A MOVE THAT WOULD SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGE

0:55 THE DISTRICT OF BLACK DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN SHIMARI FIGURES.

0:59 JOINING US NOW IS Democratic Congressman Shamari Figures of Alabama.

1:04 You know, Congressman, the court decision that created the district

1:08 that you currently represent from the Supreme Court,

1:11 the decision said that the CONGRESSIONAL MAP

1:13 THAT ALABAMA DREW LIKELY DILUTED BLACK VOTING POWER.

1:19 THEY DILUTED THE POWER OF BLACK VOTERS

1:20 AND THAT IS WHY THAT MAP HAD TO BE REDRAWN.

1:24 NOW, THE SUPREME COURT essentially is saying that doesn't matter.

1:29 I just, this is not about, no shade to you, your job specifically, I think.

1:34 I think a lot of people hear these stories and they think,

1:36 oh, the Congressional Black Caucus, the members don't want to lose their seats.

1:39 They don't want to give up their own power.

1:41 I think this is a story about the power of black voters all across this country,

1:45 but specifically in the South.

1:47 And this ruling and these state legislatures and many

1:50 of these governors are WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO SILENCES THE VOTES,

1:55 TO DILUTE THE POWER OF BLACK PEOPLE

1:57 TO BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR POLITICAL PROCESS.

2:02 HIGH SYMONNE, GOOD TO BE HERE WITH YOU GUYS,

2:04 I THINK THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT AND I THINK

2:07 IN THIS CASE FORTUNATELY WE ALREADY HAD A THREE-JUDGE

2:10 PANEL THAT MADE THAT DETERMINATION EXACTLY IN THE STATE

2:13 OF ALABAMA AND THESE WEREN'T JUST ANY THREE JUDGES.

2:15 THESE WERE TWO JUDGES APPOINTED BY DONALD TRUMP AND ONE

2:17 JUDGE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY APPOINTED TO THE BENCH BY RONALD REAGAN.

2:20 SO THESE WERE CONSERVATIVE JUDGES THAT REVIEWED THE EVIDENCE,

2:23 REVIEWED THE FACTS AND CAME TO THE CONCLUSION

2:25 THAT THE STATE OF ALABAMA HAD LIKELY DISCRIMINATED

2:28 AGAINST BLACK VOTERS AND HOW IT DREW ITS

2:29 MAPS AND THE SUPREME COURT ACTUALLY UPHELD THAT DECISION.

2:32 SO, YOU KNOW, THIS IS, YOU KNOW,

2:35 UNFORTUNATELY A PART OF THE LONGSTANDING HISTORY OF THIS STATE

2:38 AND OTHER STATES IN THE SOUTH THAT HAVE

2:40 UNDERGONE HISTORICAL EFFORTS TO TRY TO DILUTE THE BLACK

2:43 VOTE AND LIMIT THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAIR REPRESENTATION.

2:45 AND WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO PUSH BACK AND FIGHT AGAINST IT.

2:48 CONGRESSMAN, I WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT THAT POINT

2:50 ABOUT WHAT THIS MEANS SPECIFICALLY FOR THE AMERICAN SOUTH.

2:52 BUT IN ORDER TO ARTICULATE THAT POINT,

2:55 I WANT YOU TO TAKE A LISTEN TO SOME VOTERS IN IN MONTGOMERY

2:57 SPEAKING OUT TODAY ABOUT WHAT IS OCCURRING IN YOUR STATE, TAKE A LISTEN.

3:02 THEY WANT TO TAKE US BACKWARD BUT WE'RE NOT GOING PEACEFULLY,

3:08 WE ARE GOING TO CONTINUE TO PRESS FORWARD,

3:11 THAT'S THE ONLY CHOICE WHEN YOU STAND AND WATCH THE DETERIORATION

3:15 OF A DEMOCRACY IN THIS COUNTRY IS

3:18 PATHETIC WE'RE ALREADY PROCESSED FOR THE PRIMARIES

3:28 WE'RE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION COAST TO COAST WE'RE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION

3:32 ABOUT DEMOCRACY AND the slip slide toward autocracy all across this country.

3:36 But there is something very particular about what is happening

3:40 in the American South that I think we can all learn from.

3:44 When you talk to your constituents, what is the FEAR THAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT

3:49 THAN WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CALIFORNIA OR SOMEWHERE ELSE?

3:54 I THINK IT'S THE HISTORY, RIGHT?

3:55 I THINK IT'S THE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA.

3:57 AS YOU KNOW, I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE NOW TO REPRESENT THE CITY

4:00 OF MONTGOMERY IN ADDITION TO OTHER PLACES THROUGHOUT THIS, YOU KNOW,

4:04 THROUGHOUT THE STATE.

4:05 BUT MONTGOMERY IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

4:07 THAT GAVE RISE ULTIMATELY TO THE VOTING RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND ULTIMATELY LED

4:11 TO A CIVIL RIGHTS ACT AND A VOTING RIGHTS ACT AND WE

4:14 still have people here that were alive and part of that struggle.

4:17 We certainly have people who are the legacy

4:19 of people who were a part of that struggle.

4:21 So, people knowing what this place once looked like,

4:23 knowing what the limited opportunities for African

4:26 Americans were to have a hoist in government,

4:27 still having people who were around to remember.

4:30 We're trying to vote or trying to register

4:32 people to vote could literally jeopardize your life,

4:35 your life and your health and your well-being.

4:37 That really means a lot to people here and still resonates a lot

4:41 with people here and that's why it's a little bit different here in the south.

4:44 Congressman, I'm glad you went there because

4:47 that's where I want to land right now,

4:49 because when you stop and think about the arc of history here,

4:53 and you stop and think about where you

4:56 are and the people you represent, that just 50,

5:03 60, 40, 30 20 short years ago my friend you could

5:10 not represent them you didn't have a political voice when I

5:16 when I when I read this this language that talks about

5:21 how there is no there's no equivalency between political power and race.

5:30 I'm.

5:30 I'm.

5:31 I'm dumbstruck because that is at the heart of what segregation is.

5:35 It is about race you using political

5:38 power to suppress the aspiration of racial minorities.

5:43 I give you, sir, as we look at all things coming around that go around and how

5:51 you set up the future by laying the path

5:55 as AS JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS DID IN THE DECENT,

5:59 IN THE ALABAMA MAP CASE IN JUNE OF 23, NOTING.

6:07 BASICALLY, THIS THING DOES NOT REMEDY OR DETER,

6:09 THIS DECISION DOES NOT REMEDY OR DETER UNCONSTITUTIONAL

6:12 DISCRIMINATION AND DISTRICTING IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM.

6:17 ON THE CONTRARY, IT REQUIRES IT.

6:19 HIJACKING THE DISTRICTING PROCESS TO PURSUE A GOAL

6:22 THAT HAS THERE'S NO LEGITIMATE CLAIM UNDER OUR CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM.

6:25 THE PROPORTIONAL ALLOCATION OF, HERE WE GO,

6:27 WAIT FOR IT, POLITICAL POWER ON THE BASIS OF RACE,

6:32 SUCH A STATUTE CANNOT BE CONSIDERED REMEDIAL,

6:35 PREVENTIVE legislation and the race-based redistricting it

6:38 would command cannot be upheld under the Constitution.

6:41 Justice Kavanaugh would then go on and write that the authority

6:45 to conduct race-based redistricting cannot

6:47 extend indefinitely into the future, sir.

6:50 And here we are that future is now.

6:52 One of the interesting things one of the interesting

6:55 things about the Louisiana case is that Justice Leto actually

6:57 countered that and actually said you actually can use

7:01 race to remedy a section two violation when properly construed.

7:06 I mean, listen, this is a, you know, part of the reason we got to where we

7:10 are in the state of Alabama in terms of having

7:12 this court order was the fact that the state

7:15 of Alabama refused to comply with the court orders,

7:17 with federal court orders on multiple occasions in ways that the federal

7:21 court had never seen before in this type of case.

7:24 And so to remedy that, uh, uh, the court ultimately threatened to put

7:29 the state of Alabama back into preclearance, uh,

7:31 and therefore the state agreed to, to the order that, uh,

7:34 uh, that they would not change the districts here until 2030.

7:38 Uh, another interesting point to note about the LOUISIANA

7:41 CASE AND HOW IT IMPACTS HERE IN ALABAMA IS ON THE LAST PAGE OF THAT DECISION

7:45 AND THE LAST FULL PARAGRAPH OF THAT DECISION,

7:47 TO YOUR POINT ABOUT RACE AND POLITICS AND INTERMINGLING OF THE TWO,

7:51 JUSTICE ALITO SPECIFICALLY SAYS WE ARE NOT OVERRULING

7:55 THE ALABAMA CASE BECAUSE IN THE ALABAMA CASE,

7:58 THE STATE OF ALABAMA DID NOT EVEN ATTEMPT

8:01 TO DEFEND ITS MAP AS A PARTISAN GERRYMANDER.

8:04 SO THEY DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE ARGUMENT AND SO

8:07 NOW IN THESE EFFORTS THAT WE'RE SEEING NOW,

8:09 IT APPEARS THAT THE STATE OF ALABAMA IS TRYING TO PUT THAT TOOTHPASTE

8:12 BACK IN THE TUBE AND NOW GO BACK TO THE COURTS AND SAY,

8:16 OH, NO, NO, IT WAS POLITICAL GERRYMANDERING

8:18 AFTER NOT MAKING THAT ARGUMENT FOR years.

8:20 Yeah, Congressman, the problem is they've

8:22 smeared that toothpaste all over the Constitution.

8:26 Republicans have the supermajority in the state legislature in Alabama.

8:30 I guess my last, what can you all do?

8:35 Well, look, we can, you know,

8:36 we recognize the realities of the dynamics in the state legislature.

8:39 My mother is a state senator.

8:41 So we fully recognize the realities that what they

8:43 want to pass in this session is going to HAPPEN,

8:46 BUT WE CERTAINLY CANNOT SIT SILENTLY OR QUIETLY

8:48 BY AND JUST ALLOW THEM TO RAM SOMETHING THROUGH.

8:51 AND WHAT THEY'RE DOING NOW IS ACTUALLY NOT

8:53 AN ATTEMPT TO ACTUALLY PER SE REDRAW THE DISTRICTS.

8:56 THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY SETTING THE STAGE TO ALLOW

8:59 THEM TO to expedite another primary under

9:01 previous iterations of a map in the event that the courts allow them to do so.

9:07 So it's a little bit different here than

9:09 what we're seeing in some of the other states.

9:11 They're really just kind of laying the groundwork here to be able

9:13 to move very fast in the event that the courts do overturn the maps.

9:18 But nevertheless, this is all part of the same effort

9:21 to get to a point to remove the legitimate opportunity,

9:24 not the guarantee, not the promise,

9:26 but the legitimate opportunity for African-Americans,

9:28 especially here in the Deep South, to have a legitimate opportunity to be

9:33 able to elect representatives of their choice.