All Roads Lead to the South. Yours Included.
The attack on Black voting rights is a five-alarm fire. Saturday is where we go to fight it.
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The fire is not coming. It is already here.
Right now, in statehouses across the South, Republican-controlled legislatures are running a coordinated, deliberate campaign to silence Black voters. They are redrawing maps. Gutting protections. Exploiting Supreme Court rulings that shredded what remained of the Voting Rights Act. This is not a slippage. This is a strategy. And it will not stop unless we stop it.
This Saturday, May 16th, we answer back.
All Roads Lead to the South
Sixty years after civil rights marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, thousands will return to Alabama to say: we will not go back. Faith leaders gather at 9 AM in Selma. A national mass rally runs 1 to 5 PM at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. Actions are happening in solidarity across the country.
Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King will be there. The No Kings coalition will be there. Black Voters Matter will be there. Co-founders Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown put it plainly: Alabama has always been sacred ground in the fight for freedom, and this moment demands that we rise together once again.
DemCast is a proud partner in this day of action. If you are not in Montgomery, find a local solidarity action and go.
Not Racist Is Not Enough
If you are white and you have been watching this unfold, I need to say something directly to you.
Not being racist is a starting position. It is not a contribution. In a five-alarm fire, standing at a safe distance and feeling bad about the smoke is not allyship. It is observation.
We are past that point.
The Black Power War Room has been sounding this alarm for months. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has documented, in meticulous legal detail, exactly what is being dismantled and why. Gerrymandering maps are being drawn right now specifically to dilute Black political power before the midterms. In the South, 56 percent of voters are Black. The people attacking democracy know exactly what they are doing.
Anti-racist means active. It means public. It means showing up where it is visible and where it costs you something. Attending a rally. Posting when your feed goes quiet. Calling a senator. Knocking a door. Funding the organizations doing the legal and organizing work right now.
History already told us how this works. In 1964, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner did not send a donation and move on. They drove to Mississippi. They worked. They died for it. Solidarity carries consequence. Symbolic solidarity carries none.
Choose consequence.
The Midterms Begin Now
Elections are not won on Election Day. They are won in the months of grinding, unglamorous work that comes before.
In the South, Black voters hold enormous power. They also face the most aggressive suppression machinery in the country. Getting people to the polls next year means starting registration drives now. It means building trust now. It means resources and boots on the ground now.
If you cannot be in Montgomery Saturday, invest in the infrastructure that turns out votes. Support Black Voters Matter directly. Plug into local chapters of the No Kings coalition. Volunteer with voter registration organizations in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina. Make calls. Write postcards. Fund canvassers.
Power does not disappear when the rally ends. It compounds when we keep working after everyone else goes home.
Tonight: Get on the Call
Before Saturday, get informed and connected. Tonight, movement leaders and organizers are hosting a Mass Call to explain exactly how to show up this weekend and what comes next. Register. Show up. Listen. Then go.
This is the moment. Montgomery is sacred ground. The work is urgent, the stakes are generational, and your presence matters.
Not just your sympathy. Your presence.
Here Is Your Action List
Tonight: Join the Mass Call with movement leaders to learn how to show up this weekend and beyond
Saturday: Get to Montgomery if you can. Find a local solidarity action if you cannot. Check Black Power War Room for updates
This week: Donate to Black Voters Matter and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Going forward: Plug into voter registration and canvassing in Southern states now, before the midterm crunch begins
Democracy does not belong to the people who build the best suppression machine. It belongs to the people who refuse to be suppressed, and to the people who stand with them.
All roads lead to the South. Start walking.
People in Louisiana: May 16th is a Civil Duty Day. Vote if you did not vote early. Sign a petition if there is a Louisiana Deserves Better petition drive in your area.
Join the recall effort against Governor Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill. Most parishes still need leaders and volunteers to collect signatures at events. Go to LouisianaDeservesBetter.com for more information-complete a google form to volunteer or lead.
If you can sign a petition, do so, but make sure it is with Louisiana Deserves Better. Some other people have started collecting signatures. Some people want to ruin the recall effort and others want to help. It does not help if a signature is thrown out because care wasn’t taken in helping people complete their information.
Check to see if your Louisiana Voter Registration is active, find your Ward and Precinct:
https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Home/VoterLogin
If not active, reregister and wait 20 days. Once active, you can sign the petition.
Not registered? Register to vote in Louisiana or make changes to current voter registration (address, etc.):
https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/VoterRegistration
Once registered, wait 20 days double check to see if your registration is active. Once active, you can sign the petition.
“Volunteer with voter registration organizations in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina.” Ummm…us folks in Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee & Virginia are fighting these battles too.