Thousands of protesters filled the streets of Selma and Montgomery on Saturday to oppose Alabama’s last-minute redistricting effort, which critics say dilutes Black voting power.

The “National Day of Action for Voting Rights” included a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and a rally at the State Capitol. Organizers brought more than 100 buses from as far away as Ohio.

Richard Franklin, president of the Birmingham American Federation of Teachers, was at the Statehouse during the special session. He said lawmakers pushed the maps through in just five days, even as chaos unfolded around them.

“We had tornadoes, we had a gas leak at the Statehouse. We were there and they actually was evacuating us, flooding, and they went into a recess and then gaveled back in before we could get out, and they voted,” Franklin said. “This is very dangerous, taking us back.”

“This moment is our generation’s proving ground,” the Rev. Bernice King told the crowd over the weekend.

Lawmakers called the special session after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Opponents said the maps revive districts courts have already rejected.

State Republican leaders countered they are justified by the Supreme Court’s ruling and maintain their redistricting efforts are about partisan advantage, not race.

But Franklin, who is 45 and grew up in Birmingham learning from civil rights foot soldiers, stressed the fight is personal. He noted a state officer tried to intimidate a foot soldier at the Statehouse and she refused to back down.

“She looked him in his face and said, ‘Listen, there is nothing you can do to me. I’ve been to jail. You can kill me, but y’all already killed my brother in the ’50s and ’60s. You know, you’re not gonna stop them,’” Franklin explained. “And we all, as a collective group, joined together and we sung our song, ‘We Will Not Be Moved.’”

A federal court will now decide the fate of the maps.

Franklin urged Alabamians to vote in the May 19 primary election.

“You have to know your history so you won’t repeat it,” he emphasized. “When everybody comes together, we won’t go back to a time where we were attacked and people were killed.”

Some organizers are calling for a march on Washington on Aug. 28.

Source: Public News Service