{"id":2660,"date":"2026-06-14T10:35:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2660"},"modified":"2026-06-14T10:35:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T10:35:24","slug":"on-the-brink-black-lawmakers-could-lose-decades-of-gains-in-one-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2660","title":{"rendered":"On the brink: Black lawmakers could lose decades of gains in one year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div> <div>\n<button>\n<strong>\n<span><svg>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>Summary<\/span>\n<\/strong>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<\/button>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Black representation in Congress faces what could be its steepest decline since the Voting Rights Act passed 61 years ago.<\/li>\n<li>Following a Supreme Court ruling in April, redistricting has intensified across multiple Southern states.<\/li>\n<li>Six Black Democratic House members could lose their seats after this fall&#8217;s midterms due to the new maps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<span>AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            The US is on the brink of the largest reduction in Black representation in Congress since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act almost 61 years ago.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2644\">Trump\u2019s UFC 80th birthday bash looks to rescue his tarnished macho image<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            House Democrats could lose six Black members after this year\u2019s midterms due to a redistricting campaign that intensified after the Supreme Court gutted the power to bring claims of racial discrimination under the voting law. Two of the incumbents in redrawn districts will not return to office next year and the remaining four are underdogs to keep their seats.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            A seventh Black lawmaker, Republican Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah, is leaving the House after a judge struck down a map that had favored the GOP.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Winning this fall\u2019s midterm elections, not maintaining racial representation, was the stated target of Republicans who launched an unprecedented mid-decade sweep of redrawing US House maps across the country and Democrats who responded with their own push. But the results of that campaign \u2013 and the US Supreme Court\u2019s ruling \u2013 could lead to a historic erosion of Black political power, particularly in the South, where most Black people live.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cWhat the Supreme Court has done is sanction discrimination against African Americans in the political process,\u201d Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, told CNN. \u201cThe only time in history that we\u2019ve seen this is after Reconstruction.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        Rapid unraveling of historic gains\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            Black Americans spent the first century after the country\u2019s founding without the right to vote and much of the next century fighting to make it a reality.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            A number of Black lawmakers were elected to Congress after the Civil War, when former Confederate states began allowing Black Americans to vote as a condition of rejoining the Union. Federal troops stationed in the South helped ensure Black access to the ballot.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But official suppression of the Black vote began almost immediately as troops were withdrawn, sometimes through state-sanctioned violence and murder. By 1877, the Reconstruction era was over, and the end of Black representation in Congress followed.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            In all, 20 Black representatives and two Black senators served in Congress between 1870 and 1901.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Civil rights marchers cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, where they encountered a wall of state troopers and county posse waiting for them on the other side.\" class=\"wp-image-2653\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9ae793776484e6bbb675b78d8eaa36a9-768x495.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9ae793776484e6bbb675b78d8eaa36a9-768x495.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9ae793776484e6bbb675b78d8eaa36a9-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9ae793776484e6bbb675b78d8eaa36a9.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Civil rights marchers cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965, where they encountered a wall of state troopers and county posse waiting for them on the other side.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>US Department of Justice<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            The 1965 Voting Rights Act was enacted the same year that baton-wielding Alabama state troopers bloodied peaceful voting rights protesters, including John Lewis, on Selma\u2019s Edmund Pettus Bridge.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Five months after that \u201cBloody Sunday\u201d in Selma jolted the nation, President Lyndon Johnson signed the voting law. In the years since, it has helped swell the ranks of minorities in Congress and elevated new Black political leaders.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        \u2018A living legend\u2019\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            Jim Clyburn was first elected to Congress in 1992. He became just the ninth Black congressman to represent South Carolina \u2013 and the first in nearly a century, since the end of Reconstruction. (He chronicled that history in a recent book, \u201cThe First Eight.\u201d)\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Over 17 terms, Clyburn amassed the kind of political power that eluded African Americans during his childhood in the Jim Crow South.  He served as the No. 3 Democrat in the US House, becoming the highest-ranking African American in Congress at the time. He was a critical validator for then-Sen. Barack Obama in South Carolina\u2019s 2008 Democratic primary when Obama was vying to prove to many people \u2013 including Black voters \u2013 that he had a credible chance of becoming the first African American president.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Twelve years later, Clyburn\u2019s endorsement of Joe Biden famously revived the former vice president\u2019s flagging presidential campaign. He pushed Biden to promise to nominate a Black woman as a Supreme Court justice, which Biden did when he picked Ketanji Brown Jackson for the court.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"US Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina in Washington, DC, in 1992.\" class=\"wp-image-2654\" height=\"510\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a1b7bd6a393352a8e23ac91e0aab8b0-768x510.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a1b7bd6a393352a8e23ac91e0aab8b0-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a1b7bd6a393352a8e23ac91e0aab8b0-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4a1b7bd6a393352a8e23ac91e0aab8b0.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Representatives-elect Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, left, and Bobby Rush of Illinois, right, outside of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, in December 1992.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Maureen Keating\/CQ Roll Call\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<header>\n<span>\n      Related article\n    <\/span>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Photo Illustration by Alberto Mier\/CNN\/@SenatorBerger via X\/California and Missouri state legislatures\" class=\"wp-image-914\" height=\"144\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5021b99d64aafb3d126a4906a57bbcd5.jpg\" width=\"256\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Photo Illustration by Alberto Mier\/CNN\/@SenatorBerger via X\/California and Missouri state legislatures<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Photo Illustration by Alberto Mier\/CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n<span>Tracking states\u2019 unprecedented redistricting efforts<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div>3  min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            A redistricting plan targeting Clyburn died in the state Senate at the last minute after several Republican lawmakers balked at disrupting the primary election already underway. Some Republicans in the state, however, have vowed to try again to change his district ahead of the 2028 election cycle.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            That state lawmakers would even consider targeting Clyburn shocked some South Carolinians. Claire Wofford, a political scientist at the College of Charleston, said Clyburn has brought prominence and federal money to the Palmetto State \u2013 for everything from infrastructure projects to historically Black colleges and universities. \u201cI mean, the guy\u2019s like a living legend,\u201d she said.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But Clyburn, 85, said he wasn\u2019t surprised because he knows that history can repeat itself, and he fears it is happening again.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cThis Supreme Court is resegregating this country,\u201d he said.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        A shift in the courts\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            For decades, the Voting Rights Act helped expand minority representation. Congress reauthorized the federal law five times since its initial passage. And the Supreme Court in 1986 established a framework for testing whether state redistricting plans had the effect of diluting minority voting power.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But a series of rulings from the high court starting in 2013 have undercut the law\u2019s protections, culminating in April\u2019s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, setting a standard that critics say is all-but-impossible to meet:  Challengers must show there\u2019s a \u201cstrong inference\u201d of intentional discrimination in the map drawing.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Janai Nelson speaks at the rally as activists and participants gather in front of the Supreme Court of the United States during Supreme Court re-argument of Louisiana v. Callais on October 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.\" class=\"wp-image-2655\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/16daa1f6f76fc343607fa4eed7a80cd3-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/16daa1f6f76fc343607fa4eed7a80cd3-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/16daa1f6f76fc343607fa4eed7a80cd3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/16daa1f6f76fc343607fa4eed7a80cd3.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Janai Nelson speaks at the rally as activists and participants gather in front of the Supreme Court of the United States during Supreme Court re-argument of Louisiana v. Callais on October 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Jemal Countess\/Getty Images for Legal Defense Fund<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            Writing for the court\u2019s conservative supermajority, Justice Samuel Alito indicated that the guardrails first erected by the 1965 law were no longer needed today.  \u201cVast social change has occurred throughout the country and particularly in the South, which have made great strides in ending entrenched racial discrimination,\u201d he .\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Critics say the court\u2019s new standard allows lawmakers to use the cover of partisanship when drawing maps that dilute minority voting power.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cAt the end of the day, the Supreme Court basically said, \u2018We don\u2019t care how racially gerrymandered the districts are as long as you tell us that you did it to get rid of Democrats,\u2019\u201d said Alabama Rep. Shomari Figures. The first-term lawmaker is among the Black Democratic incumbents at risk of losing reelection under a Republican-friendly map.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Within days of the court\u2019s decision, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama began moving to put in place maps for partisan advantage. And within a month, three congressional districts with sizable Black populations were reconfigured across those states to help boost Republicans\u2019 chances of holding the US House after November\u2019s midterms.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2638\">Nara Organics recalls baby formula sold at Target after multistate infant botulism outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, second from left, walks with his brother KeShaun Pearson, as he is arrested and removed from the House gallery during a special session of the state legislature to redraw US congressional voting maps on May 7 in Nashville.\" class=\"wp-image-2656\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4ac592342653e8ff7fb9267c7e0478e4-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4ac592342653e8ff7fb9267c7e0478e4-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4ac592342653e8ff7fb9267c7e0478e4-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4ac592342653e8ff7fb9267c7e0478e4.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis, second from left, walks with his brother KeShaun Pearson, as he is arrested and removed from the House gallery during a special session of the state legislature to redraw US congressional voting maps on May 7 in Nashville.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>George Walker IV\/AP<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            \u201cThis is basically denigrating the fight for a real, viable American democracy,\u201d said Carol Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University in Atlanta. \u201cAll of the blood, all of the tears, all of the courage, all of the fight, all of the strategizing that it took to get the Voting Rights Act.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Republican legislators, however, have insisted that politics alone is driving their actions.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cIt\u2019s not about race,\u201d Louisiana state Rep. Beau Beaullieu, a Republican who helped lead the redistricting push in his state, said during the recent legislative debate. \u201cWe did not take race into account when drawing these maps.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Some Black Republicans who serve in Congress have hailed the court\u2019s decision, arguing that the Voting Rights Act\u2019s remedies are no longer needed.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cThe Black person \u2026 who ideologically is aligned with their state or their district can win anywhere,\u201d South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the lone Black Republican in the US Senate, said recently.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        Maps upend political careers\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            For Cleo Fields, history is repeating itself in his lifetime.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Like Clyburn, Fields first entered Congress in 1993, part of a then-record group of Black lawmakers swept into power following a congressional update to the voting rights law and a court decision that helped pave the way for more majority-minority districts.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But a court threw out Louisiana\u2019s map, and he was gone from Washington after four years.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Fields, 63, had just returned to Congress last year, after a nearly 30-year absence, only to have the US Supreme Court strike down his current district \u2013 Louisiana\u2019s second Black-majority district.  It leaves Louisiana with one Black-majority district out of six in total, although Black residents make up a third of the state\u2019s population.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cWe\u2019ve been down these roads so many times,\u201d he lamented.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fields in 1994.\" class=\"wp-image-2657\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3507ac481529f8e8784984cff0ab2342.jpg\" width=\"664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3507ac481529f8e8784984cff0ab2342.jpg 664w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3507ac481529f8e8784984cff0ab2342-195x300.jpg 195w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 664px) 100vw, 664px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Fields in 1994.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Maureen Keating\/CQ Roll Call\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fields in 2024.\" class=\"wp-image-2658\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/498f803f5a3c6efcdc5db8a03e6dea35.jpg\" width=\"664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/498f803f5a3c6efcdc5db8a03e6dea35.jpg 664w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/498f803f5a3c6efcdc5db8a03e6dea35-195x300.jpg 195w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 664px) 100vw, 664px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Fields in 2024.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            Only the fourth Black congressman from Louisiana since Reconstruction, Fields is now at risk of losing the seat again. He said he has not made a final decision on his political future, but he will not run against his fellow Democrat, Rep. Troy Carter, for a sole remaining Black-majority district.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The new maps already have upended political careers in other states.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Texas Democratic Rep. Marc Veasey, for instance, decided against seeking reelection, following Republican-led redistricting in the state. Another Texas incumbent \u2013 longtime Democratic Rep. Al Green \u2013 recently lost to Rep. Christian Menefee after the new map left the two Black lawmakers facing off in a primary election.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            (Other Black House members are leaving Congress at the end of this term but for reasons other than redistricting, including five who have sought higher office.)\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            In Florida, meanwhile, Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who saw her current district broken apart by the Republicans\u2019 redistricting plan there, has opted to run in a historically Black district \u2013 prompting an outcry from some Black Democrats who say the veteran congresswoman\u2019s bid for the seat could shut out an African American contender.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The Republican-controlled legislature in Georgia will soon gather for a special session to consider redistricting for the 2028 cycle in response to the high court\u2019s ruling.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        Waking up a \u2018sleeping giant\u2019?\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            Democratic strategists say they are working to spread awareness of redistricting\u2019s stakes in the hopes of increasing Black turnout in the midterms. Some Democrats see encouraging early signs of voter engagement.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The Congressional Black Caucus is asking corporate leaders to condemn what it describes as the effort to dilute Black voting power, while the NAACP has called on Black athletes and fans to shun athletic programs at public universities in southern states pursuing redistricting.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            In South Carolina, state party officials seized on the attempt to topple Clyburn to encourage heavy participation on the first day of in-person voting in the state\u2019s primary. In the end, more than 56,000 people cast ballots that day, a single-day record in the state for a primary election, according to the South Carolina Election Commission.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cI think turnout is going to go through the roof in November because I think people, Black Democrats in particular, think this is nuts,\u201d said Jay Parmley, the executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Activists say voter education and mobilization will be more important than ever, given how much the last-minute redistricting moves have disrupted elections procedures.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Attendees during a Vice President Kamala Harris campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina, on September 12, 2024.\" class=\"wp-image-2659\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/80a83a0e4d91b76057ae9b96e4adf410-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/80a83a0e4d91b76057ae9b96e4adf410-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/80a83a0e4d91b76057ae9b96e4adf410-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/80a83a0e4d91b76057ae9b96e4adf410.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Attendees during a Vice President Kamala Harris campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina, on September 12, 2024.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Kenny Holston\/The New York Times\/Redux<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            Louisiana and Alabama, for instance, rescheduled House primaries after the Supreme Court ruling, and many voters likely will find themselves in new congressional districts and precincts when they head to the polls.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Back in Louisiana, Fields said he was deeply disappointed when lawmakers enacted the new map but was heartened by what he saw during the legislative debate in his state: Residents of all colors showing up to voice their opposition.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cIn some respects, they are waking up a sleeping giant,\u201d he said of the redistricting push. Voters, Fields said, \u201cnow need to stand up and go the polls and say, \u2018You can\u2019t treat us this way.\u2019\u201d\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2634\">Crowds flock to White House Ellipse for fan event ahead of UFC fight<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US is on the brink of the largest reduction in Black representation in Congress since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act almost 61 years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>On the brink: Black lawmakers could lose decades of gains in one year - 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