{"id":143,"date":"2026-05-19T19:36:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=143"},"modified":"2026-05-19T19:36:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:36:34","slug":"black-advocates-in-nc-warn-jim-crow-era-never-ended-as-voting-maps-shift-across-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=143","title":{"rendered":"Black advocates in NC warn Jim Crow era \u2018never ended\u2019 as voting maps shift across South"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Black community leaders and lawmakers in the state legislature said Tuesday voting rights are under attack across the nation, including in North Carolina.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cMany have made the assumption that we are now far removed from the grip of Jim Crow,\u201d said Javita Lee Miller, policy director for Advance North Carolina. \u201cHowever, I would like to humbly submit to you today that the era never ended for our communities. It\u2019s just being spearheaded by the children and the grandchildren.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lee Miller drew parallels throughout history.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1870, Tennessee \u2014 the same state that, earlier this month, <\/span>removed all House Democrats<\/span> from their committee assignments for <\/span>protesting a racial gerrymander<\/span> \u2014\u00a0led the charge of implementing a poll tax disenfranchising Black voters for decades, she said. Now, federal lawmakers are pushing for the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to provide proof of citizenship and photo ID.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sen. Val Applewhite (D-Cumberland) said she was part of a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case, North Carolina v. Covington, where judges found that Republican state lawmakers had violated the federal Voting Rights Act by suppressing Black voters through gerrymandering.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can all agree that North Carolina has been ground zero for voter suppression tactics for years,\u201d Applewhite said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court <\/span>significantly weakened<\/span> the Voting Rights Act in an April ruling this year, limiting the landmark civil rights law to only prohibit maps drawn with the explicit intent of racially discriminating against voters. This makes it nearly impossible to challenge gerrymandering on VRA grounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

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