DeSantis Map Sued in Florida. Tennessee Targets Black District. FBI Raids Louise Lucas (2)

"Florida is one of the most unique states in the nation where voters put on the ballot in 2010. Two amendments. The first one requires that you cannot dilute um the political strength of a group of individuals based on their race. They should be able to vote for the candidate of their choice as a group. And the second one is that you cannot draw maps for partisan benefit or to um benefit one party over another."

"If you are eligible to vote and you register the vote and you cast your ballot, your ballot indeed should be counted. Full stop. Every person in this country ought to want that. This is a nonpartisan issue. But what we're seeing is this is a power grab issue."

"This is a brazen political attack on his enemies. And we've seen that above all else, uh, the one thing the President Donald Trump is afraid of are black women."

"This is the one of the most racist actions that is ever being taken in modern legislative history here. To simply act like and deny that you are stripping away a community's voting power for your own benefit is egregious."

"This proposal is racially discriminatory, unconstitutional, and undermines existing election administration system. First, if enacted, the proposed plan will be the most devastating attack on the Voting Rights Act, both the letter and the spirit of the law in modern Tennessee history."

"We are on course to be the first generation of black folks uh to take a step backwards for our people. Uh we had a continuous incline for about 150 years stepping off of the plantations, fighting u back through Jim Crow, uh establishing the simple personhood, then citizenship, then the right to vote to vote, building black businesses, creating a black middle class, putting together the legal framework that ascended us all the way to the presidency to record numbers in the congressional black caucus, CEOs across the board. And then we took that moment for granted and we dropped the baton."

"We are up against absolute lawlessness. And and I just want everyone to stop for a moment and think about what was the major intervening event from 2023 when we won Allen versus Milligan when Chief Justice Roberts himself wrote the majority opinion the the the 5-4 decision there and he wrote so eloquently and poetically that uh without section two the 15th amendment which is the amendment that gave black people the right to vote that the 15th amendment is a mere parchment promise. So, so beautifully put. What happened in between 2023 and 2026? I'll tell you, a presidential election where we have a tyrant who has put fear in the hearts of anyone within his reach except those people who never feared him from the beginning."

"Today's actions by federal agents are about far more than one state senator. They are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people. What we saw fits a clear pattern for this administration. When challenged, they try to intimidate and silence the voices who stand up to them."

"You ain't never had no ride to kill. They say 300. Could have been many a thousand people, right? threw them off in the river and some mow and pitch and now it's it's it's tough time."