{"id":2153,"date":"2026-05-20T22:39:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/05\/20\/we-will-not-go-back-to-jim-crow-thousand-of-mississippians-rally-for-voting-rights\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T22:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T22:39:45","slug":"we-will-not-go-back-to-jim-crow-thousand-of-mississippians-rally-for-voting-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=2153","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We will not go back to Jim Crow\u2019: thousand of Mississippians rally for voting rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border);background-color:var(--article-inner-background)\" class=\"dcr-wqti5a\">\n<div class=\"dcr-2zxs1v\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"7cef828e-4843-4c7a-9494-17194553a1d3\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"People in dark clothing hold blue and red signs about voting rights and protection.\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/912c039ef9d3d966c80a1f944744bca0f112f979\/0_0_4762_2679\/master\/4762.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"261.5991180176397\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Members of voting rights groups hold signs calling for protection of voting rights in Jackson, Mississippi, on 7 December 2023.<\/span> Photograph: Rogelio V Solis\/AP<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"7cef828e-4843-4c7a-9494-17194553a1d3\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Members of voting rights groups hold signs calling for protection of voting rights in Jackson, Mississippi, on 7 December 2023.<\/span> Photograph: Rogelio V Solis\/AP<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-14emo0l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1aqe7zu\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">\u2018We will not go back to Jim Crow\u2019: thousand of Mississippians rally for voting rights<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1fnjjtg\">\n<div class=\"dcr-15in7js\">\n<p>Demonstration, held at historic location where the \u2018Mississippi Plan\u2019 was enacted, comes as southern states race to dilute Black voting power<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-kn9unn\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-1c9t5u6\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Thousands of Mississippians, along with allies from other southern states, gathered at the state\u2019s War Memorial Building auditorium on Wednesday in support of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/us-voting-rights\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">voting rights<\/a>. It was the latest in a series of actions protesting the supreme court\u2019s recent decision gutting the provision of the Voting Rights Act preventing racial discrimination, and held on a site integral to the state\u2019s history of Black disenfranchisement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Section 2 \u201cstopped states, counties, cities, from passing redistricting maps that discriminate against Black voters and it led to the biggest growth of Black political power since Reconstruction\u201d, said Amir Badat, the southern states director at the voting rights group Fair Fight Action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cAnd now, the Roberts court has opened the door to the biggest destruction of Black political power since the end of Reconstruction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The rally was led by a coalition of organizations, including People\u2019s Advocacy Institute, Mississippi Votes, Mississippi Poor People\u2019s Campaign, One Voice, Fair Fight, Mississippi for a Just World and NAACP, among them. It followed the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/16\/alabama-black-voting-rights-protest\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">All Roads Lead to the South<\/a>\u201d rally in Montgomery, Alabama, over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Since the supreme court decision in Louisiana v Callais, southern states have scrambled to redraw their congressional districts and dilute Black political power in the process. Florida\u2019s Republicans signed a new map shortly after the supreme court decision came down. Republicans in Tennessee eliminated the state\u2019s one Black congressional district and Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia are all moving in turn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Mississippi, whose population is nearly 40% Black, was initially set to enter the redistricting battlefield, with Tate Reeves, the state\u2019s governor, calling a special session to be held on 20 May. Reeves since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/13\/mississippi-governor-cancel-supreme-court-map-redraw\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">reversed his decision<\/a>, though he said he expects the state to redraw maps before elections in 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In 1890, following Reconstruction, white supremacist Mississippi legislators met at the Old Capitol \u2013 next to the War Memorial, the site of the rally \u2013 and enacted the state\u2019s constitution, which implemented the <a href=\"https:\/\/mississippitoday.org\/2024\/04\/12\/mississippi-voting-rights-history-discrimination\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">\u201cMississippi Plan\u201d<\/a> to disenfranchise Black voters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The special session that Reeves called was also slated to be held at the Old Capitol, the site that effectively ushered in Jim Crow in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/mississippi\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Mississippi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe had to come here to the crime scene because it\u2019s time to arrest the state of Mississippi,\u201d said Danyelle Holmes, senior social justice organizer with Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People\u2019s Campaign. \u201cToday we come to serve notice that we will not go back to the days of Jim Crow. We will not go back to 1890. We are a people who will take a stand and fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Multiple people waved signs bearing images of legendary civil rights activist Medgar Evers, the NAACP field secretary of Mississippi who was murdered because of his efforts to secure the vote for Black Mississippians. Signs read \u201cProtect our vote\u201d and \u201cJim Crow Must Go\u201d, and the crowd heard from speakers, activists and advocates warning against redistricting efforts in southern states. They sang freedom songs popularized by the civil rights movement; participated in call and responses and prayers that evoked Black churches; and stood to their feet to march through downtown Jackson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Chanting, the crowd weaved from the Old Capitol, passed the state capitol, governor\u2019s mansion and state and local buildings, to the Jackson Convention Complex, where the rally continued. There, the crowd swelled to the thousands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">On the convention stage, the crowd heard from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/15\/bennie-thompson-voting-rights-act\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Bennie Thompson<\/a>, the representative whose district Reeves and other Mississippi Republicans have expressly planned to target, Derrick Johnson, the NAACP president, Eddie Glaude, an author, and others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Justin Jones, a Tennessee state representative, drove six hours from Nashville to attend the rally. He, along with student activists from Mississippi for a Just World, helped lead the rally to the convention complex.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe\u2019re not going down without a fight. We may not be a swing state in Mississippi or Tennessee or Alabama, but we\u2019ll swing back on you,\u201d he said to the audience. \u201cWe\u2019ll fight back with everything we have. We come in the spirit of our ancestors. We come in the spirit of those who aren\u2019t intimidated by bully clubs and water hoses. We are an intergenerational movement. We come as one, but we stand as 10,000.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1rrvs2w\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/mississippi\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Mississippi<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-voting-rights\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US voting rights<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-midterm-elections-2026\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US midterm elections 2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-supreme-court\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US supreme court<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/world\/race\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Race<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=%E2%80%98We%20will%20not%20go%20back%20to%20Jim%20Crow%E2%80%99:%20thousand%20of%20Mississippians%20rally%20for%20voting%20rights&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/20\/mississippi-voting-rights-rally?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fmay%2F20%2Fmississippi-voting-rights-rally&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/may\/20\/mississippi-voting-rights-rally\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:right-column\" data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1h2hraq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tn16h9\">\n<section class=\"dcr-1hko8ef\"><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Members of voting rights groups hold signs calling for protection of voting rights in Jackson, Mississippi, on 7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}