Indigo87

The fight over Alabama's voting maps shows just how low the Roberts Court will go in allowing Republicans to draw Black candidates out of office. And Montgomery, the birthplace of the civil rights movement, has seen again and again what happens when they lack that representation. "The neighborhoods that were torn down to build those interstates, that was the heart of the Black business district," said Evan Milligan, executive director of Alabama Forward, a nonpartisan civic advocacy group. "And when you're driving through Montgomery on the interstate, you're driving on the graves of, like, these neighborhoods." Milligan took Mother Jones voting rights correspondent Ari Berman on a tour of historic neighborhoods in Montgomery, where the civil rights movement really began. Not only did Milligan retrace key landmarks, like Rosa Parks' birthplace, he showed how white politicians specifically targeted these historically Black neighborhoods and try to demolish them. "You need representatives who see the humanity in our communities, because when they don't," said Milligan, "they do things like the mid-70s in this state, using public funds to directly assault institutions and neighborhoods that produce Black leaders." Here's a 3-minute crash course from Ari on what's going on with Alabama's maps.