Alabama NAACP to hold voting rights summit after landmark Supreme Court decisions
Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Black voters by requiring the state to redraw its congressional districts, Alabama NAACP will hold a summit to mark the 10-year-anniversary since the passage of Shelby v. Holder, a 2013 decision that dismantled part of the Voting Rights Act.
“Since it’s the 10th anniversary, we want to highlight the devastation that has been caused to the Voting Rights Act,” said NAACP president Benard Simelton.
Event speakers will focus on how state laws, such as stricter voter ID laws, purged voters from rolls and how restrictions to early voting have impacted voting rights.
The summit, held in Columbiana, will include a march and a rally, national speakers, and strategy sessions on increasing voter participation in upcoming elections. The strategy sessions will identify how ordinary citizens can work to overturn policies that have restricted voting rights since the Shelby v. Holder decision in 2013 which ended some protections for voters meant to prevent racial discrimination.
Speakers will discuss education, climate, reproductive autonomy, gun violence and police reform and the history of hip hop among other topics.
“In the ten years since the Shelby v. Holder decision, the impacts of the decision have been far-reaching including voter suppression bills, lack of representation for Black and Brown communities and increased police brutality,” Alabama NAACP said in a press statement.
The “Shelby Democracy Restoration Summit” will be held June 23 to 25 at the University of Montevallo campus. There will be an evening concert with singer Peabo Bryson and others on June 24 at 8 p.m. On Sunday, June 25, an ecumenical service will include a gospel concert.
President Simelton said some discussion will focus on the role of the church in reigniting voting rights activism.
“We know that during the civil rights movement,” Simelton said, “the church played a pivotal role in ensuring that in particular Blacks were able to organize themselves and to march and to plan.”
Participants can register for the summit here.