Patricia,
The Supreme Court’s recent Louisiana v. Callais ruling has dismantled a core protection of the Voting Rights Act, giving state legislators a green light to aggressively redraw districts for everything from Congress to state legislature districts, local city councils, and school boards.
Before the ruling, states were barred from racial gerrymanders that systematically removed and locked out Communities of Color from having districts where electing representation from their communities was possible. President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act (VRA) into law because we had been historically denied the right to vote. And everyone knew, segregation by race was legalized to keep us all divided.
With the VRA, Native voters, Black voters, and other voters of Color had some protections against racial discrimination in voting access.
The immediate fallout is already clear, as state legislatures in Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina immediately moved to redraw maps in a coordinated effort to deny Native, Black, and Brown voters fair representation.
Native sovereignty requires voting rights, equal access to representation and respect for the US Constitution. We fought for Tribal Nation-to-Nation agreements and treaties and our right to vote, and we will not back down in 2026 -- or ever.
A negative ruling like this one only reminds us that we must redouble our efforts across Indian Country and build alliances with other communities affected by the partisan gerrymandering, and continue to focus on the tools and resources we have to build Native political power.
We will not give up this fight and we’re counting on you to stand with us. Please rush a contribution for $5 and deliver the resources we need to build, organize and fight back now!
DONATE NOW>>I’m not going to sugarcoat it. The Supreme Court’s decision is a serious blow to the right to elected representation for Natives and Communities of Color, and to the protections won through generations of struggle. This ruling codifies a legal path to voter suppression and states with large numbers of Native, Black, and Brown people have already started working to implement it.
The governor of Louisiana went so far as to cancel an election already underway, invoking a provision of the law designed to protect voting rights from disruption in an emergency such as a hurricane or other catastrophe that might prevent someone from casting their vote. Using this Supreme Court ruling as justification for calling an emergency to stop voting is the opposite of what the law was designed to do. Obviously.
The bottom line is the Court’s decision decimated the foundation for an inclusive and multi-racial democracy, and its impact will be felt far beyond Congress. States will be able to redraw districts at all levels of government, including county supervisors, city councils, and even school boards.
But the reality is, voter suppression of our communities is not new.
Our communities are already denied the right to vote by state laws designed to discourage our people from voting by mail or with tribal IDs, to force our people to drive long distances to register and vote, and more. Please remember that 2018 was the first time in history Native women were elected to serve in the US Congress!
Still, we’ve organized. We’ve educated our communities, and successfully mobilized tens of thousands of people, despite the obstacles. And we aren’t stopping now. We’re doing the opposite -- doubling down, digging in, and doing the work. Please support this critical organizing with a donation of whatever you can afford now.
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There will be more attempts to steal our voting power in the months ahead. We’re ready for them. We’re ready because we know that working together with you, we’re unstoppable.
Hawwih (thank you) for everything you do to build Native political power.
Judith LeBlanc (Caddo)
Executive Director
BUILD NATIVE POLITICAL POWER
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