black voters

AJ McCampbell, Democrat state representative from Alabama's 71st district, calls on U.S. president Joseph R. Biden to "pick a side" on voting rights and the filibuster before a march in downtown Washington, D.C. from the African American History Museum to the White House on Wednesday, August 4, 2021.

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The Supreme Court’s role on Black voting rights

GZERO World Clips

The Supreme Court’s role on Black voting rights

When the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Clarence Page had just finished high school. This legislation changed the lives of Black people in America because Jim Crow laws had virtually prevented Blacks from voting in the South, he said in an interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World. But in 2013, the Supreme Court gutted the law by taking away pre-clearance for states, which had blocked states — especially the former Confederate ones — from changing their voting laws based on racial discrimination.

Black voter suppression in 2022

GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Black voter suppression in 2022

Until the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Black people in America who wanted to vote faced impossible poll questions and literacy tests. But the Supreme Court gutted the law in 2013, allowing states to pass new voting legislation that progressives say restrict Black access to the ballot box.
The 2022 midterm elections will be the first major test of these laws — which Democrats in Congress are unlikely to be able to stop. How will this all affect Black turnout in November?