From Selma to now: Are US voting rights being rolled back? | DW News

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:01]60 years ago, Americans in the Deep South marched, bled, and died for the right to vote. Now, some of those hardworn freedoms are at risk of being overturned. This weekend, thousands rallied again in Alabama against a drive by President Donald Trump to change electoral boundaries to benefit his Republican party. The demonstrators crossed a bridge in the city of Selma where in 1965 police attacked civil rights campaigners who were marching to the state capital of Montgomery.

[00:00:34]A Democrat senator representing the state of New Jersey far to the north told the crowd the fight for civil liberties is still not over.

[00:00:45]This is one of those moments where we understand that our blessings come with obligation.

[00:00:51]There is no liberation without obligation.

[00:00:55]Because if we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us. Now is our generation's time to prove worthy of the blessings.

[00:01:12]>> Right. Joining me now to discuss this is Gerald Horn, professor of history and African-American studies at the University of Houston. One of the leading scholars of race and political power in America. Welcome to you. And Gloria Brown Marshall, professor of constitutional law at John J. College in New York, civil rights attorney and author of The Voting Rights War, a book that now reads less like history and perhaps more like a warning that went unheeded. Welcome to you both. Uh, Professor Brown Marshall, for our international audience, if we're looking for a jumping off point, how does what's unfolding across the American South right now fit into the broader question of political power in in the second half of the Trump presidency?

[00:01:55]>> Well, the attack on black political power has been going on since the beginning and probably before the beginning of this country. And so the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was to protect the black right to vote um not to give that right. And so under the Trump presidency and the supermajority conservatives on the US Supreme Court, we've seen many attacks on the black vote. even as early as um 2013 with the attack on the voting rights acts that gutted the pre-clarance clause that made um states requirement that they show that any proposed voting legislation would not have negative effects on black voters there the black vote is very powerful in this country even though we're 13% or so of the population we have the political power to change the outcome of elections and because we have that political power. We have been under attack since the first time we gained the right to vote through the Constitution's 15th amendment and black men gained that right in in 1870 and women gained that right in 1920. And so these ongoing attacks, whether or not it's having to take a test or or pay a tax to in order to vote or just being shot down dead as or or threatened or chased out of town. This has been an ongoing battle in this country for the for black people to have just the right of every citizen to gain that vote. And because of these attacks that have been ongoing, what Donald Trump is doing is trying to erase all the progress that's been made by black politicians, by black people generally who exercise their right to vote. And it's an onslaught against the black vote. in this case that we have before the Supreme Court and the actions by executive orders by Donald Trump have been ongoing in trying to undermine black progress, black political progress in particular.

[00:03:49]>> And Professor Horn, a few states have already redrawn their maps uh since the ruling. More are set to follow. Is this a coordinated political strategy and and how far does it go?

[00:04:02]>> It is definitely coordinated. And let me remind the audience that today is May 17th. On May 17th, 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously that US apart Jim Crow was unconstitutional. Sadly and tragically, there was a massive resistance against this democratic principle. President Eisenhower had to call in federal troops to protect black students from being mauled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. There were shootings and deaths at the University of Mississippi at Oxford in Boston, Massachusetts, supposedly a bastion of liberalism.

[00:04:41]There was fierce resistance to desegregation of public schools. And so what's happening today is a reflection of the fact that when the Supreme Court ruled in 1954, there was significant and profound global pressure because the United States was in the midst of a cold war with the then Soviet Union trying to uplift its supposed democratic principles and therefore it decided to surrender to the anti-Jim Crow forces.

[00:05:09]Today there is hardly any international pressure. At the same time, the Trump base feels pressured because of inflation, rising unemployment, the spectre of artificial intelligence, and they, as is typical, have decided to turn on the black population with a vengeance.

[00:05:29]>> Professor Horn, I'll stay with you for one more. You've studied race and American political power across centuries. How much of a rupture is this ruling?

[00:05:40]>> Oh, I think it's consistent. You have to realize that from 1954 to 1968, that was the anomaly. That was the anomalous process of progressive rulings by the US Supreme Court. You'll better understand the US Supreme Court if you understand its decisions upholding slavery, its decisions pre 1954 upholding the deprivation of voting rights. And so the problem is is that oftentimes people take the anomaly to be the norm when it's actually the opposite.

[00:06:17]>> Um and Gloria, if I could just come back to you and use your first name, but I hope you don't mind. You've um described racial progress as as cyclical I I believe advances followed by a backlash.

[00:06:30]Where are we in that cycle right now?

[00:06:34]>> We're in the backlash. It's two steps forward, one steps back, but it's always an ongoing battle. The idea that certain people just based on the pigment of their skin should have more should have more political power, should have more money, should have more social standing.

[00:06:53]And in the United States, that is been ongoing. And so the battle to just have basic rights in this country u by people of African descent, my family included and many others, um has been ongoing.

[00:07:06]And sometimes you make progress and you see two terms of an African-American president and then what happens the backlash. We have Donald Trump coming after that. We go forward with Joe Biden as president with Kla Harris, a person of color and a woman as vice president.

[00:07:22]Now we have the backlash of another Donald Trump presidency and with people around the country, many people in the country very divided thinking that their problems lie at the feet of African-American progress. If you believe or if one believes that they can only have progress as a white person if black people have no progress. That's what's being sold in this country right now and it's been sold for a long time that the pigment of one's skin is supposed to determine their intelligence, their progress, their wealth, their job, their education. And we've gone back in 2026 to 1916.

[00:07:57]If you want to think about it, we've gone where they're trying to force force us back into Jim Crow racial segregation and unfortunately we don't have the leadership in this country and even our protests in my last book, a protest history United States. I speak of protests, but our protests that we're having aren't protests that disrupt the status quo. So just marching in the street is not enough. having speeches that's great but that's not enough at this stage of the game and disrupt does not mean violence but we have to have disruption and that hasn't taken place >> and in terms of that that disruption Gloria one more that I'll stay with you for the march across the Edund uh Pettis Bridge on Saturday was uh deliberately symbolic um what does protest at this point actually accomplish what role does it play in the cycle Sir, we are here on this station talking to your watchers, your viewers because of protest, >> because of litigation, because of legislation, and because of protest.

[00:09:06]That's why we have gained so much. But it has to be effective protest. It has to be disruptive protest. And we have to show them, yes, we're angry. Yes, we're frustrated. Yes, we want our constitutional rights to be respected, but we also because this is a capitalist country, we have to be able to disrupt in ways in which people are no longer comfortable in their oppression. And that is what we've learned or should have learned from centuries of protests to get us where we are today. That these protests in the streets are powerful.

[00:09:39]They're necessary. But if you think about what happened in 1965, that protest was disruptive because it said to the status quo during that time period, we are not going to sit back and allow you to undermine our voting rights. And that was highly disruptive back then, but we need that and more in 2026.

[00:10:01]>> Uh, Professor Horn, I I'd love you to feed in on that particular point as well. the protest has been uh very important um to bring you to this moment. Is there still the anger and the drive to make protest a central part of the run-up to midterms?

[00:10:18]>> Oh, certainly it is. And unfortunately, we don't have the time to go into all of the many protests that have been rocking this country from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. However, I would like to add one cautionary note, which is that during the time that the struggle against Jim Crow was most effective, oftentimes there was outreach from US organizations to organizations overseas, which helped to generate more global protests. In my estimation, it was the global protest that drove the Supreme Court in 1954, May 17, to rule that US apart Jim Crow was illegal and unconstitutional.

[00:11:01]>> Gloria, one more for you before we uh wrap up. Redistricting has always been a political dark art practiced on on both sides of American politics. Are these battles getting more bitter and more hotly contested or is it just the same as it ever was?

[00:11:20]>> Based on the US Supreme Court decisions, one could have gerrymandering or redistricting for political reasons, but it was unconstitutional to do so for racial reasons. the the US Supreme Court has now crossed the line and said unless it can be proven that there's intentional racial discrimination in the voting then that it's going to uphold these districts even if they undermine the black vote that is causing acrimony that's well beyond what was in place before the price that people have paid for voting rights and you can look on martyrs day us because I'm the founder of martyr's day the first martyr's day in the United States Many of our martyrs were made that because of race issues.

[00:12:03]So they are pushing us to the point where there is going to be more disruption. There's going to be more acrimony and because it's necessary, I think that there are going to be more push back against the Trump administration. And a Trump administr administration is one that has used violence in the past and used violence against peaceful protesters. And so I predict that as we go forward, you international support is necessary and I hope it comes. But I also hope that we don't fall into the the horrible conflicts of violence that could happen in the United States because it has happened in the past. And >> and Gloria, what sort of professional support does the job here at this point?

[00:12:53]>> The international support. Yes, >> the the international we need people we need other leaders one to stand up to the Donald Trump regime as we see um he's not going to be appeased and we have so many leaders who are just saying well maybe if we appease his massive ego maybe we play along with him but you cannot appease a a a dictator and Donald Trump is a dictator. So how would leaders um interact with other internationally known dictators? It just so happens this one leads what used to be a shining light on the heel of democracy and right now is no longer that.

[00:13:31]>> Uh Gerald, Professor Horn, uh before we go, with those words in mind, I don't want to dwell on what the worst fears are, but it's hard to ignore, I guess, at this point. What happens between here and November? How bad does this get before it gets any better?

[00:13:47]Well, it's easy to be pessimistic given the fact that Florida is engaged in redistricting and gerrymandering. The same is going to take place as we already know in Texas where I'm now sitting. There will be similar efforts in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi possibly as well. But we should also realize that it's oftentimes darkness before the dawn. And I remain confident that since we represent a global majority, we'll be able to wield global influence against Mr. Trump in the White House.

[00:14:21]>> Not the most pleasant topic, but it has been a pleasure speaking uh to you both.

[00:14:25]Gerald Horn, professor of history and African-American studies at the University of Houston. Thank you. And Gloria Brown Marshall, professor of constitutional law at John J. College in New York. Thank you both so much.

[00:14:39]Thank you.