Stateside with Kai and Carter: Stacey Abrams on why gutting of the US Voting Rights Act is ‘evil’

About this episode

Stacey Abrams discusses the implications of the US Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights Act and the importance of voter engagement.

The US supreme court dealt a devastating blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states cannot consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority-Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks to Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision, and why, despite it all, she still believes the way forward lies in engaging more voters to participate in democracy. ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow,’ she says. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

People in this episode

Host: Kai Wright

Guest: Stacey Abrams

Topics covered

• Voting Rights
• Redistricting
• Democracy
• Activism
• US Politics

Keywords

• Voting Rights Act
• Stacey Abrams
• redistricting
• US Supreme Court
• voter engagement
• midterm elections
• activism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: US Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act

Places: Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia

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