Eight days after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act — Tennessee used that ruling as a starting gun. The Republican-led legislature passed a new congressional map splitting the state's only majority-Black district — Memphis's 9th Congressional District — into three pieces. Spreading Black voters across rural Republican districts stretching hundreds of miles east. A Republican senator said the maps were drawn to elect more Republicans. A Democratic representative called it a white power grab. A senator stood on a desk holding a bedsheet that read No Jim Crow 2.0. And Governor Bill Lee signed it into law the same day. Three lawsuits have now been filed — the NAACP, the Tennessee Democratic Party, and the ACLU. A federal hearing is set for May 20th. Republicans also removed the requirement that voters be notified when their polling place changes. They drew the map and then made sure you might not know where to vote under it. Tennessee is the ninth state. Louisiana is next. Alabama is next. The dominos are falling. Let's have this conversation.

00:00 — Disclaimer01:28 — Introduction03:05 — Mission04:45 — Opening: Eight days after the Supreme Court ruling — Tennessee used it as a starting gun07:15 — Background: How we got here, what Tennessee had to dismantle to get here, and where the dominos fall next14:39 — The Data: The quotes from the chamber floor, the three lawsuits, the May 20th hearing, and the pattern of targeting Black Memphis specifically18:48 — Personal Truth: The senator on the desk. Edmund Pettus Bridge. And what it means when the people in the room understand exactly what they are watching.23:16 — Close/Action Steps: Know your district, watch the May 20th hearing, connect the map to the bill, and understand that this is a coordinated strategy being executed state by state

Democracy Docket — democracydocket.com

Tennessee Lookout — tennesseelookout.comNAACP — naacp.org

ACLU of Tennessee — aclu-tn.org

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Tennessee redistricting 2026, Tennessee majority Black district, Steve Cohen redistricting, Memphis congressional district split, Gloria Johnson white power grab, Raumesh Akbari Edmund Pettus Bridge, Tennessee mid-decade redistricting, Supreme Court Voting Rights Act Tennessee, redistricting domino effect, Louisiana Alabama redistricting, Jim Crow 2.0 redistricting, Afternoon Coffee Break Darren Watts,