Today marks two years since the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments that would change Alabama’s political landscape. It was later, in June of 2023, that the justices told Alabama to redraw its Congressional voting map to better represent African Americans. The court case known as Allen versus Milligan created the new U.S. House District Two in part of Alabama’s Black Belt. The APR news team spent most of this year investigating the issues impacting voters there. Part one of our series “A U.S. House seat, if you can keep it” can be found at apr.org.
“…with the ruling of Roe v Wade, Roe v Wade, the overturning, overturning of affirmative action, I was surprised,” said Shalela Dowdy, one of the plaintiffs in the court case Allen V. Milligan. That favorable ruling from the nation’s highest court shook the political landscape in Alabama and created the new District Two U.S. House seat including part of the State’s blackbelt.
“I just feel like as a Alabamian, and as a black Alabamian, I know there's work that needs to be done, and I love active duty,” said Dowdy, who also earned the rank of Major in the U.S. Army. “I'm back home, and now I'm just, you know, doing the work that needs to be done, utilizing my voice. Don't you don't need a political seat to always do that. You can be a regular, average citizen.”
Dowdy was surprised that her side won, since the same conservative Supreme Court majority that overturned the abortion protections of Roe Versus Wade and later ended affirmation action at U.S. universities said “okay” to a second African American majority Congressional district in deep red Alabama. APR News spoke with Dowdy as part of our nine month investigation into issues surrounding the newly redrawn Congressional District 2 in Alabama.
One concern is how long that map may stay in place. A new court case is heating up for next year to mount another challenge to the new District 2 map which includes a 49% African American voter base. Critics of the new majority minority U.S. House seat want the courts to switch back to the old map, where blacks make up only 39% of the population.
“Now, the only thing I could be worried about is that it was a five, four vote,” said Dowdy. “So you never know who, if one person, may swing back to the other side. I don't think all of them were swinging, but we know three won't. But yeah, I'm not too worried on the United States Supreme Court side, and then we're in front of the same judges at the lower court. So you never know. But so I'm not saying I feel like we'll get a win for sure, because you never know what the state's argument will be.”
Click below to listen again to part one of APR’s new investigation, “…a U.S. House seat, if you can keep it.” Next week, we’ll focus on how if African American voters in a Congressional district with a white Republican House member need help, they often contact Democrat Terri Sewell.
