This story isn’t part of Alabama Public Radio’s investigative series on the newly redrawn Congressional seat in District 2—But it could provide an interesting perspective.
I quickly drew this map to explain the U.S. Supreme Court decision that created Alabama’s new District 2 U.S. House Seat. The High Court surprised even the plaintiffs in the court case of Allen Versus Milligan, by ruling that the State needed to do a better job representing African American voters.
The Justices in Washington, D.C. appeared convinced, but a roomful of journalists from the former Soviet nation of Belarus needed clarification.
I was asked by the Congressional Office for International Leadership, at the Library of Congress, to address this group of reporters about APR’s investigative reporting. The news team’s latest in-depth series, “…a U.S. House Seat, if you can keep it,” about District 2, was in the final stages of production. So, I included it in my presentation.
That’s when a question popped up.
“Why would your Supreme Court do that?” asked one delegation member about carving the new Congressional map. Quick mention—I won’t be using names during this story, since my Belarusian colleagues are under threat, from the government of President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, for producing independent journalism. That’s why this group works outside of Belarus, and they don’t want their names or photos online. Their question was basically…why should a U.S. Congressional district represent the voters?.
It was an honest inquiry, during an exchange that was designed, in part, to overcome cultural differences.
That’s why I drew the circle over the rectangle of my map. The “rectangle” represents the new District 2. The “circle” represents District 7 of House member Terri Sewell, the only Democrat and African American in Alabama’s Congressional delegation. Part two of APR’s series looked into why black voters, living in a District with a white Republican House member, often call Sewell’s office in D.C. for help. I won’t say that my Belarusian colleagues totally agreed with the idea of lawmakers working in a district that's designed to reflect its voters, but they seemed to understand SCOTUS' intent.
This talk, and the four others APR has been invited to give by the U.S. State Department, were recognized generously during a Huntsville luncheon by the citizens’ diplomacy group Global Ties Alabama. This organization works with Washington to facilitate visits by foreign delegations to our State. That’s also how APR is invited to talk about our major journalism projects.
“It (the Belarusian reporter visit) was a very difficult program because of just their own personal experiences ,” said Global Ties Alabama Program Director Annette Philpo’t. She was telling her luncheon audience about the repression of journalists in Belarus. “I called Pat and I just said, I just kind of gave him a heads up, and when he came to meet with them, what was wonderful is that he broke through those barriers, and he met them just in a very special place, and they felt comfortable with him.”
APR was recognized for its presentations that day. Alison Moylan, Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, also talked about a 2023 talk APR gave that helped to inspire one delegation member from Lithuania to create a podcast designed to help young people avoid news disinformation.
Next time, I’ll write about editing the script of an even earlier U.S. Supreme Court case, in Tuskegee, that set the Constitutional precedent against disenfranchising against black voters in 1960. I was working with Lynn Oldshue on her copy while waiting for a one-on-one chat with the Human Rights Ombudsperson of the Parliament of Lithuania.
