Newark Activists Protest Supreme Court Ruling On Elections: 'Restore The Voting Rights Act'

NEWARK, NJ — A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on elections incited a protest in New Jersey's largest city this week.

Activists gathered in Newark on Wednesday to protest the court’s recent ruling on congressional districting in Louisiana, which many experts say deals a severe blow to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The court ruled 6-3 that the majority-Black district relies too heavily on race to determine its boundaries. Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the map is an “unconstitutional gerrymander.”

The ruling has sparked protest from civil rights advocates across the nation, including in the Brick City.

On Wednesday, activists took to the streets of Newark in a march that began at the Martin Luther King Federal Courthouse. Demonstrators set up a picket line outside the entrance of the courthouse, chanting and drumming while carrying signs that read “Restore The Voting Rights Act” and “Stop Racist Gerrymandering.”

The demonstration was spearheaded by Newark-based advocacy group People’s Organization For Progress.

According to the group’s chair – former U.S. Senate candidate Lawrence Hamm – courthouse security came outside and watched them from the steps but didn’t interfere. Surveillance drones were also seen at the rally, he said.

Hamm said that the Supreme Court ruling will enable states to redraw their congressional districts and eliminate those which have majority Black populations.

This in turn will cause many Black congressional representatives to lose their seats, he charged.

Hamm said the ruling is “one of the worst U.S. Supreme Court decisions” since the Dred Scott case of 1857.

“We demand that Congress pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act at the federal level,” Hamm continued. “We demand that the state legislature pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act of New Jersey. It has been passed by the Assembly now we want it passed by the Senate.”

“We also demand the reform and restructuring of the Supreme Court,” he added. “Lifetime appointments must end, term limits should be imposed, and stronger ethics laws should be put in place.”

Speakers at the May 13 rally included Deborah Smith-Gregory, president of the NAACP Newark, Larry Hirsch, president of Local 913 American Federation of Government Employees, Daryn Martin, secretary-treasurer at District 1199J, the Rev. Michael Corso of Sophia Inclusive Community, Jimmy Small, chair of the Muslim League of Voters of New Jersey, Zayid Muhammad of New Jersey Communities for Accountable Policing, and Assatta Mann-Colon, community organizing manager with the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.

Other speakers included Heather Richner, associate counsel for the Democracy and Justice Program, the Rev. Anya Sammler, senior co-minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, Evelyn Williams, vice chair of the South Ward Democratic Committee, and Larry Adams, vice chair of the People’s Organization For Progress.

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