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Two Southern Wins, A Letter to Corporate America, and Whoopi Steps In · The Breakfast Club

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Two Southern states just dealt major blows to efforts to
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  Speaker 1: redraw voting maps that critics say would weaken black political power.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: State of Alabama discriminated against black voters and how it
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  Speaker 2: drew its maps.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: The Congressional Black Caucus is calling out major corporations for
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  Speaker 1: staying silent on voting rights.
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  Speaker 3: And when we talk about the economics of it, I
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  Speaker 3: think we'll forget.
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  Speaker 1: It and will be Goldberg is speaking out after Race's
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  Speaker 1: backlash aimed at Lupita Nango, and.
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  Speaker 3: I would suggest looking in a mirror if you have
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  Speaker 3: any concerns about people's looks.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, May twenty seventh, from the Black Effect Podcast Network.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I'm Mimi Brown. This is Front Page, and here are
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the day's biggest stories. Plus today on the underplate, a
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  Speaker 1: bipartisan bill that would bring major federal funding to HBCU campuses.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Stay with me. Two Southern states, two redistricting fund to
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  Speaker 1: setbacks on the same day. So if you've been listening
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to Front Page this month, you know we've been covering
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  Speaker 1: the wave of Republican led redistricting attempts across the South Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: South Carolina. Every one of those states has tried to
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  Speaker 1: redraw congressional maps in ways that would reduce political power
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  Speaker 1: of black voters. A panel of judges in Birmingham just
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  Speaker 1: blocked Alabama from using its congressional map for the twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty six midterm elections. A judge rule that the map
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  Speaker 1: intentionally discriminated based on race, and the ruling means Alabama
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  Speaker 1: has to keep using a map with two districts where
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  Speaker 1: black voters have a real chance to elect their preferred candidates,
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  Speaker 1: and one of those districts is represented by Congressman Shamari Figures,
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  Speaker 1: who is reacting to the ruling.
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  Speaker 2: Since this court has been hearing the evidence in this case,
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  Speaker 2: they've been pretty consistent in their belief that there was
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  Speaker 2: an overwhelming volume of evidence that the state of Alabama
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  Speaker 2: discriminated against black voters and how it drew its maps.
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  Speaker 2: And you have to keep in mind that these are
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  Speaker 2: two judges appointed by Donald Trump himself and a third
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  Speaker 2: that was originally put on the bench by Ronald Reagan.
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  Speaker 1: Now this sets up another fight at the Supreme Court,
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  Speaker 1: but for now, black voters in Alabama have a win.
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  Speaker 1: And now to South Carolina, where on that same day,
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  Speaker 1: the South Carolina Senate abruptly ended its session without passing
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  Speaker 1: a new congressional map. Critics say the Republican backed proposal
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  Speaker 1: would weaken the state's only majority black congressional district, currently
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  Speaker 1: represented by Congressman Jim Clyburn, and Clyburn is now speaking
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  Speaker 1: out against the redistricting effort in his state.
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  Speaker 4: The United States Supreme Court two years ago said this
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  Speaker 4: is constitutional. No, it doesn't do what all the Democrats wanted,
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  Speaker 4: and that doesn't do what all a black community wants.
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  Speaker 4: But the process was constitutional. This White House says, to
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  Speaker 4: heal with the process, to heal with the constitution. Just
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  Speaker 4: do what we want done, and that's what has us
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  Speaker 4: here today.
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  Speaker 1: Now the Senate says it did not pass, said because
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  Speaker 1: early voting had already started, Nearly forty five thousand people
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  Speaker 1: had already cast their ballots in the state's primary, and
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  Speaker 1: some of the Republican senators said they were uncomfortable changing
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  Speaker 1: district lines in the middle of an election. Now, none
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  Speaker 1: of this means the fight is over. Alabama is almost
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  Speaker 1: certainly headed back to the Supreme Court, and South Carolina's
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  Speaker 1: effort is paused, not dead, and the broader Republican push
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  Speaker 1: to redraw maps across the South. That push is definitely
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  Speaker 1: going to continue. The Congressional Black Caucus says it's putting
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  Speaker 1: corporate America on notice. On Tuesday, members of the Caucus
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  Speaker 1: sent a formal letter to more than two hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty of the country's largest corporations, including Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft,
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  Speaker 1: and Starbucks. The message was pick aside. The Caucus is
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  Speaker 1: asking those corporations to publicly condemn the redistricting efforts and
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  Speaker 1: Republican led states that are trying to eliminate majority black
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  Speaker 1: congressional districts. The same redistricting effort we just covered in
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  Speaker 1: Alabama and South Carolina, that same redistricting is happening in
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  Speaker 1: Tennessee and Louisiana. Here is Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
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  Speaker 3: We get the question all the time from the black community,
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  Speaker 3: what can we do? What shall we do? The strategy
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  Speaker 3: that has being developed by the Black Caucus leadership absolutely
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  Speaker 3: addresses that question. We're going to fight, fight, fight, We
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  Speaker 3: are organizing, and it has economic implications.
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  Speaker 1: Now. Now, the letter is asking corporations to do three things.
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  Speaker 1: One publicly condemned the redistricting plans and states with majority
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  Speaker 1: black districts at risk, two meet with members of the
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  Speaker 1: Black Caucus to discuss Corporate America's role in protecting voting rights.
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  Speaker 1: And three disclose their political donations to Republican politicians and
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  Speaker 1: states pushing the new maps. And the companies on this
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  Speaker 1: list are not random, Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Starbucks.
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  Speaker 1: All of these the companies signed statements after the twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty election supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. They
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  Speaker 1: came out publicly and they committed to voting rights as
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  Speaker 1: a corporate value. Well that was then, and now the
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  Speaker 1: Caucus is saying, show us your work, tell us where
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  Speaker 1: your money is and where it's been going. The Caucus
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  Speaker 1: says they have not received a public response from most companies.
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  Speaker 1: Every Wednesday on front page, this is what we do.
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  Speaker 1: One story that didn't get the coverage it deserved this
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  Speaker 1: week because some of the most important news in the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: country right now is happening on page eight. So today's pick.
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  Speaker 1: Two members of Congress just reintroduced a bipartisan bill to
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  Speaker 1: put serious federal money into HBCU campus facilities. The bill
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  Speaker 1: is called the Ignite HBCU Excellence Act. The sponsors are
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  Speaker 1: Representative Alma Adams of North Carolina, a Democrat, and Representative
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  Speaker 1: French Hill of Arkansas, a Republican. And here's what the
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  Speaker 1: bill does. It directs the US Department of Edge Education
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  Speaker 1: to award grants directly to HBCUs for one specific purpose,
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  Speaker 1: fixing the buildings. That means renovations, repairs, constructions of new facilities,
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  Speaker 1: modernizing classrooms, dorms, labs, and library buildings that at many
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  Speaker 1: HBCUs have not been updated in decades. HBCUs were historically
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  Speaker 1: underfunded by states in the federal government for generations. A
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  Speaker 1: federal investigation last year found that HBCUs had been shorted
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  Speaker 1: by more than twelve billion dollars in state funding alone
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  Speaker 1: compared to predominantly white universities in the same states. So
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  Speaker 1: the Ignite Act will not only fix all of that,
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  Speaker 1: but it would close the gap. It's bipartisan, it's moving,
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  Speaker 1: and almost no one is covering it. If you went
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  Speaker 1: to an HBCU, your kid is at one, if your
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: community has one, tell someone this bill is on the table.
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  Speaker 1: That's the underplayed. A casting decision in one of Hollywood's
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  Speaker 1: biggest upcoming movies is now sparking a larger conversation online
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  Speaker 1: about race, beauty and representation. Oscar winning actress Lupita Niango
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  Speaker 1: was recently cast as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan's
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  Speaker 1: upcoming film The Odyssey, but instead of the conversation staying
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  Speaker 1: focused on the movie, Lupita quickly became the target of
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  Speaker 1: racist online backlash, with critics arguing Helen of Troy was
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be white. The controversy catching the attention of
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  Speaker 1: Whoopy Goldberg, who is defending Lupita and pushing back on
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  Speaker 1: the criticism during a recent episode of The View. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if you realize this.
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  Speaker 3: Lupita is also considered one of the world's most beautiful women,
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  Speaker 3: So I'm not.
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  Speaker 1: Sure what you're trying to say. You don't actually have
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  Speaker 1: to go to the movie, and Lupita herself has now responded.
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  Speaker 1: In a recent statement, she said, quote, this is a
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  Speaker 1: mythological story. I'm supportive of Chris Nolan's vision and the
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  Speaker 1: vision of the story he wants to tell. Our cast
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  Speaker 1: reflects the world. You can't perform beauty. I want to
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  Speaker 1: know who a character is. And that response is now
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  Speaker 1: fueling an even bigger conversation online because of porters they're
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  Speaker 1: putting out that Helen of Troy is a mythological character
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  Speaker 1: from a poem written nearly three thousand years ago, and
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  Speaker 1: the original text never specifically described her skin color. Critics
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  Speaker 1: say the backlash is less about historical accuracy and more
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  Speaker 1: about who some people believe get to be seen as
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  Speaker 1: beautiful in major Hollywood films. That's your front page. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Mimi Brown. This podcast was brought to you by the
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  Speaker 1: Black Effects Podcast Network