Tennessee groups are rallying on MLK Day to oppose new political lines’ impact on Black and brown voters

Schools and businesses across the country will be closed Monday to honor the civil rights legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

In Nashville, a group is gathering outside the state capitol Monday afternoon to protest what they say is another form of racism: gerrymandering. The demonstrators say new district maps will take voting power away from people of color in Tennessee.

Lawmakers are proposing some major changes to the maps that divvy up voters among congressional districts. The state’s two biggest Democratic strongholds — Davidson and Shelby counties — would both be split.

Tequila Johnson is the co-founder of the Equity Alliance, which advocates for Black political power. She says the new lines would especially hurt Black and brown voters, who make up a growing share of those areas. And she wants to draw attention to that on MLK Day.

“People come out and say, ‘Oh, we believe in — we love Dr. King, we want to name a street after him, we want to name a street after Rep. John Lewis,'” Johnson says. “But they completely use policy and use their stance to gut the things that they actually cared about.”

House Speaker Cameron Sexton has defended the maps.

“It’s fair. It’s constitutional,” he told WPLN News after the drafts were released last week. “We think it satisfies, and it will prove to be upheld against the Voting Rights Act.”

Johnson says she wasn’t surprised by the maps proposed by Republican state legislators. And though she’s disheartened, she won’t let them stop her push for better living conditions for all Tennesseans.

“I owe it to my ancestors,” she says, before listing the names of others who have fought for civil rights in Nashville. “I owe it to Z. Alexander Looby. I owe it to Avon Williams. I owe it to Harold Love Sr. and to John Lewis and those who came before me who were physically beaten down for real to keep going.”

Monday, Johnson and other activists will protest the new district maps on the capitol steps. But her next priority is making sure everyone can exercise their right to vote.