Consider This from NPR - In Alabama, history of voting rights struggles looms over upcoming election

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

In Alabama, the push that led to Voting Rights Act of 1965 intersects with the recent weakening of the statute and redistricting. Three generations of activists reflect on what it means for midterms.This episode was produced by Jeff Pierre, Matt Ozug, and Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Robert Rodriguez. Jonas Adams is our director. It was edited by Ashley Brown, Tinbete Ermyas, Ben Swasey, and Larry Kaplow. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's consider this, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, the effects of redistricting can be seen on congressional maps across the nation. And in one state, this memory looms over the upcoming midterms. Your orders to disperse, go home or go to your church. This march will not continue. Bloody Sunday, in 1965, when officers violently chased, beat, and gassed hundreds of peaceful protesters marching for the right to vote, including children. I was the youngest eight-year-old on the Bloody Sunday March in Selma, Alabama.

That's Cheyenne Webb-Christberg, who's still a voting rights activist. My most memorable moments during that struggle was first having to meet Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who really gave me the drive to become that disobedient child. Earlier this year, she rallied in Montgomery at the State House, when Republicans wanted to revert to a congressional map that favored their party. We got a what? We got a what? But consider this.

Voting map changes in Alabama were made possible after the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act that Cheyenne Webb-Christburg and so many others fought for. I went to the state capital Montgomery to hear from multiple generations of voters there. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. It's consider this from NPR. Cheyenne Webb Christberg has now inspired and connected with countless other voting rights activists in her home state of Alabama. With Tyler, this young man captured my attention some years ago. Evan, I knew his parents. I kept my eyes on him, even up until this day.

She means 45-year-old attorney Evan Milligan and 19-year-old college student Tyler Jerome Adams. It's the first election year that Tyler's been old enough to vote. The South has been extremely racist for as long as people can remember. So knowing that I am being able to do something that so many people fought for, it was just thrilling for me. And Evan Milligan was a lead plaintiff in the 2023 Supreme Court case, Allen v. Milligan, that forced Alabama to add a second majority black district. But now the state has reverted to a map that Republicans say doesn't consider race, but instead reflects Alabama's partisan Republican majority.

undoing the change Evan and others pushed for too. What keeps me going despite heartbreak and disappointment or losing friends because of quality life issues, it's just my connection to the struggle sometimes is all I feel like I really have. At the Civil Rights Memorial Center, under a massive photo of the March Dr. King led from Selma to Montgomery, I sat with these three generations of voting rights. activists. I started with two crucial questions. How worried are they about losing representation

in Washington, D.C., and can their current member of Congress, Democrat Shemari, figures, win re-election now? I worry about it. I worry that he might lose his seat for sure. Well, we already know that they're out to get us. And certainly, even with the redistricting of his district, and that's even more reason why, you know, all of us have to play a significant role in trying to push this vote every day. When you say they are out to get us, who is they? They are our leaders, starting from the top. I mean... And when you name the top, you mean the president of the United States.

The president of the United States of America and many Republicans who are following his leadership. We came here to Montgomery, Alabama, and specifically wanted to kind of to the second congressional district because it's been at the center of a national story over parties drawing and redrawing voting maps. And as it stands right now, the Supreme Court has upheld Republican drawn maps in your state, which had previously been ruled that they were intentionally discriminatory. How are you guys feeling? What are you hearing from people in your lives about all of this? Well, much of it I'm sadden by, you know, being a little girl back in the 60s when we were fighting for our right to vote. And here we are again in 2026, dealing with all of

those corruptive, racist elements that are trying to rob particularly African Americans and poor people of their right to vote. And it saddens me because from time to time we have seen no integrity in this election process. For me, with the people in my life, we also feel like there's no one out there to advocate for us in a way where this map was intentionally racist. So now we know that the state legislature is not going to protect us. And then the Supreme Court backs up the state legislature reinforcing that we don't have any protections, essentially.

So it's no other choice but to go vote. So, yeah, that is what I'm hearing from a lot of my peers, a lot of young leaders all across the South. This is Evan. I think the way I would be able to assess that would be looking at voter turnout. And we had a primary. And our voter turnout here in Montgomery County was up, I believe, to 30% compared to 24% or 25% two years ago. So it's not where we need in order to have a popular movement that can really outcompete those who are interested in rolling back the gains of the civil rights movement.

And how we get there is sort of the thing that all of us are constantly banging our heads on the wall and just trying any and everything to figure out. As we have this conversation, we're just about a month out from Election Day. What are some of the big issues for each of you this year? Gas prices. You might as well. I mean, when I first started driving a full tank in my car was $20. So now it's $50. And now that I'm in college, $50 to fill up my car. So yeah, gas prices for me. I would say cost, corruption, health care. I think those are primarily some very important issues. This is Evan, for me, the main issue right now is survival and particularly survival of black people in the southeast region of this country. I'm concerned about the breakdown of the rule of law preventing state governments and far right groups from violently attacking our communities even more blatantly than has happened throughout the history of this country.

And I would like to see people occupying interstates, harbors, ports, railways until there's a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right of all American citizens of voting age to vote and have their vote counting. Do you worry about this being a fair and free election? Of course. Of course I work with the current state that our president is in right now. of course I worry about this being a fair free election. He would do anything as he has done, say anything as he has proved to us to get his point across that Republicans need to keep Congress. I mean, he incited a whole riot. So I worry about it all the time. We've talked about the fact that many of you feel like, as it stands right now, the voting

process doesn't have a lot of integrity. If congressmen figures, keeps a seat, if he wins re-election, will that feel like a victory? What will that tell you? What will that show you? I think in a real sense, that's a victory won if he wins, and we're hoping for that. And I think that would be another step towards giving others hope in this process. I wouldn't doubt Shemaris' figures integrity after he would have won this race. We specifically wanted to bring the three of you together because you represent three different generations of voters.

For each of you, what is something that you admire about how another generation pursues politics? I can tell you this. And I just finished telling you this, Tyler. Earlier, this young man represents their activism, the intellect and progressiveness. of many young people across this country. And we got to keep them involved in the process. I love, thank you so much. This is Tyler, I love the tenacity

that Ms. Christ's generation had. You know, in my generation, a lot of what you see is social media activism. But I love the getting the field, getting the boots on the ground approach. That is one thing. Listen, if I was there, I definitely would have been out there.

That is one thing that I admire so much about Ms. Christ's Christ's where generation. Evan, what's something you admire about how another generation pursues politics? I guess I could, I love black people being alive in any form of fashion, especially politically. So I think, you know, the beauty of Tyler's generation is as much as we, I guess, maybe look down on them for how much they're online, their communication skills are very advanced because of that. And there are things that, like, they know about themselves and they know how to talk about that I didn't really have language for until I was in my 30s. And Cheyenne, you're a voter at the table with the most experience.

What is something that you hope people like Tyler, other young people like him, remember and hold on to in this moment? I would hope that young people, first and foremost, would never give up. It must be a continuation of great training for our young people politically, economically, socially, all of the above in a very nonviolent way that Dr. King used. No young people is not too young to get involved in some form of fashion. And I just want to say to both of these young men, I love what you all are doing, what you have done, and I'm just so proud of you. Keep pushing. Cheyenne, Evan, Tyler, thank you all so much for being here.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Thank you. That was Tyler Jerome Adams, Evan Milligan, and Cheyenne Webb Christberg. That's it for today. And as we wrap up, a reminder that the NPR Network needs you to help fund this journalism that's freely available to all and protect your right to know. If you've already given, thank you. And there's still time to join us today at donate.npr.org. This episode was produced by Jeff Pierre, Matt Ozug, and Connor Donovan, with audio engineering by Robert Rodriguez. Jonas Adams is our director. It was edited by Ashley Brown,

10 Beat Armius, Ben Swayze, and Larry Kaplow. Our interim is a very Trump executive producer is Courtney Dorney. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers.