Written by Tanya Terry
A press conference with local and state government officials and clergy was held on May 4, at Cathedral of Faith Church, to address concerns about the Supreme Court’s ruling that gutted Section Two of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The ruling allows states to redraw congressional districts in ways speakers said dilutes Black voting power, eliminates majority-Black districts and makes it harder to challenge discriminatory redistricting in court.
Bishop Chris Martin, president of the Genesee County Church of God in Christ Alliance, emphasized that this decision particularly threatens the Church of God in Christ’s international headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, where Representative Steve Cohen represents a majority-Black city facing emergency redistricting.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sent a statement calling the decision “a slap in the face to democracy” and pledging to defend voting rights.
“We need to be clear this decision will specifically hurt Black and brown communities and make them less represented in Congress,” said Congresswoman McDonald Rivet. “Others in our country are mobilizing to take advantage. States like Tennessee that the Bishop mentioned are already chomping at the bit to use this decision as an excuse to rip representation away from more voters. Florida is already introduced a map with extreme gerrymandering, and they are trying to push it forward for this year. Now is a time for action. We all need to come together to be heard and fix our system so that it works for us, not just the wealthy and the well connected.”
McDonald Rivet said it is long past time for us to honor the legacy of John Lewis with a little good trouble of our own and pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
“It would ensure further protections to make sure everyone, no matter their zip code, gets the representation they deserve,” she added.
She also called for an end to gerrymandering and for the Supreme Court to be reformed.
Mayor Sheldon Neeley said alarm bells should be ringing across America.
“These are the first signs of repression moving backwards,” Neeley added. “As an African American man and also as a mayor of this great city, of all people, but definitely America is in trouble when these type of rulings come into position.”
Neeley said Michigan residents don’t have to wait until such redistricting attempts hit Michigan.
“Bells are ringing, and this is a call for us all to come together,” Neeley added. “And I want to thank Bishop Martin and all those other concerned individuals in the clergy field, but in the education field, in the health field, political field, we all must stand together to push this back.”
“In 1965, our country decided that it really wanted to take a step, walk and talk and believe in democracy for all,” said Flint City Councilwoman Candice Mushatt, referring to the year the Voting Rights Act was passed banning literacy tests and authorized federal oversight of voter registration.”
“And in 2026, we’re looking at going all the way back to the point where not everyone has a voice,” Mushatt added. “We are standing here today to say that this is 3/5 on steroids. It’s far worse because now you have states actively taking voices of people who do not look like or sound like, or represent what they think is the acceptable voice for this country.”
Mushatt said “everyone who believes in democracy and everyone who believes in a free country needs to stand up and say that everyone will have the opportunity to pick whom will represent them.”
Domonique Clemons, Genesee County clerk and register of deeds, said he was appalled, as the first Black county clerk in the history of Genesee County, that we’re even having these conversations again.
“And quite frankly, as a young person at only 33 years of age, I never expected in my lifetime that we would be still fighting for basic rights of all of the residents of Genesee County in the city of Flint,” Clemons added.
“While this ruling targets a map in Louisiana, the impacts are felt right here at home in Flint. When the highest court in the land says that racial discrimination is permissible as long as you call it partisanship, gerrymandering, they aren’t just redrawing lines. They’re attempting to erase people.
“Flint knows what happens when voices of a community are silenced, and when we’re ignored. We’ve seen what happens when power is centralized away from the people. And this ruling is just a green light for that same kind of systemic racism and silencing to happen now at the ballot box.”
Bishop Roger L. Jones stated: “I stand here with mixed emotions after being able to preach for 72 years and 63 years here in Flint. Dr. King said: ‘We’re not makers of history. We’re made by history.’ And what concerns me, the early 60s, up to 65, it seems to me that history is repeating itself, that I never thought at my age, in the work that has been done, even in our city, that we would revert back…”
“When I grew up in the South, you could not use the bathroom facilities, separate water fountains, separate bus stations, separate train station, systemic racism…”
Jones said “second class citizenship should be eliminated and should have been eliminated.”
The speakers outlined concrete steps including voter registration drives, voter education programs through “Saints and Civics,” transportation to polls, and engagement with Southern communities facing gerrymandering. They emphasized that African American voters represent a powerful voting bloc and urged high turnout at all levels of elections, from local to federal races.
