KSHB 41 reporter La’Nita Brooks covers stories in Kansas City, Missouri, and stories offering solutions on crime. Share your story idea with La’Nita.
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Activists turned out Saturday afternoon to Mill Creek Park in Kansas City, Missouri, as part of a nationwide Voting Rights Day of Action.
In Missouri, the rally came just days after the Missouri Supreme Court issued its latest set of rulings upholding a new congressional map that directly impacts voters in three congressional districts in the area.
Activists say the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to protect communities from discrimination at the ballot box.
"It protected the voting rights of Black and Brown communities from being silenced through discrimination and racist district maps," a speaker at the rally said.
Jamie Johnson, statewide coalition director for People Not Politicians, said those protections are now under attack.
"We're seeing things that have been normal practice overturned because of the folks in charge are not on the side of the people," Johnson said.
The Kansas City rally held at Mill Creek Park was part of a larger nationwide event called All Roads Lead to the South, where thousands marched in Montgomery, Alabama, Saturday to defend voting rights.
The event was organized in response to recent efforts by some states, including Missouri, to redraw political districts to favor Republicans.
Emanuel Cleaver III said that the consequences of redistricting could be far-reaching.
"Twenty-two or more African American members of the House could lose their seat, so I don't think that was a coincidence; I think it was intentional," Cleaver said. "So, we're seeing people losing their representation."
The new map reshapes Kansas City's three congressional districts: the 4th, the 5th, and the 6th.
Volunteers collected more than 300,000 signatures to stop the map from taking effect, but Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has yet to certify those signatures.
Johnson said the division of Kansas City into multiple districts creates a mismatch between communities and their representation.
"People who live in the metropolitan area along with people who live in rural communities," johnson said. "And those two different communities have different needs. So you need a congressman who understands those needs and delivers for those people."
Community leaders said they plan to keep fighting.
"We're going to have to keep on standing, protesting, organizing up until the election because we're not going to give up this fight," Cleaver said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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