The Congressional Black Caucus recently sounded the alarm, calling the Republican-led gerrymandering efforts across the country an assault on Black voter protections.

According to the CBC, 19 of its 62 members may lose their seats after the redistricting and the Supreme Court’s gutting of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The high court sanctioned Congressional maps providing a “partisan” advantage, but not a racial one. Critics say the developments open the door for dramatically decreased Black representation in Congress.

Representative Yvette Clark, who chairs the CBC, described the national redistricting strategy as a “power grab.” 

CBC members and political scientists describe the mid-decade redistricting plans, which were initiated by President Donald Trump, as an attack on Black voters.

In Tennessee, the state legislature successfully split the district that includes Memphis, a predominantly Black urban area, into three districts.

“Overall, the Congressional district plan is Black vote dilution at an industrial scale,” stated Dr. Sekou Franklin, the executive director of the John Lewis Center for Social Justice at Fisk University. “It eliminates the largest urban and naturally-cohesive Congressional district, of which Black voters can elect a candidate of their choice. This has not happened since before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”

Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, who has represented the 5th Congressional District which includes Kansas City for more than two decades, faces an uncertain future. The Missouri legislature targeted Cleaver by dividing the district, a Democratic stronghold, into three districts. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected challenges to the map, declaring it constitutional.

Vice President J.D. Vance campaigned today in the now Republican-friendly district, remarking on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. 

“We had that great Supreme Court case that said a crazy thing, like maybe we shouldn’t discriminate against people based on race, right, very common sense,” said Vance.

The CBC has pushed back against the gerrymandering trend and announced plans to continue challenging the Republican efforts.

In a statement, members added: “We are working with partners in state legislatures across the South, alongside the legal and civil rights communities, to challenge these maps in court and mobilize our communities to the ballot box.”

In a recent social media rant, President Donald Trump hurled his favorite insult at House Democratic leader, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, calling Jeffries “low IQ” and a “thug.” Trump’s denigration came as he called for Jeffries to be charged for allegedly inciting the violence at the Washington Correspondents Dinner two weeks ago when a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump. 

In conversations held publicly around news desks and in homes, barbershops, and backyard BBQs, one of the questions that invariably surfaces focuses on whether Donald Trump is a racist. Most Black Americans have a ready answer. Mother Jones raised the question earlier this week in an article, and their analysis of his use of the insulting description, “low IQ,” offers credible evidence. 

In the last 10 years, Trump used “low IQ” 75 times, and more than half of those times, he applied it to prominent Black Americans. Here’s a look at the numbers. 

• Vice President Kamala Harris: Targeted 23 times; Trump has called the Vice-President “very low IQ individual”.
• Congresswoman Maxine Waters: Targeted at least 8 times; described as an “extraordinarily low IQ person”.
• Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: Attacked as “that new, Low IQ person” on the Supreme Court.
• Minority Whip Hakeem Jeffries: Called a “totally low IQ person” and a “thug”.
• Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: Targeted 5 times.
• Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett: Referred to as a “low-IQ person” during a Meet the Press appearance.
• Radio Host Charlamagne tha God: Labeled a “low IQ individual” in response to his public comments.
• Other Targets: He has also questioned the intelligence of figures like Basketball Superstar LeBron James, Newscaster Don Lemon, and former Trump Supporter Omarosa Manigault Newman.

Jeffries responded with a post of his own, referring to Trump as the “dumbest” president in history.

High gas prices continue to dominate the headlines as the U.S. and Iranian stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz persists. Compounding consumer frustration–especially for Black Americans–is an unemployment rate almost double that of the national average and other ethnic groups.

For Black Americans, the March 2026 unemployment rate was 7.1% while the national average was 4.3%. Earlier in the year, the unemployment rate was even higher, fluctuating between 7.3% in January to 7.7% in February.

During the past few months, the unemployment rate among Black men and women, who are  noncollege graduates, has dropped. But overall, the unemployment rate among Black men is higher in 2026 than it was this time last year.

Black women with college degrees and those who work in public sector jobs have seen professional progress eroded under Trump’s attacks on federal workers and DEI policies.
Despite the impact of Trump’s policies on Black Americans, recent polling shows he has found an opening among a block of voters historically loyal to Democrats. A 2025 Gallup poll found  22% of Black voters approved of Donald Trump’s leadership compared to 13% in 2017 during his first term.