Introducing Stateside with Kai and Carter: Stacey Abrams on why gutting US Voting Rights Act is ‘evil’
5/18/202636 min
The US supreme court demolished the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states can’t consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks with Stacey Abrams, voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision and why she thinks the way forward is still through engaging more voters to participate in democracy: ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow.’
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsCarter Sherman· Host0:00
This is The Guardian.
Jonathan Freedland· Host0:01
[electronic sound] Hello, Jonathan Freedland here. Today we're bringing you something different, the launch episode of our brand-new show out of The Guardian's New York office. It's called Stateside with Kai and Carter. They'll be releasing episodes on their feed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday wherever you get this podcast and in video on YouTube and Apple Podcasts. I hope you enjoy it.
David Greene0:29
[upbeat music] Politics is confusing. Governing is messy. But talking to each other about all this stuff, it should be easier, and that's where we come in. I'm David Greene, the host of Left, Right & Center, where we gather each week to talk about what's happening in politics from every angle. Listen to Left, Right & Center from KCRW every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts.
Stacey Abrams· Guest0:56
[upbeat music] My nieces and nephews, they are the first generation to lose civil rights since Reconstruction. This is evil, but it's also so pedestrian. They can't win on their ideas, and so their solution is to silence the other side. But this time what they have done is