If you cross the Mississippi River on the Huey P. Long-O.K. Allen Bridge, pass the Exxon Refinery, then head north for a few minutes, you’ll find a pocket of Louisiana that’s unlike any other place in America’s never-ending battle over what it means to have equal representation.
asserted
it → cross → representation
It’s a nearly all Black community of 10,000 people that has been, for the second time, shuffled around on the state’s congressional map to make it part of a majority white district.
asserted
it → ’ → district
The first time was 1996, when a group of voters sued to redraw the lines.
asserted
group → sue → lines
The second time was earlier this year, after the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a core part of the Voting Rights Act intended to protect minorities’ political rights was unconstitutional.
asserted
part → decide → rights
The ruling led to cascading changes around the American South, but the case originated in Louisiana — specifically the 6th Congressional District that included Scotlandville.
asserted
that → lead → Scotlandville
This is where Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields, 63, grew up poor and attended local schools before graduating from nearby Southern University A&M, eventually climbing the ranks to the U.S. House.
asserted
Fields → grow → House
Now he plans to leave Washington and return to the Legislature instead of running for reelection in a race that he sees little chance of winning because the district boundaries have been altered dramatically.
asserted
boundaries → plan → chance
Scotlandville will no longer be represented by a native son, someone who people believed instinctively understood their challenges and offered a direct line to power and influence in the nation’s capital.
asserted
people → represent → capital
“We’re back to where we were right after Reconstruction,” said Press Robinson Sr., 89, who has spent years working on issues involving the congressional map.
asserted
who → ’re → map
“When they redistrict, they are not concerned about the effect it has on those of us who are people of color.
asserted
who → redistrict → color
The methods have changed over the years, he said, but the intent has not.
asserted
intent → change → years
“They disenfranchise people of color and they’ve done it again,” Robinson said.
Field’s career echoes legal battle for representation
Congressional districts are core to debates over racial equality in the South, where white leaders spent decades using gerrymandering to ensure Black people couldn’t gain enough power to elect their own representatives.
The Voting Rights Act signed by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 was supposed to fix that.
asserted
Act → disenfranchise → that
Among other things, it required states and jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before congressional maps could take effect.
uncertain
maps → require → effect
It also allowed people to sue to challenge laws and procedures that would deny them the chance to elect candidates of their choice.
asserted
that → allow → choice
That didn’t settle the issue, however, and there has been a series of legal battles since then.
asserted
That → settle → battles
Fields’ political career has tracked those twists and turns over the years.
asserted
career → track → years
He first came to Congress in 1993 when Scotlandville was part of the 4th District, which had been redrawn to create a majority Black seat.
asserted
which → come → seat
A federal court said in 1996 the boundaries that zigzagged from northwest portion of the state to the Baton Rouge area were unconstitutional.
asserted
that → say → area
Scotlandville shifted to the 6th District, which was then predominantly white, and Fields became a state senator.
asserted
Fields → shift → District
But he had an opening to return to Washington when Robinson and other plaintiffs challenged how the state drew its maps following the 2020 census.
asserted
state → have → census
A 2023 court decision involving Alabama also affected Louisiana, requiring the state to draw new district lines to achieve fairer representation for minorities.
asserted
decision → involve → minorities
The district became majority Black again, and Fields won the seat in 2024.
asserted
Fields → become → 2024
Another wave of litigation was already starting, and the issue soon reached the U.S. Supreme Court once more.
asserted
issue → start → Court
The new lawsuit by a group of non-Black voters dovetailed with a separate effort by President Donald Trump to push Republican-led states to redraw their maps to help his party keep control of Congress in this year’s midterms.
asserted
party → dovetail → midterms
The high court’s conservative majority said Fields’ district was unconstitutional.
asserted
district → say → ?
Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee raced to redo their U.S. House districts in time for the November elections.
asserted
Louisiana → race → elections
In Alabama, Democratic Rep. Shomari Figueres is fighting to hold onto his seat, where Black voting age population dropped from 50% to 40% under the new political lines, according to an Associated Press analysis of the citizen voting age population in his redrawn district.
uncertain
population → fight → district
In Tennessee, the majority Black district anchored by Nashville was split between three others.
asserted
district → anchor → others
Fields’ district went from being 53% Black to 25% in the new one.
asserted
district → go → one
He announced in July that he wasn’t going to run for reelection.
asserted
he → announce → reelection
Blocks from the main entrance to Southern University A&M, a small crowd hung around a convenience store but people were unwilling to talk about politics, eyeing strangers suspiciously.
asserted
people → hang → strangers
One younger man said he didn’t know who represents the area on the city council, let alone in Congress.
asserted
who → say → Congress
Frank Levy, 56, the cashier, said people’s apathy created the political environment that allowed for gerrymandering to occur again.
asserted
gerrymandering → say → environment
“A lot of people don’t even think about politics like this,” he said.
asserted
he → think → this
“They don’t understand.”
asserted
They → understand → ?
About five minutes away, Dakasha Caulfield Leonard, 48, sat in the chapel of Scott’s Bluff Morticians, a nearly century-old fixture in the business community.
asserted
Leonard → sit → community
Leonard returned two years ago to take over the funeral home when her father, who purchased it in the 1990s, became ill.
asserted
who → return → 1990s
She is worried about what will happen when Fields is no longer in office.
asserted
Fields → happen → office
“The community is small and everybody knows everybody.
asserted
everybody → know → everybody
Cleo is a member of our community,” she said.
asserted
she → say → community
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
