::THE SLICE REPORT WITH MONA AUSTIN

#AmericaAt250 The current fight to restore voting rights is essentially about the frailty of the Constitution. Poet Gil Scott Heron sang on the 1974 recording "Winter In America," that the Constitution is a "noble piece of paper." One interpretation of that opening line is that the rights inscribed in the Constitution are worthless if they were not applied as the writers intended. Otherwise, the nation's blueprint for fair laws is merely paper. His words today are especially relevant as key parts of the document seem to be getting shredded, leaving Black Americans who are concerned about the creation of equitable voting districts feeling insecure -- appearing to hold Heron's sentiment. Withing the Black community, a risky narrative about when Blacks became U.S. citizens is emerging as Black leaders and advocates challenge the Supreme Court's recent redistricting decision. U.S. born slaves became citizens in 1868 with the passage of the 14th Amendment...

When I spoke at John Lewis’ memorial service two years ago, I emphasized a truth John knew better than just about anyone. Our democracy isn’t a given. It isn’t self-executing. We, as citizens, have to nurture and tend it. We have to work at it. And in that task, we have to vigilantly preserve and protect our most basic tool of self-government, which is the right to vote. At the time, various state legislators across the country had already passed a variety of laws designed to make voting harder. It was an attack on everything John Lewis fought for, and a challenge to our most fundamental democratic freedoms.   Since then, things have only gotten worse.   While the American people turned out to vote at the highest rate in over a century in the last presidential election, members of one of our two major political parties – spurred on by the then-sitting president – denied the results of that election and spun conspiracy theories that drove a violent mob to attack our Capito...