Two Southern Wins, A Letter to Corporate America, and Whoopi Steps In

Mimi Brown breaks down the day. Two Southern states just suffered major setbacks in their fight to redraw congressional maps that would have weakened Black voting power. The Congressional Black Caucus just put hundreds of corporations on notice. And Whoopi Goldberg just shut down the racist criticism aimed at Lupita Nyong'o. Plus, The Underplayed. 

From the Black Effect Podcast Network.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Two Southern states just dealt major blows to efforts to
redraw voting maps that critics say would weaken black political power.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
State of Alabama discriminated against black voters and how it
drew its maps.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
The Congressional Black Caucus is calling out major corporations for
staying silent on voting rights.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
And when we talk about the economics of it, I
think we'll forget.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
It and will be Goldberg is speaking out after Race's
backlash aimed at Lupita Nango, and.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
I would suggest looking in a mirror if you have
any concerns about people's looks.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's Wednesday, May twenty seventh, from the Black Effect Podcast Network.
I'm Mimi Brown. This is Front Page, and here are
the day's biggest stories. Plus today on the underplate, a
bipartisan bill that would bring major federal funding to HBCU campuses.
Stay with me. Two Southern states, two redistricting fund to

(01:00):
setbacks on the same day. So if you've been listening
to Front Page this month, you know we've been covering
the wave of Republican led redistricting attempts across the South Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia,
South Carolina. Every one of those states has tried to
redraw congressional maps in ways that would reduce political power
of black voters. A panel of judges in Birmingham just

(01:21):
blocked Alabama from using its congressional map for the twenty
twenty six midterm elections. A judge rule that the map
intentionally discriminated based on race, and the ruling means Alabama
has to keep using a map with two districts where
black voters have a real chance to elect their preferred candidates,
and one of those districts is represented by Congressman Shamari Figures,

(01:42):
who is reacting to the ruling.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Since this court has been hearing the evidence in this case,
they've been pretty consistent in their belief that there was
an overwhelming volume of evidence that the state of Alabama
discriminated against black voters and how it drew its maps.
And you have to keep in mind that these are
two judges appointed by Donald Trump himself and a third
that was originally put on the bench by Ronald Reagan.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Now this sets up another fight at the Supreme Court,
but for now, black voters in Alabama have a win.
And now to South Carolina, where on that same day,
the South Carolina Senate abruptly ended its session without passing
a new congressional map. Critics say the Republican backed proposal
would weaken the state's only majority black congressional district, currently

(02:23):
represented by Congressman Jim Clyburn, and Clyburn is now speaking
out against the redistricting effort in his state.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
The United States Supreme Court two years ago said this
is constitutional. No, it doesn't do what all the Democrats wanted,
and that doesn't do what all a black community wants.
But the process was constitutional. This White House says, to
heal with the process, to heal with the constitution. Just

(02:53):
do what we want done, and that's what has us
here today.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Now the Senate says it did not pass, said because
early voting had already started, Nearly forty five thousand people
had already cast their ballots in the state's primary, and
some of the Republican senators said they were uncomfortable changing
district lines in the middle of an election. Now, none
of this means the fight is over. Alabama is almost
certainly headed back to the Supreme Court, and South Carolina's

(03:20):
effort is paused, not dead, and the broader Republican push
to redraw maps across the South. That push is definitely
going to continue. The Congressional Black Caucus says it's putting
corporate America on notice. On Tuesday, members of the Caucus
sent a formal letter to more than two hundred and

(03:42):
fifty of the country's largest corporations, including Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft,
and Starbucks. The message was pick aside. The Caucus is
asking those corporations to publicly condemn the redistricting efforts and
Republican led states that are trying to eliminate majority black
congressional districts. The same redistricting effort we just covered in

(04:04):
Alabama and South Carolina, that same redistricting is happening in
Tennessee and Louisiana. Here is Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
We get the question all the time from the black community,
what can we do? What shall we do? The strategy
that has being developed by the Black Caucus leadership absolutely
addresses that question. We're going to fight, fight, fight, We
are organizing, and it has economic implications.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Now. Now, the letter is asking corporations to do three things.
One publicly condemned the redistricting plans and states with majority
black districts at risk, two meet with members of the
Black Caucus to discuss Corporate America's role in protecting voting rights.
And three disclose their political donations to Republican politicians and
states pushing the new maps. And the companies on this

(04:55):
list are not random, Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Starbucks.
All of these the companies signed statements after the twenty
twenty election supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. They
came out publicly and they committed to voting rights as
a corporate value. Well that was then, and now the
Caucus is saying, show us your work, tell us where
your money is and where it's been going. The Caucus

(05:17):
says they have not received a public response from most companies.
Every Wednesday on front page, this is what we do.
One story that didn't get the coverage it deserved this
week because some of the most important news in the
country right now is happening on page eight. So today's pick.

(05:38):
Two members of Congress just reintroduced a bipartisan bill to
put serious federal money into HBCU campus facilities. The bill
is called the Ignite HBCU Excellence Act. The sponsors are
Representative Alma Adams of North Carolina, a Democrat, and Representative
French Hill of Arkansas, a Republican. And here's what the
bill does. It directs the US Department of Edge Education

(06:00):
to award grants directly to HBCUs for one specific purpose,
fixing the buildings. That means renovations, repairs, constructions of new facilities,
modernizing classrooms, dorms, labs, and library buildings that at many
HBCUs have not been updated in decades. HBCUs were historically
underfunded by states in the federal government for generations. A

(06:24):
federal investigation last year found that HBCUs had been shorted
by more than twelve billion dollars in state funding alone
compared to predominantly white universities in the same states. So
the Ignite Act will not only fix all of that,
but it would close the gap. It's bipartisan, it's moving,
and almost no one is covering it. If you went
to an HBCU, your kid is at one, if your

(06:45):
community has one, tell someone this bill is on the table.
That's the underplayed. A casting decision in one of Hollywood's
biggest upcoming movies is now sparking a larger conversation online
about race, beauty and representation. Oscar winning actress Lupita Niango

(07:07):
was recently cast as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan's
upcoming film The Odyssey, but instead of the conversation staying
focused on the movie, Lupita quickly became the target of
racist online backlash, with critics arguing Helen of Troy was
supposed to be white. The controversy catching the attention of
Whoopy Goldberg, who is defending Lupita and pushing back on

(07:27):
the criticism during a recent episode of The View. I
don't know if you realize this.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Lupita is also considered one of the world's most beautiful women,
So I'm not.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Sure what you're trying to say. You don't actually have
to go to the movie, and Lupita herself has now responded.
In a recent statement, she said, quote, this is a
mythological story. I'm supportive of Chris Nolan's vision and the
vision of the story he wants to tell. Our cast
reflects the world. You can't perform beauty. I want to

(08:02):
know who a character is. And that response is now
fueling an even bigger conversation online because of porters they're
putting out that Helen of Troy is a mythological character
from a poem written nearly three thousand years ago, and
the original text never specifically described her skin color. Critics
say the backlash is less about historical accuracy and more

(08:23):
about who some people believe get to be seen as
beautiful in major Hollywood films. That's your front page. I'm
Mimi Brown. This podcast was brought to you by the
Black Effects Podcast Network