Selma, the South, and Byron Donalds: Why the Fight for Voting Rights Isn’t Over
Sixty years after Selma’s final march, the Republican Congressman’s rejection of preclearance reminds us that the battle over Black voting power is far from finished.
On March 25, 1965, thousands of marchers completed the historic Selma-to-Montgomery marches — an act of bravery and resilience that led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, and told the assembled crowd: “Let us march on ballot boxes until the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs (Yes, sir) will be transformed into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.”
King’s words came just over two weeks after the violence of “Bloody Sunday” on March 7th, when peaceful protestors John Lewis and Hosea Williams were brutally beaten by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge for demanding voting rights. For Black Americans, that final march was more than symbolic — it was a demand for lasting protections, including the preclearance provision that prevented states with a history of discrimination from changing voting laws without federal approval.
Yet, during the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Florida Congressman Byron Donalds stood on the same hallowed ground and publicly opposed restoring preclearance. Journalist and political analyst Ahmed Baba, who first reported Donald’s remarks, said the moment was stunning.
“He took a moment to praise foot soldiers, saying that he wouldn’t be here without them, then dishonors them by attacking the very bill they marched and bled for,” he told Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC two days after the event.
His remarks were not only a departure from Selma’s legacy — they were a reminder that the fight Black Americans marched for on this very soil is still far from over.
* Byron Donalds did not respond to 13th & South’s request for comment.
The Rise and Fall of Preclearance
In 2008, Ernest Montgomery, a Black city council member in Shelby County, Alabama., lost his bid for reelection after his district was redrawn to include fewer Black voters. That was considered discriminatory under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. So, the city was ordered to draw a new map and conduct another election, which Montgomery won.
This safeguard, known as “preclearance,” required certain jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination to obtain federal approval before changing their voting laws and had became a cornerstone in protecting Black voting power — especially across the South, where preclearance blocked laws like Alabama and Mississippi’s discriminatory redistricting plans and strict voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas — all of which were designed to suppress minority voters.
In response, leaders in Shelby County filed a federal lawsuit (Shelby County v. Holder), arguing that Section 5 was outdated and unconstitutional. In 2013, the Supreme Court sided with Shelby County in a narrow 5–4 vote. Chief Justice John Roberts justified the ruling by suggesting that voting discrimination was “no longer prevalent enough” to warrant federal oversight.
However, in the 12 years since Shelby, history has proven otherwise. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, states have passed nearly 100 restrictive voting laws, many of them in places previously covered by preclearance. Florida, Georgia, and Texas — states with deep histories of voter suppression — enacted sweeping laws like SB 90, SB 202, and SB 1, respectively — measures that have disproportionately burdened Black voters.
“Byron Donalds’s position on preclearance signals the Republican Party’s continued opposition to voting rights,” Baba tells 13th & South. “One of the highest-profile Black Republicans in Congress standing at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and expressing opposition to the core enforcement mechanism of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is another data point in the GOP’s anti-democracy shift.”
The Southern Impact of Shelby
The impact of the Shelby decision is most visible in the South, where voter suppression efforts have intensified. A 2022 study by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics found that Black and Hispanic voter turnout fell relative to white voters in the aftermath of Shelby. NPR also reported last year that racial disparities in voter turnout have grown fastest in jurisdictions stripped of federal oversight.
Florida’s SB 90, passed in 2021, is a stark example. The law limits the use of drop boxes, adds voter ID requirements for mail ballots, and restricts third-party voter registration efforts. Advocates argue that if preclearance were still in place, measures like SB 90 would have faced intense federal scrutiny — and possibly been blocked.
This same fight is also currently playing out in Louisiana, where a newly redrawn majority-Black district is now being challenged at the Supreme Court for allegedly discriminating against white voters.
The Economic Policy Institute connects these modern voter suppression efforts to a long, historical pattern in the South:
“From the abolition of slavery until now, Southern white elites have used a slew of tactics to suppress Black political power and secure their economic interests — including violence, voter suppression, gerrymandering, felony disenfranchisement, and local preemption laws.”
These legacies of systemic suppression, now unrestrained by preclearance, continue to shape the South’s political landscape — threatening Black voting power and access to the ballot box.
Baba says Donalds’ remarks reflect the Republican Party’s continued pattern: “His comments indicate that Black voters in the South and in states with a history of restrictive voting laws can expect that the Republican Party will remain in opposition to preclearance,” he added.
60 Years After Selma, the South Faces a New Crossroads
Today marks the anniversary of the triumphant conclusion of the Selma-to-Montgomery march in 1965. It was on this day that Dr. King delivered his iconic “How Long? Not Long” speech, declaring that the arc of the moral universe is “long, but bends toward justice.”
Yet, six decades later, Donalds’ opposition to preclearance — voiced on the very ground where that march began — proves that the arc remains unfinished. The South, in particular, still grapples with the same systemic attempts to undermine Black voting power that the Voting Rights Act sought to eliminate.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act was named to honor the late Congressman’s legacy and designed to restore the very preclearance protections the Supreme Court gutted in the Shelby decision. Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D), who represents Selma, has sponsored the bill every session since, calling it the “cornerstone of democracy.”
Just days before this year’s 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Sewell reintroduced the bill: “…the fight for voting rights is just as urgent today as it was decades ago,” she said in a statement. “Our bill would give us the tools necessary to address modern-day voter suppression and ensure every American has equal access to the ballot box.”
While the act remains stalled in Congress, its passage is critical to restoring preclearance and safeguarding voting rights for Black Americans, particularly in the South, where racial discrimination in voting persists.
“The act would restore preclearance after it was struck down in Shelby,” Baba adds. “It’s clear that the only route to passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is by electing more Democrats.”
Byron Donalds’ words may have faded from the headlines, but its implications reverberate far beyond Selma. The South — the birthplace of both the Civil Rights Movement and the most aggressive modern voter suppression efforts — currently stands at a crossroads once again.
If we forget what preclearance meant and why it was necessary, we risk allowing history to repeat itself. The South simply cannot afford that. As we reflect on today’s legacy, we must remember that the fight for Black voting power is not just history. It is happening right now.
13 & South is a new publication covering news, investigative stories, and insights on social justice, policy, and systemic inequities impacting Southern Black communities. I value your stories, insights, and feedback and invite your perspectives to contribute to future issues. Please feel free to contact me here or follow me on my socials! LinkedIn, Twitter, IG, BlueSky, and Threads.