Allred Raises the Alarm Over Voting Rights at Trailblazer Luncheon in Dallas

The South Dallas Business & Professional Women’s Club (SDBPWC) held its 62nd annual V. Alyce Foster Trailblazer Awards Luncheon on Saturday, May 2 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel.

Colin Allred was the keynote speaker for the event. The former U.S. Representative aims to return to the U.S. House in the newly-drawn 33rd Congressional District. Those redrawn districts were a key element of Allred’s speech as he addressed the crowd. He gave a short review of the history of Black political rights in the U.S. and said that today is no less pivotal a moment.

Raising the alarm about the Supreme Court’s recent move to weaken key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, he urged attendees to stay diligent. Like many advocates on the Democratic side, he says the court’s decision – passed by a 6-3 ruling from a conservative-heavy bench – will add extra hurdles for voters of color to overcome in near future elections.

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“Across the south; states like Louisiana, Tennessee and Florida among others are already voting to redraw their congressional districts, aiming to remove majority African American districts that have been protected under the Voting Rights Act,” Allred said. “Historic seats, historic gains will be erased in the coming weeks, months and years. And in the end there will be less Black political power and representation in the south than in any moment since the passage of the Voting Rights Act.”

Allred credited the legacy of the voting rights act for his ability to serve in congress, and to serve in the administration of the first Black President. He listed off an extended roster of African American political figures who he said were also beneficiaries of this legislation as well as the formation of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“It is rightly considered the crown jewel of the civil rights movement. And it’s now dead,” Allred said. “But in a monarchy, when the king dies, they say, ‘the king is dead. Long live the king,’ as they appoint the next one. That has to be our attitude as well. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 may be dead, but our goal must be to pass the Voting Rights Act of the 2020s.”

He affirmed that the vote is what keeps a person in the U.S. from being defenseless, and gives them a voice; recalling that asserting that voice has come at a great price for African Americans in the past. Allred told the audience that the people who founded the SDBPWC would “never accept being silenced or being ignored.” He recalled the 72 year gap from when the first and second Black U.S. Representatives were elected from the south, and vowed that Black voters would not let that happen again.

“We’re not going to wait 70 years,” Allred said. “We’re not going to let the Supreme Court or this president stop us.”

He vowed to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Adding that if it is then struck down by the Supreme Court, “we will pass another one.”

He reminded the audience that when he was last in congress there were three Black representatives from the Dallas area, and that due to gerrymandering, if he is not successful in his campaign there will only be one. He also pointed to Houston, where redrawn districts have reduced the largest city in the state to only one Black representative as well.

He said he will go back to congress as “a reckoning” if elected.

“The Supreme Court may have destroyed the Voting Rights Act,” Allred said. “And Donald Trump may have demanded five seats taken away from us in Texas. But in this election they will hear from us.”

He said the African American population has depended on the civil rights movement of the past for 60 years, and that there is an opportunity for a new civil rights movement ahead. Allred added that when future children ask their parents what they did in this political era, there would be only one acceptable answer.

“I did every damn thing I could, because we’re not going back,” Allred said. “Y’all hear me? We’re not going back. We’re going to fight. And when we fight, we win.”