Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature approved new congressional maps last Thursday that dismantle the state’s only Democratic, Black-majority district, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court weakened key protections in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The new maps split Memphis and its Black voting population into three districts, giving Republicans an advantage in all nine congressional seats statewide.
Speaking on MSNow’s The Weeknight, Stacey Abrams—attorney, voting rights advocate, and former Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia—said the effort denies Black and Brown communities full participation in democracy.
Critics say the new maps, enabled by the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, give Republicans a significant partisan advantage by diluting Black voting power and weakening safeguards against racial gerrymandering. Opponents argue the changes echo Jim Crow-era voter suppression tactics and leave many African American voters in Tennessee and across the South with diminished political representation. Under the proposed maps, all nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts would lean Republican.
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The Trump Administration wants Congress to approve a downpayment for the Department of War’s Golden Missile Defense Shield, an AI-powered network of thousands of interceptor satellites in low Earth orbit. Modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome, the Golden Dome threatens to escalate the global arms race, cost hundreds of billions of dollars and siphon money from urgently-needed social programs.
Pacifica’s Marcy Winograd interviewed Bruce Gagnon, founder of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, to learn more about the Golden Dome boondoggle.
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Pacifica’s Thomas O’Rourke spoke to Memphis-based immigration attorney Andrew Rankin about the Trump administration’s ICE tactics, SCOTUS rulings on the Shadow Docket and Birthright Citizenship, and the Prairieland Defendants fighting for their freedom. This is part one of an interview taped on April 24, 2026.
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We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Akua Holt, Steve Zeltzer, Polina Vasiliev, and Thomas O’Rourke.
You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.
Thanks for listening.
Music:
Sweet Honey in the Rock, “Give the People the Right to Vote”
Edwin Starr, “War”
