News & Commentary

The Mississippi Legislature is currently engaged in redistricting, once-a-decade work to redraw state legislative and congressional maps. Redistricting can be done fairly, so that all voters can have their voices heard equally and given a chance to elect representatives of their choice. It can also be done to dilute the voice of certain groups while amplifying the political power of others. For example, in 2018 in Ohio, Republicans won 53% of the statewide vote but managed to win 12 out of 16 congressional seats. This unfair result was achieved through gerrymandering, the practice of engaging in redistricting in an unfair, partisan manner, which allows elected officials to choose their voters. Democrats in Maryland, and politicians in other states across the country, have engaged in similar unfair gerrymandering.

Prominent transgender and non-binary people as well as businesses, professional associations, and medical professionals are speaking out against Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming health care.

Black history is hard to talk about, but learning about it builds my students’ confidence and empowers them to take life into their own hands.

It’s the first day of Mississippi’s 2022 legislative session, an often long and challenging process for those who advocate for the rights and freedoms of Mississippians. Over the next 90 days, legislators will be facing key issues that can change the state’s democratic, educational, healthcare and criminal justice landscape for good or bad.

This year, as redistricting starts across the country, the ACLU works to ensure that these new electoral lines are not gerrymandered.

Here’s a handy reference of facts when discussing abortion rights with friends and family at the dinner table.

Mississippi has its share of policies that subject LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus all of the gender identities and sexual orientations that are not specifically covered by the other five initials) persons to discrimination, from the prejudiced Religious Liberty Accommodations Act, to the most recent anti-trans student-athlete law, and more.

In 2006, the FBI sent an informant to pose as a convert and spy on one of the country's largest Muslim communities.

A city official warned that “if you let them build it, they will come.”