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By Martin Luther King, III, Arndrea Waters King, and Hector E. Sanchez Barba
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Over the last two years, we have watched an extraordinary battle unfold over who holds political power in America. Political maps have been redrawn again and again, dividing communities that have spent decades building civic and political power. Black and Latino voters have been the hardest hit and left to bear the brunt of the consequences.
This is not simply a fight over maps. It is a fight over whose voices count and whether our government will truly reflect the people it represents.
Those trying to diminish the political influence of Black and Latino Americans are missing a fundamental reality. Our voices will not be silenced. Our political power is growing and will continue to grow.
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Within the next decade, Black and Latino Americans will account for more than one-third of eligible voters nationwide. That growing political clout cannot simply be redrawn out of existence.
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Over the past year alone, states across the country have undertaken a wave of mid-decade congressional redistricting rarely seen. Texas became one of the most visible battlegrounds, with political leaders redrawing congressional districts to gain additional seats in Congress. But Texas isn’t the whole story.
From North Carolina to Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and beyond, congressional lines have shifted outside the normal post-Census redistricting cycle. In several Republican-led states, predominantly Black communities have been divided among districts or absorbed into majority-white districts.
When communities are divided on a map, their concerns do not disappear. Families still have to afford groceries, housing and childcare. Parents still worry about whether their children can receive quality health care and a good education. Workers still want jobs that pay enough to build a stable future. Immigrant families still want dignity and security. And every eligible voter still deserves the ability to cast a ballot and have that ballot carry equal weight.
Our response to the efforts to silence our communities has been to focus on building lasting political power. That is why the Drum Major Institute and Mi Familia Vota came together to build a historic Black-Brown coalition and release the first-of-its-kind joint policy agenda rooted in our common priorities. Our shared experience as families navigating the same economic pressures fuels our commitment to making sure our communities are united and heard.
There will always be those who try to divide Black and Latino communities, particularly as our political influence grows. We reject the premise that progress for one community must come at the expense of another. Our strength is not in competing for a shrinking share of influence. It is in expanding our collective power and using it to build a country in which democracy actually works for everyone.
The demographic future of America is already arriving. Latino voters are among the fastest-growing segments of the electorate. Black voters remain foundational to American democracy and have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to determine elections and shape the nation's political direction. Together, Black and Latino voters are poised to play a decisive role in upcoming midterm elections.
Together, our communities represent something even more consequential. We are communities capable of not only defining elections, but also helping set the national agenda for a generation. That possibility helps explain why the battle over political representation has become so fierce.
It explains why, instead of persuading voters, some political leaders have tried to choose which voters matter. It’s why they have sought to redraw districts, split communities and make participation harder. Underlying these efforts is a simple message: our growing presence should not translate into a stronger voice in our democracy.
But lines on a map cannot erase the power of our growing communities. Black and Latino voters are America’s future.
The question before us is whether that future will be defined by division and disenfranchisement or by participation and shared power.
Over 60 years ago, the Voting Rights Act represented an extraordinary national commitment to the idea that democracy could become more inclusive with every generation. That promise was never simply about casting a ballot. It was about making certain that Americans who had been denied political power could finally exercise it.
That work is not finished. We cannot spend the next decade simply defending yesterday's victories. We have to build tomorrow's political power.
Our coalition is an investment in that future.
Martin Luther King, III, is a global humanitarian, activist and the eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He is chairman of the board of the Drum Major Institute (DMI), author of What is My Legacy? and co-host of the My Legacy podcast alongside close collaborator and wife Arndrea Waters King, and Craig and Marc Kielburger. Arndrea Waters King is a leading civil rights advocate, thought leader, advocate for peace, president of the DMI and co-author of What is My Legacy? Hector Sanchez Barba is president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota, where he champions civic engagement, policy change and social justice for Latinos, immigrants and vulnerable communities. He is chair Emeritus of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 46 major Latino organizations advancing civil rights and policy reform.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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