NAACP Calls for Black Student-Athletes to Boycott Southern Schools Amid Redistricting Backlash

The NAACP launched a campaign Tuesday calling on Black student-athletes to boycott Southern colleges in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last month that weakened the Voting Rights Act, leading to the dismantling of one majority-Black congressional district and a push to scrap others.

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The group is urging Black recruits to withhold their commitments from a list of universities primarily in the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference. The schools are in the following states: Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia. Several of the schools have nationally ranked football programs, including the University of Alabama, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Georgia and the University of Mississippi.

The “Out of Bounds” campaign comes as voting rights advocates across generations are grappling with what they see as the latest blow to one of the most seminal victories of the nation’s Civil Rights Movement. The Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965 to protect minority voters who long faced discrimination in elections. Last month, in a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court held that using race to draw two majority-Black districts in Louisiana was an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

The decision is already having ripple effects throughout the South. Within days, the Tennessee Legislature divided up the state’s sole majority-Black and Democratically held congressional district across three Republican electoral districts. Rep. Steve Cohen, a veteran Tennessee Democratic lawmaker, subsequently announced he was no longer running for re-election in the newly redrawn 9th Congressional District, saying the new maps “silenced the Black vote here in Memphis.” State senators in Louisiana have also passed legislation that would result in the loss of one of the state’s two majority-minority districts.

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The NAACP has said fans and alumni of “targeted programs” should redirect their financial support to historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. The organization has also encouraged recruits to visit those campuses.

Among the NAACP’s demands is the adoption of state-level voting rights acts.

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Before the campaign’s launch, people were already debating online about how much, if any, of the burden in responding to the states’ redistricting efforts should fall on Black athletes. Supporters have argued that any actions that put universities’ financial windfalls from athletics in jeopardy could be enough to move the needle.

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