The NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, called on athletes and fans to boycott schools in eight Southern states that have “moved to limit, weaken or erase Black voting representation” since the U.S. Supreme Court recently voted to narrow the Voting Rights Act.
“The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice,” NAACP executive director Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
By a 6-3 vote two weeks ago, in the case of Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court struck down a majority Black congressional district in Louisiana, which has led to increased redistricting efforts across Southern states.
The NAACP urged Black athletes, families, fans, alumni and consumers to withhold athletic and financial support from public universities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, targeting flagship public athletic programs.
Those are eight of the 12 states in the SEC footprint, comprising 12 of the conference’s 16 schools. There was no immediate response from the SEC.
The ACC has five schools among those eight states, and the Big 12 has four.
The NAACP’s move came a day after the Congressional Black Caucus issued a letter saying it will oppose the SCORE Act unless conference leaders oppose post-Callais redistricting in states where conferences have members. The SCORE Act, long sought by the NCAA and conferences to regulate college athletics, was expected to come to a vote on the House floor Wednesday but was pulled on Monday night.
On Tuesday, the NAACP, among other things, called on Black athletes and recruits to withhold commitments from targeted states, and ask coaches and athletic directors where their universities stand on voting rights.
“These are not separate issues,” Tylik McMillan, national director for the NAACP’s youth and college division, said in a statement. “The state that is working to erase your grandmother’s congressional district is the same state whose governor will stand on the field and celebrate your touchdown or game-winning shot. We are asking young people — recruits, current athletes, fans — to see that connection clearly and to act on it.”