A Shocking Betrayal of Black Americans

Ms. Gay writes about politics for Opinion. She traveled to Memphis and Montgomery, Ala., for this piece.

Outside the blindingly white antebellum columns of the Alabama State Capitol on a recent Saturday, Martese Chism stood in the Southern heat with thousands of others, rallying for voting rights. It was a show of defiance amid a sweeping attack on Black political power.

To get there, Ms. Chism, 65, left Mississippi before dawn, drove to Memphis........

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