Contact:
Eric Christopher Webb, DDiv., CPLC
Director of Communications
/Editor of The Sphinx
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Cell: 443-635-5911
October 27, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT OF ALPHA PHI ALPHA FRATERNITY, INC. ON FEDERAL COURT’S DECISION THAT NEW GEORGIA VOTING DISTRICTS VIOLATE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. commends the recent decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruling that newly drawn Georgia voting districts violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act by watering down voting strength of African Americans and other communities of color in Georgia.
In December 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia, and WilmerHale filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and individual Georgia voters challenging newly drawn district lines for the General Assembly on the grounds that they violate Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
As part of the decision, the state of Georgia must draw a total of six new districts, two new majority-Black Georgia House districts and four new majority-Black Georgia Senate districts, by December 8. These districts will be in the metro-Atlanta area and Macon-Bibb area.
In the last decade, Black citizens were the principal drivers of Georgia’s significant population growth. The state’s Black population grew by about 484,000 people between 2010 and 2020, while the state’s white population declined, according to the census and news reports. Yet, the Georgia State Legislature failed to draw district lines that would allow these new voters to elect their preferred leaders.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. remains at the forefront of the fight for social justice and advocating for the communities we serve. Thanks to the court’s decision, these efforts to further disenfranchise Black voters and diminish political representation for the Black community and communities of color, for now, has been halted in the state of Georgia.
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About Alpha Phi Alpha
The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men, was founded on December 4, 1906, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and is headquartered in Baltimore, MD. The Fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African American community’s fight for civil rights through Alpha men such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Paul Robeson, Andrew Young, Edward Brooke and Cornel West. The fraternity, through its more than 720 college and alumni chapters and general-organization members, serves communities in the United States, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. Visit us at www.apa1906.net and follow us on all platforms @apa1906network.