In Dyamone White’s rural Mississippi town, churches long served as the gathering spot for community events.
As a millennial, she recognized the need to bring those events elsewhere as a way to increase civic engagement and host important community discussions. Over the years, she’s seen the participation grow in Edwards and Bolton, towns near her restaurant High Horse Bites & Beverage Barn, where she hosts such events.
Despite the engagement, Black people have continued to struggle to win offices in the state.
In fact, no Black candidate has won statewide office in Mississippi in the 140 years since Reconstruction. When it comes to the Mississippi Supreme Court, in particular, only four Black people have ever served — and never more than one at a time. Unlike other positions, these justices were never elected, but appointed by the governor.
But now, a recent court order may help expand Black representation on the state’s high court. In 2022, White joined a federal lawsuit with three other residents — state Sen. Derrick Simmons, Ty Pinkins, and Constance Olivia Slaughter Harvey-Burwell — in hopes of getting a new map. And one that doesn’t diminish the Black voting power, particularly in District 1. (Mississippi’s map constitutes three at-large districts.)
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ruled in their favor. In the 105-page opinion, the judge said that the state’s current map — which was passed in 1987 and remains unchanged — cannot be used in any future elections because it violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Aycock, who is the first woman to serve in this position in Mississippi, will address a deadline for the map at a later date.
“Out of 125 justices who have served on the Mississippi Supreme Court, only four have been Black. All four of those justices have held the same seat,” the judge wrote in the decision. “In short, the evidence illustrates that Black candidates who desire to run for the Mississippi Supreme Court face a grim likelihood of success.”
The plaintiffs had the support of the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, and a private law firm. Together the group sued the State Board of Election Commissioners and Republican leaders Gov. Tate Reeves, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, and Secretary of State Michael Watson.
“Black voters are thus typically outvoted by white voters and Black candidates typically lose contested elections in the districts as drawn. As a result, Black voting strength is diluted — submerged across white-majority districts — and Black voters are denied an equal opportunity to elect candidates of choice to the Mississippi Supreme Court,” they wrote in the suit.
The attorney for the defendants, Charles E. Cowan, referred Capital B to the attorney general’s office for comment.
Step toward correcting injustice
“I wanted to be a part of history,” said Dyamone White, a plaintiff in the Mississippi voting map case. “This is an opportunity to leave my mark.”
Nearly 40 years ago, Black lawmakers objected to the map at the center of the case and warned that it would dilute Black voting power, according to the lawsuit.
The area most affected is in District 1, or the Central District, where White lives. It is also the same district where the Black justices have historically served. This district has majority-Black areas like the Mississippi Delta region and Hinds County, where the state capital is located.
White wasn’t shocked when she learned about this because she knew there was a lack of Black representation in her region. This empowered the 33-year-old to join the case, she said.
“I wanted to be a part of history,” she told Capital B. “This is an opportunity to leave my mark.”
The ruling is a long overdue step toward correcting injustice of denying Black voters equal representation of the state’s highest court, said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, in a statement to Capital B.
“As Mississippi’s lone Democratic member of Congress for more than 30 years, I know how critical it is that every citizen has a fair chance to shape the institutions that govern their lives. Tuesday’s decision affirms that principle,” Thompson said.
He added: “It reminds us that democracy only works when all voices are heard, and all votes are counted.”
Pinkins, 51, a plaintiff and independent candidate for U.S. Senate, said Mississippi is a difficult place for Black people to run for office and win. Particularly for Democrats because, he said, there’s limited resources and infrastructure.
Pinkins has run for office three times. Previously, the military veteran, who is a Mississippi Delta native, ran for secretary of state in 2023 and U.S. Senate in 2024. Pinkins also joined the case, hoping it would pave the way for more Black people to get elected.
“Black people in Mississippi have been through a lot and to say we finally got a win that will affect and benefit the lives of not only black people, but all Mississippi,” he said. “It’s always the right time to do the right thing.”
“We started this case three years ago, not really knowing how it was going to end up, and three years later, we’re victorious,” Pinkins said.
Aycock’s decision comes nearly a year after the trial ended, said Jarvis Dortch, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi. Dortch said he’s optimistic that the Mississippi Legislature will work with the plaintiffs to produce a fair map.
In another case, filed on behalf of voters and the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, attorneys challenged state legislative maps drawn in 2022, claiming they diminished the voting strength of Black Mississippians. A federal court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the state to create multiple Black-majority districts. In March, both chambers passed proposals of a revised map of state legislative districts. Two months later, the judges approved the plan, which requires Mississippi officials to schedule 15 special elections for Nov. 4.
Dortch said while they don’t know whether the state officials will appeal the most recent decision, they are ready to move forward.
“The biggest question going forward is what the final order from the court looks like on whether they order special elections or order this legislature to adopt a new map within a certain amount of time,” he added.
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