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Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it.

On Wednesday, April 29, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that functionally ended Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In response to the ruling, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, moved immediately to suspend his state’s primary elections in order to redraw congressional maps and eliminate districts representing Black voters.

Throughout the Trump administration, the threat to democracy has often been rendered in dramatic terms, with armed agents deployed in Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Houston and many other communities. Far less commented upon, but the key enabler of this, has been the polite and bloodless dismantling carried out by the Supreme Court. Its decisions have upheld unilateral funding cuts to critical, life-saving programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, and foreign aid. The lawless use of violence we see here and abroad has been enabled at every turn by a conservative legal movement decades in the making.

As we contemplate our path forward, we must consider a long response to what has been a long assault. As Christians, we must reject the polite fictions that have allowed the slow march against the gains of the civil rights movement to reach such heights of success. We must also commit to continuing the fight that so many before us have given themselves to. That commitment takes shape in serving as chaplains at polling places and in acts of community solidarity. By raising our voices in demanding bans against racial gerrymandering at the state level across the country; and in demanding the passage of a new national Voting Rights Act which will protect everyone’s right to representation. We must also refuse to uphold the polite lies that allow people to spread bad-faith arguments while enacting white Christian nationalism.

–Rev. Moya Harris and Chad Stanton, Sojourners

P.S. We are continuing to build an intentional community of people looking to enact their faith in our Sojourners Faith and Practice Forum on Mighty Networks. Please consider joining us.

In the News

Here’s a look at what happened this week:

1. The Supreme Court made a tremendously harmful ruling and may be preparing to make another.

   • In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Court’s conservatives struck down Louisiana’s congressional map Wednesday, which had added a second majority-Black district. The decision significantly weakens Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which for decades has been the primary tool for challenging racially discriminatory election practices. Justice Elena Kagan, in her dissent, wrote that “today’s decision renders Section 2 all but a dead letter.” The 1965 Voting Rights Act has been under assault from the conservative majority on the Supreme Court since at least the Shelby County v. Holder decision in 2013.

   • Also on Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whether the Trump administration can remove TPS protections from approximately 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian immigrants. If the Court sides with the administration, as the tenor of Wednesday's arguments suggested it might, these immigrants will lose their legal status, a ruling that could also affect TPS holders from as many as 11 other countries, including Somalia, Myanmar and Ethiopia, with a total of more than 1.3 million people potentially at risk.

2. A fight continues in Congress over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has been in a partial shutdown for more than 10 weeks.

   • The White House warned Congress that funding to pay DHS personnel will “soon run out,” raising alarms about potential airport disruptions and national security. The House has been slow to pass the Senate version of the funding bill due to divisions between the House and Senate GOP.

   • ICE arrests continue despite the prolonged DHS shutdown. New DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the agency is operating in a “quieter way,” but that still translates to more than 7,000 weekly arrests, up from roughly 2,000 a week under the Biden administration.

3. The ongoing standoff between Iran and the United States over navigation of the Strait of Hormuz continued to create ripple effects, as did the administration’s legislative record.

   • Oil prices remained high, a broad cost-of-living concern, as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz remained stalled. Continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon remains a major sticking point in efforts to secure a wider peace deal.

   • High cost of living and inflation continued to dominate Americans’ financial concerns, according to the latest polling from Gallup. Thirty-one percent of Americans list high cost of living or inflation as the top financial problem facing their family today, with oil and gas prices and cost of owning or renting a home tied for a distant second at 13%.

   • Recent analysis confirms that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will leave the majority of American households and nearly all low-income households worse off financially, while vastly benefiting the wealthiest.

Take Action

• SojoAction is offering an array of ways to take action through webinars, trainings, and action alerts.

• Today is May Day. Join actions happening across the country in support of the affordability agenda of May Day Strong.

What We’re Reading

“Christian Zionism Helped Bring the Right Together. Now, It's Driving It Apart” | MAGA and Zionist Christians’ failures have been laid bare. Concerned Christians have an opportunity to chart a new path. (by Rubin McClain)

“SCOTUS to Scrutinize Colorado Preschool Program’s LGBTQ+ Protections” | The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in its next term, which begins in October. (by John Kruzel, Reuters)

Deep Breaths

I Am Angry

I had a whole moment on Wednesday.

I had a completely different reflection ready, full of rage and grief. I moped, cussed, and doom-scrolled. (Yes, I cuss. Sorry, not sorry.) I wrote a whole piece about how the Voting Rights Act was gutted like a fish and the ghost of Jim Crow was resuscitated. I screamed on the page. I needed to get it out of my system.

Then Thursday morning came, and Dr. Greg Carr (Howard University, UrbanView Mornings on Sirius XM Ch.126) reminded me of what our ancestors already knew: nommo, the power of the spoken word. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. (Prov. 18:21) No matter what the opposition does, I still have the power to determine what controls my mind.

He reminded me that the electoral system we find ourselves in was crafted while Black people were enslaved and not considered human. It was designed to dehumanize, disappoint, and disillusion and yet, tools for change still exist within it. He reminded me that while the House of Representatives was built to capitalize on Black bodies for representation while diluting Black political power through gerrymandering and voter suppression, the Senate operates differently. Every person in a state, regardless of district, votes for the same two Senate seats. No gerrymandering can touch that. And it is the Senate, not the House, that shapes the judiciary and confirms Supreme Court justices. Yet the media keeps our eyes fixed on the House. That is not an accident. That is a distraction.

How many times do we absorb narratives designed to depress us until we're ready to give up? How many times do we let the noise convince us our power is gone? How many times do we believe what they want us to believe and curl up and surrender?

Beloved, yes, I am mad. Yes, work has been undone. But we still have power. We can still vote, no matter what district we're in. Our votes count, especially in local government and in Senate races. Let this moment fuel your inner passion for justice.

Get mad. Stay mad. And do the work.

That's what Jesus did.

––Rev. Moya Harris, Senior Director of Programs, Sojourners

The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff:

President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor
Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson
Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia
Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps
Political Director: Chad V. Stanton
Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris
Digital Education and Outreach Specialist: Cortnie Brooks
Policy and Action Assistant: Trinity Williams