The Dictatorship
We’re witnessing transparent attempts to diminish Black political strength
We’re awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callaisa case about how to draw congressional maps that may bring Chief Justice John Roberts’ final blow against a Voting Rights Act he already weakened. But in the meantime, the Louisiana Legislature has been engaged in an even more transparent attempt to diminish Black political strength. In November, 68% of voters in the majority-Black city of New Orleans chose as clerk of criminal district court Calvin Duncana jailhouse lawyer who was imprisoned for 28 years for a murder he didn’t commit. In what is the first legislative session since then, white lawmakers far removed from New Orleans (politically if not geographically) both chambers have now voted to eliminate the office that Duncan won before he can occupy it.
We can count on the state Senate approving some minor amendments to the bill — perhaps as early as Monday — and Gov. Jeff Landry has promised to sign the bill once it reaches his desk.
The Louisiana Legislature is making an even more transparent attempt to diminish Black political strength.
For the past two presidential cycles, many Democrats have argued that “democracy is on the ballot.” The implication was that Donald Trump represented a grave threat to the future of our republic. And Trump’s pardoning of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, his vote-throttling SAVE Act, his moves against birthright citizenship, his hypocritical stance against mail-in voting and his administration’s refusal to swear off sending immigration officers to the polls in November are all signs that he is hostile to full participation in democracy. And Roberts, who has had it in for the Voting Rights Act since he worked in the Reagan administrationand the other conservatives on the court appear to be equally hostile.
However, threats to democracy exist outside the White House and the Supreme Court: Plenty of states — and, to a much lesser extent, some local governments — have been choking out democracy themselves.
Preemptionin which a state government overrules the decision of a local government, has been rampant for decades, and it has had the expected effect of weakening Black political strength. Then there are those states that tyrannically strip away the authority of local governments. This week, Tennessee passed a law that will put political appointees, and not the duly elected school boardin charge of the Memphis-Shelby County school system, whose students are more than 70% Black. Mississippi passed a law this month that strips Jackson (the second-Blackest big city in the country) of majority control of its long-troubled water system. In 2023, as Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis, a Black woman, was pursuing a prosecution against Trump, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill to stop “rogue or incompetent prosecutors” who “refuse to uphold the law.” That was an attack on the Black voters of Atlanta.
But Duncan may soon be the most recognizable victim of such plantation-style attacks on democracy. Duncan got elected, and all of a sudden his office — which maintains the records used in a busy criminal court — was deemed superfluous. When the bill becomes law, those records are to be handled by the civil court clerk.
Knowing the future of his office was in doubt, Duncan defiantly took the oath of office Tuesdayahead of the scheduled May 4 start of the term. The Louisiana Legislature is still racing to have Gov. Landry sign the bill eliminating his office before May 4.
State Sen. Jay Morris, a Republican who lives about five hours from New Orleans, says he didn’t talk to anybody in the city before filing his bill: “It wouldn’t have made a difference. There was no point in that.” Morris hasn’t been convincing that his real motivation is saving money. Louisiana’s Republican leaders, especially Attorney General Liz Murrill, who wrongly claims Duncan wasn’t exoneratedhave seemed dead set on putting Duncan in his place — and, by extension, putting the voters of New Orleans in theirs.
Louisiana’s Republican leaders seem dead set on putting Duncan in his place — and the voters of New Orleans in theirs.
To be clear, this not the Louisiana Legislature’s first expression of racist paternalism. For more than 10 years after Hurricane Katrina, the state maintained control of New Orleans schoolsin the same manner Tennessee is taking control of the schools in Memphis. And when the Crescent City’s elected officials voted to remove a quartet of white supremacist monuments blighting its landscape, members of the Louisiana Legislature tried — unsuccessfully, but still — to strip the city of its power to take them down. Notably, their counterparts in Alabama did succeed in passing a bill protecting Confederate monuments — to keep any uppity cities there from following New Orleans’ lead.
Roberts justified a 2013 ruling weakening the Voting Rights Act with the specious claim that the “blight of racial discrimination in voting” that had “infected the electoral process in parts of our country for nearly a century” no longer existed. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously dissented that Roberts’ thinking was akin to “throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” To the extent that there was less apparent discrimination, Ginsburg argued, it was because the Voting Rights Act was there to prevent it.
But egregious examples of racist voting policies continue to exist in this century. White people in my mother’s tiny hometown of Kilmichael, Mississippi, had, with one exception, long held every municipal position — because they were in the majority, and every elected position was voted on at-large. And 25 years ago, the town’s changing demographics meant a Black candidate was poised to win each of those seats, and the town canceled the election.
Yes, canceled. As in: We won’t have an election if the results will put Black people in charge.
Patrick Braxton wrote for this website two years ago that when he was elected mayor of Newbern, Alabama, in 2020, officials there responded by changing the locks at the town hall and refused to share the town’s financial records.
I hope that what happened to me, that they would make sure what happened to me would never happen to nobody in life.
calvin duncan
Kilmichael and Newbern have about 700 residents between them. But Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans are big cities, and the attacks on Black political strength there have been only slightly less blatant.
News reports describe a series of speakers speaking up for democracy Tuesday as Duncan symbolically took his oath of office. “Today we honor the will of the people of Orleans Parish — manifested on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025!” said one former New Orleans councilwoman and state lawmaker.
“Regardless of what they do in Baton Rouge and whoever gets this position,” Duncan said, “I hope that what happened to me, that they would make sure what happened to me would never happen to nobody in life.”
Duncan was talking about being wrongly imprisoned for murder. But he could have been talking about the Louisiana Legislature’s shameless move to disenfranchise not only him — but also disenfranchise voters in a majority Black city.
Jarvis DeBerry is an opinion editor for MS NOW Daily. He was previously editor-in-chief at the Louisiana Illuminator and a columnist and deputy opinion editor at The Times-Picayune.
DETROIT (AP) — The opening of a Canadian-U.S. bridge across the Detroit River, which President Donald Trump had previously threatened to block, was delayed Thursday due to unresolved issues.
In a statement released before a scheduled Friday ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said that “Canada and the United States have agreed to delay the opening of the bridge, taking the necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues.” It didn’t elaborate on what those issues are or how long the delay would last.
The 1.5-mile-long (2.4-kilometer-long) Gordie Howe International Bridge spans the Detroit River and connects the Motor City with Windsor, Ontario. The bridge is jointly owned by Canada and Michigan and was expected to open to traffic later this month.
But the opening had been thrown into question after Trump in February demanded in a social media post that Canada turn over at least half of the bridge’s ownership to the U.S. federal government and agree to other unspecified demands in one of the Republican president’s many salvos over cross-border trade issues.
Michigan officials and the White House had been in contact for months about the bridge following Trump’s post, with the understanding that the opening would move forward Friday. Invitations for the bridge’s opening went out this week following a conversation between Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
“This project is a powerful example of bipartisan and international cooperation, and the governor looks forward to attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony when it happens,” a statement from Whitmer spokesperson Bobby Leddy said.
New bridge a “long-term play”
Internal disagreements within the Trump administration threw those plans into question, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick pushed back on the opening, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss the private talks.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday evening, “At the request of the United States we agreed to delay the opening and take the necessary time to resolve outstanding issues.”
He added, “There are some things that have been raised, a series of technical aspects, which we will work through with the United States.”
Even with the delay, officials remained optimistic that the bridge — a roughly $4.4 billion project — is still expected to open.
“We need to keep this very much in perspective,” said Sandy Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber and former U.S. assistant secretary of commerce. “Our organization, the state of Michigan and others have been working on this bridge for 20 years. If it opens July 1, Aug. 1 or Sept. 1, I’m not going to get overly agitated about it. This is a long-term play.”
Named after the late Canadian Hockey great Gordie Howe, who spent 25 seasons leading the Detroit Red Wings, the bridge is expected to be another vital economic artery between Canada and the United States.
The construction project was negotiated by Rick Snyder, the former Republican governor of Michigan, and paid for by Canada to help ease congestion at the existing Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Work has been underway since 2018.
U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said she’s taking people at their word that the holdup is “a minor hiccup.”
“This is probably the most bipartisan issue in the state of Michigan, so it’s ridiculous that we can’t just seal the deal,” Slotkin said.
Commerce and border crossings
Detroit and Windsor have been neighborly for generations, with residents in both countries frequently crossing the shared river border for entertainment and shopping. Windsor’s population in 2021 was about 230,000. Like Detroit, the Canadian city’s economy has a strong focus on manufacturing and the auto industry.
Commercial trade between the two cities primarily has been across the nearly century-old and privately-owned Ambassador Bridge, which is closer to downtown Detroit than the Gordie Howe Bridge.
The Ambassador Bridge had been the busiest commercial border crossing between the United States and Canada until last year, when truck traffic along the Blue Water Bridge connecting Port Huron, Michigan, to Sarnia, Ontario, surpassed the Ambassador Bridge’s numbers, according to the Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association.
In 2025, about 2.1 million trucks crossed the Blue Water Bridge compared to just over 1.8 million that used the Ambassador Bridge. About 3.5 million passenger vehicles used the Ambassador Bridge last year, while 1.6 million crossed via the Blue Water Bridge.
Combined, more than 9.2 million vehicles crossed the border on those two bridges in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
More than 3.7 million cars and SUVs also traveled between the United States and Canada last year via the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
Both bridges and the tunnel are working at full capacity, and the new bridge will help improve the efficiency of commercial and personal traffic between the two countries, Baruah said.
“This is what government is supposed to do, make it easier for business to conduct commerce,” he said.
___
Cappelletti reported from Washington.
President Donald Trump’s planned UFC fight on the White House’s South Lawn has required a monumental effort from more than seven federal agencies, hundreds of staff working onsite daily and at least $60 million, according to a legal filing that offers a glimpse into the preparations.
The event is part of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and is scheduled for the weekend with the main attraction — seven mixed martial arts matches — on Sunday.
That is, if a judge doesn’t halt the proceedings, which is sought by two Virginia residents in a federal lawsuit against the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn.
The agency filed a rebuff of the request Tuesday in court, and, in it, laid out the operations for the event.
“Well over $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been expended,” the document read, adding that the money came from the UFC and groups affiliated with it.
The Octagon
It’s the eight-sided cage that surrounds the sometimes bloodied combatants and sits at the center of the constructed arena on the South Lawn.
The arena is expected to hold 4,000 spectators, with another 120,000 visitors — who swung tickets from an online lottery — anticipated to watch from the nearby Ellipse.
The installation began May 20, and the Secret Service worked with the UFC to screen between 20 and 30 trucks of equipment — as well as between “700 and 900” staff — that came in daily for the installation.
The document did not specify the extent of government resources spent on the project, but said seven agencies, including Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration, have “allocated significant resources and manpower.”
The schedule
It’ll kick off Saturday with a ceremonial weigh-in at the Ellipse, followed by a concert by country musicians The Zac Brown Band.
A UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest will be ongoing through the weekend, with “interactive experiences,” live shows, celebrity appearances, “exclusive on-stage moments,” meet and greets, live music and interviews with the athletes.
Sunday night is when the seven bouts kick off. At the close, Trump is scheduled to fly to France for the G7 summit.
Disassembly of the installations will begin the next day, and they are expected to be entirely removed by June 23.
The athletes’ Epsom salt baths
There are 14 athletes competing, and their training is rigorous.
Preparations start months in advance, working toward more intense weight cutting and diet alteration in the final week that can include fasting, extreme sauna use and hot Epsom salt baths.
They could be shaving as many as 20 pounds before weigh-ins, which are designed to keep the competition fair between similarly weighted combatants.
Lawsuit calls it ‘corrupt’
It was filed Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of the two Virginia residents and argues that Trump’s authorization of the event violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands.
One of the attorneys, Brendan Ballou, characterized it as a “corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain.”
The National Park Service pushed back on that claim, but also detailed the event’s preparations to make a point.
“All these hopes could be dashed at the very last moment,” it read, “by the whim of two people who believe they have superior taste and want to spoil the event for everyone else.”
FBI agents on Thursday raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a pro-democracy organization that helps register voters in that state, according to three people briefed on the search.
Agents also fanned out across the state, showing up at the homes of the group’s leaders and staff members, carrying some subpoenas and seeking information and electronic devices, according to the people, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive ongoing investigation. Members of the group had made contact with lawyers on Thursday to determine their legal options, the people said.
Prentiss Haney, a board member for Ohio Organizing Collaborative, told MS NOW Thursday night that agents approached people with connections to Ohio Organizing Collaborative, including some who had performed basic canvassing and volunteer work for the group, and began pressing them for information.
Agents were “basically trying to fish for information,” said Haney.
“They had agents all across the state going to civil rights leaders and community leaders’ doors intimidating them, coming and demanding that they talk about literally anything they would ask,” Haney said, adding that agents “asked them if they’re committing voter fraud, just on their doors, in front of their houses with their children, and just following them to work and school.”
Haney said some of the people said the agents approached without warrants.
“Just straight-up intimidation tactics,” he said.
Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday night.
Those sources familiar with the investigation said they are concerned this new effort in Ohio is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to sow doubt and distrust in voting integrity in key swing states ahead of the midterm elections.
Federal agents have in recent months launched inquiries and investigations into voting protocols in Georgia and Wisconsin, have subpoenaed voting records in Arizona and sought reviews of voting machines in Puerto Rico.
According to its website, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative facilitates statewide voter registration through grassroots, community-led programs, including its “Democracy Builders” initiative. This collaborative works in Ohio’s major metropolitan areas, such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, to help underrepresented communities register to vote and provides other support.
The group has also joined lawsuits challenging redistricting efforts that it argues reduce Black voters of representation. These lawsuits also “stand your ground” laws that allow a person to shoot someone if they feel threatened.
Haney said the Cleveland raid and harassment of staff are unjustified and that investigators lack any evidence of wrongdoing.
“How can they distract and intimidate civil rights leaders and voters and community leaders who are helping people get registered to vote and create a national spectacle about it?” he said.
“That is the only reason why they would choose to do that, do it now, in the middle of a contested political election in the state. There’s no other reason. They have no evidence of that.”
Carol Leonnig is a senior investigative reporter with MS NOW.
Will McDuffie is a reporter for MS NOW.
Alex Tabet is a reporter for MS NOW.
Laura Barrón-López covers the White House for MS NOW.
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