race

By weakening Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination in redistricting, the Supreme Court has paved the way for the largest-ever drop in representation by Black members of Congress.

Even though the Supreme Court's decision gutting the Voting Rights Act would likely allow the Missouri legislature to redraw the 1st Congressional District in 2027, GOP lawmakers may be hesitant to change the St. Louis-based seat.

The court, in a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, ruled that Louisiana's 2024 election map, which created a second majority-Black congressional district, was "an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."

Multicultural student organizations at the University of Missouri are losing tens of thousands of dollars in direct funding, with school leaders citing federal guidance on diversity, equity and inclusion. “We are not going to let the university lead us into the darkness,” one leader said at a town hall Monday.

A three-judge federal panel struck down Texas' new congressional map on racial gerrymandering grounds. Challenges to Missouri's map don't involve the same type of claim.

Depending on the timing, a Supreme Court ruling that weakens Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination may lead to more states redrawing congressional maps before the 2026 midterms.

The office of Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is arguing in court that Missouri's 2022 congressional map, which was drawn by the Republican-dominated legislature, should not have preserved a majority-Black district in the St. Louis area. But that argument may also hurt the GOP's newly-redrawn map as well.

A new report from St. Louis University researchers found that many Black teachers in Missouri faced employment termination or other forms of classroom displacement as a result of integration between 1954 and 1970.

Jayvon Givan, who had left Kansas City to backpack through the country last year and was found dead inside a closed Albuquerque business. But his family only learned about his death recently, after his sister filed a missing person's report.

A new Missouri law established the Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force to help find ways to reduce violence against Black women and girls.

The University of Missouri canceled the Legion of Black Collegians' annual 'Black 2 Class Block Party,' which was set to happen Friday. The organization called the decision "a deliberate act of erasure."

The Arkansas group Return to the Land, which explicitly bans Jews and non-whites from membership, is exploring the idea of expanding into the Springfield area. Both Democratic and Republican legislative leaders from the area spoke out against the plan.