NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Man, these Tennessee Republicans ain't playin' fair. They just redrew the congressional maps and straight up took the Black-majority district. They done split up Memphis so we can't get nobody in Congress who actually represent us. This ain't nothin' but some old-school voter suppression, for real.

They took the 9th district, that was all Memphis, and chopped it up into three pieces. Each piece got about a third of the Black folks, so now we ain't got no real power nowhere. They basically diluted our vote so we can't elect nobody we want. It's a straight-up power move, tryna keep us down.

Now all nine congressional districts in Tennessee lean Republican. That's some BS. The 9th used to be in the southwest corner of the state, but now they got these crazy lines goin' all over the place, even reachin' out to Nashville's suburbs. They tryna mix us up with them folks who don't know nothin' 'bout our struggle.

This cat Vincent Dixie, a state rep from Nashville, was askin' 'em, "If Republican policies are so great, why are we changing the lines to rig elections?" But they ain't listenin'. They doin' what they wanna do, and ain't nobody stoppin' 'em.

Then Justin Jones, another state rep, called the House Speaker all kinds of names and even showed some Republican a Confederate flag. He was mad, and I feel him. But they ain't hearin' nothin'.

This all happened after the Supreme Court messed up the Voting Rights Act with that Callais v. Landry decision. Now states can do whatever they want, and they ain't got nobody checkin' 'em. Trump been wantin' 'em to do this for a minute, and now they finally did it.

Speaker Sexton said it's to "ensure the state's representation in Washington reflects its conservative values." But we know what that really means: less Black representation, more white power. Trump won Tennessee by a landslide, but that don't mean they gotta shut us out completely.

Stacey Abrams came through and told 'em they was tryin' to bring back Jim Crow. She said we gotta share power and not let one party run everything. She right, but they ain't listenin'.

Justin Pearson from Memphis said they didn't even care 'bout what the Democrats had to say. They just doin' what they want, and that's messed up.

Real talk: this ain't nothin' new. They been tryna keep us from votin' since day one. Poll taxes, literacy tests, now this gerrymandering BS. The Voting Rights Act was supposed to stop this, but the Supreme Court done weakened it. Now we gotta fight even harder to get our voices heard.