CONGRESSMAN FIELDS STANDS WITH CBC AND NAACP TO CALL ON COLLEGE ATHLETICS TO OPPOSE DISMANTLING OF BLACK VOTING POWER

WASHINGTON, D.C. - This afternoon, Congressman Fields released his statement after standing alongside the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP to demand college athletic institutions publicly oppose the coordinated efforts to dismantle Black voting power currently taking place:

"Today I stood with my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP to deliver a clear message: we cannot support the SCORE Act or any legislation benefiting major athletic institutions that remain silent while Black voting rights are being systematically eliminated.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's Callais decision, states across the South - including my home state of Louisiana - have moved rapidly to redraw congressional maps designed to dilute Black voting strength and undermine decades of hard-fought civil rights progress. This is a defining moral moment for our country.

For generations, Black athletes have helped build college athletics into one of the most powerful and profitable industries in America. Yet at the very moment the same communities many of these athletes call home face coordinated attacks on their democratic representation, too many leaders have chosen silence. Institutions that significantly profit from Black talent have a responsibility to stand with Black communities when their fundamental rights are under attack.

We have transmitted formal letters to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, ACC Commissioner James J. Phillips, Ph.D., and NCAA President Charlie Baker demanding their immediate engagement. The NAACP's "Out of Bounds" campaign further calls on Black athletes, fans, and donors to withhold support from universities in targeted states until justice is restored.

We cannot celebrate Black athletes on Saturday and stay silent on Monday when their voting rights are being stripped away. Our support cannot begin and end with entertainment. We owe them our advocacy in Congress just as much as our applause in the stands."

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