LEADER JEFFRIES: “WE ARE HERE TO BOYCOTT THESE JIM CROW-LIKE, RACIALLY OPPRESSIVE TACTICS”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined the NAACP, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, student-athletes and advocates for a press conference, in which he emphasized that House Democrats refuse to sit idly by as SEC universities remain complacent amidst Republican attacks on Black political representation in the South.

LEADER JEFFRIES: This is an unprecedented moment featuring an unprecedented attack on Black political representation, and, therefore, it requires an unprecedented response. We are here standing in solidarity with the NAACP and its call for athletes to boycott institutions within the SEC that belong to states that have unleashed these Jim Crow-like, racially oppressive tactics, which is unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American. And we believe that the silence of these institutions is complicity, and we will not stand for it.

At the same period of time, the Congressional Black Caucus strongly and uniformly opposed the so-called SCORE Act, resulting in Republicans having to pull the SCORE Act from the Floor. And we will continue to oppose it. We will continue to stand with the NAACP in encouraging athletes in our community to look elsewhere until these racially gerrymandered maps in the South are reversed, buried in the ground, never to rise again.

With respect to the SCORE Act, our position has been clear. If LSU is for it, we're against it. If the University of Alabama is for it, we're against it. If Ole Miss is for it, we're against it. If the University of South Carolina is for it, we're against it. If the University of Tennessee is for it, we're against it. And if the SEC schools are for it, we are against it, and we will continue to stand against it because we're standing on the side of liberty and justice for all. And silence in this moment is complicity.

The African American journey in this country has been characterized by moments of progress followed by moments of backlash. We had the progress of emancipation and reconstruction, followed by the backlash of Jim Crow. We had the progress of the civil rights movement, followed by the backlash of mass incarceration. We had the progress of Barack Obama's election and the rise of a multi-racial democracy, followed by the election of Agent Orange and the rise of MAGA extremism and Project 2025. Progress followed by backlash.

And for us to get through this moment of backlash and usher in a new era of progress, as has been done by generations in the past, it's going to require character, it's going to require courage and it's going to require conviction. This is a Bill Russell moment. It's a Muhammad Ali moment. And it's a Jackie Robinson moment. And we're going to stand together to make sure we bring about the type of country that the African American community deserves and that everyone in the United States of America deserves.

And so if you believe in a multi-racial democracy, join us. If you believe in free and fair elections, join us. And if you believe in fair Black political representation in the South and all across America, join us. Welcome to what I've started to call Project 42, which is we're going to make sure that we battle through the turbulence, the trials and the tribulations of this moment, push back aggressively against the racial gerrymandering that has taken place. And I'm confident, though it won't be easy, if we continue to stand up and show up and speak up for what we know is right, one day soon we shall overcome.

Full press conference can be watched here.

###