By David Hood-Nuño
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - The NAACP on Tuesday launched a campaign urging Black athletes, recruits, fans and donors to withhold athletic and financial support from public universities in states it says are undermining Black voting power.
The campaign, called "Out of Bounds," targets public universities in eight Southern states that have redrawn or moved to redraw their congressional maps after the Supreme Court weakened a key provision of the Voting Rights Act earlier this month.
Redistricting battles have intensified across the South in the weeks since the Supreme Court’s decision, with Republican-led legislatures in several states moving quickly, in some cases within days, to redraw congressional maps that civil rights groups say weaken or erase Black voting power.
Republicans, however, say the changes are needed to comply with the court’s ruling and ensure maps meet legal standards. The rapid shifts have unfolded ahead of the midterm elections in November, setting off a broader national clash over how political lines are drawn and how political representation is determined.
The NAACP is focusing on flagship public athletic programs that generate more than $100 million in annual revenue and continue to recruit Black athletes while, it says, state governments dilute Black political influence.
Those states are Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia — all states with sizeable public universities and massive athletic programs.
"These actions happened in days, in some cases in hours, of a Supreme Court ruling that gives extremist lawmakers a playbook to erode Black representation," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. "The same power that built these programs can be redirected."
The boycott coincides with an effort from the Congressional Black Caucus to oppose a bill that would establish a national framework governing college athletics, including rules for athlete compensation, NIL (name, image, likeness) rights, and protections for student athletes.
The caucus said it could not support a bill benefiting major athletic institutions that remain silent while Black voting rights and political power are "systematically dismantled" across the South.
The caucus said it had sent letters to three powerhouse college athletic conference commissioners, as well as the NCAA demanding engagement and a public response.
"For generations, Black athletes have helped build college athletics into one of the most powerful and profitable industries in American life," the caucus said in a statement. "Yet at the very moment those same communities face coordinated attacks on their democratic representation, too many leaders across college athletics have chosen silence."
The NAACP's campaign calls on top football and basketball recruits to withhold commitments from targeted programs until affected states restore fair congressional maps and meaningful Black representation. It also urges current college athletes to use their platforms, name-image-likeness reach and, where applicable, transfer options to press universities to take public positions against racial vote dilution.
The campaign also asks fans, alumni and donors to stop buying tickets, merchandise and licensed apparel from targeted programs and divert those funds to historically Black colleges and universities and related organizations.
The NAACP said the campaign will continue until targeted states adopt voting rights protections, repeal maps it says dilute Black voting power and commit to transparent redistricting processes.
(Reporting by David Hood-Nuño; Editing by Kat Stafford and Alistair Bell)
