Toronto Star
· collected 2026-10-04 · by Gary Fields The Associated Press
If you cross the Mississippi River on the Huey P. Long-O.K. Allen Bridge, pass the Exxon Refinery, then head north for a few minutes, you’ll find a pocket of Louisiana that’s unlike any other place in America’s never-ending battle over what it means to have equal representation.
asserted
it → cross → representation
It’s a nearly all Black community of 10,000 people that has been, for the second time, shuffled around on the state’s congressional map to make it part of a majority white district.
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it → ’ → district
The first time was 1996, when a group of voters sued to redraw the lines.
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group → sue → lines
The second time was earlier this year, after the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a core part of the Voting Rights Act intended to protect minorities’ political rights was unconstitutional.
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part → decide → rights
The ruling led to cascading changes around the American South, but the case originated in Louisiana — specifically the 6th Congressional District that included Scotlandville.
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that → lead → Scotlandville
This is where Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields, 63, grew up poor and attended local schools before graduating from nearby Southern University A&M, eventually climbing the ranks to the U.S. House.
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Fields → grow → House
Now he plans to leave Washington and return to the Legislature instead of running for reelection in a race that he sees little chance of winning because the district boundaries have been altered dramatically.
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boundaries → plan → chance
Scotlandville will no longer be represented by a native son, someone who people believed instinctively understood their challenges and offered a direct line to power and influence in the nation’s capital.
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people → represent → capital
“We’re back to where we were right after Reconstruction,” said Press Robinson Sr., 89, who has spent years working on issues involving the congressional map.
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who → ’re → map
“When they redistrict, they are not concerned about the effect it has on those of us who are people of color.
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who → redistrict → color
The methods have changed over the years, he said, but the intent has not.
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intent → change → years
“They disenfranchise people of color and they’ve done it again,” Robinson said.
Field’s career echoes legal battle for representation
Congressional districts are core to debates over racial equality in the South, where white leaders spent decades using gerrymandering to ensure Black people couldn’t gain enough power to elect their own representatives.
The Voting Rights Act signed by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 was supposed to fix that.
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Act → disenfranchise → that
Among other things, it required states and jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before congressional maps could take effect.
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maps → require → effect
It also allowed people to sue to challenge laws and procedures that would deny them the chance to elect candidates of their choice.
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that → allow → choice
That didn’t settle the issue, however, and there has been a series of legal battles since then.
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That → settle → battles
Fields’ political career has tracked those twists and turns over the years.
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career → track → years
He first came to Congress in 1993 when Scotlandville was part of the 4th District, which had been redrawn to create a majority Black seat.
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which → come → seat
A federal court said in 1996 the boundaries that zigzagged from northwest portion of the state to the Baton Rouge area were unconstitutional.
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that → say → area
Scotlandville shifted to the 6th District, which was then predominantly white, and Fields became a state senator.
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Fields → shift → District
But he had an opening to return to Washington when Robinson and other plaintiffs challenged how the state drew its maps following the 2020 census.
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state → have → census
A 2023 court decision involving Alabama also affected Louisiana, requiring the state to draw new district lines to achieve fairer representation for minorities.
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decision → involve → minorities
The district became majority Black again, and Fields won the seat in 2024.
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Fields → become → 2024
Another wave of litigation was already starting, and the issue soon reached the U.S. Supreme Court once more.
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issue → start → Court
The new lawsuit by a group of non-Black voters dovetailed with a separate effort by President Donald Trump to push Republican-led states to redraw their maps to help his party keep control of Congress in this year’s midterms.
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party → dovetail → midterms
The high court’s conservative majority said Fields’ district was unconstitutional.
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district → say → ?
Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee raced to redo their U.S. House districts in time for the November elections.
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Louisiana → race → elections
In Alabama, Democratic Rep. Shomari Figueres is fighting to hold onto his seat, where Black voting age population dropped from 50% to 40% under the new political lines, according to an Associated Press analysis of the citizen voting age population in his redrawn district.
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population → fight → district
In Tennessee, the majority Black district anchored by Nashville was split between three others.
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district → anchor → others
Fields’ district went from being 53% Black to 25% in the new one.
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district → go → one
He announced in July that he wasn’t going to run for reelection.
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he → announce → reelection
Blocks from the main entrance to Southern University A&M, a small crowd hung around a convenience store but people were unwilling to talk about politics, eyeing strangers suspiciously.
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people → hang → strangers
One younger man said he didn’t know who represents the area on the city council, let alone in Congress.
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who → say → Congress
Frank Levy, 56, the cashier, said people’s apathy created the political environment that allowed for gerrymandering to occur again.
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gerrymandering → say → environment
“A lot of people don’t even think about politics like this,” he said.
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he → think → this
“They don’t understand.”
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They → understand → ?
About five minutes away, Dakasha Caulfield Leonard, 48, sat in the chapel of Scott’s Bluff Morticians, a nearly century-old fixture in the business community.
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Leonard → sit → community
Leonard returned two years ago to take over the funeral home when her father, who purchased it in the 1990s, became ill.
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who → return → 1990s
She is worried about what will happen when Fields is no longer in office.
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Fields → happen → office
“The community is small and everybody knows everybody.
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everybody → know → everybody
Cleo is a member of our community,” she said.
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she → say → community
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
