In the birthplace of Civil Rights Movement, groups rally to defend Black political representation

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the city considered the crucible of the modern Civil Rights Movement to push back against conservative states’ efforts to dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.

The gathering in Montgomery, Alabama, was put together in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act and the resulting rush by southern states to redraw lines. Speakers said they returned to the city, famous for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, because the fight that began there is continuing for later generations.

The Rev. Bernice King, speaking near the spot where her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed voting rights marchers in 1965, said the dedication and sacrifice of that generation changed the trajectory of the country.

“Sixty-one years later, we come back as new generations to this same hallowed place to reclaim and redeem that legacy because the recent Supreme Court decision demands our presence. It was not only a legal decision, y’all, it is a moral disgrace and a shameless assault on Black political power,” King said.

She said the decision strikes “at the very heart of my father’s and my mother’s sacrifice” and is a direct attack on the generations who faced “dogs and batons and bombs and billy clubs so that Black people and all marginalized communities could participate fully in this democracy.”

Civil rights leaders, Democratic members of Congress from across the country, union leaders and pastors spoke at the rally titled “All Roads Lead to the South.”

The crowd gathered in front of the Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the elder King spoke in 1965 at the end of the voting rights march. The stage stood in front of Capitol statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks, tributes erected nearly 90 years apart and reminders of the state’s complex history.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama said the gathering was not a protest, but “a call to action.” Speakers called upon voters to show their numbers at the ballot box.

“They think they can draw us out of power. They do not know the sleeping giant that they just awakened,” said U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York.

Attendees stood for hours in summerlike temperatures for the rally that stretched on for more than four hours. The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”

Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.

“We lived through the ’60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery.

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out the voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.

Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.

Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.

“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”

Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.

But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.

U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people’s opportunity to have representation.

“People tell us that we are not who we once were,” Figures said of the South. “That is true, but we certainly aren’t where we need to be," he said.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said that the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.

“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”

Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said the fight will continue inside and outside of the courtroom. A three-judge panel has scheduled a May 22 hearing on a request to try and stop Alabama from switching maps.

“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going back to Jim Crow maps,” Dowdy said.

The Rev. Bernice King speaks during a voting rights rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The State capitol is seen during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People gather during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Aaron McGuire sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States launched airstrikes early Wednesday against Iran after blaming Tehran for the crash of an American attack helicopter, and Iran fired back at countries in the region — another escalation that threatened to derail efforts to end the war.

Hours after Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan came under Iranian fire, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his his Truth Social platform that Iran was taking “too long to negotiate a deal” and that “now they will have to pay the price.”

It wasn’t clear what exactly that would mean, but the back-and-forth strikes Wednesday again raised the question of how much pressure the deal can take before it cracks. The exchange of fire was the second time this week that such strikes have tested the ceasefire after Iran and Israel targeted each other on Monday.

Trump has repeatedly vacillated between expressing optimism over the talks and warning that he was ready to return to all-out war. Iran, meanwhile, has proved resilient despite having faced weeks of heavy bombing, betting that its ability to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passageway for the world’s oil and natural gas — gives it a strong bargaining chip.

Both countries seem to be looking for a way to end the conflict — if they can manage to sell it as a win at home. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing much more difficult goals: the collapse of Iran’s theocratic government, the elimination of its nuclear program, and the destruction of the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. That will make compromise much harder.

Netanyahu posted on X around the same time as Trump, again insisting that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon and defending Israel’s decisions to attack the Islamic Republic in the past.

Since the U.S. and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, the conflict has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world, and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Brent crude oil, the international standard, was at more than $91 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 25% since the start of the war.

In the latest strikes, U.S. fighter jets targeted “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites,” the military’s Central Command said. Iran acknowledged strikes around Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island, but gave no details on the damage.

“The operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters,” Central Command said.

Iran’s top diplomat vowed that there would be a response, and Tehran later claimed attacks in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

Jordan said it shot down five incoming missiles, which Iran said targeted the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base. The base has hosted American F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft.

Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency carried a military statement saying there were no injuries and that explosives experts examined the debris from the interceptions.

Bahrain and Kuwait said they intercepted incoming fire, without elaborating.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the American attacks as a violation of Iranian sovereignty in calls with his counterparts from Turkey and Saudi Arabia “and emphasized the inherent right of self-defense, including reciprocal action,” according to a post on his office's Telegram channel.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in televised comments Wednesday that in light of the new attacks, Iran would review its stance on negotiations to end the war.

The exchanges of fire came a day after a U.S. Army attack helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz after colliding with an Iranian drone, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional.

A drone boat rescued both of the helicopter’s aviators, and Trump said they were uninjured.

Guards aboard a cargo ship off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden exchanged fire with gunmen in a small boat and repelled their attack, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said they will resume their attacks against Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea. Somali pirates have also become more active in the region.

The UKMTO later reported a fire in the engine room of a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, saying one person had been hurt and two others aboard were missing. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire.

Before he accused Iran of downing the U.S. helicopter, Trump expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran, but didn’t say why there was reason for hope.

While Trump, wary of high gas prices and upcoming congressional elections in November, seems to be looking for a quick win, he is also making demands that will be tough for Iran to swallow.

The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, that uranium is a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.

Iran is refusing to give up the uranium and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something rejected by Trump.

It's not clear how those differences can be bridged — and Trump has repeatedly threatened to walk away from the talks. On his Truth Social platform overnight he seemed to be warning again that he was ready to return to all-out war, posting a clip from the American TV series “The West Wing” with actor Martin Sheen as president bellowing: “We don’t come back with a proportional response, we come back with total disaster!”

Meanwhile, Iran has continued to insist that any deal to end the war must also end fighting between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. Instead, Israel has intensified its military campaign against the militant group.

Israel's military said on Wednesday it launched multiple strikes in southern Lebanon over the past day, targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

An airstrike on a village east of Tyre killed at least six people, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported.

Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Michelle L. Price in New York; and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

People take shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missiles in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A projectile streaks through the sky over central Israel during an Iranian missile attack, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A cleric checks his cell phone on stage in front of a screen displaying portraits of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a pro-government gathering in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman walks past a mural depicting a U.S. aircraft carrier under missile attack in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)