‘Emotional and energizing’: Bryan Stevenson on Colom’s MOMENTOUS victory in Mississippi

Brian Stevenson is the founde. and executive director. of the Equal Justice Initiative, and he joins me now. Brian, what a remarkable occasion. It's wonderful to get a chance to talk to. you tonight. What are you thinking of this evening. as you watch this news scroll out? It's really, I'm overjoyed. And it's actually emotional, Chris, because I think about the long history. of Mississippi. There's not a state in America that resisted. Black political participation more violently.

than the state of Mississippi. I'm thinking about all of those pioneers. who bled and suffered and died. from Vernon Dahmer to Medgar Evers, to Herbert Lee. I'm thinking of Fannie Lou Hamer. I'm thinking of Bob Moses who risked. their lives to create full political. participation for African Americans. I'm thinking of the hundreds of thousands. of black people who fled Mississippi. during the first half of the 20th century. because of terror violence, because of lynching. And it's really quite exciting.

and energizing to now. see an African-American win this state that has been. denied. black leadership for decades. What many people don't realize is. that after emancipation, Mississippi was a majority black state. from 1865 until 1940, the majority of people living. in Mississippi were black. And after the collapse of reconstruction, which you detailed, it was only voter disenfranchisement. It was only violent oppression.

It was only totalitarianism that kept Mississippi. from electing black senators all the time. We should have seen black senators. in Mississippi from the 1880s until the 1980s. But that was denied because of abuse of rights, because of bigotry. And I think why it's so emotional. and energizing is that so many. of the civil rights leaders told us. that the moral arc of the universe is long. but it bends toward justice. They told us that truth crushed the earth will. rise again.

They told us that if we fight and struggle, there will be a day of triumph. And I think that day is here when I see Scott. Cologne winning this state that now.

that we have the two places where the most. lynchings happen, the most Klan activity. Like all of the resistance precisely. because the South Carolina lower house. is majority black in reconstruction. Mississippi sending black congressmen. and senators. It's precisely the threat of representation. because of those numbers. And today, Mississippi still has, if I'm not mistaken, one of the highest felon disenfranchised rates in. the country.

Some of the most restrictive voting losses. There were unbelievable obstacles. that black voters had to overcome. in this election to come to this moment. And I think what mobilized so many people, and I certainly felt this way here in Alabama, and you saw that in Alabama, was the Supreme Court's decision to gut. the Voting Rights Act, which is the only reason. why there was. an increase in black political participation. after the 1965 Voting Rights Act. To see the court gut that and to then. see states THINGS LIKE TENNESSEE AND.

LOUISIANA AND ALABAMA IMMEDIATELY. JUMP ON THAT TO SUPPRESS BLACK, I THINK IT WOKE A LOT OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS UP TO. THE. FACT THAT THEY STILL WANT TO DENY US POLITICAL. PARTICIPATION. DESPITE ALL the niceties and the rhetoric. about colorblindness, there is still an effort to disenfranchise. African-Americans. And people responded to that. And I think the spirit of the civil rights. movement is growing in this region. It's what got a black woman into the governor's. office in Georgia.

It's what got Jamie Davis close to winning. in Louisiana. It's what got Scott Cohn. And I think there's something really exciting. ABOUT THAT SPIRIT, REVIVING NOT ONLY THIS REGION. OF THE COUNTRY BUT REVIVING AMERICA. WE NEED TO LAP ON. WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT ENERGY. THAT THOSE GREAT AMERICANS BETWEEN 1955. AND 1965 gave this country. It was that 10-year period that made America a more. perfect union. And I think we're on the cusp. of something like that, and nothing represents that for me more dramatically.

than Scott Cullum's. election in the state of Mississippi. You're seeing a live shot of Jackson, Mississippi, where a crowd is gathering. in anticipation of Scott Colombe's victory. speech night. He'll be introduced by Benny Thompson, long-time black congressman from the state, someone who there was discussion when. Calais was overturned. whether the Mississippi Republican Party. would go after Betty Thompson's district. And they did not. That proved to be the better part of valor.

in terms of them maybe holding on to the seat. I want to read you a quote from Charles Sumner, the legendary abolitionist in Massachusetts. at the conclusion of the debate over. whether Hiram Revels, the first black man to serve in the U .S. Senate and the first black senator. from the south of Mississippi, should be. seated. And he says the time has passed for argument. Nothing more need be said. For a long time it has been clear. that colored persons must be senators. All men are created equal, says the great declaration. and now a great act attests this verity.

Today we make the declaration a reality. The declaration a reality. The declaration. and I just think, I'm so energized because. when I think. about the history of the descendants. of enslaved people, and that's what that 37 % population. of Mississippi is.

This is not a state with a large immigrant. population. This is not a state with a large immigrant. population. This is not a state with a large non-black, non-white population. This is a state where you have a black. population that are descendants. of enslaved people. When I think about how emancipated black. people. after the civil war chose to. build a healthier community, they could have said we want retribution. and revenge against those who enslaved us. We want to do violence to those who enslaved us. We want to do violence to those who did. violence to us, but they instead chose to build schools.

and churches and families. And even after they were betrayed. at the collapse of reconstruction, they never gave up on creating the kind. of America, the kind of democracy that we have long aspired. to. That was the spirit that motivated the civil. rights movement. That's why Freedom Summer took place. That's why great leaders, they're organized. And that spirit of organizing is really. a spirit that is trying to lift. this nation to the place it's never been. Nobody in Mississippi wants to go back.

There's no make America great again narrative. that will work for them. They're trying to get to a place. that we have yet to achieve, a place where bigotry and bias. and racism is not going to shape. the political landscape. There are four congressional. representatives in the state of Mississippi. Mississippi's black population is 37%. You can argue that rather than trying to. eliminate the black seat, there should be a second black seat. given the demographics of that state. And so there's a lot more work to be done. But tonight I think people are.

celebrating a revival of the kind. of energy, the kind of vision, the kind of commitment and the kind. of dedication to making change. that once shaped this country. in the 1960s. And we certainly need that kind of energy here. in 2026 in the midst of so many. THANK YOU FOR MAKING TIME ON. THIS HISTORIC EVENING. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. MY PLEASURE.