NAACP calls for Black student-athletes to boycott Southern schools amid redistricting backlash

U.S. newsNAACP calls for Black student-athletes to boycott Southern schools amid redistricting backlashThe civil rights organization is urging recruits to withhold their college commitments in states where new congressional maps could be drawn.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00NAACP President Derrick Johnson at the civil rights organization's national convention in Boston, in 2023. Erin Clark / The Boston Globe via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 19, 2026, 12:59 PM EDT / Updated May 19, 2026, 1:01 PM EDTBy Bracey HarrisThe NAACP launched a campaign Tuesday calling on Black student-athletes to boycott Southern colleges in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last month that weakened the Voting Rights Act, leading to the dismantling of one majority-Black congressional district and a push to scrap others.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.“The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice,” NAACP National President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement.The group is urging Black recruits to withhold their commitments from a list of universities primarily within the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference. The schools are in the following states: Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia. Several of the schools have nationally ranked football programs, including the University of Alabama, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Georgia and the University of Mississippi.The “Out of Bounds” campaign comes as voting rights advocates, across generations, are grappling with what they see as the latest blow to one of the most seminal victories of the nation’s Civil Rights Movement. The Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965 to protect minority voters who long faced discr...