The voting rights of Black citizens in Republican-dominated states are under attack, humanities and legal experts are warning.

In nearly all of the former Confederate states, Republican lawmakers have governor-overriding supermajorities in one or more state government chambers. In Georgia and Texas, Republicans are just short of a supermajority, but control the state House and Senate. In Louisiana and North Carolina, a Democratic representative switched to Republican, giving the GOP supermajority in both states.

Advocates have long decried racial gerrymandering within the states, which has disenfranchised Black voters for over a century. Recently, civil rights activists have noted that the GOP is escalating their injustice.

In Tennessee, two young, Black lawmakers were expelled for participating in a peaceful gun control protest. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson both lost their seats, whereas the older White representative who participated as well, Gloria Johnson, was allowed to keep her seat by a single vote.

“The tactic of expulsion, like excessive registration requirements, purging voter rolls and other tactics we’re seeing today, echo the kind of disenfranchisement that we saw during Reconstruction and its aftermath,” Ariela Gross, a historian at the University of Southern California, told The Washington Post. “I see a lot of parallels, unfortunately. It’s chilling.”

In Mississippi, government officials have replaced the elected judges in Jackson, a majority Black city, with state-appointed judges and prosecutors. The Democratic city was singled out in a Republican-dominated state.

Many Black voters have begun to feel disenfranchised about civil participation, seeing little reason to vote as the system is "rigged" against them. Todd Shaw, a University of South Carolina political science professor, noted that there have been few improvements on the issues most important to Black communities, such as gun control and police violence.

“Voting can seem like a feeble and insufficient exercise. It’s dispiriting,” he said. “Your well-being and happiness as an African American can be directly impacted by these legislative outcomes.”

Regardless, national president of the NAACP Derrick Johnson said that cases such as Tennessee's could prove to be a “breakthrough moment" for Democratic lawmakers, as those of the younger generations are witnessing the stripping of civil rights they were born with, which is overwhelmingly pushing them to back progressive causes.

“I suspect as a result of what’s taking place in Tennessee, you’re going to see a much more emboldened not only African American community but youth community,” he said. “It’s infuriating to them, but it could also be motivating. We are in the midst of a gray area where more people are beginning to recognize the harm a small number of individuals are doing on our communities.”