The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is calling on Black athletes and fans to withhold support for athletic programs from public universities in states “that have moved to limit, weaken, or erase Black voting representation.”
The NAACP announced the launch of the “Out of Bounds” campaign on Tuesday, urging Black athletes, fans, family, alumni and consumers to boycott the programs in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in the Louisiana vs Callais case, “which gutted what was left of the Voting Rights Act.”
The nation’s oldest civil rights group identified eight “priority” states: Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia.
As a result, public universities that could be impacted include SEC powers Alabama, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Florida, Tennessee and Texas A&M, along with ACC schools such as Florida State and Georgia Tech.
If Black athletes opt to participate, it could deplete rosters for some of the best football and basketball programs in the country.
The “Out of Bounds” campaign’s primary focus is calling on top football and basketball recruits (currently being recruited) to withhold their commitments until the states in question restore fair congressional maps and meaningful Black representation.
Additionally, the campaign calls on “current college athletes — including those who may already be enrolled at targeted programs — to consider their options, including the transfer portal, and to use their platforms and NIL reach to elevate fair maps and voting rights.”
While Black participation in swimming & diving is comparatively lower than football and basketball, some teams could still be left shorthanded if athletes choose to take part.
For reasons that you’re all familiar with, this won’t have as big of an impact on swimming & diving as it does on other sports, but there is an increasing number of black swimmers and divers in the NCAA – notably at Florida and Tennessee. https://t.co/8CctPVnfqi
— Braden Keith (@Braden_Keith) May 19, 2026
The Louisiana vs Callais case referenced by the NAACP involved how Louisiana redrew its congressional map after a court order under the Voting Rights Act to create additional districts where Black voters would have a fair opportunity to elect their preferred candidates.
A group of voters (Callais) argued that Louisiana’s redrawn map was too heavily based on race, violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. On April 29, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in their favor, finding that the map likely amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander because race was too dominant a factor in how the districts were drawn.
“What these states have done is not a policy disagreement. It is a sprint to erase Black political power,” said Derrick Johnson, President & CEO, NAACP. “These actions happened in days, in some cases in hours, of a Supreme Court ruling that gives extremist lawmakers a playbook to erode Black representation.
“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. Out of Bounds is our answer: we are naming the contradiction, and we are calling on Black athletes, families, fans, and consumers to act on it. The same power that built these programs can be redirected. And it will be.”
The NAACP said its “Out of Bounds” campaign will remain in effect “until targeted states adopt state-level voting rights protections, repeal maps that dilute Black voting power, restore congressional and judicial districts that reflect the Black population’s actual strength, and commit to transparent and community-centered redistricting processes.”
According to ESPN, on Monday, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to the SEC and ACC commissioners, along with NCAA President Charlie Baker, stating that its “members will oppose the SCORE Act unless conference leaders oppose GOP-led redistricting efforts in states that include major conference members.”
“The Congressional Black Caucus believes institutions that profit from Black talent and Black communities have a responsibility to stand with those communities when their fundamental rights are under attack,” the Congressional Black Caucus said, according to ESPN. “Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality — it is complicity.”
AI is such a hoot, Google “how much money does the NAACP ecosystem raise annually over the last 10 years” then Google “we’re the top salaries paid at the end of NAACP annually total compensation package”….. There’s CEOs total companies 1 million a year and they have multiple other execs making 300 to 500k a year.
Google these and then run them through AI now you’ll see why the NAACP is up in arms, I worked a non-profit if you want to raise more money you got to raise the alarm like the world is going to an end.
If you look into the NAACP numbers amount of money raised versus overhead cost you’ll find that only 55 cents… Read more »
So does that mean they are recommending boycotting the public HBCU’s in those states as well?
Yes. We need to end racism by drawing lines based on race! Oh, nevermind that the democrats are supporting a white male candidate over a black female candidate in a black district in Tennessee. They need to use who they can use.
If I was a member of the NAACP, I’d just read the court’s ruling. It didn’t restrict anyone from voting. Read it for yourself and see how politicians like to add words. Let’s leave politics out of sports.
>It didn’t restrict anyone from voting.
And the passengers in the back of the bus still got where they were going so what’s the big fuss, right?
Man, that is one boneheaded comment. This place never ceases to amaze me!!
I support the effort to bring economic pain to the states who are guilty of racial gerrymandering, but I wonder if putting the burden of the boycott on young athletes who, in some cases, could earn enough money to support their families is the way to go about it. How about asking teams from other states to boycott competitions in these states so that the athletes who are just trying to maximize their opportunities don’t carry the burden of a boycott on their shoulders. For the atheletes talented enought to have a choice, I’d hope they would support the boycott.
Yeah it’s a big ask of that group for sure, which doesn’t exactly make me optimistic for how it’ll go.
Your first sentence shows you have no clue what you are talking about. They are changing voting districts because the Supreme court has ruled that race should not be used to set voting districts!
I have a bridge to sell you. Just take a look at the shape of those districts if you think they are not being racially gerrymandered due to the court’s recent ruling. And the fact they are doing it, just proves that the voting rights act was needed….and still is. If you think racism is no longer a problem in this country you are pretty special.
So they want to fix a lack of black voting representation by telling black people to not move to the areas where they could create change and be part of a movement against the recent disenfranchising? Seems counterintuitive.
*where they would be disenfranchised through racially-based gerrymandering anyway
FIFY
That’s an impressive misread of the ask
Sure Steve
Does it say not to move there? Or just, y’know, withhold their labor?
“Those freedom riders could find a different way to get to where they’re going, this doesn’t make any sense.”
Four Republicans: Byron Donalds (FL-19), Wesley Hunt (TX-38), John James (MI-10), and Burgess Owens (UT-4) represent majority white congressional districts, and NOT one of them was allowed to join the Black Congressional Caucus. It’s not about race. It’s about democrats using whomever they can and gaslighting people for power.