He made history in Congress - then the Supreme Court changed its mind

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: He made history in Congress - then the Supreme Court changed its mindImage source, Getty ImagesByBrandon DrenonReporting fromAlabamaPublished4 hours agoWhen a glass door shattered on the arm of 19-year-old De'Mari Benham, with blood running down his limb and with few other options, he was rushed to the fire department in a friend's car. Firefighters bandaged him and encouraged the Tuskegee University student to go to a hospital the next town over to receive stitches and medicine. "I decided not to go," he said.

"Both because it's far and because I just simply don't have the funds. "Image source, Brandon Drenon/BBCImage caption, De'Mari Benham believes the state is trying to curb black Alabamians voting rights. "This means a lot," he says.

The Details

It's a common problem. In Tuskegee, a rural Alabama city with less than 9,000 people, over 80% of them African American, nearly one in three people live in poverty. There's no general hospital.

No 24-hour emergency-care clinic. The fire department is where many people go, but the building is not fit for purpose. "We get calls, crazy calls, for all kinds of things," says Dondrell Hopson, the fire department's captain.

"Treating bullet wounds. "When Shomari Figures was elected to the US House of Representatives, becoming the first black person to represent Tuskegee in Congress in modern history - he sought to help. Image source, Brandon Drenon/BBCImage caption, Tuskegee Fire Department Chief Willie Smith says "we need a building".

What Experts Say

Barely a year after his election in 2024, Figures helped secure $1m (£746,885) from the US government to help build a civic centre in Tuskegee. It will serve as a fallout shelter against deadly storms and also house the city's police department and the fire department that came to Benham's aid. But just as federal funds were arriving, the political winds shifted.

This April, the US Supreme Court struck a blow to a part of the Voting Rights Act that had helped give minority voters more representation in Congress. The ruling has allowed Republican-led states across America's South to redraw congressional maps to erase majority-black districts. The changes could help shift the balance of power in Congress in November and either halt or help drive President Donald Trump's agenda for the rest of his presidency.

Some residents and city officials in Tuskegee fear that if Figures loses under a new map, then they will lose out too. "All of our issues, we do depend on federal funding," Tuskegee Mayor Chris Lee said. "It's very important that we have someone who has our back.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.