The Arc of Justice Bends Toward the South

This week, history was made in Mississippi, and it’s been a long time coming. Scott Colom and the people of Mississippi broke through decades of voter suppression and disenfranchisement to elect the state’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.

Mississippi is a state where generations of Black Americans have been denied the right to vote and where activists, including Jewish Americans, sacrificed their lives demanding equality. The struggle for civil rights in Mississippi helped change the course of our nation, and this moment serves as a testament to generations of Americans who fought for voting rights so the promise of American democracy can be a reality for everyone.

As a Jewish American inspired by the activism of the civil rights movement, I am reminded of our continued responsibility to defend our democracy by this victory. The history of racial discrimination in Mississippi makes this moment especially powerful, and reminds us that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it does indeed bend toward justice.

In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi after being accused of offending a white woman. His mother’s courageous decision to show the world what had been done to her son helped galvanize the civil rights movement. Eight years later, Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP field secretary who launched the investigation into and brought national attention to Till’s murder, was assassinated outside his home in Jackson.

These were not isolated acts of violence. They were part of a system of racial terror and disenfranchisement designed to deny Black Americans their fundamental rights. Yet Black Mississippians continued to organize. They registered voters, challenged segregation, and refused to be denied their rights as Americans. 

Their courage and action inspired others from across the country to join them, including some Jewish Americans who understood the importance of fighting for a democracy that protected all of its citizens. In 1964, three civil rights workers – James Chaney, a Black Mississippian, and Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, two Jewish Americans – traveled to Mississippi to investigate the burning of a Black church. They were murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan and became a symbol of the fight for equality.

Black Americans led and sustained the civil rights movement in order to fulfill the promise of American democracy. Jewish Americans who joined the civil rights movement stood alongside them, as their freedom and dignity were under attack. Their shared legacy shows what it means to truly defend democracy, and that is what makes this moment so powerful.

Colom’s victory demonstrates what’s possible when generations of Americans demand that democracy include everyone. It shows what’s possible when the Supreme Court upholds a Mississippi law allowing ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted. It also shows what’s possible when we fight to ensure every single vote is counted. 

This history carries particular resonance today for Jewish Americans. Polling from the 2026 midterms shows that 44% of Jewish Americans identified democracy as a top issue when voting, higher than any other issue. Jewish Americans understand the importance of living in a country where fundamental rights are protected, where minorities aren’t marginalized, and where the government is accountable to the people it represents. 

The Jewish Americans who marched, organized, and risked their lives during the civil rights movement demonstrated that defending our values requires action, solidarity, and a willingness to stand up for the rights of others.

Scott Colom’s historic victory reminds us that progress does not happen on its own. It is built through the determination of people who believe their country can live up to its highest ideals, even when the obstacles and political realities seem insurmountable.

Today, we honor the sacrifices not only by remembering what they accomplished, but by carrying their commitment to democracy forward.

Join and support JDCA’s movement to defend democracy today, tomorrow, in the next election, and for generations to come.

Shabbat Shalom,
Sam Crystal
Chief of Staff & COO, Jewish Democratic Council of America