House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) joined the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP Tuesday in demanding that black athletes boycott Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities in states that pursued redistricting. 

Jeffries argued state universities in the SEC – the NCAA’s top conference for college athletics – haven’t done enough to counter the largely successful Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts to boost the GOP ahead of the midterm elections.   

“This is an unprecedented moment, featuring an unprecedented attack on black political representation, and therefore it requires an unprecedented response,” Jeffries said during a press conference on Capitol Hill. 

“We are here standing in solidarity with NAACP in its call for athletes to boycott institutions within the SEC that belong to states that have unleashed these Jim Crow-like racially oppressive tactics, which is unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American,” the New York Democrat continued. “And we believe that the silence of these institutions is complicity, and we will not stand for it.” 

Texas, Missouri, Florida and Tennessee have all redrawn their congressional maps and faced criticism for dismantling minority-majority districts. 

Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina are also expected to pursue redistricting in response to a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month that outlawed states from drawing congressional districts along racial lines.

“These universities should feel compelled to speak up … because it’s the right thing to do,” Jeffries argued. 

“And for us to get through this moment of backlash and usher in a new era of progress, as has been done by generations in the past, it’s going to require character, it’s going to require courage and it’s going to require conviction,” the Democratic leader continued. “This is a Bill Russell moment. It’s a Muhammad Ali moment. And it’s a Jackie Robinson moment.

“And we’re going to stand together to make sure we bring about the type of country that the African American community deserves and that everyone in the United States of America deserves.” 

Jeffries said the initiative to “push back aggressively against the racial gerrymandering that has taken place” will be called “Project 42,” a nod to Brooklyn Dodgers star Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947.