Houston NAACP president weighs in on the future of civil rights in America

This program is being brought to you by Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer. Welcome back to the Factor Uncensored. According to the critics out there, over the last year and a half, we've seen the watering down of the Voting Rights Act, equal opportunity, and the decimation of diversity, equity, and inclusion. So we brought in civil rights activist, Bishop James Dixon, to give us the latest on civil rights in America in 2026. And joining us now here on the Factor Uncensored, we have with us Bishop James Dixon, president of the NAACP and civil rights activist ICON, here in the city of Houston. We have seen a change in the winds when it comes to civil rights in this country, beginning in 2025. We have seen the dismantling of part of the Voting Rights Act, equal opportunity, diversity, equity, and inclusion have all become dirty words. And the Justice Department is all but disappeared when it comes to taking action about racism and unfair treatment in this country, according to some, Bishop Dixon. Your thoughts on the future of the civil rights movement and civil rights in general in this country? Well, first of all, let me thank you for such an insightful and timely conversation. Because if there were ever a time we should be addressing this subject, it's right now. And in view of the facts that you just articulated, the Voting Rights Act has been all but gutted. It is on life support, barely hanging on. We look at all of the landmark legislations that were passed, laws that were passed, during the civil rights movement, it's all but gone. Voting Rights Act, you're dealing with the Civil Rights Act, it's on the chat block now. And of course, we're also dealing with DEI, no affirmative action, and the Fair Housing Act. All of these are under attack as we speak. And it is necessary for us to remember that the things that really made the civil rights movement what it was or what it became was changes in the law. Martin Luther King Jr. and his team, his colleagues, were able to leverage public pressure and moral authority to convince then President Johnson, Kennedy, and others to change laws. So we got the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act because these laws changed. The Fair Housing Act, that's a law that changed, that gave us better access to the polls, better access to economic opportunity and educational opportunity. Remember, Brown versus Board of Education, that dealt with a law. We are in an environment now where the Department of Public Ed is under attack and being dismantled, voter rights being dismantled, democracy itself is being dismantled. So the very apparatus that was used to gain these rights and to change these laws, democracy is itself being dismantled. That's what's at stake here. And so the civil rights movement going forward has to take into account, what do you do now if we lose democracy? If we insert what looks like now a regime that's committed to fascism and to a dictatorship, then even democracy itself does not become a tool by which we can regain the rights and the laws that we have lost. Talk about a possible democracy, I'm sorry, dictatorship and authoritarian system. We have Congress in place. So what is Congress doing? Are you asking that? What should Congress be doing now, the checks and balances of the system that made this country great and where we are now? Is it a do nothing Congress? Is it a benign Congress that we're dealing with? Well, certainly we've got to deal with the fact that we've got the midterm elections coming up that's going to make a major difference. If that is the consciousness of Americans to vote this coming November to flip the House and the Senate, then Congress and the Senate gains more teeth. This is a very serious issue because it seems at this point for the most part, this president and this mega regime, this fascist regime has the momentum on their side in terms of the numerical imbalance in the Congress and in the Senate. That has to change. Take a break here, Bishop Dixon, and come right back with you and continue this conversation with Factor Uncensored, where we talk about the state of civil rights in this country. We'll be back with more Factor in just a moment. And welcome back to the Factor Uncensored. We're talking with Bishop James Dixon, president of the NAACP and civil rights activist here in the city of Houston. Many people are asking what will happen to civil rights in the future? One of the things you talked about is there has been a change in this country. And many of the advances that we've seen in civil rights have been rolled back. But when you take a look at, and then you put the blind square light at the feet of the Trump administration. But when you take a look at the election, people voted for President Trump. They said, this is what we want. And do you think they weren't clear? What? Is this America that they wanted because a majority of people voted for President Trump rather than Kamala Harris? I'll tell you what's alarming is that I don't think that Donald Trump is the problem. I think he is a symptom and a manifestation of a problem. The reality is over 70 plus, 7 to 8 million people, I think was voted for this change. And the majority of those people voted for this change because they are looking for any answer. Any answer that enables them to hold on to white male dominance and white male power in this nation. Kamala Harris was a victim of the modern manifestation of systemic racism in America. There is no measurement logically, practically, intellectually by which she should not have won that race. There's just no measurement. Academically, professionally, experientially, judicially, the woman has worked in every way that you can imagine to have proven her capacity, her confidence, and her character. And here we had an individual who had deficits in all of those areas. But the majority of Americans, 70 plus million Americans, voted because even though they knew they could not check those boxes we just named, Isaiah, the one thing Kamala Harris lacked is she was not a white male Protestant face. That's alarming. Also, we saw an increase in the number of black male voters and black Latino, I'm sorry, Latino male voters and black male voters voting for President Trump as well, so. Well, I think that bump in those areas, particularly in the African American community, was absolutely an anomaly. I don't think that that's going to be the case in the future. I think that even with the Latino votes, they now understand. They voted for their own family members to be deported, to be inhumanely treated. The shooting of Lorenzo Segato Araujo here in Houston, the shooting in Maine. Now people are understanding that, wait a minute, this regime really is despotic and dehumanizing people to the point that I don't think that they're going to have the support. In fact, the polls presently show that the majority of Americans don't support the actions of this administration, which is why they fear the outcome of a fair election. Interestingly, of course, the President has already indicated that if these seats are flipped in November, it's because the election was rigged. I mean, they cannot stand the thought of a fair election outcome. So I think that's to our advantage. I don't think we're going to see that same bump in young black men voting for this regime in November, neither Latino vote the same. I think that's going to dissipate. But I think what we do have to be concerned about is how a despotic regime is going to respond should they lose. Now, the bottom line is we've got to all make sure people of conscience and confidence go out to vote.