Nonilex

#GiftArticle

A Shocking Betrayal of #Black Americans

by Mara Gay

The dismantling of Black political #power in the South is a great betrayal, & its effects will ripple through our #democracy.

#RepresentationMatters #SouthernStrategy #JimCrow #law #ElectionLaw #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #VRA #redistricting #elections #USpol #Trump #Republicans #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/opinion/voting-rights-act-black-voters-south.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oVA.qSCM.vEpY9cDXlL3Z&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Opinion | The Betrayal of Black Voters Threatens Our Democracy

The sweeping effort to dismantle Black-majority congressional districts in the South will have far-reaching consequences for all Americans, and for our democracy.

The New York Times
11:48amWeb
Show threadNonilex14h ago

#Black Americans have carried extraordinary burdens in the #UnitedStates, not only to exercise their own rights but also to make the country a #democracy. The #VotingRightsAct, passed in 1965 & strengthened in the decades that followed, had protected them from #RacialGerrymandering that divided them across multiple districts to blunt the impact of their votes. This was just one of a multitude of tactics Southern officials used to limit Black #suffrage & stifle competition during #JimCrow.

#law

Show threadNonilex14h ago
In more recent years, an increasingly ideological #SCOTUS began issuing rulings that weakened the #VRA. On April 29, SCOTUS’ 6–3 conservative majority eviscerated much of what was left of the #law, effectively saying that the #legislation Americans marched, bled & died for decades ago was no longer necessary. Congressional maps that diminish the #Black #vote are now acceptable, acc/to the court, so long as state lawmakers *say* they are drawing them on the basis of partisan advantage & not race.
Show threadNonilex14h ago

The suggestion that partisan #gerrymandering has nothing to do with race is fantastical. It ignores the defining role of #race & #racism in shaping partisan affiliation in the #US. For instance, the embrace of the #CivilRights movement by the national #DemocraticParty is, acc/to many historians, the main reason so many white Southerners became #Republicans in the second part of the 20th century, a phenomenon known as realignment.

#SouthernStrategy #JimCrow #law #SCOTUS #VotingRights

Show threadNonilex14h ago

Since #SCOTUS’ April ruling, largely #white #Republican-led legislatures across the #South have moved to dismantle #Black political #power at stunning speed, breaking apart voting blocs at the urging of a failing president desperate to keep control of #Congress in this fall’s midterm #elections.

#RepresentationMatters #SouthernStrategy #JimCrow #law #ElectionLaw #ActivistCourt #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #VRA #redistricting #elections #USpol #Trump #Republicans #WhiteSupremacy

Show threadNonilex14h ago
The redrawing of these maps is almost certain to sharply reduce the number of #Black Americans serving in the US #House & could critically diminish the ability of Black voters & millions of other Americans to elect candidates of their choice. At the same time, they will become less able to hold the elected ofcls who come to represent them accountable. #Redistricting has already happened in Tennessee, Louisiana & Alabama. Lawmakers plan to redistrict in Georgia & Mississippi for future elections.
Show threadvolkris12h ago

@Nonilex

The Supreme Court went the exact other way, in their ruling emphasizing that race is a factor in this gerrymandering.

The state of play is absolutely not that partisan gerrymandering has nothing to do with race. SCOTUS explicitly included that as a factor.

But, while they don't ignore the role of race, you overemphasize it. Defining roles have limited impact as the things move forward from their defining moments.

That's the reality we're grappling with, and that we've been grappling with, the pushback against such reductionist thinking.

Show threadFlash Mob Of One14h ago

@Nonilex Unfortunately, this is nothing new. The VRA has been incrementally gutted for the last two decades across presidencies and Congresses by both ruling parties.

The real bummer is that the only recourse people have is local, usually in one's own state. That is how successfully bought-off all of our federal legislators are.

Show threadGrassroots Joe14h ago

@Nonilex

In their Shadow Docket ruling overturning the Alabama District Court panel ruling requiring the state use the Court’s map with 2 majority minority districts because the state intended to racially discriminate, they eliminated even this fig leaf.
They have not just murdered the VRA, they have erased the 14th Amendment.
https://journa.host/@chrisgeidner/116686462247272829

Chris Geidner (@[email protected])

Overnight, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Republican appointees made it all but impossible to successfully challenge any redistricting map for diluting the votes of or even intentionally discriminating against minority voters. Read all about it at Law Dork: https://www.lawdork.com/p/scotus-alabama-colorblind-redistricting

Journa.host