Nonilex15h ago

#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
Show threadNonilex15h 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 threadNonilex15h 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 threadNonilex15h 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 threadNonilex15h 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 threadNonilex
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.
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