The death of voting rights.

 

"Neither love nor evil conquers all, but evil cheats more" ~Laurell K. Hamilton~ 

The United States Supreme court ruled recently that gerrymandering is cool if it's done for political reasons. And, if it just so happens that black voting rights are diluted or weakened, so be it. In other words, race is no longer a thing in America. Old white Southern men are not racist anymore. The court's majority argues that there must be some sign of intentional discrimination to trigger any type of civil rights protections.         

The latest ruling from Donald Trump's court stems from a court case in Louisiana, where they said that it was cool for Louisiana to dismantle a second predominantly black voting district, because it was racist. Keep in mind that a third of Louisiana's population is black, and, as of now, only two of their six congressional seats belong to an African American. This will soon change to one, as the seat created in 2024 to give blacks more voting power in Louisiana has been essentially wiped out by the court. 

Of course as soon as Mr. Trump's court struck down Louisiana's congressional map, the Louisiana state senate wasted no time in constructing a plan that would eliminate the majority black district now being represented by Cleo Fields. And just to be transparent, Cleo Fields is a friend and old classmate of mine, and he cares deeply about the people he serves in the state of Louisiana, so watching this travesty unfold really hits home.  The court is saying you can discriminate and gerrymander for political but not racial reasons, but sadly, in Southern states like Louisiana, you cannot separate the two.  

When it comes to being black in America; it's always one step forward, and two steps back.  America is still not willing to view us as equals, or allow us to exercise our hard earned right to vote in a way that benefits us. The dilemma is, of course, that the only way to change and dismantle the system in place is to vote out the folks who are in power. The folks who are at this time in our history, doing everything humanly possible to make sure that our votes are weakened. 

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was the signature achievement of the civil rights movement. Before the VRA was passed, about 24% of blacks were registered to vote, and just a couple of years after the passing of the act, black voter registration more than tripled. But along came Mr. Trump's court, and they have been attacking and dismantling it, with one ruling after another.  Much to the delight of white Southerners, many of whom did not believe that blacks should have had the right to vote in the first place.

House Speaker, Mike Johnson, had this to say: " The Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion and they stated the obvious: that drawing congressional lines must be fair, you cannot draw lines on the basis of race.... This brings back fairness and certainty to the system". By "certainty", of course, he means that we are making sure that certain folks don't have a vote, and only certain people will hold that power over them.