The stench of racism is in the air after today’s retrograde decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision came in the case of Bartlett v. Strickland (07-689).
Using the most twisted and absurd rationale of diminishing the impact of racism in “American politics,” the Supreme Court invalidated key African American voting rights in the south granted by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The inevitable result will be to reduce Black representation in Congress and in southern state legislatures, county councils and city councils.
The ruling will redraw or eliminate voting districts that contained a substantial plurality of Black voters. This districting stimulated the formation of voting coalitions with a minority sector of white voters in the district, allowing the election of Black candidates.
The case arose from a lawsuit filed by county officials in southeast North Carolina who contended that a particular voting district was drawn from two adjoining counties so as to constitute a voting district that consisted of 39 percent Black voters. This allowed the Black voters to form a coalition with progressive whites and elect Black candidates in the State Assembly.
The Voting Rights Act created such districts, known as “cross-over districts,” as a way to increase Black representation. The VRA has been the most effective lever at overcoming two centuries of exclusion based on slavery, disenfranchisement, Jim Crow voting laws and extreme racism prevalent in the white population.
Until the passage of the VRA in 1965, local officials concocted endless schemes to deny Black voters the right to participate. Similar racist exclusionary practices continue today, but the VRA has been a tool to counter-act the endless attempts at racist disenfranchisement.
The Supreme Court decision intends to reduce the number of Black elected officials at all levels of government in the south. Today, Justice Anthony Kennedy presented the argument that allowing the Voting Rights Act to be used to protect the impact of Black voters in any district other than those where Black people constitute an absolute majority would “grant special privileges to a minority group’s right to form political coalitions.”
The right-wing racists speak in code language about their intentions. Racism is called anti-racism. Affirmative action for oppressed people is called “racism in reverse.” This calculated choice of words to portray any civil rights for Black people as a form of discrimination against white people was on display today. Justice Kennedy stated that the decision to overturn a key provision enhancing Black representation would “hasten the waning of racism in American politics.”
All progressive forces, from all communities, must unite to mobilize against these attacks. In the name of a so-called “post-racial America,” the racists seek to eliminate civil rights and all affirmative efforts to overcome racism. The reality is that the primacy of institutionalized racism remains a dominant feature of capitalist society—in politics, employment, health care, education and housing. The language of “post-racial America” is designed to mask this reality and provide the racists a political cover.
