Racist Gerrymandering in Alabama: A Challenge to Fair Representation

A sign that says "racism is a pandemic" in an article about racist gerrymandering.

Republicans nationwide are hell-bent on preventing black people from voting using racist gerrymandering. They’re also trying to prevent their black constituents in various states from being represented in Congress.

Gerrymandering And The Black Vote

Gerrymandering is the manipulation of electoral district boundaries to benefit a particular political party or group. In this case, the Republican party.

It can affect the black vote by diluting the political power of black communities, often by packing them into a few districts. This leads to their votes being wasted. This can undermine fair representation and disproportionately impact the black vote.

It’s Happening In Alabama

In the state of Alabama, legislatures drew their congressional maps, and they got sued over it. They rammed all the black people into one district. The Republican state legislature said, “No, we’re only giving you one.”

They got sued for that. The Supreme Court was like, yeah, you can’t do that. That’s racist gerrymandering. You’re not allowed to do that. Go back, redraw your maps, and have at least two predominantly African-American districts.

Alabama went back and drew their maps basically in the same way. There’s only one district, and was like, “Nope, that’s all we’re doing.”

So, the federal panel of judges struck down that second map. They were troubled by the Alabama legislators ignoring the United States Supreme Court.

The court has since assigned a special master to draw Alabama’s congressional map for the 2024 election cycle, a decision that Republican Secretary of State Wes Allen immediately appealed.

Republicans Are Aggressively Taking Away Voter Rights

Republicans in 2023 have no respect for voting, elections, or the courts. Look what they’re doing to the Supreme Court in Wisconsin. Over a million Wisconsinites voted for the new Justice Judge Janet Protasiewicz.

During her campaign, she said, “We’re going to need to relook at the gerrymandering in this state.” It’s not fair. And so Republicans will try to impeach her before she even hears a single case.

They will nullify the votes of more than a million Wisconsin constituents. Why? So they can keep their gerrymandered districts and so that they can keep their jobs. Republicans do not care about voting, elections, or the courts. That’s where we’re at.

Keep fighting.