A silver lining?
Why was Newt Gingrich so BEHIND expanding The Voting Rights Act into majority-minority districts a generation ago?
What we’re usually forgetting is the history of The Voting Rights Act since Newt Gingrich is that jamming all heavily Dem voting Blacks (or other minorities) into a single district makes all the surrounding districts much more likely to go GOP. And --- apparently -- is a factor in Blacks, and other minorities, turning out to vote LESS than whites.
Gingrich understood this phenomena in the 1990s when he pushed the minority-majority districts as Speaker of the House. Gingrich, of course, was a hard-right GOP congressman, from Georgia.
My town which is half-black is a Dem stronghold in a GOP congressional district yet only 53 percent of registered voters turned out in our last state-wide election with 89 percent of them voted Democrat. Just the 16,915 registered voters (not including the thousands of eligibles who are not registered) in my town who did not vote was almost DOUBLE the 2010 loss of our present (likely) Dem candidate for congress over the entire congressional district!
Removing those minority-majority districts might have the opposite effect than what we all fear. Hopefully...
Minorities, young people, FREAKING vote! Every election! Every time! Understand that your vote does indeed count and recognize that if it didn’t, the GOP would not be doing so much to steal your right to vote!
Democrats: Get into minority issues. Communicate with minorities. Talk with the young. Do the hard -- off campaign season -- work of talking with minorities, finding the issues, the ideas, the realities which concern minorities and young people. Look for, and act upon, new ways of communicating. Yes, use electronics. But realize that there are also very old-fashioned methods of communication which allow for more reach and frequency into those hard-to-find/identify/communicate with non-voters.
Press Robinson, plaintiff in Voting Rights Act case, fears what’s next - The Washington Post
AI Overview
Summary is AI-generated, newsroom-reviewed.
Press Robinson, a civil rights activist, reflects on the impact of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and its recent limitations by the Supreme Court. The ruling could reduce Black political representation, particularly in the South. Robinson, who fought for Black-majority districts, fears a rollback of progress made since the VRA’s enactment in 1965.
Read the full article for more on:
The historical significance of the Voting Rights Act and its impact on Black political power.
How recent Supreme Court decisions could reshape political representation in the South.
Personal stories of activism and the fight for racial equality in the U.S.