SCOTUS Contemplates Colorblind Redistricting, While Race Still Redlines Everything Else
MSNBC's 'Chris Jansing Reports' covers the Supreme Court hearing arguments on whether states can factor race into drawing congressional maps. The segment, like much mainstream coverage, navigates the delicate tightrope of discussing racial equity without mentioning the actual systemic racism that necessitated these considerations in the first place. This isn't about states suddenly 'considering'
race; it's about whether they can fix the lines that have been racially gerrymandered since the ink dried on the 15th Amendment. The very Voting Rights Act of 1965, a target of this court's erosion, was born from a recognition that race wasn't 'considered,' but weaponized to disenfranchise. One might wonder why we’re debating whether to acknowledge race in mapmaking when race has always been the
primary determinant of who gets power and who gets ignored. The court has been quite adept at seeing race when it dismantles affirmative action, but suddenly finds it 'problematic' when it might empower minority voters.