The legacy of Jim Crow has endured all through the South and Midwest by means of racist redistricting efforts supposed to dilute the voting energy of Black constituents. Tennessee’s redistricting efforts have confronted scrutiny over the previous couple of years, significantly in Fayette County. Whereas lawsuits over racist redistricting maps haven’t at all times labored out, a lawsuit filed by the NAACP over Fayette County’s redistricting map was dismissed this week as a result of the Redistricting Committee really did the appropriate factor.
In accordance with the Tennessee Lookout, the dismissal got here after Fayette County submitted a brand new map that falls in accordance with the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Structure. The NAACP initially filed its lawsuit in February, alleging that Fayette County’s redistricting efforts had been designed “no less than partially with the intent to racially discriminate in opposition to Black voters.”
From Tennessee Lookout:
The Tennessee Comptroller’s native redistricting information requires county legislative our bodies to think about minority illustration when redistricting. Black voters make up greater than 25% of Fayette County’s inhabitants, however the 19-member county fee is totally white. The lawsuit acknowledged that the fee selected an electoral map in 2021 that diluted the facility of Black voters to elect candidates of their selection.
The fee authorized a redistricting plan that had no majority-minority districts — rejecting different plans that included districts with majority Black voting age populations — in opposition to the recommendation of out of doors authorized counsel and the fee’s personal redistricting committee.
The U.S. Justice Division sued the Fayette County Board of Commissioners in January, additionally alleging that the board’s adoption of the 2021 map violated the Voting Rights Act.
Majority Black districts are one of many massive sticking factors in redistricting efforts. Republicans throughout the nation appear to hate these, contemplating how typically their redistricting efforts reduce, if not outright take away, majority Black districts. That is executed to dilute our voting energy and forestall Democrats from taking key seats in state legislatures. One want solely take a look at Louisiana, the place a redistricting map together with eight majority Black districts was struck down by the Republican-led state legislature.
Fayette County’s Redistricting Committee reconvened in April to assemble a map with “a minimum of two majority minority districts.” By June, Fayette County’s Redistricting Committee unanimously authorized a brand new map that features three majority Black, single-member districts. The map will probably be used through the 2026 midterm elections.
“This passage of the brand new map isn’t just a victory for Black voters, but in addition a victory for Fayette County,” Christine Woods, one of many plaintiffs within the lawsuit, acknowledged in a press launch. “I’m excited in regards to the new map and sit up for the upcoming elections that can happen below a good map. It is a nice alternative for Black voters to get out and make our voices heard in order that we’ve equal illustration on the County Fee.”
Redistricting has lengthy been a supply of controversy in Tennessee. Throughout the 2022 midterms, Tennessee’s redistricting efforts resulted in a whole bunch of votes solid for the flawed races. These errors typically occurred in Black communities, because the state’s district map was gerrymandered by the GOP in an try to remove a Democratic seat.
The NAACP filed a federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s redistricting efforts, claiming it was an try to dilute Black constituents’ voting energy. The case was thrown out after the Supreme Court docket’s ruling on South Carolina’s demonstrably racist voting map set “new, substantial and unjust requirements to show racial gerrymandering,” in line with the NAACP.
Given the historical past of Tennessee’s redistricting efforts and the authorized pitfalls that usually come up when attempting to problem racist redistricting maps, I’m each glad and stunned the Fayette County Redistricting Committee really did the appropriate factor for its Black voters.
SEE ALSO:
Redistricting: Majority Black Voting Maps Rejected In Louisiana
Texas Appeals Court docket To Rule On Racist Redistricted Map