Republicans In North Carolina Want To Re-Segregate Their State And Kick Women Out Of Office
There’s a battle being waged in North Carolina right now which, if lost, could mean very bad things for anybody who’s not a white man in that state. The issue at hand is redistricting, the process of redrawing electoral district lines to account for population shifts. As is often the case, the fight over where to draw the boundaries has devolved into quite the partisan clusterfluffernutter.
The Republicans are currently in the majority, and they are trying to maximize their power by redrawing boundaries in their favor. Shocker! But as annoying as it is, it’s a commonplace occurrence during any redistricting—and, in fact, Democrats in North Carolina did something similar ten years ago when they were in control. The difference between then and now, however, is that this time around the GOP is trying to cement their power largely by reducing the influence of black voters and doing away with seats held by women.
If this sounds eerily like something from the last century to you, you’re not alone. According to the Associated Press, earlier this month dozens of people, backed by the Democrats, have filed a lawsuit to challenge the GOP plans, claiming they illegally “cluster black voters in certain districts, split hundreds of voting precincts needlessly, and cross too many county lines.”
The issue of segregation has gotten the most attention, as well it should, because it’s a blatant attempt to load all of the state’s black voters into a small number of districts, thereby limiting their influence to elect candidates statewide. In a joint statement, the Democratic leaders of the state’s Senate and House called them out on it
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