Republicans were handed the keys to redistricting for the first time since Reconstruction. The result? Republicans increases the number of Black representatives in both chambers. Instead of dysfunction and reliance on a federal court to redraw the lines as previous legislatures, DOJ approved both the Mississippi state Senate and state House redistricting plans put forward by the Republicans without any objection. And, according to this article, there are some very unhappy white Democrats with harsh words towards DOJ as they apparently expected the Voting Rights Act to protect their power.
Dorsey Carson, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully against Denny in 2011,
sent a letter to the Justice Department on Sept. 5, asking it to reject
the redistricting plans. Carson said rural and black voting power would
be weakened in several House and Senate districts. He posted a sarcastic
criticism to Facebook on Friday: “The most racially segregated
Legislative map in Mississippi history has been approved by DOJ: welcome
to a new decade of racial polarization!”
The law of unintended consequences, or, perhaps, the elimination of white politicians was the intent of the Demoncrats when they passed the VRA. I guess they did not intend to eliminate white Demoncrats though. But that was inevitable when the Demoncrats abandoned white voters.
Perhaps all those white Demoncrats should have thought ahead before they supported civil rights candidates like LBJ or JEC. I bet those unhappy Demoncrats also voted for BHO.