The GOP Is Work Hard to Diminish Black Voting Power

Through legislation and the redistricting wars, Republicans are doing everything they can to weaken the power of the Black vote.

(Envato)

American history is rife with examples of Black people making gains, making progress and gaining power, and white conservatives snatching it from them to maintain white supremacy. Today, the GOP under Trump is working in earnest to diminish Black voting power on the federal, state and local level, and erase Blackness from political, civic and economic life. As Trump drowns out most of the noise with his drama and antics, these are the battles people are not seeing.

The move by Louisiana GOP lawmakers to eliminate the position of Calvin Duncan—a Black elected official in New Orleans—is a case in point.

Duncan won the election for Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Clerk in November, winning with 68% of the vote, and was sworn in on April 21. A wrongfully convicted man who spent 28 years in prison for a murder and armed robbery he didn’t commit, Duncan—who is set to assume office May 4—was exonerated, became a lawyer, ran for elected office and won. His victory prompted the Louisiana legislature to propose a bill that would eliminate Duncan’s elected position. The legislation would merge the positions of Orleans criminal district court clerk and Orleans civil district court clerk—a role currently held by Chelsey Richard Napoleon, a Black woman—to form a single office called Orleans district court clerk. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry plans to sign the bill into law.

While Louisiana is on the frontlines of the war on Black voters, the battles to weaken Black political power are being waged across the country. In the shadow of the redistricting war between red and blue states, red states are exploiting this opportunity to wipe out Black voting power. This is what white supremacy looks like when implemented as policy. Unable to win by sheer numbers and faced with changing demographics, the MAGA GOP has convinced itself that white people are an endangered species and victims of a conspiracy to replace them with melanated folks. Their only strategy to win is thievery and deception, which is what colonizers do. And Black voting power—which has taken decades to build since the Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965—may take many more years to rebuild once it is stolen.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to gut Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which provides redistricting protections that provide Black people the opportunity to elect representatives of their choice. The case before the court, Louisiana v. Callais, involves the redistricting of Louisiana’s congressional map after a group of white voters—now listed in court filings as “non-African Americans”—claimed that using race as a factor to draw district maps discriminated against them. The court’s ruling, expected in June, could imperil 15 House seats currently held by Black members of Congress.