COLORBLINDNESS

COLORBLINDNESS IS THE NEW LITERACY TEST

The old voter suppression wore a white hood. The new voter suppression wears a black robe and calls itself colorblind.

That is the civic meaning of Louisiana v. Callais. The Supreme Court has taken one of the central tools of the Voting Rights Act and made it easier for states to say: race cannot be considered when repairing racial discrimination. That sounds neutral only if you pretend America was born yesterday.

The National Urban League is right to call out the rot at the center of the decision: bad facts make bad law, and bad law makes bad democracy. Its analysis says Justice Alito's opinion relied on a claim about Black voter turnout that was copied almost verbatim from a Trump administration filing and rested on a misleading calculation that counted people who were not eligible voters. By the standard voting-rights analysts use, Black turnout in Louisiana has trailed white turnout in every election since at least 2012. [1]

That matters because the Court is not just making theory. It is moving power. A false story about racial progress becomes a legal excuse to dismantle racial remedies.

This is how white supremacy survives in a "race-neutral" age. First, it creates segregated housing, segregated schools, racial wealth gaps, unequal policing, unequal health, and racially polarized voting. Then, when Black voters seek a district where their ballots can actually elect someone, power says: Why are you bringing up race?

That is not colorblindness. That is evidence suppression.

Legal scholar W. Kerrel Murray calls the supposed conflict between colorblindness and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act false. Section 2 was built to stop election systems that deny or abridge voting rights "on account of race or color," and remedies for those violations have long required courts and mapmakers to understand race because racial discrimination is the problem being repaired. [2]

The Trump-era right wants America to believe repair is racism. That is the lie. Repair is not racism. Repair is what a constitutional democracy owes after centuries of targeted harm.

Now the fallout is spreading. Mississippi Today reports Gov. Tate Reeves has indicated he could call a special session on redistricting after Callais, and that state leaders may try to reduce majority-Black districts in a state where African Americans are nearly 40% of the population. [3] That is not abstract. That is Black political power on the chopping block.

The same Mississippi Today column reminds us that Mississippi's 2001 redistricting fight ended in court after the Legislature deadlocked, with Republicans eventually getting a favorable federal ruling and Chip Pickering later defeating Democrat Ronnie Shows. History is not repeating. It is updating its software. [4]

Meanwhile, states are trying to fill the federal vacuum. News From The States reports that ten states already have their own state-level voting-rights laws, while at least nine more introduced such bills this year. These laws can prohibit voter intimidation and vote dilution, require preclearance for some local changes, and protect state and local elections, though they do not govern congressional maps. [5]

That tells us the battlefield is splitting in two. Federal courts are narrowing the Voting Rights Act. State lawmakers and organizers are trying to build backup engines before the plane loses altitude.

And Los Angeles shows another front: local officials are reportedly reviewing whether race may still be considered in district mapping after Callais. [6] The right calls that a "plot." But when states rush to erase Black voting power, and cities rush to preserve fair representation, only one side is plotting against democracy.

The question now is simple: will America let "colorblindness" become the new literacy test?

Because a rule that says government cannot see race while racial harm is still shaping maps, ballots, schools, wealth, policing, and power is not neutrality. It is a blindfold placed on justice so injustice can keep working.

Callais is not the end. It is the alarm.

Check your district. Watch your legislature. Fund voting-rights lawsuits. Demand state voting-rights acts. Pack redistricting hearings. Treat every map like a civil-rights document.

The ballot is not safe because the Court says democracy. The ballot is safe when organized people make democracy too costly to steal.

CITATIONS

[1] National Urban League argues that Callais rests on misleading turnout data, including a claim it says was copied from a Trump administration filing, and says voting-eligible-population data show Black Louisiana turnout has trailed white turnout since at least 2012.

[2] The Race, Racism and the Law excerpt of W. Kerrel Murray's article says Section 2's supposed conflict with colorblind constitutionalism is "simply false," and explains that Section 2 remedies have long required attention to race because the statute addresses voting abridgment "on account of race or color."

[3] Mississippi Today reports that Gov. Tate Reeves has indicated he could call a redistricting special session, and that state leaders may seek to limit majority-Black districts in a state where African Americans are near 40% of the population.

[4] Mississippi Today recounts Mississippi's 2001 redistricting special session, legislative deadlock, court fight, favorable federal ruling for Republicans, and the later Pickering victory over Shows.

[5] News From The States reports that ten states have their own voting-rights laws, at least nine more introduced bills this year, and such state laws can address voter intimidation, vote dilution, and some preclearance issues while not applying to congressional elections.

[6] The AOL item appears to syndicate a New York Post report; the original New York Post search result describes Los Angeles officials reviewing race consideration in district mapping after the Supreme Court redistricting ruling.