THE COSTUME HAS CHANGED

THEY CALLED FREEDOM SUMMER "COMMUNIST." NOW THEY CALL VOTING RIGHTS "RACE-BASED."

On June 21, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi because they were helping Black people register to vote.

That sentence is the spine of the story.

Not "racial tension." Not "a tragic chapter." Not "both sides." They were doing voting-rights work. The Klan understood that the ballot was power. So did the sheriff's deputy who jailed them, released them, and sent them into a death trap. So did the killers who buried them in an earthen dam. [1]

Sixty-two years later, the costume has changed. The mission has not.

Louisiana v. Callais has become the legal permission slip for a new round of racial power-stripping. The Supreme Court's message is dressed up as "colorblindness," but the real instruction to Southern legislatures is plain: stop using race to repair racial harm, even when race was used to build the harm in the first place.

That is not colorblind justice. That is Jim Crow with cataracts.

Legal scholar W. Kerrel Murray calls the supposed conflict between colorblindness and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act "simply false." Section 2 was built to stop voting systems that deny or weaken voting rights "on account of race or color," and its remedies have long required attention to race because racial discrimination is the injury being repaired. [2]

But the Trump-aligned right has found the perfect hustle: create racial inequality, pretend not to see it, then accuse anyone trying to fix it of being racist.

Mississippi shows the stakes. Reporting says Gov. Tate Reeves may call lawmakers into a redistricting special session after Callais. The likely target: the 52 state Senate districts, 122 state House districts, and four U.S. House districts. The likely objective: limit majority-Black districts in a state where African Americans are nearly 40% of the population. [3]

That is not a technical map exercise. That is a political raid.

The same reporting recalls Mississippi's 2001 redistricting special session, when Democrats failed to agree on a plan after the state lost a congressional seat. Republicans now control the process and are far more likely to get the outcome they want. History is not repeating itself. It is coming back with better software and worse intent. [4]

Tennessee already showed the playbook. Reuters reported that Republicans approved a map dismantling the state's only majority-Black congressional district centered in Memphis, splitting Shelby County across Republican-leaning districts after the Callais ruling. [5]

Los Angeles shows the backlash theater. When local officials reportedly reviewed how race could still be considered in district mapping after Callais, right-wing media branded it a "plot" to "thwart" the Supreme Court. [6] Translation: when conservatives weaponize maps, it is democracy; when cities try to protect fair representation, it is conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris's comments about Supreme Court expansion, D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood, and Electoral College reform have triggered an outrage machine. Gateway Pundit and Dogrupara framed those ideas as system-breaking. [7][8] But here is the uncomfortable question: what do you call a system that lets judges weaken voting rights, lets states slice Black communities apart, and then calls reform "radical"?

Maybe the radical thing is pretending the system is working.

The ballot is not safe because the Court says "colorblind." The ballot is safe when people organize hard enough to make suppression fail.

Watch every special session. Read every map. Fund voting-rights lawsuits. Demand state voting-rights acts. Pack hearings. Train poll watchers. Protect voters from confusion and intimidation.

The men murdered in Mississippi were not killed for symbolism. They were killed because voting rights threatened the racial order.

That is still the issue.

The names have changed. The maps have changed. The machinery has changed.

The fight is the same.

CITATIONS

[1] Mississippi Today reports that James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were killed by more than 20 Klansmen near Philadelphia, Mississippi, after coming to Neshoba County as part of Freedom Summer to register Black voters and investigate a Black church burning.

[2] W. Kerrel Murray's False Conflict: Colorblindness and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act argues that Section 2's supposed conflict with colorblind constitutionalism is "simply false," and explains that Section 2 addresses voting abridgment "on account of race or color" with remedies that have long required attention to race.

[3] Sun Herald / Mississippi Today reporting says Gov. Tate Reeves has indicated he could call a special redistricting session, likely covering state legislative and congressional districts after Callais, and that leaders may try to limit majority-Black districts in a state where African Americans are near 40% of the population.

[4] The same Sun Herald / Mississippi Today piece recounts Mississippi's 2001 redistricting special session after the state lost a congressional seat, noting Democrats could not agree on a plan and that Republicans now hold the majority.

[5] Reuters reports that Tennessee Republicans approved a new congressional map dismantling the state's only majority-Black U.S. House district centered around Memphis, splitting Shelby County into three Republican-leaning districts after Callais.

[6] The New York Post report, syndicated by AOL, describes Los Angeles officials reviewing race consideration in district mapping after Callais and frames it as an effort to "thwart" the Supreme Court's redistricting surge.

[7] Gateway Pundit reported Kamala Harris's comments about exploring Supreme Court expansion, D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood, and Electoral College changes, framing them as a system-breaking agenda.

[8] Dogrupara similarly summarized the Harris controversy as a backlash over Supreme Court expansion, Electoral College reform, and statehood proposals.