In Republican states, congressional districts are being redrawn to exclude Black votes

~ Louis Further ~

With the usual anarchist caveat that the main concern about elections is to prevent things form getting worse, we should be alarmed at a ruling by the US Supreme Court at the end of April.

It struck down, as illegal, measures taken to redraw voting districts in Louisiana to reflect the racial make-up of the state more closely… the sizes and locations of black and white districts should reflect the percentages of black and white voters there as closely as possible.

Progressive specialists, commenting after the ruling was announced, persuasively suggested that it effectively removes, overwrites or neuters (key) provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Supreme Court’s Chief Justice, John Roberts, is known to have been working all his life to undo the attempts at racial justice which the Voting Rights Act has represented since successes of the Civil Rights era nearly 60 years ago.

So this change – and the scramble to redraw other voting districts to give (greater) power to the Right – in some ways moves the US back half a century to the status quo when doctrines of white supremacy insisted that non-whites really should not vote. One possible result of the ruling – based on faulty logic anyway – could well be the disappearance of black representatives from Congress and the virtual elimination of black votes opposed to Trump/MAGA and future right-leaning governance.

What’s worse, the ruling in Louisiana (where residents may soon be jailed for being un-housed if a new bill passes) has much wider implications. It makes it harder – if not impossible – to challenge gerrymandering of voting districts to the detriment of racial minorities.

Other states are quickly (in some cases extremely quickly – in a matter of hours) taking the same racist initiative effectively to exclude black voters and diminish both the power of black candidates and the numbers or very presence of black congresspeople. One such state was Florida, a leading purveyor of fascist rhetoric and propaganda: its own lawmakers and governor are rewriting history for students by offering courses devoid of discussion of racism, equality and diversity; ironically, these are touted as designed to prevent indoctrination.

Another state aiming to eliminate black voting (it’s happening almost daily) was Alabama – thanks, again, to the Supreme Court, which now sees its role as a backer of MAGA/Trump, instead of interpreting the law of the land.

Put another way, race is no longer allowed to be considered as a valid factor when addressing issues affecting elections which are based on… race.

Judges who oppose this kind of racism are increasingly being sacked by Trump, while more broadly rulings from the courts are increasingly being ignored by the cult.

Members of fascist militias, on the other hand, are being formally exonerated; other fascist and supremacist organisations are encouraged and helped through Trump’s social media posts. Also of note is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) itself reports that those it kidnaps (mostly non-whites blatantly and emphatically described on the ICE website as the ‘WORST OF THE WORST’) are dying in custody at a rate greater than one a week. The extrajudicial murder of sailors in neutral and US coastal waters continues – and has reached almost 200.

Meanwhile progressive groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center are being attacked with spurious law suits designed to bankrupt them; the same kind of vindictive moves are happening as, for instance, the FBI has come after ‘The Atlantic’ magazine and its respected journalists for exposing the wildly inappropriate conduct of FBI Director, Kash Patel; and other media for their coverage of the war against Iran.

Is it any wonder that Trump still has a following when those broadly favourable to the MAGA cult read and uncritically imbibe nonsense like this, from earlier this week – part of his latest worryingly uninhibited tirade of lies and rants.

Environment

A new bill introduced last month in Congress would, if passed (which is perhaps now in doubt for the moment), severely curtail or remove key provisions of the Endangered Species Act, and threatens the survival of numerous creatures and wildlife. But Trump’s dismissal of every member of the National Science Board, whose purpose is to advise lawmakers on matters of scientific and engineering, goes ahead.

It emerged last week that Trump and his gang are putting in place orders and relaxed rules in parks, refuges and wilderness areas that will facilitate animal abuse and death. The protections currently afforded to species, plant and animal, will be diminished and/or diluted in favour of cattle grazing (leading to animals’ abuse and murder), ‘fishing’ and hunting. More death, more destruction, more damage. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stated the basis for the now being implemented change earlier this year, “The Department’s policy is clear: public and federally managed lands should be open to hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented, and legally supported exception applies.”

Image: Laketa M. Smith at the Louisiana Senate, 14 May 2026. Photo by Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator CC BY-ND