The Supreme Court's redistricting ruling last week has unleashed a Jim Crow fury by Southern legislators to deny the voice of Black voters and ensure continuing economic failure
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it — always.” - Gandhi
Didn’t the good guys win the Civil War? Have I misread a page in my history book?
Redistricting efforts may be prettied up with language of law, courts, and other anemic descriptions. But if we use our magnifying glass, we are able to see a replay of that despicable period.
So redistricting has replaced the Klan and entrenched racism? Brainless Republicans believe that moving voters like chess pieces is all that is needed to assure their party’s wins.
Forget fresh policies that would give all Southerners -- despite color and philosophy -- access to an equal chance to vote, prosper, and live happily ever after.
It appears Jim Crow has risen from the grave, dusted off its dirt --that should’ve remained attached -- and with chutzpah, is attempting to rise and conquer fairness.
Sadly, I believe that for some vindictive and unredeemable Southerners, people of color will continue to be in the crosshairs of many of their cruel crowd. Diversity, equity and inclusion, while a beacon of light and hope for all decent Americans, has become too hard to swallow for Southerners . Sadly, their throats are already crammed with racism, jealousy, and other undigested dogmas.
When we allow racism to rear its ugly head, we all lose. Lower wages and opportunities reduce the tax base, that hurts ALL americans. It’s drives up costs and lowers morale.
Plain and simple this is a new Jim Crow. I am sick to death by this crap. If you wanted to drag this country down, this is one way of doing it.
How to respond? By making sure we speak out, and more importantly to treat all citizens with the pride and dignity they so richly deserve.
Four of the secessionist States wrote in their declaration of secession that the reason for their attempt to leave the United States was was that their white privileged economies depended on slavery. Eight generations after the surrender at Appomattox the undercurrent of racism and attempts to continue the political war between the slave and free States are still obvious. We are a single nation, a melting pot in name only. The continuous unrest, violence and chaos will continue until we recognize this truth ad tell the discontent to go elsewhere and let the majority of us continue moving toward a true democracy. These separatists do not realize that without the generous support of eight States that pay more into the federal treasury than they get back in benefits, the other 42 would lose the federal subsidies of infrastructure, FEMA emergency relief, military and social benefits that permit their current levels of prosperity.
Our family lived in Nashville during my teenage years, so I saw a lot of this racism up close…and realized that it goes hand-in-hand with antisemitism. We were in the minority on both counts. However, my mother worked hard to become president of the League of Women Voters and to try to crack the polite veneer that protected Nashville society. She was an art collector and staunch supporter of Cheekwood, a lovely venue for art. She supported the efforts of Al Gore and his father, and was hopeful that Democratic voices would eventually prevail. But my father made it possible for all of us to live without ever worrying about finances. We lived a life of white privilege. I distinctly remember my mother driving our maid, Arlette, home one afternoon. For the first time in my young life, I caught a glimpse of how racially and economically divided Nashville was. My best friend’s father called me his “Little Hebrew”. I did not realize it then, but I do now, what an antisemitic slur that was.
She would be heartbroken today, as am I, to see what her beloved Nashville has become…the seat of injustice, racial gerrymandering and outright discrimination. How far we have fallen as a country…and how angry it makes me to see a city like Nashville and a state like Tennessee embrace its regressive past.
A stirring & tragic personal history in just a few paragraphs. One quote from the Machiavellian schemer Henry Kissinger comes to mind. Asked by a despairing colleague "what's the solution" to never-ending Mideast violence, Kissinger responded, "there is no solution. We just have to keep working on it." I am no fan of Kissinger, but I gotta say that this direct and crystal clear declaration still strikes me as brilliant in its simplicity and underlying vow of human persistence. I wonder whether I'm just dumbfounded by the obvious, but inspiration can emerge from some unexpected quarters, so let me just redeploy the concept/quote here. MAYBE it will strike a chord with other readers.
THANKS for your comment & sketch of your life story. Among many other things, you evoke another plaintive reminder to "choose your parents well".
What if Blue states just started a massive recruitment and incentive program for Southern Black and Brown people? I know, I know. Roots and all that. But if you are not wanted in a place, are deeply exploited and wronged there, your prospects are near zero, what have you got to lose? The Great Migration of 1910-1970 saw six million disaffected and disenfranchised people of color move to the North and the West. They settled there. Got union jobs. Made homes and families. One of their progenitors became president of the United States. Opportunity. Inclusion. Community. Happiness. What's not to like? I think a Democrat-led master plan for all the Red state Southern Blacks and Browns to get the hell out of where they are not wanted, would solve the problem. That way the only neck racists could plant a foot on would be their own.
There's *a lot* not to like about this idea. The North of today is not the North of the post-New Deal decades. Neither is the South: the white Southern-state governments are reacting against the progress that's been made since the mid/late '60s -- not enough progress, to be sure, but progress nonetheless. And don't forget: the civil rights movement started among Black people in the U.S. South.
Since then the whole country has been undermined by Reaganomics and subsequent Supreme Court decisions, especially Citizens United (2010, not coincidentally the year of the Tea Party election). Racist and "anti-modernity" white people have provided the votes that corporations and the über-wealthy lack. And too many Northerners, especially the white ones, and extra-especially the ones in Congress, haven't paid enough attention.
Interesting idea, but this would likely set off a backlash of "white flight" from those states with increased numbers of black and brown. But that's another discussion.
Is a person who is considered a racist or a bigot ever going to change his or her stripes? Or are they the masters of keeping our nation destabilized? By doing nothing positive in this regard they channel their hatred through successive generations making improvements nearly impossible. This type of behavior casts a pall on our beautiful nation and until enlightened leadership steps forward we will continue this reverse spiral to the pre-Civil War era. This movement is unsustainable and will only yield pain and suffering to everyone.
Such an accurate description of the ultimate outcome of hatred on the hater. Boot on the neck. But will they ever see what they are doing to themselves and their state and their country? Hope persists.
Thanks Steven: On the outside looking in is seems the red southern states are less educated, paid at a lower standard , despise unions, It seems like the Civil War never ended. Racism and bigotry is the norm.
Steven, I’d be very surprised if TDump gave a care about Racism in the true sense of the word. It just happens to be the current weapon of choice to continue to drive dissension and confusion as wedges in among Americans. Primarily to protect his corrupt, illegal activities/regime but also to dissipate any cohesive action to challenge him! As well as, to Gin up his equally corrupt, self serving base. His primary target…disrupt the Midterms…because if he loses his Party’s majority position he may well be doomed! Of course, with our ”Bastardized” and complicit SCOTUS and the dysfunctional Congress…that’s a “Toss-up” as well.”
As I write this “comment” to your Substack Post I’m receiving flash notifications of Protests to the obscene political maneuvering in the South. Who knows where this may eventually lead us!
This is an excellent thread of reader comments, and completely troll-free (the best reason to have a "gated community" paywall, I guess). The idea of a deliberate black exodus from the still-depraved south has a lot of problems BUT I really like the "what if" alternate-reality whiteboard moonshot thinking it exemplifies. Tragically, most human partitions turn into gigantic disasters, India & Pakistan and our own Trail of Tears comes to mind up front.
The idea of abandoning the south as forced "shock therapy" to the ruling class Confederates has a lot of rueful appeal, I admit. Especially after seeing the overfed doughboy Cletuses in the TN legislature gleefully strut & swagger as they voted earlier this week to reaffirm Apartheid via their flagrantly racist gerrymander. I'd say it's SHAMEFUL but centuries prove that they've got zero fks to give and are always gonna be plantation overseers. 100 years ago, they would be posing for postcard snapshots of lynchings.
Like it or not, moving north is gonna be even more disruptive especially since it's not gonna be the safe harbor oasis we might hope it to be. Speaking for myself, I'd dig in AGAINST moving just because I'm as much a native as the white oppressors are, and I'm not gonna be run out by these midnight rider thugs.
I'm a white senior citizen, and I'm reluctant to propose "solutions" I don't have to do the heavy lifting to enact. However IF this so-called "Democracy" and the courts are nakedly complicit in brutish oppression like this, WHAT stake exactly do the underclass have in submission to such tyrannical "authority"?
The civil rights era proved that lasting change requires something more than shifting from protest to institutional integration. Strategies are resilient when they move beyond litigation and legislation into grassroots and broad-based coalitions. A "messenger" model—uniting business, faith, and labor—creates a shield against political pushback by framing equality as a shared social and economic necessity rather than a niche interest. In the past, education built the foundational empathy and legal understanding needed to sustain progress over generations. Today, the right wing podcasters may be temporarily winning the educational battle--but the tide is turning--thanks to policies of words of Trump, ironically.
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it — always.” - Gandhi
Didn’t the good guys win the Civil War? Have I misread a page in my history book?
Redistricting efforts may be prettied up with language of law, courts, and other anemic descriptions. But if we use our magnifying glass, we are able to see a replay of that despicable period.
So redistricting has replaced the Klan and entrenched racism? Brainless Republicans believe that moving voters like chess pieces is all that is needed to assure their party’s wins.
Forget fresh policies that would give all Southerners -- despite color and philosophy -- access to an equal chance to vote, prosper, and live happily ever after.
It appears Jim Crow has risen from the grave, dusted off its dirt --that should’ve remained attached -- and with chutzpah, is attempting to rise and conquer fairness.
Sadly, I believe that for some vindictive and unredeemable Southerners, people of color will continue to be in the crosshairs of many of their cruel crowd. Diversity, equity and inclusion, while a beacon of light and hope for all decent Americans, has become too hard to swallow for Southerners . Sadly, their throats are already crammed with racism, jealousy, and other undigested dogmas.
When we allow racism to rear its ugly head, we all lose. Lower wages and opportunities reduce the tax base, that hurts ALL americans. It’s drives up costs and lowers morale.
Plain and simple this is a new Jim Crow. I am sick to death by this crap. If you wanted to drag this country down, this is one way of doing it.
How to respond? By making sure we speak out, and more importantly to treat all citizens with the pride and dignity they so richly deserve.
Four of the secessionist States wrote in their declaration of secession that the reason for their attempt to leave the United States was was that their white privileged economies depended on slavery. Eight generations after the surrender at Appomattox the undercurrent of racism and attempts to continue the political war between the slave and free States are still obvious. We are a single nation, a melting pot in name only. The continuous unrest, violence and chaos will continue until we recognize this truth ad tell the discontent to go elsewhere and let the majority of us continue moving toward a true democracy. These separatists do not realize that without the generous support of eight States that pay more into the federal treasury than they get back in benefits, the other 42 would lose the federal subsidies of infrastructure, FEMA emergency relief, military and social benefits that permit their current levels of prosperity.
Our family lived in Nashville during my teenage years, so I saw a lot of this racism up close…and realized that it goes hand-in-hand with antisemitism. We were in the minority on both counts. However, my mother worked hard to become president of the League of Women Voters and to try to crack the polite veneer that protected Nashville society. She was an art collector and staunch supporter of Cheekwood, a lovely venue for art. She supported the efforts of Al Gore and his father, and was hopeful that Democratic voices would eventually prevail. But my father made it possible for all of us to live without ever worrying about finances. We lived a life of white privilege. I distinctly remember my mother driving our maid, Arlette, home one afternoon. For the first time in my young life, I caught a glimpse of how racially and economically divided Nashville was. My best friend’s father called me his “Little Hebrew”. I did not realize it then, but I do now, what an antisemitic slur that was.
She would be heartbroken today, as am I, to see what her beloved Nashville has become…the seat of injustice, racial gerrymandering and outright discrimination. How far we have fallen as a country…and how angry it makes me to see a city like Nashville and a state like Tennessee embrace its regressive past.
A stirring & tragic personal history in just a few paragraphs. One quote from the Machiavellian schemer Henry Kissinger comes to mind. Asked by a despairing colleague "what's the solution" to never-ending Mideast violence, Kissinger responded, "there is no solution. We just have to keep working on it." I am no fan of Kissinger, but I gotta say that this direct and crystal clear declaration still strikes me as brilliant in its simplicity and underlying vow of human persistence. I wonder whether I'm just dumbfounded by the obvious, but inspiration can emerge from some unexpected quarters, so let me just redeploy the concept/quote here. MAYBE it will strike a chord with other readers.
THANKS for your comment & sketch of your life story. Among many other things, you evoke another plaintive reminder to "choose your parents well".
What if Blue states just started a massive recruitment and incentive program for Southern Black and Brown people? I know, I know. Roots and all that. But if you are not wanted in a place, are deeply exploited and wronged there, your prospects are near zero, what have you got to lose? The Great Migration of 1910-1970 saw six million disaffected and disenfranchised people of color move to the North and the West. They settled there. Got union jobs. Made homes and families. One of their progenitors became president of the United States. Opportunity. Inclusion. Community. Happiness. What's not to like? I think a Democrat-led master plan for all the Red state Southern Blacks and Browns to get the hell out of where they are not wanted, would solve the problem. That way the only neck racists could plant a foot on would be their own.
There's *a lot* not to like about this idea. The North of today is not the North of the post-New Deal decades. Neither is the South: the white Southern-state governments are reacting against the progress that's been made since the mid/late '60s -- not enough progress, to be sure, but progress nonetheless. And don't forget: the civil rights movement started among Black people in the U.S. South.
Since then the whole country has been undermined by Reaganomics and subsequent Supreme Court decisions, especially Citizens United (2010, not coincidentally the year of the Tea Party election). Racist and "anti-modernity" white people have provided the votes that corporations and the über-wealthy lack. And too many Northerners, especially the white ones, and extra-especially the ones in Congress, haven't paid enough attention.
Interesting idea, but this would likely set off a backlash of "white flight" from those states with increased numbers of black and brown. But that's another discussion.
Is a person who is considered a racist or a bigot ever going to change his or her stripes? Or are they the masters of keeping our nation destabilized? By doing nothing positive in this regard they channel their hatred through successive generations making improvements nearly impossible. This type of behavior casts a pall on our beautiful nation and until enlightened leadership steps forward we will continue this reverse spiral to the pre-Civil War era. This movement is unsustainable and will only yield pain and suffering to everyone.
Such an accurate description of the ultimate outcome of hatred on the hater. Boot on the neck. But will they ever see what they are doing to themselves and their state and their country? Hope persists.
Thanks Steven: On the outside looking in is seems the red southern states are less educated, paid at a lower standard , despise unions, It seems like the Civil War never ended. Racism and bigotry is the norm.
Steven, I’d be very surprised if TDump gave a care about Racism in the true sense of the word. It just happens to be the current weapon of choice to continue to drive dissension and confusion as wedges in among Americans. Primarily to protect his corrupt, illegal activities/regime but also to dissipate any cohesive action to challenge him! As well as, to Gin up his equally corrupt, self serving base. His primary target…disrupt the Midterms…because if he loses his Party’s majority position he may well be doomed! Of course, with our ”Bastardized” and complicit SCOTUS and the dysfunctional Congress…that’s a “Toss-up” as well.”
As I write this “comment” to your Substack Post I’m receiving flash notifications of Protests to the obscene political maneuvering in the South. Who knows where this may eventually lead us!
This is an excellent thread of reader comments, and completely troll-free (the best reason to have a "gated community" paywall, I guess). The idea of a deliberate black exodus from the still-depraved south has a lot of problems BUT I really like the "what if" alternate-reality whiteboard moonshot thinking it exemplifies. Tragically, most human partitions turn into gigantic disasters, India & Pakistan and our own Trail of Tears comes to mind up front.
The idea of abandoning the south as forced "shock therapy" to the ruling class Confederates has a lot of rueful appeal, I admit. Especially after seeing the overfed doughboy Cletuses in the TN legislature gleefully strut & swagger as they voted earlier this week to reaffirm Apartheid via their flagrantly racist gerrymander. I'd say it's SHAMEFUL but centuries prove that they've got zero fks to give and are always gonna be plantation overseers. 100 years ago, they would be posing for postcard snapshots of lynchings.
Like it or not, moving north is gonna be even more disruptive especially since it's not gonna be the safe harbor oasis we might hope it to be. Speaking for myself, I'd dig in AGAINST moving just because I'm as much a native as the white oppressors are, and I'm not gonna be run out by these midnight rider thugs.
I'm a white senior citizen, and I'm reluctant to propose "solutions" I don't have to do the heavy lifting to enact. However IF this so-called "Democracy" and the courts are nakedly complicit in brutish oppression like this, WHAT stake exactly do the underclass have in submission to such tyrannical "authority"?
The civil rights era proved that lasting change requires something more than shifting from protest to institutional integration. Strategies are resilient when they move beyond litigation and legislation into grassroots and broad-based coalitions. A "messenger" model—uniting business, faith, and labor—creates a shield against political pushback by framing equality as a shared social and economic necessity rather than a niche interest. In the past, education built the foundational empathy and legal understanding needed to sustain progress over generations. Today, the right wing podcasters may be temporarily winning the educational battle--but the tide is turning--thanks to policies of words of Trump, ironically.
maybe these states should suceed from the union... we won't miss their bit of taxes but they will miss our care...