Black Political Power Vanishes Across the South

That's the dramatic headline of a piece lamenting political "re-segregation." But isn't that the logical and predictable result of gerrymandering by race?

"Black voters and elected officials have less influence now than at any time since the civil rights era," David Bositis, an analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, wrote in a stark analysis late last year. It is the culmination of nearly a half-century process that began with the dismantling of Jim Crow, the empowerment of black voters and an explosion in black representation, but that now finds its ironic coda in a once-dominating Democrat Party transformed into a largely African-American enterprise that is only occasionally able to scrounge enough white votes to compete effectively outside black districts. The result has been the loss of legislative control in every Southern state save Arkansas.

"In most Southern states, the 46-year transition from a multiracial Democratic political dominance is almost complete," Bositis wrote. "At the heart of this transition is racially polarized voting. Black state legislators, generally elected in black majority districts and long used to being in a majority coalition, are now almost entirely isolated in the minority. Republicans likewise dominate the statewide political offices in these states. Virtually all black elected officials are outsiders looking in."

Accepting for the sake of argument the racist premise that all blacks think alike and are best served only by black candidates, what did you think would happen if you concentrated all your votes in a few districts rather than forming coalitions to become a political force in every district?