The cornerstone of American citizenship is the right to elect representatives. The Voting Rights Act protected this right in several ways, but one was the "pre-clearance" process that required certain states to pre-clear voting changes with the DOJ, BASED ON THOSES STATES LONG HISTORY OF VOTING DISCRIMINATION.
In 2013, the SCOTUS incredibly struck down pre-clearance suggesting that the various states racist past was . . . well . . . in the past (that the method for assessing was outdated).
Almost immediately, states like Texas started closing policing places, mostly in minority districts, so it became obvious to most that SCOTUS was wrong about racism being in the past. States like Texas offered all kinds of excuses for closing poling station, excuses that probably never fly in pre-clearance.
Like all things, the passage of time tests the excuses. The DOJ just sued Texas for a SECOND TIME, this time notably for its district maps (gerrymandering). Here's the facts in the suit:
"After the 2020 census, Texas was awarded two additional seats in the US House of Representatives. The population growth that created the new seats was propelled by minority communities, with people of color making up 95% of the growth, according to census data."
"However, Texas has designed both of those new seats to have White voting majorities"
HOW DOES THAT RELATE TO THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT & PRE-CLEARANCE?
"Texas "intentionally eliminated a Latino electoral opportunity in Congressional District 23, a West Texas district where courts had identified Voting Rights Act violations during the previous two redistricting cycles."
IN OTHER WORDS, AS SOON AS PRE-CLEARANCE WAS REMOVED, TEXAS WENT RIGHT BACK TO THE VERY DISCRIMINATION THAT LED TO PRE-CLEARANCE IN THE FIRST PLACE
This is the power of government (the voting system) working directly against POC
its not imaginary
its real
Texas gets greater representation in Congress as the result of mostly MINORITY growth in the state but then drafts the district boundaries to be majority white
El Paso news - "[Texas GOP gerrymandering] reduces the state’s eight current Hispanic voting majority districts to seven though 50% of Texas’ population growth came from Hispanics."
Just one example
