\n<\/p>\n
When it comes to the American Left, I sometimes play something I call the \u201copposite game.\u201d The rules are straightforward: Whatever a far-Left politician or pundit declares bad is almost good, and vice versa. There are times that the game proves too simplistic, but not as often as you\u2019d think. My favorite current example comes from Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, who declared that last week\u2019s Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais<\/i> \u201cis nothing less than a massive and devastating blow, not only to our democracy, but particularly to people of color in the South.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senator has it, of course, exactly backward. Callais<\/i> is indeed a massive and devastating blow, but it was delivered against the very structures that have marginalized and disempowered black Americans. Callais<\/i>, as I understand it, restores the nearly forgotten commitment to equal opportunity under the law. The future for Americans of all races and ethnic backgrounds is brighter as a result.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s quite a claim about a 6-3 high court decision that invalidated legislative districts specifically crafted based on race. Leaving aside the opposite game, Democrats like Senator Warnock are right to be worried that certain safe House seats (traditionally gerrymandered to ensure black majorities) will now be up for grabs in the upcoming midterms. To entrenched incumbents who take black voters for granted, Callais<\/i> is terrifying. For everyone else \u2014 including those black voters \u2014 the consequences are much more promising.<\/p>\n
Under the race-based districting regime, reliably conservative Southern states would carve out one or two \u201cblack majority\u201d districts. Black voters got concentrated into those districts. The remaining majority-white districts then had very few black constituents. Politicians in those white districts had no incentive to address black concerns. Meanwhile, black voters found themselves in a political ghetto. They had one or two elected representatives, but no real power.<\/p>\n
When you segregate a group of people into an enclave, rigid ideological conformity takes hold. Peer pressure, coercion, shame, and shunning enforce that conformity. Inside a racially gerrymandered district, one party dominates. Power is often passed down within families or social networks \u2014 a few benefit at the expense of the many.<\/p>\n
In my book \u201cThe Political Vise,\u201d I explain how progressive institutions extract power by creating permanent dependency. They build and maintain what I call grievance coalitions. These function in perpetuity because grievances (as we have all seen from social media) can be manufactured and sustained. Over time, those grievances become the glue binding people to a political party. Resentment is a feeling, not an economic state. No matter how prosperous you become, you can be made to believe your skin color has held you back.<\/p>\n
The perversion is that race-based districts were sold as protecting black voting power. They accomplished the opposite. They isolated black voters politically, allowed white-majority districts to ignore black concerns, and created exactly the political dependency (sustained by grievance) that the Left relies upon.<\/p>\n
Callais<\/i> changes the incentives. In apportioned districts without racial gerrymandering, black Americans will often be a minority. That\u2019s a simple demographic reality. But as a minority, they can swing an election. Politicians in fairly designed districts will need to address black voters\u2019 concerns. A candidate who ignores those concerns will risk losing their seat.<\/p>\n
The diversity across multiple heterogeneous districts also weakens social control. A black voter in a majority-white district may face less peer pressure to vote Democrat. In heavily Republican Southern districts, the outcome of competitive primary races among multiple conservative candidates may hinge on an appeal to black voters. In ruby red states where racial gerrymandering was entrenched,\u00a0<\/span>Callais<\/i> will expand (rather than diminish) black influence.\u00a0<\/span>Thomas Sowell, the hugely influential black economic historian, has long implored his fellow African Americans to leave what he calls the \u201cDemocrat plantation.\u201d Callais<\/i> presents an opportunity for millions to do just that.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already seen monolithic Democrat voting among black Americans declining under Donald Trump. In 2020, Trump received 8% of the black vote according to AP VoteCast. In 2024, he received 15% according to Pew Research \u2014 nearly doubling his support. More dramatically, exit polls showed Trump winning 20% of the black vote overall and 24% among black men specifically. CNN polling analyst Harry Enten reports<\/span><\/a> that in 2026, Trump\u2019s approval rating among black voters stands at 16% \u2014 up from 12% during his first term. These numbers may seem small, but Enten describes them as \u201cgenerational gains.\u201d When districts are no longer gerrymandered to produce Democratic black grievance candidates, that trend will accelerate.<\/p>\n The Democratic Party has pursued power through racial division since its inception. Democrats defended slavery before the Civil War, imposed Jim Crow after it, and fought integration for a century. When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he reportedly told an aide, \u201cI\u2019ll have those n*****s voting Democratic for 200 years.\u201d The strategy shifted from physical segregation to political segregation, from controlling black Americans through law to controlling them through dependency.<\/p>\n Race-based Congressional districts served that strategy, functioning as political enclaves where black voters were told their only path to power ran through Democrat politicians fighting for government programs. Republicans, safe in majority-white districts, had no incentive to compete for black votes. Black voters remained captured, dependent, and reliably Democrat.<\/p>\n The Progressive Political Vise depends on racial division. It requires black Americans to believe their interests are fundamentally opposed to white Americans\u2019 interests. When black and white voters share the same representative, attend the same town halls, and voice the same concerns about schools and taxes and public safety, that narrative collapses.<\/p>\n For 60 years, the Left has maintained political segregation through grievance, dependency, and racial gerrymandering. Callais<\/i> upends a regime, and it breaks a cherished lever of the Progressive Vise. Last week\u2019s Supreme Court decision is indeed \u201ca massive and devastating blow\u201d to those who have run that regime. For everyone else \u2014 especially black Americans \u2014 Callais<\/i> marks the start of a new and long-overdue era of opportunity.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n