The Subtle Racial Politics of Mississippi Whites
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Racism is dead, according to John Roberts. Mississippi Republicans agree.
When House members meet this month for a special session to redraw state Supreme Court districts, they will convene in the Old Capitol building, where Mississippi lawmakers once implemented Jim Crow and voted to secede from the Union over slavery.
Black lawmakers told Mississippi Today that the decision to debate moving diluting Black voting power in a building where officials previously voted to systemically disenfranchise Black citizens are insulting and tone deaf or, at best, symbolic.
The House chamber in the current Capitol is undergoing renovations, so House leaders chose to move to the Old Capitol Museum for the special session. The Senate still plans to meet in the current Capitol building.
Gov. Tate Reeves has called lawmakers back to Jackson for a special legislative session on May 20 to debate redrawing Mississippi’s three state Supreme Court districts. It’s unclear how lawmakers will redraw the districts, but several legislators predict they will be redrawn to make them whiter and dilute Black voting strength.
Some lawmakers, and the Trump administration, are calling for the Mississippi Legislature to go further in the special session and redraw congressional districts in an attempt to thwart Mississippi’s lone congressional Democrat, incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson, even though primary elections have already been held for this year’s midterms.
Rep. Kabir Karriem, a Democrat from Columbus who leads the Legislative Black Caucus, said it was a horrible decision to debate redistricting in the Old Capitol, given the sordid history of decisions on race and voting rights made there.
“It’s a slap in the face to the 1.2 million African Americans in this state to be meeting in the place that established the 1890 Constitution that disenfranchised African Americans,” Karriem said.
Neoconfederates have always been exactly this subtle. In the 1890s, the nation decided to just ignore the South throwing racism in their face. That’s what is happening in the 2020s too.