Racial Politics Is More Prevalent Than Ever — And That’s a Dangerous Thing for America’s Future

America has always had

race in its bloodstream. in its laws, its culture, its neighborhoods, its ballot boxes. But something has shifted in the last decade. What used to be a quiet undercurrent is now a roaring river. What used to be coded is now shouted. What used to be a political fault line is now the whole terrain.

And let’s be honest:  

Racial politics isn’t just back. It’s running the show.  

And that’s dangerous not because race shouldn’t be discussed, but because it’s being weaponized, monetized, and manipulated in ways that poison the future we claim to care about.

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We’re Not Talking About Race. We’re Fighting With It

There’s a difference between confronting racial realities and using race as a political crowbar.  

Right now, both parties in different ways are doing the latter.

- One side uses racial fear to mobilize resentment.  

- The other uses racial symbolism to avoid deeper structural failures.  

- And voters are stuck in the middle, exhausted, cynical, and increasingly tribal.

We’re not building bridges.  

We’re building bunkers.

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The Incentives Are All Wrong

Politicians don’t get rewarded for nuance.  

They get rewarded for outrage.

Cable news doesn’t profit from unity.  

It profits from conflict.

Social media doesn’t amplify understanding.  

It amplifies the loudest, angriest, most divisive voices in the room.

So here we are a country where racial tension isn’t just a byproduct of politics.  

It’s the business model.

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The Real Danger: We’re Losing the Ability to See Each Other

When racial politics becomes the default lens, everything gets flattened:

- Every disagreement becomes a racial grievance.  

- Every policy debate becomes a racial battlefield.  

- Every candidate becomes a racial symbol instead of a human being with strengths and flaws.  

And once people stop seeing each other as individuals, democracy becomes a zero‑sum game.  

If “your group” wins, “my group” loses.  

If “your group” gains power, “my group” gets pushed out.

That’s not a society.  

That’s a cold war with ballots instead of bullets.

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The Hard Truth: We Can’t Build a Future on Fear

America cannot survive much less thrive if every election is framed as an existential racial showdown.  

We cannot build a stable future if every political message is designed to trigger, divide, or inflame.

We need leaders who can talk about race without weaponizing it.  

We need voters who can hear about race without shutting down.  

We need a politics that treats people like citizens, not demographic chess pieces.

Because if we keep going down this road, we won’t just lose elections.  

We’ll lose the country we’re supposed to be building for the next generation.

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Final Word

Racial politics is more prevalent than ever and not in a healthy, honest, healing way.  

It’s being used as a shortcut, a shield, a hammer, and a distraction.

And unless we break that cycle, America’s future won’t be defined by progress.  

It’ll be defined by polarization.

It's Time To Do Away With Gerrymandering

Are you frustrated with the political environment we see not only in Georgia but in Washington, D.C?

Looking at the entrenched partisanship and gridlock in our political system, it's easy to become cynical. Year after year, it seems nothing changes. That's because your votes don't really count. One of the reasons is simple: GERRYMANDERING
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Gerrymandering has effectively disenfranchised the majority of voters - and they don't even know it.

Districts are noncompetitive, so the winners are determined in primary elections, where the turnout is always low (typically about a third of registered voters) and the electorate is dominated by the most extreme and partisan voters. Legislators can only be defeated in the primary and so must become rigidly ideological, since any compromise can (and has) cost members their careers. That has led to legislatures as well as Congress incapable of solving problems.

With the SCOTUS decision to drop section 4 of the VRA, which was a huge mistake, what really needs to be looked at now is the total elimination of Gerrymandering.

In this redistricting process, gerrymandering – the manipulation of district lines for political advantage – has become the political weapon of choice. The two main purposes of gerrymandering are to protect the seats of incumbents and to allow the dominant party in a state to win more seats that it deserves.

A typical example of gerrymandering would be to draw district lines to keep a city with a large African American population out of a white Republican’s congressional district. The politicos would do this because African Americans are more likely to vote Democrat. In exchange for this the Republicans let the Democrats exclude white rural areas likely to vote Republican from their districts.

The result of this gerrymandering is that our politics get artificially polarized along ideological, cultural and racial lines. Republicans can safely ignore the concerns of African American voters because they know they won’t be a factor in their reelection. Democrats can safely ignore the concerns of rural and suburban whites because they know those people don’t vote in their districts. Instead of a healthy two party contest, elections become nasty little battles between different factions of one party. In many cases narrow ideologically focused bands of extremists can dominate the electoral process. Candidates have to pander to these groups rather than address issues of real concern to voters.

Eliminating gerrymandering for Congressional & Legislative districts could make our politics more moderate. When elections are held in predetermined geographic regions not drawn up by politicians, American voters tend to elect moderate middle of the road candidates dedicated to compromise. When politicians have to face election outside predetermined regions they tend to move the center. History also proves that candidates will abandon polarizing racial, cultural and ideological politics when their re-election depends on those of another race or culture. Getting rid of gerrymandering wouldn’t be a cure all but it could go a long way to improving our political system. In particular it could give us a House of Representatives that actually looks something like the America it represents.

A Politically Segregated Georgia is Not in the Best Interest of the People

These days, with blacks comprising a majority of Democratic state lawmakers in the Democratic Caucuses of the House & Senate black now equals Democrat. And the white Southern Democrat is becoming an endangered species. For blacks here in Georgia, that in itself is not a problem. Many enjoyed being in the Democratic majority through the 1990s and up until the early 2000s. But Republicans, for now, are the only game in town. And in the former Confederacy, legislative black caucuses find themselves in the same kind of wilderness that led to their formation in the first place.

Meanwhile, Blacks vote their interests, which do not lie within the ultra-conservative, Tea Party-infused, Republican Party. Although some Republicans would claim to vote in their interests, they would have to ask themselves why their Republican-controlled states suffer from some of the highest levels of poverty, and the lowest educational and health standards in the nation?

The story of the GOP in the South is one of white Democrats or "Dixiecrats" some like to call them, trading donkeys for elephants. After Lyndon Johnson passed the historic civil right legislation of the mid-1960s, disaffected conservative Southerners commenced the process of white flight from the Democratic Party. Voting rights and redistricting led to black power in the form of majority black districts. However, the unintended consequences were whiter, more conservative districts where Democrats -- particularly moderate and liberal white Democrats -- are unable to compete, where only moderate and conservative have the best shot at winning those type of districts.

Meanwhile, Republican majorities put themselves in charge of a process of racial gerrymandering, such as the case in the 2nd Congressional District,& a slew of legislative districts, allowing them to stoke the fires of racial polarization, and further segregate the state of Georgia for political gain. They say they are only following the guidelines of the Voting Rights Act & maybe so, but let's be real here, the more blacks you can put into a particular district, the more it increases the GOP stronghold on Georgia.

Plus, the Obama era has created a far more conservative Republican Party than the one that came to power during the Bush presidency.

Such an environment makes it increasingly difficult for a black candidate for statewide office in the future like former Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond who could be a candidate for statewide office in 2014. The old democratic party for the longest time remained democratic despite voting republican on the federal level for president & that was due to the crafty late House Speaker Tom Murphy who held together a fragile coalition of rural white & urban black democrats until his defeat in 2002. Georgia under democratic rule was the leading state in the south as far as progress. A business-friendly environment, lead by the quality of life led many citizens from across the nation to relocate to Georgia.

But the Party failed to educate these new voters the role the democratic party played in making Georgia the one, if not, the place to live, raise a family, open a business, etc, etc. That, in my opinion is one of the reasons the party fell like a house of cards in a matter of a few years. As the State Party drifted more & more to the left, mimicking the National Party, it became less whiter, oh wait, less diverse & more blacker & browner by the defections of rural moderate/ conservative democrats.......NOT A GOOD SIGN!

Let me end this by saying that the state HAS re-segregated politically due to racial gerrymandering. Black=Democrat, White =Republican & that my friends is not healthy for our great state.

The Cost of Reapportionment

When trying to redraw a legislative district here in Georgia, if you want to place 55,000 voters into a current rural house district, do not leave out a entire county in the process.

And while redrawing a legislative district, don't split a county in two, three districts

And while redrawing a legislative district, don't dilute minority voting strength in a particular area to ensure the election of certain candidates.

And while the VRA protects Majority-Minority Districts, please do not create anymore of these type of districts. Where would they be located. Democrats,(Black Democrats) in general, the more you push for these type of districts, the more you are ensuring the democratic party of a permanent minority status over the next 10-15 years. So no more deal making with republicans over "GIVE US MORE MAJORITY-MINORITY DISTRICTS & IN RETURN, WE'LL SUPPORT ANY MAP YOU PUT FORWARD".

And plus this only solidify the notion that if you're black, you belong in the Democratic Party & if you're white, you belong in the Republican Party.

A BLACK & BROWN GEORGIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY, SPRINKLED WITH WHITE LIBERALS CANNOT WIN IN GEORGIA! ESPECIALLY STATEWIDE!!

No more Racially Gerrymandered Districts (just as they want to do with the 2nd by moving predominently Black, Inner city of Macon into Sanford Bishop's 2nd Congressional District, while leaving the unincorporated areas in the 8th District, held by first term Congressman Austin Scott.

Keep an eye on Gerrymandering over in the 12th Congressional District held by John Barrow, a conservative democrat. Despite Barrow only needing around 660+ more voters to meet the 692,000+ needed, the Georgia Republicans will "likely" alter the district significantly to lessen the chances of Barrow getting re-elected & increasing a prospective republican's chances of GETTING elected.

Dems have complained about being shutout of the process, while some republicans like State Senator Tommie Williams keeps referring to 2001 when Democrats ran the show & kept republicans out as well. Its like republicans such as Tommie Williams are saying, "Now its payback for what you tried to do to us (GOP) 10 years ago".

And lastly, Georgia Republicans are considering instead of going through the DOJ to get approvals of the maps, they might instead go to a court in tryin to get the maps approved because many from what I've heard say the Obama DOJ are very Partisan. You didn't think the Bush DOJ was partisan when they approved a mid-decade 2005 redistricting after the GOP got full control of the State Legislature in which they tried to oust Jim Marshall & John Barrow back in the 2006 elections?

The straight-to-court strategy has another possible drawback: It takes more time & ITS VERY EXPENSIVE. They could do like Louisiana & Virginia & take their maps to both the DOJ & the court for approval. In any event, don't be surprised if the Democrats present legal obstacles to a republican plan that they view as not constitutional or diluting minority or democratic strength in any area of the state.

In the Game of Redistricting, Georgia Republicans Hold all the Cards

Redistricting Gumbo, Georgia Style: I like mine with a 1/2 cup of fact, a 1 whole cup of rumor, and I would add a 2/3 cup full of “what ifs, but I'll leave that out for now.

The partisan struggle over the use of statistically adjusted data from the U.S. Census to avoid "undercounts" was just a warmup for the real game: the redistricting of hundreds of congressional & thousands of legislative districts across the country. Once the census data was provided to the state of Georgia, legislative districts must be redrawn to ensure they are equal in population. With few public interest checks on their near-Godlike power in drawing state legislative and congressional districts, incumbents use increasingly sophisticated computer software and demographic data to literally choose the voters before the voters have a chance to choose them.

Let me take that back, there have been plenty of public interest in this process. The first three held by the joint house & senate reapportionment committees in Athens, Augusta & Savannah were very passionate & lively. So there have been interest in this shady game called redistricting by Georgians.

Moreover, the political party with full control of the process in the state: Georgia Republicans can seek to cement their power. By using techniques like "packing," whereby lines are drawn to concentrate many supporters of political opponents into a few districts, and "cracking," where opponents' supporters are split among several districts, they can dramatically heighten their chances for the next decade.

With so much at stake, Ga Democrats and Ga Republicans, (especially democrats) are preparing to claw like cats and dogs, possibly in the courts. There maybe hearings, more lawsuits, more investigations. Sound familiar? In redistricting, anything can happen.

But who gets ripped off by this process? The voters, of course. As a result of the redistricting process, most voters become locked down into noncompetitive one-party districts where their only real choice at election time is to ratify the incumbent or heir apparent of the party controlling that district.

Redistricting, or shall we say the "incumbent protection process" is the leading cause of uninspiring, choice-less elections. If you are a Democrat in a solidly Republican district, or a Republican in a solidly Democratic district, or a supporter of a minor party, you don't have a chance of electing your candidate. Demography is destiny, it turns out.

In a vastly conservative state like Georgia and given the rise of the Republican Party during the Perdue years, having a possible redistricting plan so liberally drawn so as to protect incumbent republican & democratic legislators is an affront to every citizen in Georgia, whether Democrat or Republican, since the primary goal of redistricting is to ensure the ideal of one man, one vote. Party aside, redistricting is about giving citizens a voice and ensuring access to government; it’s about the people in these districts who expect and deserve a like minded representative in the legislature or congress

The recipe for redistricting under a true two party system can be like making gumbo (of course, politics in Georgia has often been likened to the same Southern concoction). The public only gets so much of the facts, a whole lot of rumors, sprinkled with alot of what ifs, but you have to admit that would make one heck of a redistricting pot of gumbo.

I've heard rumors of the possible elimination of either Richmond or Chatham County from John Barrow's 12th Congressional District, to the removal of Bibb County from Austin Scott's 8th Congressional District to improve his chances of re-election in 2012, to the new 14th Congressional District being located around the north Atlanta area to NW Georgia, with Hall County being the population center

The removal of Bibb from the 8th to the 2nd doesn't make any sense. The second is already around 50% African-American, so why pack the 2nd with all these democratic.....Black voters?

This is called Gerrymandering!

Bibb is a central Georgia county & should be located in a central Georgia district, not a SW Georgia or even a east central Georgia district like the 12th.

Gerrymandering is a conspicuous, irregular manipulating of electoral district boundaries to advantage one political party or candidate which is a distasteful, if not downright corrupt, practice.

Through gerrymandering, incumbent politicians seek to choose their voters rather than vice versa, packing their legislative or congressional districts with enough like-minded constituents to make re-election almost effortless. So do you get the picture, if Bibb is moved into the Sanford Bishop's 2nd District, away from Austin Scott's 8th District, that helps Scott & solidify Bishop's district as a Majority-Minority District. Its more of a help to Scott that it is to Bishop

The same goes for Barrow over in the 12th. Decrease the democratic strength in the 12th to make it more favorable for a GOP candidate to win, if not in '12, then in '14. Chatham & Richmond are two democratic strongholds & if you add in the Black Belt Counties located in the northern end of the district, that makes it a democratic lean seat. Eliminate one of the big counties, then it goes from lean democratic to tossup.

Redistricting is a dirty game & someone is going to get left out & someone is going to get screwed in the process. Oh and let's not forget about the special interest groups who may have their hands in the process. Boy, this is going to be interesting!

Sanford Bishop, John Barrow & Racial Gerrymandering

Racial Gerrymandering will hit Georgia at its worst if everything I'm hearing bears fruit.

Macon-Bibb County, a majority-minority city & county possibly going into the second, therefore making it easier for Austin Scott to maintain a hold on the 8th District. Potential Richmond Co moving into the 10th & Chatham in the 1st, therefore making it much, much more easier for a republican to take the 12th away from John Barrow

The biggest supporters of racial gerrymandering are Republicans. The answer is simple:

To the extent that the black Democrats are concentrated in congressional ( even legislative) districts, it is easier for Republican candidates to win more seats overall. The creation of a newly majority black district is likely to drain black voters from other districts (like the 8th, 12), one of them represented by a white Democrat , John Barrow. The more "lily-white" the districts become, the easier it is for Republicans to win them. In short, buy adopting such a redistricting strategy, Republicans give African Americans the opportunity to increase their descriptive representation but, quite possibly, at the expense of their substantive representation.

Racial gerrymandering has once again become a political tool. In this case, racial gerrymandering is being used to ensure political victory for Georgia Republicans. This is not to say that the problems in the electoral system today are on par with those of the past. Yet, these are problems that need to be address all the same.

Sanford Bishop by all means is not your typical "Liberal" democrat. He has always been a moderately conservative democrat since his election back in 1992. Yes he lost a substantial number of white voters due to his support of the Healthcare Legislation that rocked town halls all across the county during the summer of '09-10, but that doesn't mean that he can't win in a district where the black vote is in the minority. Let's not forget he won the 2nd when it was a majority white district, but this whole idea of moving Macon-Bibb County into the second to so-call "Strengthened" Bishop is absurd!

The district is already around 48-50% African American. He only needs 60,000 more voters to meet the 692,000+ needed for a congressional district. The answer is simple: Include all of Muscogee County, as well as Lowndes County into the district. And with Westmoreland (Lynn) district being over populated, the district will have to move northward to take away some of his votes, so include Meriwhether, Upson & Harris in the second.

But instead they want to make the district a solid "Black" District by throwing Macon to Bishop in order to protect Austin Scott, who by not opening a office in Macon sent a signal that he wanted no part of Macon in his 8th district.

Despite the fact that blacks are in general more liberal on economic issues, majority-minority districts are not necessary for blacks to win elections & Bishop have already proven that he can with or without a Majority African-American Constituency.

Gerrymandering is becoming an ineffective method of ensuring minority representation. When majority-minority districts are created first a pocket of blacks must be target.

Majority-Minority districts are harmful to blacks and democrats in general & should be done away with if for no other reason that the fact that majority-minority redistricting will no longer work.

Then there's the saga of John Barrow, one of the few remaining white conservative democrats left in the south that survived the massacre of 2010. The goal of the Georgia GOP is to make his district either more of a swing district or even republican-leaning. And to do that, something will have to be done about Richmond & Chatham Counties, which one or both maybe included in new districts north & south respectively.

Going back to what I mentioned earlier, the more black voters that can be drained from a district, the more it increases the republican's chances of competing or winning a congressional district & in this case that's what they are going to do with Barrow, who does well among white independents & conservatives in the 12th. The logic here is that the more whiter the 12th becomes, the more vulnerable John Barrow becomes. Other than Jack Kingston who's district they can move into the 12th, one thinks Barrow will be alright regardless how they redraw the lines to make it more favorable for a republican.

Majority-minority districts also capture black voters from surrounding congressional districts, leaving white congressmen with no incentive to craft messages appealing to African-American voters. This explains why Republicans receive so few votes from African-Americans

State Senator Robert Brown (D-Macon) expressed two weeks ago that he would like to see Bibb County go back into the second, as well include Warner Robins (including RAFB) which has a 40% Black Population. A study was done not too long ago that show safe black districts dampen electoral turnout so why bother to vote when the outcome will surely be the election of one black candidate or another?

The axiom behind this gerrymandering is that a "safe," predominantly black district could guarantee the election of Bishop, as well other potential black candidates to Congress whenever Bishop retires, because of protracted racism among whites that left Bishop in droves during the 2010 election. I'm going to say this right now, the next representative from the district will be a white democrat. You heard it here first!

Let me close this out: When African Americans are elected to the House from majority-black, heavily gerrymandered congressional districts in big cities in their districts they're unlikely to have the wide appeal necessary to win statewide office. Just look at Georganna Sinkfield who ran for Secretary of State in 2010. She represented a overwhelmingly black district & could not appeal to a more mainstream electorate.

So if I were Bishop' Ill say leave Bibb County in the 8th & if I were Barrow, don't sweat it. Your record speaks for itself!