ICYMI: North Carolina Groups Push Back On Racist GOP Voting Maps

A group of North Carolina civic engagement organizations recently filed an amicus brief challenging racist Republican maps as a part of the nationwide mid-decade redistricting project. North Carolina is one of several states with GOP-majority state legislatures that have taken steps to undermine Black political representation and power at Trump’s behest. 

Led by Repairers of the Breach, the groups “seek to protect the fundamental right of every North Carolinian to vote free from discrimination, and the rights of Black voters to engage in protected First Amendment activity, including petitioning the government for redress free from unlawful retaliation.”

“This General Assembly and the White House are engaged in political violence,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President & Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach. “They are attempting to rob people of their rights through racial gerrymandering to keep power to continue engaging in their dangerous agenda–stripping healthcare from millions of Americans, blocking living wages, and raising taxes on working people while giving tax breaks to the wealthy.” 

Barber called Trump’s pet project “The Big Bad Deadly Bill” and stressed how it could lead to 51,000 people dying due to lack of healthcare access. Presumably, the racial gerrymandering taking place would worsen legislative attacks on Black and other communities of color. 

North Carolina Black Alliance, Black Voters Matter, and several individual voters and community organizers joined Repairers of the Breach in filing the amicus brief. Forward Justice and the Southern Poverty Law Center represent the groups. 

A fact sheet from Forward Justice outlined the challenge in combating these maps. 

“Due to a 2023 ruling of the North Carolina Supreme Court, which held that state courts have no authority to review claims of partisan gerrymandering, the General Assembly now has free rein to draw maps to its own partisan advantage,” read the fact sheet. “They did so in October 2023, resulting in a 10-4 partisan split in our Congressional seats for the 2024 election.”

The change would result in almost 80% of North Carolina’s U.S. House delegation being held by Republicans, in a state that is almost nearly a 50-50 split at the ballot box. The maps would split the Black population in eastern North Carolina, thus impacting Black rural communities’ ability to elect representatives of their choosing. 

“Fair maps are critical because they stop those in power from deciding which Black, brown, and poor communities get a voice in our democracy,” said Danielle Brown, National Co-Field Director for Black Voters Matter. “Any manipulation of these lines is not just political maneuvering; it is a direct attack on the hard-fought right of marginalized people in North Carolina to be heard, seen, and represented.” 

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