Jim Crow 2.0': South Carolina's Republicans move to oust state's only Black congressman since 1897

South Carolina has had one Black representative in Congress since 1897, James Clyburn. A proposal to redraw the state’s political map would dismantle the sixth congressional district he represents. The district runs from the Georgia border near Savannah northward around Charleston, then cuts through Black belt farmland to Columbia. It includes Charleston’s King Street shopping area and the ornate antebellum state capitol, along with the Gullah Geechee coastal homeland, historically Black colleges, and some of the poorest communities in the US. The district was created through a decades-old peace pact between civil rights leaders and white conservative political leaders. After the Supreme Court weakened a key part of the Voting Rights Act, Republicans moved to redraw districts, and a special congressional session was called to consider the proposal.

"South Carolina has had exactly one Black representative in Congress since 1897: James Clyburn. A proposal to redraw the state's political map would dismantle the district he represents. The state's sixth congressional district starts on its southern border with Georgia, in the suburbs of Savannah, moving a hundred miles north to wind around the heart of Charleston, before cutting through Black belt farmland to the state capital of Columbia, another 115 miles away."

"It contains Charleston's high-end shopping district on King Street and the state's ornate antebellum capitol building. It also contains the Gullah Geechee coastal homeland, two of the state's historically Black colleges and some of the poorest people in the US, in Barnwell and Allendale counties. The district is a product of a 36-year-old peace pact between civil rights leaders and South Carolina's white conservative political apparatus."

"Now Trump has urged the state's Republican lawmakers to effectively tear up that deal, after the US supreme court effectively gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act that prevented racial discrimination prompting a Republican scramble to redraw key districts. While an early effort stalled in South Carolina on Tuesday, the threat remains. The state's governor, Henry McMaster, called a special congressional session to consider the proposal, which started on Friday."

"Back in 1990, Democrats remained in control of South Carolina's legislature, but had been bleeding white political support for 25 years following the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The Black caucus went to the Republican caucus after the 1990 census and said, We've been voting for Democrats for 100 years and we're no better off,' Eaddy Roe Willard, a Republican activist in South Caro"

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