On the 34th anniversary of Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation to the Supreme Court on October 15, 1991, the Court heard oral arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, a pivotal case challenging the Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 provisions on race-based redistricting. During the proceedings, NAACP Legal Defense Fund President Janai Nelson argued for the necessity of creating majority-Black congressional districts in Louisiana, stating that “white Democrats were not voting for Black candidates whether they were Democrats or not.” This admission highlighted the persistence of racially polarized voting, where even partisan alignment fails to overcome racial biases in electoral choices. Nelson’s argument underscored the need for race-conscious districting to ensure Black representation, as without it, minority votes would be diluted in white-majority areas. The timing of the hearing, coinciding with Thomas’s anniversary—a justice often critical of race-based remedies—added a layer of irony, as the Court appeared sympathetic to limiting such considerations.

This line of reasoning from the NAACP lawyer exposes the shortcomings of landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which aimed to dismantle systemic racism and ensure equal access to the ballot without regard to race. Despite these acts’ intentions to foster integrated, colorblind voting, the ongoing need for race-based districts suggests they failed to eradicate deep-seated racial divisions in American politics, where voters prioritize race over party or qualifications. This acknowledgment of persistent polarization served as a catalyst for Donald Trump’s political ascent roughly 50 years later, tapping into widespread frustration with decades of progressive policies that promised racial harmony but delivered entrenched divisions and identity-based grievances. Trump’s 2016 campaign resonated with voters disillusioned by what they saw as failed experiments in forced equity, amplifying narratives of reverse discrimination and cultural overreach that had simmered since the civil rights era.

America extended five decades to progressive ideals, allowing time for the “racialist pipe dream” of seamless integration under the 1964 and 1965 acts, yet it culminated in events like the 2014 Ferguson unrest surrounding Michael Brown’s death. The “hands up, don’t shoot” slogan, born from false witness accounts and later debunked as a fabrication, epitomized a psyop that inflamed racial tensions and propelled movements like Black Lives Matter, further highlighting the Acts’ inability to bridge divides. Now, with the Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaling readiness to restrict Section 2’s mandate for “Black” opportunity districts in cases like Louisiana v. Callais, the era of mandatory race-based representation may be nearing its end, potentially reshaping electoral maps and diminishing reliance on racial classifications in voting.