Campbell Robertson of The New York Times went to McComb, Mississippi. You will be shocked to learn that blacks there generally think Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is still needed, while whites generally think things will be just fine and dandy without it.
Robertson also gives us some statistics on the state:
With a black population of 37 percent, by far the largest in the country, Mississippi did not have a black representative in Congress until 1986. As recently as 1990, only 22 out of the 204 members of the Mississippi State Legislature were black. While no black statewide official has been elected, there are now a black congressman and 49 black state lawmakers.So even when the Voting Rights Act had been in effect for 25 years, a state that's 37% black had a legislature that was just 11% black. Even now, the legislature is only 24% black. Neither of the two U.S. senators is black, though one of the four House members is.
And this is with the full Voting Rights Act in effect. We now pretty much know that won't be the case in any future American election.
So don't hold your breath waiting for that great Hispanic wave to turn Texas blue, or even purple. Demography is not destiny where angry, determined, dug-in white conservatives rule.
