Ike Brown, The NAACP and Majority-Minority Districts

In a letter to the Clarion-Ledger yesterday, the infamous Noxubee County Democratic boss Ike Brown condemned the Mississippi NAACP’s position that the courts should adopt the House Democratic redistricting plan. Brown’s premise was that minorities are better off under the old House map- adjusted for new Census numbers- than the map proposed by Tommy Reynolds and House Democrats.

Brown called the NAACP a sellout and said they are just “carrying water for the Democratic Party.” Many would argue that is what the Civil Rights organization has transformed into in the 21st century.

Take this from a Washington NAACP leader: the organization is apparently prepared to fight districts where blacks are over-packed. The meaning behind that sentiment is they don’t want 80 or 90 percent black districts because they know the black vote could be better utilized for Democrats by spreading it out in multiple districts.

There seems to be agreement between the NAACP and their traditional allies in the Democratic Party on this. Consider the Reynolds map. The number of majority-black districts increased from 39 to 44, but the number of districts with a 60 percent BVAP is unchanged at 36. The number of districts where blacks make up 50-59.9 percent of the vote would increase from three to eight.

And most Black Caucus members were okay with it based on their support for the map. A 50 percent black district is much more useful politically to Democrats; the Democratic Party has realized this and apparently African-American politicians have as well (and are in agreement with that path).