Adam Serwer for the Atlantic:

I have a hard time believing that anyone sincerely thinks that drawing districts that limit the political influence of Black voters in a state where Black people comprise more than a quarter of the population meets some kind of color-blind ideal. Rather, the requirements of the Voting Rights Act go against the partisan ambitions of legislators in Alabama and elsewhere, which are to draw the maximum number of safe Republican districts. Therefore, they have developed the absurd reasoning that being conscious of race for the purpose of preventing discrimination on the basis of race is morally equivalent to discriminating on the basis of race.

This does not mean that every proposal to remedy discrimination will be wise, legal, or just. But in this case, Alabama is not trying to remedy discrimination at all, but get away with it, using a fraudulent color blindness as a shield. Lucky for them, they have powerful friends.

Taking this kind of reasoning to its logical conclusion, the ideal post-racial utopia is one in which America’s traditional hierarchy of race is not only intact and unquestioned, but entirely unacknowledged. It is this vision that draws together not just the Roberts Court’s unlimited willingness to allow racial discrimination in voting, but the recent attempts to outlaw the teaching of Black history in schools and universities, and recent Republican outrage over President Joe Biden pledging to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court, after his GOP predecessor promised to appoint from an all-white list of candidates while running for office. It is acknowledging the existence of discrimination,or seeking to prevent it, that is the sin. Engaging in it, or covering it up, is just fine. More than fine: a Dream come true.