When you start more or less guaranteeing groups representation, as the Voting Rights Act does, beware of unintended consequences, as Abdul Hakim-Shabazz of Indiana Barrister warns about a Lawrence, Ind., case:
A little something else to keep in mind, if the goal of this suit was to create Black districts, they may want to be careful about creating what I call benevolent apartheid. It's a situation where a Black district is created so Blacks have a voice, but that voice is virtually ignored by their white counterparts and Blacks basically have no representation and are actually worse off than they were before, because where there would have been many voices affecting several races, now they all impact one.
When was the last time a black council member was elected at-large in Fort Wayne? Would our city be as thoughtless as Lawrence in agreeing to such a settlement?
