WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): This week a major Supreme Court decision could permanently deprive one of the country's largest majority Black cities of a like-minded congressional vote. With us again is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me.
BLANK: Otis, we're talking about the ruling over the 1965 Civil Rights Act. It was originally designed to keep southern legislatures from chopping up Black communities and pairing them with majority white rural areas to maintain white supremacy in the South. Immediately after this recent ruling, two of Tennessee's Republican candidates running for governor, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and John Rose, called for dividing up Shelby County to do exactly what the Civil Rights Act was created to prevent. What does this tell you about how these candidates see our city and our county?
SANFORD: This is Jim Crow racism 2.0. First, with what the Supreme Court did and then what Marsha Blackburn and John Rose proposed. There's no other way to put it here. If anybody should know better about the history of all of this, it should be Blackburn. Someone who was born in Southeast Mississippi, in Laurel, in the 1950s and clearly should understand the oppression that African-Americans face that gave rise to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This is pure racism, and there is no other way to describe it.
BLANK: Because Shelby County is here in the corner of the state, it has been seen in the past as fairly protected from gerrymandering. But Republicans are proposing a line through the middle of our city that could give us a representative who might live 200 miles away. And of course, after Nashville was redistricted in 2022, many Black and Latino voters there got stuck with one of Tennessee's most openly racist lawmakers, Andy Ogles. He's the one who says Muslims don't belong in the United States. How would a MAGA Republican from, say, Union City represent South Memphis differently than a local Democrat?
SANFORD: Well, first of all, he or she wouldn't even know where South Memphis is. And the fact is, if this comes to fruition, that is exactly what could happen. They would have to carve up Memphis in a way that would put a significant portion of African-American residents in, say, District 8, which is currently represented by David Kustoff, but still give him enough Republican conservative votes to overcome anything in Memphis. And they'd have to do the same thing with District 7, which is currently represented by Matt Van Epps, who just got elected and give him enough Black votes, but not enough to overtake the rest of rural District 7. And then what's left of District 9 would have to be enough Republican conservative votes in Shelby County to overcome African-American voters. And I don't know how anybody with a straight face could say that anybody from far-flung middle in West Tennessee could adequately represent Memphis.
BLANK: It is hard to ignore the fact that every Republican majority legislature sees this ruling as an opportunity to erase Black representation from Congress. Beyond politics, Otis, are you concerned about what this says about our country, and what might be the solution here?
SANFORD: Well, absolutely I'm concerned about it, Chris. I mean, I grew up in the 1950s in Mississippi. I still have my mother's receipt for poll tax when she had to register to vote when she was 53 years old. We are going backwards to a time when open racism as it relates to voting was the order of the day, especially throughout the South. What can be done about this? We're going to have to have some Republicans who are willing to stand up and say no, we're not going to do this, especially in Tennessee. Or we're not going to do it in Mississippi. Each state only has one Democrat in Congress. And frankly, Chris, if Brent Taylor, state senator, really believes that he wants to "Make Memphis Matter," then this is his opportunity to Make Memphis Matter by standing up and saying, no, we are not going to take representation away from 440,000 Black Memphians who, under this new ruling, will not be allowed to elect a congressman or congresswoman of their choice.
BLANK: Well, yesterday was the end of early voting for the Shelby County primaries. Those who did not vote will have their last chance to do so on Tuesday. I know I'll be in the line. In the Daily Memphian this week, you called this "the most significant county primary in recent memory." Why is that?
SANFORD: Well, I think It's because of everything that we just got through talking about, Chris. Now more than ever, we need capable, experienced, strong leadership and the three areas where we need it the most right now are the mayor's office, county sheriff, and the county clerk. Now, that's for different reasons. But this is crucial in those races, especially because of where we are as a state and as a nation and as a community.
