Nobody ever writes “This is a negative racial gerrymander” or “This map is necessary to keep uppity Negroes in their place” in the margins on their map. White supremacist mapmakers are not stupid. In fact, a lot of negative racial gerrymanders can be sold as positive racial gerrymanders. Creating one super-majority-minority district is actually a great way to keep minorities out of all the other districts. In many cases, the difference between a positive and negative racial gerrymander comes down to the good faith of the politicians involved. People like my dad and Rick Lazio were trying to
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