***
Deceased GOP Operative: "So, uh, *TrumpAdministration/RepublicanLeadership*. Um, you know, if you do *THIS*, then it is *STATISTICALLY GUARANTEED* to help Conservatives and WhitePeople get greater representation in Congress and hurt MexicanAmericanCitizens' representation in Congress. As a bonus it will piss off the Liberals. Oh, and uh, when you inevitably get sued for this, make certain you *DON'T* say that I came up with it or what it will do. Instead you say "We, the Federal Government, we need the citizenship question on the census so that we can better enforce the Voting Rights Act."[1]
***
This is not an exaggeration. It's not hyperbole. It's not my opinion. It's what the record reflects.
When the Trump Administration and GOP originally decided to put the Citizenship Question on the Census, they did so to hurt Hispanic Citizen's representation in Congress. And then the government lied about it, under oath, on the record. But because this evidence only came out after Oral Arguments were held before SCOTUS, it is yet to be seen what influence this new evidence will have on the case.
&&&
[1] The Conservatives that support this Census Citizenship Question measure and supported the Robert's Court gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013 [a], they insist that they aren't racists... And that's probably right, even if it requires applying a somewhat tortured definition of "racism".
For example, I used to live next to a Christian Separatist compound called Elohim City [b]. The flavor of Christianity that they follow is called "Christian Identity" (CI) [c]. They believe the biblical "Curse of Ham" [d][e] cast upon Noah's son is where black people originated. Following from there they assert that the Bible teaches that black people are "mud people" and that white, christian people should not inter-marry with them. These CI folks don't lynch black people to my knowledge. Being kind, Southern Folk, I can imagine that they would help a solitary black motorist who broke down on the road. But ... if that black motorist has a white woman riding shotgun with him, then that couple is an Abomination Before God and should be shunned, you know, kinda like how some conservative evangelicals see gay-people.
So, if your bar for racism is: "I am not lynching people." Then yeah, CI people are totally not-racist against black people - they just have firmly held religious beliefs. And the conservatives that want to rob Hispanic American Citizens of their rightful representation in Congress, since they aren't actually laying any white hands on those brown bodies, it could be that they're not racist either.
But then again if that's *really* your bar for racism, you just might need to "have a little talk with Jesus."
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/06/republican-files-census-citizenship-question-redistricting-gerrymandering-hofeller.html
[a] Robert's Court overturns a key provision of the VRA
https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/the-voting-rights-act
[b] Elohim City
http://thislandpress.com/2012/04/15/whos-afraid-of-elohim-city/
[c] Christian Identity
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-Identity
[d] Curse of Ham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Ham
[e] Resolution unsuccessfully denouncing the Curse of Ham at the 2017 Southern Baptist Convention
https://baptistnews.com/article/curse-ham-black-baptists-question-place-sbc/#.XPfIq4hKiUk
