(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, the longtime Black representative from South Carolina whose seat could be at stake in mid-decade congressional redistricting, told ABC News that he sees the redrawing of congressional seats held by Black lawmakers as part of a larger history of discrimination and disenfranchisement against Black Americans.
“I don’t know why it’s so hard for people to understand this. The country is attempting what I call ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ It’s just that simple,” Clyburn said.
Some experts have told ABC News that the redistricting in the South could wipe out up to a third of seats in Congress held by African American legislators, and Black lawmakers have been expressing similar concerns ever since the mid-decade redistricting push by Republicans kicked off last year.
Republicans have argued that they are redrawing congressional maps to comply with the Supreme Court or to remedy unfairly-drawn districts, and that the districts that could be changed may still elect Black representatives to Congress.
But Clyburn told ABC News that if the focus remains solely on redistricting, the bigger picture is being missed.
“When I released the book [“The First Eight”], and that’s the whole thing my book was about. I think a lot of people thought I was just whistling Dixie. But no,this is real. It’s as real as anything can be. And we got to come to grips with that. So it’s not just about congressional districts. It’s affirmative action, closing colleges and universities to ordinary Blacks, it’s about we’re not able to get a job in the federal government, state government,” Clyburn said.
“They want to take away federal jobs in the federal government, remove that protection … getting rid of any kind of diversity and inclusion. So this is a very comprehensive thing.”
Clyburn was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992, the first Black member of Congress from South Carolina in a century, after previously teaching high school history and being involved in political activism.
He spoke with ABC News just hours before South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced Thursday evening in an executive order that he would call the state legislature in for an “extra” session to consider mid-decade redistricting.
McMaster’s announcement came amid other states redrawing maps after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against Louisiana’s congressional map. It also came just two days after, even in the face of pressure from President Donald Trump, the state Senate rejected a key bill that would have let the legislature consider mid-decade redistricting even after formally adjourning.
However, that specific, specialized bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass. In the extra session, a bill that could redraw the congressional map would only need a simple majority.
In a statement celebrating McMaster’s announcement, South Carolina Republican Party Chair Drew McKissick wrote, “Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling, Republicans have an opportunity to get this done, and we should maximize it. Now is the time for lawmakers to stand with President Trump, defend the Constitution, and finish the job.”
Clyburn, speaking before the special session became official, told ABC News he saw the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana vs. Callais, which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, as the continuation of a long line of other Supreme Court decisions he sees as detrimental – including the Citizens United v FEC ruling that unleashed billions of dollars from corporations, labor unions and other groups into American campaigns as a protected form of free speech; as well as the Dred Scott decision, which in 1857 held that Black Americans could never be citizens.
The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified 11 years after Dred Scott, was drafted to repudiate that decision and to prevent the creation of a hereditary class of noncitizens within the United States.
“I’ve been saying this about five or six years. Back when the Supreme Court made a decision … a lot of people look at me like I was some drunken sailor,” Clyburn said. “I said, when the Supreme Court handed down the decision in the so-called Citizens United case, and that is when they created dark money. And I said at the time, I said, this Supreme Court decision will take its place along — will compete with Dred Scott as one of the worst decisions ever made by the Supreme Court.”
“Now, people couldn’t see what I was saying at the time, but I’ve been studying history all my life. And when I saw that [Citizens United] decision, I knew that the foundation was being laid for taking over this country,’’ Clyburn said.
But Clyburn told ABC News that despite all of that, he does have hope for the nation’s future.
“I’m a South Carolinian. Do you know what our state motto is? ‘While I breathe, I hope.’ I’m a real South Carolinian. Breathing and hoping,” he said.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and ABC News legal contributor James Sample contributed to this report.
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