NAACP Exploits Black Athletes for Cheap Political Points

Like many Democrat-aligned interest groups, the NAACP was outraged when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that racial gerrymandering violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The “civil rights” organization shamelessly mischaracterized the Court’s decision, calling it “a direct attack on Black voters and a failure of our justice system.” In response, the NAACP and the Democrat Party are launching a direct attack on American sports, and specifically the beloved institution of college football.

Despite the NAACP’s blatantly dishonest claim, the Court did not attack black voters or black political representation. Instead, the justices simply ruled that states could no longer draw districts specifically to favor one racial group. Liberals are outraged at the decision because they have been using racial gerrymandering for decades to draw districts in which only Democrats have a genuine shot of winning.

In response to Callais, the NAACP launched the Out of Bounds campaign, which they characterized as follows: “We’re calling for Black athletes, families, alumni, and fans to withhold athletic and financial support from public universities in southern states attacking Black voting rights.” The organization specifically targeted eight priority states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

This is how the NAACP described the leverage they would bring to bear against these priority states:

Across the South, Black athletes have helped build some of the most profitable college athletic programs in America, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. At the same time, several southern state governments are moving to limit, reduce, weaken, or erase Black voting representation by creating new, unconstitutional voting districts. You can’t have one without the other. Profiting off of Black athletes while suppressing their vote is out of bounds.

The NAACP’s list of target states is a little odd considering that it contains two – Georgia and South Carolina – that haven’t engaged in mid-decade redistricting. It also omits three states – Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio – that have drawn new congressional maps.

Another oddity of the NAACP’s target list is that it includes Texas despite the claim that the Out of Bounds boycott is a reaction to the Callais ruling. The Lone Star State’s district map was drawn last year and has nothing to do with that decision. Yet Texas is nonetheless on the list of states which must meet these NAACP demands:

1. Adopt state Voting Rights Act.
2. Withdraw or repeal maps that dilute Black voting power.
3. Restore congressional and/or judicial districts that reflect the state’s Black population and voting strength.
4. Commit to transparent, community-centered redistricting processes.
5. Protect districts where Black voters have the opportunity to elect candidates of choice.
6. Stop using state power to weaken Black representation while public institutions profit from Black talent.

This list is rife with constitutional pitfalls. The first demand, “adopt state Voting Rights Act,” won’t survive a trip to the Supreme Court if the resultant law conflicts with the Callais ruling.

The second demand, “Withdraw or repeal maps that dilute Black voting power,” would contradict the Court’s April 29 decision, as would the third demand to “Restore congressional and/or judicial districts that reflect the state’s Black population and voting strength.” The fourth, fifth, and sixth demands are little more than unenforceable political slogans.

In short, the NAACP is demanding that black athletes boycott universities in southern Republican states unless Republican legislatures simply gift Democrats more political power than they would otherwise be able to win at the ballot box.

This brings us to the disgraceful May 20 press conference held by NAACP and Democrat “leaders.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and NAACP National President Derrick Johnson stood on the steps of Congress and pressured black athletes to politicize their choice of what school to attend. The Democrats and the NAACP want to protect their own political power by asking young, promising athletes to make very serious sacrifices. As Jeffries phrased it in a press release:

This is an unprecedented moment featuring an unprecedented attack on Black political representation, and, therefore, it requires an unprecedented response. We are here standing in solidarity with the NAACP and its call for athletes to boycott institutions within the SEC that belong to states that have unleashed these Jim Crow-like, racially oppressive tactics, which is unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American. And we believe that the silence of these institutions is complicity, and we will not stand for it.

You will note that Jeffries uses the word “we” a lot, but he is sacrificing nothing. The same goes for NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who issued this statement:

What these states have done is not a policy disagreement. It is a sprint to erase Black political power… The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice. Out of Bounds is our answer: we are naming the contradiction, and we are calling on Black athletes, families, fans, and consumers to act on it. The same power that built these programs can be redirected.

This is what they are asking these athletes, families, and fans to do:

• Black athletes and recruits are asked to withhold commitments from targeted programs, to ask coaches and athletic directors where their universities stand on voting rights, and to visit and seriously consider HBCUs.

• Current college athletes are asked to use their platforms to elevate the issue, to ask institutional leadership for public statements opposing racial vote dilution, and to consider all available options under the transfer portal.

• Fans, alumni, donors, and consumers are asked to stop purchasing tickets, merchandise, and licensed apparel from targeted programs and to redirect that spending to HBCUs — their athletics programs, scholarship funds, NIL collectives, bands, and alumni foundations.

This is a huge ask, particularly for the potential recruits and current athletes. Even worse, it won’t have any real effect. The Democrats and their NAACP accomplices know the targeted states can’t meet their demands without running afoul of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Callais. They are, for all intents and purposes, insisting that the eight target states ignore the Supreme Court and return to racial gerrymandering. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is committed to preventing such backsliding.

In reality, the Out of Bounds campaign is just an elaborate publicity stunt cooked up by the Democrats and the NAACP. They plan to use black athletes as pawns in a game that has nothing to do with justice. They want to inflame racial tensions, increase their donations, and accrue even more power. For these race-baiters and liars, it’s always about money and power.

David Catron is a Senior Editor at the American Spectator. His writing has also appeared in PJ Media, the American Thinker, the Providence Journal, the Catholic Exchange and a variety of other publications.