Mississippi's House of Representatives will convene at the Old Capitol building on May 20 for a special session to redraw state supreme court districts, a decision drawing sharp criticism for holding the politically sensitive vote at a site steeped in the state's racist past.
House Speaker Jason White cited ongoing renovations to the regular chamber as the reason for relocating the session. The state senate will continue to meet at the newer capitol building across town.
The Old Capitol, which served as Mississippi's seat of government from 1839 to 1903, carries a brutal legacy. Lawmakers met there in 1861 when the state voted to secede from the Union to preserve slavery. Decades later, the building hosted the white supremacist delegates who drafted Mississippi's 1890 Constitution, which implemented Jim Crow laws and systematically disenfranchised Black voters through poll taxes, literacy tests, and other restrictions.
The choice of venue has infuriated Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates. Kabir Karriem, a Democratic state representative who chairs the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus, said he was troubled by the optics.
"Even though they said that they were doing some remodeling, the optics of it are horrific for 1.2 million Black folks here in the state of Mississippi," Karriem told reporters.
The special session was called by Governor Tate Reeves following a Supreme Court decision last week that weakened the Voting Rights Act. Political analysts expect lawmakers will use the redistricting process to reduce Black voting strength across the state's three supreme court districts.
Safia Malin, policy director for One Voice Mississippi, a civic engagement organization, described the venue selection as intentionally cruel, whether stated that way or not. "It feels like it's almost a deliberate or intentionally cruel attempt," she said.
The last time the House met at the Old Capitol was in 2009, when lawmakers gathered ceremonially to acknowledge the building's restoration after Hurricane Katrina damage. During earlier renovations in the 1980s, legislators met at a former high school building in downtown Jackson.
Cheikh Taylor, chair of the Mississippi Democratic Party and a state representative, issued a statement framing the decision as both symbolic and sinister. He called the special session part of a broader effort to ensure Black Mississippians retain minimal political power, and said meeting at the Old Capitol amounts to "returning to the scene of the crime to try and finish the job."
The redistricting effort comes as Republican national figures, including Donald Trump, have urged Mississippi lawmakers to redraw congressional districts to target Bennie Thompson, the state's sole Democratic congressman, who chaired the January 6 committee hearings.
Author James Rodriguez: "The symbolism here is impossible to ignore, and Democrats aren't wrong to call it out. Redrawing voting districts at the building where Jim Crow was born isn't just bad optics, it's a message."
Comments