Five years ago, a Washington Post poll asked whether race should be a factor in congressional redistricting "in order to elect more minorities to public office.(The Week)(Brief article)

Five years ago, a Washington Post poll asked whether race should be a factor in congressional redistricting "in order to elect more minorities to public office." An overwhelming majority of Americans said no, including 90 percent of whites, 83 percent of Hispanics, and 70 percent of blacks. But now Congress is pressing ahead with a bill that would make color-coded redistricting and foreign-language ballots a reality for at least another 25 years. In a grandly titled piece of legislation called the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, Congress would pretend that the Deep South of the 1960s still exists in the 21st century and extend the "emergency" provisions of the Voting Rights Act until 2032. In May, a House committee approved the bill by ...