I Wish It Were A Joke

Sometimes you are sent stories that you think must be a joke. That is especially true if they arrive on April 1st.

So if you got sent a news story with a headline that reads "Black Lawmakers Sue to Dissolve Cities that Are Too ‘White’", most people would think it was a joke. A bit off color and maybe racist but a joke nonetheless.

It's true.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus filed a lawsuit Monday against the state of Georgia seeking to dissolve the city charters of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton and Chattahoochee Hills. Further, the lawmakers, joined by civil rights leader the Rev. Joseph Lowery, aim to dash any hopes of a Milton County.

The lawsuit, filed in a North Georgia U.S. District Court Monday, claims that the state circumvented the normal legislative process and set aside its own criteria when creating the “super-majority white ” cities within Fulton and DeKalb counties. The result, it argues, is to dilute minority votes in those areas, violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

Before I read this story, I literally went into Pacer.gov to see if such a case had been filed and it was. You can read the case here. The case is entitled Lowery et al v. Deal. The cities in question were created between 2005 and 2008.

I guess the truth is stranger than fiction.