NC Newsline, 11/6/23 – Black voters removed from a state Senate district where their choices could determine the winner. Democrats and voting rights groups said Republicans used redistricting to illegally weaken the influence of Black voters at the ballot box. 

NC Republicans in the General Assembly certainly appear to be targeting black voters in the Wilmington area. From the article:

Sonya Bennetone-Patrick told her cousin she almost fainted when she saw the plan for the New Hanover state Senate district.

Predominantly Black precincts in Wilmington were cut away from New Hanover and attached to a Senate district dominated by Brunswick and Columbus counties. 

“I’m still sick over it,” Bennetone-Patrick said in an interview. “I’m just devastated. It’s a true attack on the Black vote.”…

… On Friday November 10, Wilmington will commemorate the 125th anniversary of the 1898 massacre and coup d’etat in which white supremacist killed Black residents, burned the city’s Black newspaper, and forced residents into exile. A statewide campaign of Black voter suppression followed. 

“It’s almost like history trying to repeat itself. Same dance, different tune,” Bennetone-Patrick said. “That’s what they want – to disenfranchise the Black vote. They don’t use physical force. They use the law now.”