The Republican Party could have tried to regain Black support, but the GOP seems to have decided that doing so is just too much work — it’s easier to try to stop Black people from voting, period. In Republican-controlled states across the nation, the campaign for a 21st-century Jim Crow is well underway. That is a tragedy, both for African Americans who are losing access to the ballot and for the Republican Party. It didn’t have to happen this way. How much more inspiring would it be if Republicans courted the African American vote instead of trying to suppress it? Imagine if the GOP made high-profile African American appointments in the Republican National Committee. And imagine Republicans supporting, instead of almost automatically opposing, legislation that might primarily assist Black families.