Are the VRA districts the modern version of "seperate but equal"?

[TJ in Oregon]

I agree with Jbrase that the VRA sort of creates a "separate but equal" political atmosphere by making it such that politicians from these districts are elected almost in a separate reality than everyone else. You do end up with a decent number of sub-par representatives in VRA districts who could never be elected anywhere else so it can be a bit like the US House minor leagues. Part of the problem is the partisan makeup ends up so skewed in VRA seats that elections stop mattering, and not only do they not matter, they never have the threat of ever mattering in the future. The only shred of democracy in a VRA seat is the Democratic primary, which is too often a match-up of a white candidate who wins the 45% of the district that is white so that the VRA district isn't an illegal minority pack against a black candidate who wins the 55% of the district that is black, designed to ensure the black faction is large enough to always win or else the minority community doesn't have the candidate of their choice and the whole concept falls apart.

All of that being said, I'm not sure trying to repeal it would be any better because then you would replace the current system by cracking all the minority areas whenever Democrats draw the map so they can win more other seats. The Republicans would probably want to keep drawing VRA-style seats anyway as a natural way to pack Democrats.

I also think having proportional representation by race would be way worse because it would be actually mandating candidates win based on race instead of just creating an environment conducive to it.