Jul 28 2011
Community Members Push for Racial Justice in Redrawing LA District Lines
The California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission will release its final maps tomorrow – it’s the culmination of months of work to redraw state legislative and Congressional districts. They will take public comment until August 15th. With Los Angeles County’s population growing less than the rest of the state, the area is facing a loss of representation. North County Times journalist Dan Walters observed “[a] shuffle in [the County’s] long-static congressional delegation is looming.” Ahead of Friday’s release, a draft of the proposed boundaries was made public, sparking anger and even accusations of racism from a multitude of sources. The African American Redistricting Collaborative, AARC for short, strongly opposed plans to break-up African-American strongholds in the 33rd, 35th, and 37th congressional districts. Overall, it warned that a 25% reduction in African American congressional representation would result. However late yesterday, the AARC announced that the Commission redrew district lines at the last minute, resulting in a draft that will preserve Black representation. Meanwhile, a multi-racial coalition including the Korean Resource Center, SCOPE, and CHIRLA, is organizing against a break-up specifically of the 33rd Congressional district. They say District 33 is one of the most diverse in the state, and they want to keep it that way. It is comprised of four distinct ethnic groups, each accounting for at least 10 percent of the population. Gloria Walton, executive director of SCOPE said “Breaking this district up along color-lines would take our country and community in the wrong direction.”
GUEST: Erica Teasley, Coordinator of the African American Redistricting Collaborative, former Western Regional Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Visit www.wedrawthelines.com for more information and to post public comments, or send emails to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov.
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