Post by ck4829 on Oct 6, 2021 23:37:17 GMT
Texas GOP's Gerrymandering Plan Reveals 'Ominous'—and Deeply Racist—Threat to US Democracy
After Texas Republican lawmakers on Monday approved congressional and state legislative maps that would disenfranchise communities of color and cement GOP power for at least 10 years, voting rights advocates implored Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill to take immediate federal action to ban racial and partisan gerrymandering—anti-democratic ploys likely to be copied in other Southern battleground states as redistricting proceeds.
"At a time when Texas is becoming more diverse and Democratic," journalist and author Ari Berman wrote Monday in Mother Jones, "the new maps drawn by Republicans for Congress and the state Legislature would make the state's political representation far whiter and more Republican, all but ending competition at the very moment when ascendant Democrats are finally making the state competitive."
By "surgically removing minority communities" in the fast-growing and increasingly diverse Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, Berman noted, Texas Republicans' proposed map would transform the 24th congressional district from one that President Joe Biden carried by five points in 2020 into one that would have given former President Donald Trump a 12-point victory.
According to Berman, "The same level of gerrymandering is a defining feature of the maps drawn for the state Legislature, where Republicans are desperately trying to insulate themselves from accountability after passing a flurry of extreme laws this year, such as a six-week abortion ban, permission for residents to carry guns without a permit, and a sweeping voter suppression law."
www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/05/texas-gops-gerrymandering-plan-reveals-ominous-and-deeply-racist-threat-us-democracy
After Texas Republican lawmakers on Monday approved congressional and state legislative maps that would disenfranchise communities of color and cement GOP power for at least 10 years, voting rights advocates implored Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill to take immediate federal action to ban racial and partisan gerrymandering—anti-democratic ploys likely to be copied in other Southern battleground states as redistricting proceeds.
"At a time when Texas is becoming more diverse and Democratic," journalist and author Ari Berman wrote Monday in Mother Jones, "the new maps drawn by Republicans for Congress and the state Legislature would make the state's political representation far whiter and more Republican, all but ending competition at the very moment when ascendant Democrats are finally making the state competitive."
By "surgically removing minority communities" in the fast-growing and increasingly diverse Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, Berman noted, Texas Republicans' proposed map would transform the 24th congressional district from one that President Joe Biden carried by five points in 2020 into one that would have given former President Donald Trump a 12-point victory.
According to Berman, "The same level of gerrymandering is a defining feature of the maps drawn for the state Legislature, where Republicans are desperately trying to insulate themselves from accountability after passing a flurry of extreme laws this year, such as a six-week abortion ban, permission for residents to carry guns without a permit, and a sweeping voter suppression law."
www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/05/texas-gops-gerrymandering-plan-reveals-ominous-and-deeply-racist-threat-us-democracy