Ethnic Media Services hosted a briefing to unveil new realities about the redistricting maps in the states south of California. Especially since vulnerable and minority populations are now included and are now represented.
In the country, redistricting is coming to an end, so it is important to know where we are assigned to better understand the needs of our environment. And is that, the new maps of the southern states have reduced or dismantled the electoral opportunities of the rapidly growing Afro-descendant communities in the region.
Mitchell Brown, Voting Rights Counsel, Southern Coalition for Social Justice noted that, "By ignoring where black people live, where Latinx people live, where AAPI communities are in North Carolina, they are ignoring the humanity of the voters who are trying to elect their candidates."
Similarly, Deborah Chen, an attorney and community organizer with OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates in Texas, stated that they presented difficulties, maps were not available in advance, there was no information to understand how the lines were drawn, and therefore a congressional district like the 22nd District "was drawn to make it whiter."
Sean Morales-Doyle, interim director of the Brennan Center for Justice, said the year begins with more bills "restricting access to voting" in state legislatures than is normally seen in an entire year.
Such is the case with the restriction on voting by mail, which occurred immediately after the 2020 election, following a dramatic increase in the number of people voting this way.
Charles Mann, a redistricting activist in Spartanburg, South Carolina, commented on having to "deal with so much cruelty about drawing lines or creating fair opportunities to elect the people we want." And he emphasized that none of the Democratic members of the Senate committee were consulted before the maps were made public, bringing inequity.
He announced that the maps will be contested and added, "Now we can focus on the next election cycles and we can increase voter awareness."
