Minority Activists Air Complaints About Proposed TX Redistricting

AUSTIN (AP) — Minority activists and elected officials testified Wednesday that a Republican-drawn congressional redistricting map could hurt the political progress black and Hispanic Texans have made over many years.

"I think it's probably going to set us back maybe 20, 25 years," said Deralyn Riles Davis, a black political activist from Tarrant County. "The people are going to be discouraged."

Attorneys for the state say Republican legislative leaders were trying to craft a congressional map for partisan gain, and that race was not a predominant factor. They dispute claims by Democrats and minority groups that the map violates the federal Voting Rights Act.

The GOP-controlled Legislature approved new congressional boundaries in October after months of fighting. Democrats twice fled the state to break a legislative quorum and temporarily block passage of the bill.

Juanita Valdez-Cox, an advocate for colonia residents in the Rio Grande Valley, testified that under the GOP plan her area could be represented by a congressman from as far away as Austin who may not understand the problems of the Texas-Mexico border region.

"I just think that would be very difficult for us," said Valdez-Cox, the state director of La Union del Pueblo Entero. "We work hard to make sure that we get that response, and I don't see why it needs to be made more difficult."

Colonia residents in Hidalgo County have an average household income of $6,000 to $8,000 per year for a family of six, and many communities have poor drainage and outdoor toilets, Valdez-Cox said.

Hidalgo County Judge Ramon Garcia said the county has the largest indigent population in the state and a host of basic needs, such as infrastructure and health care.

"We rely heavily on our congressman," he said, adding that he worries the area could lose representation if someone from out of the area is elected in the new "fajita strip" district that stretches from Hidalgo County to Travis County.

Through questioning of witnesses, attorneys for the state suggested that a Congress member can be receptive to constituents' needs, even if he or she lives in a different part of a congressional district.

Several plaintiffs' witnesses weren't impressed with the fact that Republicans say they have created a new district in Houston where a black congressional candidate can get elected.

Even if black voters could elect a black candidate in that district, they would lose influence in other districts, said Howard Jefferson of Houston, who is active in the NAACP.

"To get one and give up six is not very good math for us," Jefferson said. "It doesn't matter what color you are — it's the issues."

Nelson Linder, president of the Austin branch of the NAACP, testified that the black community of east Austin is divided in the Republican plan and some of it is lumped in with areas to the east of the city. Most Austin blacks don't have common interests with minority groups in rural counties to the east, he said.

Linder said the Republican plan dilutes minority strength and "divides, segregates, separates." That's the opposite of what the Voting Rights Act of 1965 attempted to do, he said.

Robert Starr, a Fort Worth resident and NAACP activist, criticized the part of the Republican map that places black communities in southeast Tarrant County in a district that reaches with a thin strip up through Denton and Cooke counties to the Oklahoma border.

Blacks in southeast Fort Worth have little in common with those predominantly white areas to the north, he said.

"Since not too many go up to pick cotton, we don't go up there anymore," he said. "They really were trying to decimate the black community of Fort Worth."

2 posted on 12/18/2003 5:43:33 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I will defend to your death my right to say it)

Isn't redistricting based on the census findings???

Mostly....it's based on electing more Republicans. (Just like the last one was based on electing more Dims.)

...and exactly what law says that minorities are required to vote for democrats??? this has become a huge joke for us in Texas (well, those of us who are republicans). the fact that those arguing for the dems are bleating that minorities will become disenfranchised with the new map warms the cockles of my heart. what a crock of Dean!!!...

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