Surprise Supreme Court Decision Gives Boost To Democratic Hopes

It is the point of the plaintiffs and their backing by the Democratic Party.

 

That is what the proposed plans have been. And it is entirely based on racially grouping people together instead of what I have already described and quoted. You are free to look up your own statistics.

How about just addressing the issue. Is it more important to group people together based on race or that "communities of interest, communities of commonality"?

 

That is a meaninglessly general way of phrasing things, because the black community, can most certainly also be one, of common interests.

Details are what make the difference, and you are clearly unwilling to supply any.

 

So RACE is the ONLY thing that matters? What do blacks in Montgomery know about issues in MOBILE? What do they know about zoning issues, tax issues, streets, parks, police, jobs, economic developement in a city 170 miles away?

 

A) That is not what I'd said-- do you not understand the meaning of the word "also?"

B) You have become a broken record, while ignoring all my responses. That is not a debate, a discussion, or a conversation.

 

But you support the change that is ONLY based on race.

I am responding to yours try doing the same.

It is on my part

From this mornings Sunday Brunch from the same news journal and one

".....“I don’t think you’ll see Baldwin and Mobile split,” Thomas Shaw, Ph.D., an associate professor of political science at the University of South Alabama, said. “That's not my impression because, in addition to race, the Supreme Court often in their previous precedents about cases related to the Voting Rights Act and to districting they have also suggested that common community factors are an important aspect as well.”....


.........[Justice]Thomas nodded to Mobile and Baldwin counties in his dissenting opinion, calling it “a cohesive political unit” and “the sort of community of interest that the Alabama Legislature might reasonably think a congressional district should be built around.”

Writing the majority opinion, Roberts wrote the proposed maps separating the Gulf Coast counties would still be “reasonably configured” because the Black Belt counties and their community of interest would be unified.

“I think most people these days see Baldwin and Mobile county pretty well united in terms of common factors, the threat of hurricanes, emergency management response, a lot of similar issues by virtue of us being coastal counties and those kinds of things,” Shaw said. “I’m not as concerned about the threat to Baldwin and Mobile being split necessarily, which is not to say it can't happen, but I dont think it's likely.”

At the same time, Mobile features prominently in the maps plaintiffs Evan Milligan, Khadidah Stone and others proposed to the court, and in the plans emerging after the ruling as people around the state wonder how the redrawing process will proceed.

Joe Reed, the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference [ADC], previously described the map the conference plans to submit to lawmakers for approval as the “gold standard.” In it, the city of Mobile joins Montgomery and some of the central Black Belt counties in a redrawn District 1, while the rest of Mobile and Baldwin counties join Covington, Escambia and other Wiregrass counties in a redrawn District 2."

The proposed map



https://www.lagniappemobile.com/new...7086028&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

As I said, that makes no sense and nothing more than RACE and is racial gerrymandering. It's ONLY purpose is to create an DEMOCRAT stronghold and get the Dems another seat in Congress.

 

I've had the same thought myself. Gerrymandering is an exchange of breadth for depth. The safer the seats the fewer you have.

Democrats’ Voting Rights Act ‘Win’ In Alabama May Backfire, Set Up Republican Congressional Sweep: Democrats thought they would pick up a seat in Alabama, but they may lose the one Alabama seat they currently have.

I think Democracy is best served by competitive districts that either candidate can win. I'm not a fan of fixed elections.

And this SCOTUS decision runs right down the path you spotted. Currently they have one black majority district and it's a very safe one. Now they will have two black majority seats, but they may both be competitive.

'Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, in his concurring opinion, left open the possibility that having competitive seats where Black voters have clout, but not a definite outcome, would meet his own test for adhering to the voting law.'

As well it should.

 

Enhancing or diluting the black voting power could depend on one’s perspective. Here in Georgia, blacks make up around 35% of the population. There are 5 majority black districts, 9 majority white districts. Not surprising, we have 9 Republican and 5 democratic congress critters. This when to total vote was fairly evenly split between the two parties. Maybe having 5 majority black district is enhancing their voting power as they’re guaranteed to elect a Democratic black to office. On the other hand, if blacks were evenly distributed among all districts, chances are our congressional delegation would have 7 each Republicans and 7 Democrats. The 5 black representatives might be lowered to 2 or 3. The federal courts have always stepped in and mandated these majority black districts in the past, at times making Georgia’s state legislature redraw them several times.



The majority black districts certainly weren’t competitive, but a couple of the white districts were. Republicans don’t run any candidate in them most of the time. When they do, they lose 80-20 or worse. I’ve concluded that these majority minority districts dilute the Democratic Party’s voting strength. Whether or not it enhances or dilutes the black vote, I’m not sure. As I said, it depends on one’s perspective. I agree about Alabama, I needed to say that before I completely went off on another tangent.

 

I trust that we are working toward a future where it not assumed that only a black can represent and black, and that only a white can represent a white.