The state’s powerful Black, Hispanic and Asian caucus is condemning legislative leaders for redrawing Congressional districts in a way that amounts to a “slap in the face” to the minority communities across the state.
Caucus members are expressing “utter disappointment with parties responsible for proposing Congressional district lines that by their nature dilute the voting power of communities of common interest,” according to a statement from Bronx elected officials to federal magistrate Roanne Mann, the special master designated by the courts to draw the state’s congressional lines after receiving proposals from the Assembly and Senate majorities.
Read the rest here: Minority Fury Grows Over New Congressional Maps.
I think Mr. Hawkins got his story wrong. I don’t think the Caucus has taken a specific position on the congressional maps submitted by the Assembly majority to federal Judge Roanne L.Mann. I haven’t seen a statement by Assemblyman Karim Camara who heads the Caucus condemning the submission. Camara has heretofore only criticized the Senate GOP’s senate redistricting plan. And to my knowledge, no one has taken Speaker Sheldon Silver to task for the maps submitted to Judge Mann.
Read the update portion of the article where Wright and Heastie returned calls to clarify that neither is upset with their leader, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Wright also noted the Caucus had not taken a position on the congressional redistricting plan. Stay tuned.
how come jews are not a minority even though they have the most hate crimes against them per capita?
The jewish community is the most gerrymandered in the country and your defense of destroying they little political clout they have is reprehensible and worthy of a KKK member.
Obviously you’re not well informed about me or my writings. For a few weeks, now I’ve been writing about the misuse and misapplication of the Voting Rights Act in NYS. I’ve gone so far as to urge Governor Cuomo to exercise the “bail out” provision in Section 4 of the VRA to remove NY from Section 5 pre-clearance oversight. The Orthodox Alliance for Liberty’s petition for congressional districts segregated by religion is the kind of perversion of the Voting Rights Act that I oppose.
Every group now thinks the VRA is supposed to guarantee their tribe or as in this case, their religious sect segregated representation. This thinking is antithetical to the spirit and purpose of the VRA and violates the Establishment Clause. Codifying and then rewarding segregated representation is utterly unAmerican.
The test for VRA application is not a numerical one. The OA have not produced evidence that systematic government action has impeded their free participation in the political and electoral process. The outcome in NY-9 was attributed to a strong Orthodox and Chasidic voter turnout for Bob Turner’s candidacy. Evidently, they are able to freely elected the candidate of their choice. There are scores of such examples in federal, state, and local elections over the last two decades or more.
Given the disproportionate attention lavished on the Orthodox and Chasidic Jewish communities by elected officials, I doubt they can prove that they are an aggrieved racial, ethnic and religious minority. Magistrate Mann will easily dismiss the Orthodox Alliance’s petition.
New Yorkers must become “silo busters” and say no to this slow march towards separate but equal bantustans as in the old USA (Union of South Africa). We are the United States of America. We’re supposed to be better than that.
The Orthodox community doesn’t have people who represent us now because we are the more gerrymandered then the south was in the during Jim Crow.
For example I doubt there is any neighborhood in the country that is as anti marriage redefinition as Borough Park but due to a gerrymander 4 out of 5 of their state senators (no neighborhood in the state has 5 state senators) voted for it, because the Jewish vote is nullified by other demographics.
I repeat if it wasn’t for the fact that The Jewish community grew at rates that the democrats in the assembly never predicted 10 years ago the Turner seat never would have happened (as it was it only happened in a special election where every single non Jewish demographic had extremely low turnout even for a special election and we showed up like it was a presidential year).
So after a mistake that was based on a few very unlikely events that were almost impossible to predict when drawing the lines the Jewish community finally influences a vote. The nin the next redistricting once again they destroy our vote to the point that no one would ever predict that the Orthodox community would have a say in.
How this for proof that it’s pure antisemitism how come under the current lines (for the past 10 years) the neighborhood that has the most representatives in both congress (5 in Jewish Flatbush), senate (5 in Borough Park), and Assembly (6 in Jewish Flatbush) were all Orthodox neighborhoods. the probability of that is next to nill unless there was a clear anti semetic attempt to destroy on representation.
let me ask you this you don’t think the fact in the new district Nadler goes from Harlem through Greenwich Village (the neighborhood that is probably the least similar to Borough Park this side of San Francisco) in to Borough Park and Flatbush to completley nullify the Jewish vote is not anti Semetic. The fact every single Jew in Yevette Clarke’s new district can vote against her twice and she will still win by a big margin because you segregated them from the rest of their community.
I agree with you, thank god we our in America and not Nazi Germany but you and your democratic ilk are turning it closer to that day by day (the Republicans have been getting better but also are lousy).
This map is 100% Anti Semitic and anyone who supports it is either blind or an anti semite.
Thank you for including Orthodox Jews as a group that has cause to complain in your NY Post article.
Will you now apologize for accusing me of anti-Semitism?
I apologize fully for accusing you anti-Semitism
though this map is anti semetic. I really think you need to understand the Orthodox jewish community much better and would do well to speak to me in a non public setting. You’ll actually find we have a lot in common based on principles.