Photo: PAUL RATJE / AFP / Getty Images
As Georgia state legislators near the end of their electoral mapping, voting rights organizations have sounded the alarm about ongoing attacks on communities of color through redistricting.
“ We are very concerned about the lack of transparency and opportunity that the public had to make put their voice on the local maps that will impact them for the next decade”, said Poy Winichakul, a voting rights attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
During Webcast: “All Redistricting Is Local: Activists Push Back As Georgia State Lawmakers Draw Maps That Diminish Voices Of Communities Of Color ”, organized by Ethnic Media Services and Southern Poverty Law Center and Southern Coalition for Social Justice, advocates spoke of efforts to engage communities in the fight for fair election maps.
Susannah Scott, president of the League of Women Voters of Georgia and moderator of the panel, said that a fair and transparent redistribution process is essential for a good democracy.
“When voters have faith in the redesign process and believe it has been done fairly, they feel more involved in the political process and have faith in the government they help elect” .
Aunna Dennis, director of Common Cause Georgia, said democracy can only work if all communities are equally represented, regardless of party affiliation and zip code.
However, he pointed out that the attacks on the right to vote have not stopped with the ballot but are advancing in the redistricting process.
“State legislators want to control our communities from our kitchen table to our garbage collection and the way how our representatives are selected”.
He said that they really want to tell the rest of the country that this has to stop, and that they need a change in particular in Georgia, because they are not covered by the different sections of the voting rights law as it stands now.
“We need federal and state protections ted; and a legislature that really works for the community, the people and not for their special interests”.
Laura Judge, a Cobb County resident and mother, who testified in the state legislature against discriminatory attacks, said the only way to ensure commissioners and the school board do what is best for the community is through fair districts that represent voters.
But he also said that they should have a voice in the communities and schools.
“I strongly urge Georgians to counter this attempt to diminish our voice by staying involved and active”.
He pointed out that every time they go to the School Board so that their voices are heard, they run into a wall.
“They do not respond to public testimony and refuse to listen to the community, while the state legislature is in a hurry wanting to finish the maps.”
And denounced that children have been forced to live in toxic environments because parents have no voice.
“We feel that the issues of diversity, equity and inclusion are not addressed at all when we continue to pay taxes and see that our money is wasted on the School Board.”
Maariya Sheikh, a young Muslim-American, resident of Cobb County, said that they are the future, and the future is a multiracial and diverse democracy.
“Drawing maps that suffocate local control and silence communities of color is a threat to the future.”
He added that redistribution determines whether people get civil rights protections or fully funded schools, and wherever they live, they deserve to choose their leaders, instead of being chosen by them.
”Despite efforts by politicians in the state legislature to diminish their voices, activists in Georgian communities have committed gone to continue advocating for fair representation”.
Student Sadie Mcintyre said that for months they have been organizing with the Young Georgians for Justice to have fair maps.
“We have worked alongside parents, community members, advocates and voters from every county because this is not just about an election this year but about the future that we as students are going to inherit.”
And added that they have built strong coalitions to share their stories and inform voters.
“We know that politicians have not done necessary to engage the community in a critical process that occurs every decade. So we want to make sure they have the information about the impact of the maps.”
Hundreds of new local redistricting maps to be ready for the elections of 2048, currently awaiting the signature of the governor in the state of Georgia.
The presentation of candidates for the primary elections of 2022 in that southern state of the country begins on March 7.