Few states’ delegations in the House of Representatives pack the political punch of little blue Maryland. Among its eight members is a Democratic juggernaut: the House minority whip and ranking members of the powerful budget, intelligence and oversight committees.
The eight also stand out as collectively far more white than the Maryland they have come to represent, the 2010 Census showed. Just a quarter of the state’s representatives are African American even though minorities, most of them blacks, now make up nearly half of the state’s population.
As Maryland’s redistricting process begins, African Americans in and out of state government are increasingly split over whether their top priority should be to push to redraw lines to ensure better representation for blacks or to protect Maryland’s white incumbents because of the coveted positions of power they have attained on Capitol Hill.
Maryland’s legislative black caucus has endorsed a strategy to protect incumbents’ districts while “preserving and strengthening” the two that are represented by African Americans. A grass-roots group in Prince George’s County, backed by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, says that’s not good enough.
GO HERE to see an excellent graphic of the potential impact of redistricting on Maryland’s incumbent members of Congress.
districts should be as close to squares as possible
ReplyDeletethe only consideration should be number of people
this gerrymandering for special interest/political parties needs to be stopped, its contrary to the constitution.
Typical Democrats they're only worried about race and tenure and don't care about the citizens and the fact Maryland has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
ReplyDeleteAll districts need to be the county boundry, Period. Then there is no flim-flam going on.
ReplyDeleteI'm so tired of hearing these stupid issues about black representation. P.G. county is a corrupt county and should withdraw from the state. The NAACP is also corrupt , they have stolen from their own people and will continue until these people wake up. Of course , they won't . it's in the culture.
ReplyDelete