Black Texas Lawmakers Say New Redistricting Maps Don’t Fairly Reflect Population Shifts

Black and Latino groups will challenge the maps in court.

By Joyce Jones

Posted: 06/07/2011 11:15 PM EDT

(Dallas Rep. Helen Giddings)

Redistricting maps are a topic of bitter partisan debate in states across the nation, and Texas is no different. A second map drawn by the Republican-led state legislature has local African-American and Latino lawmakers crying foul. It’s only natural that the state’s GOP would create a map that works to their advantage, but the population growth reported in the most recent census, minority lawmakers argue, warrants a different approach.

Dallas Rep. Helen Giddings represents a district that has one of the highest Black voter participation rates in the nation. Although her district would retain most of its original configuration, she believes that the proposed House and Senate maps do not accurately reflect the population shift that has occurred in the past 10 years. She told BET.com that it would preserve the current number of local representatives and senators but limits what she calls “opportunity seats.” She is referring to districts that have a large enough proportion of African-American and Latino voters to make a significant impact on who is elected to serve them, regardless of the official’s race or ethnicity.

Paul Quinn College was gazing into a future of uncertainty in June 2009 when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools withheld Paul Quinn College’s accreditation. Many of us could not bear to watch Dallas’s only historically black college fade into the dusty pages of our region’s history. Small colleges attract many first-generation and lower-income students in Texas and are a valuable asset to the community. It would be a great loss for Dallas and our state to see the doors close on a college which has opened a window of opportunity to so many. Moreover, when healthy, colleges and universities are economic engines. Paul Quinn can be an anchor for economic development in an area of blight. Recognizing the dire situation that the college was in, Representative Helen Giddings, in whose district the college is located, appealed to members of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. With the leadership of Caucus Chairman Sylvester Turner, the group quickly mobilized and developed a strateegy. On July 13, 2009, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus visited the campus and began implementing a plan to get the college back on its feet.