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Local Politicians Denounce Redistricting "Crackers," "Special Master"
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 12, 2012
Modified Mar 12, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 12, 2012
Modified Mar 12, 2012
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Last week, the federal magistrate judge assigned to draw up new New York Congressional lines shared his maps, and guess what: They are not a hit amongst lawmakers. Over the weekend, a group of Democratic lawmakers appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network to voice their concerns; Capital New York reports that the group "said the congressional lines... increased the number of Latino residents in [Rep. Charles] Rangel's district, which they said unfairly pit the two ethnic groups against one another."
The group included New York State Democratic Party executive director Charlie King, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Assemblyman Keith Wright, State Senator Adriano Espaillat. Here are some of their remarks, via Capital:
The Manhattan Democratic County Chairman, Assemblyman Keith Wright, repeatedly referred to the judge who drew the congressional lines by her formal title, "special master," replacing the "er" sound with an "ah" and saying, "I don't like being told what to do by a special master."
Later, State Senator Adriano Espaillat of Washington Heights told the crowd about two practices that disenfranchise minorities during redistricting: "packing," which crams minority voters into one district to limit their influence, and "cracking" which divides ethnic strongholds into many districts, ensuring they can't unify behind any one candidate.
"So these crackers, that are here today," Espaillat said, to cheers from the crowd, "still around, crackers, that are here today, cracking districts all over the city of New York, cracking here and cracking there."
And here's video:
The 13th Congressional District currently spans both Manhattan and Queens; the revised redistrict (map below) would keep it entirely in Manhattan.
The proposed 13th District, from the special magistrate
Yesterday, the Daily News reported that Espaillat will explore a challenge to Rangel's seat. Espaillat also calls the new map potential for "nuclear war" in Northern Manhattan.
Tagged
13th congressional district
Adriano Espaillat
charles rangel
cracking
Democrats
minorities
redistricting
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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