Last week, in response to how the City of Raleigh voted on the redistricting, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice (Twitter: @scsj) have sent a letter to the City of Raleigh, urging the city to correct their attorney’s “inaccurate statement about Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”), and correct mischaracterization of SCSJ’s statements provided to the Study Group on Council Terms/Salaries and Voter Engagement/Participation in December 2021, and show support for a community-informed process before the March 31, 2022 deadline to adopt a revised map.”
The SCSJ has stated that the variations within the maps “may substantially impact residents”, and yet the city said that the changes “will not have a substantial impact”. The SCSJ stated in their letter that claiming the changes would have “no substantial impact” on voters of color, “was incorrect and incomplete.”
To make matters worse, Councilmember Patrick Buffkin asked the City Attorney whether or not the city should follow VRA’s Section 2, and following discussion, Councilmember David Knight made the motion to approve the changes to the map, followed by everyone on council, except Councilmember David Cox, voting in favor.
For the city to be willing to lie before the public of the severity of the impact their redistricting plan will have on the voting powers of the communities of color, and for the city council to find ways to get out of having to follow the Voting Rights Act instead of doing better about adhering to it or even strengthening the voting rights, is downright disgraceful.
The people in the City of Charlotte have sued against their city for diluting Black voting power this past month. The City of Raleigh should also be sued for violating the voting rights of the Black, Latinx and Asian populations.
Read the full letter sent to the City of Raleigh by the SCSJ below: