STATEMENT BY VETERAN BLACK POLITICAL ACTIVIST MARK S. ALLEN, CHAIRMAN OF BLACK WALL STREET CHICAGO, A LOCAL BLACK COMMUNITY ECONOMIC AND PUBLIC POLICY ORGANIZATION 773-392-0165
THE CHICAGO BLACK CAUCUS PRESENTED A UNITED FRONT, BUT THE BLACK COMMUNITY LOSES IN REMAP VOTE
Mayor Emanuel reneged on his promise of "transparancy" in the manner in which the map voted upon was presented to the City Council for a vote; the City Council failed to use its power to reject Mayor Emanuels "top-down" strategy; and most importantly the people of Chicago were totally disenfranchised when not one Alderman had the opportunity to allow its constituents to have input into the final map voted upon.
The Hispanic community must be commended for fighting for the additional Wards based upon their increased population, and its unfortunate that even though Blacks are still the majority of Chicago's population, that the Black community does not reflect the majority of the Wards in this approved map."
Comments
The real story of the Chicago 2012 City Council redistricting is that the Black Cacues supported a plan that undercut the black community for the benfit of white aldermen.
After first introducing a 19 Black Ward map in September. Black aldermen went along with Ald.Mell and Burke and supported retrogression, and agreed to an 18 Black ward map in january.
Thank God for the Justice Map introduced by the NAACP.the Commmittie to Preserve Voting Rights,and The Committie for a Better Chicago.They have begun to develop the campaign to build National support to file this case in the U.S. Federal Court