Today's Date: March 29, 2024
AMIGOS FOR KIDS LAUNCHES "THE MISSING REVIEW"   •   Unique online yoga platform offers lifeline for menopausal women   •   Anaergia Announces Escrow Closing of Second Tranche of the Strategic Investment   •   Walmart Connect Announced as Presenting Sponsor of the 2024 WIN Summit   •   World Class Dyslexia, Literacy, and Neuroscience Experts Gather with Educators for Two-Day Professional Learning Event   •   Re:wild and Colossal Biosciences team up to leverage revolutionary technology to save critically endangered species on the brink   •   Navigating Spring Break Sexual Health: Advice from Dr. Deb Laino Sex and Relationship Therapist and Powerful Life Coach   •   Midea Group releases its first-ever ESG brand story with an unexpected VIP visit highlighting its commitment to sustainability.   •   Fosun Management on 2023 Annual Results: Focusing on Core Industries with Established Advantages   •   Syngenta Group reports $32.2 billion sales and $4.6 billion EBITDA in 2023   •   101 Mobility® Eden Prairie: Leading the Way in Mobility and Accessibility Solutions   •   Charity Navigator Launches Women's Advocacy List for Women's History Month   •   Chosgo K23: One of the Best Bluetooth Hearing Aids for Seniors   •   Anaergia Announces Delay in the Filing of Its Audited Financial Statements and Related Disclosures   •   Navigating Birth Control: Expert Advice from Dr. Bana Kashani, OB-GYN   •   National University Receives 2024 Military Friendly® Gold Designation   •   Coachella Concerned That People Have Sex, Says AHF   •   Committee for Children Now Offers a PreK-12 Full-Suite Solution with the Highly Anticipated Launch of Second Step® High Scho   •   Naropa University Launches Pioneering Psychedelic Minor     •   e.l.f. Cosmetics Debuts TikTok Shop Super Brand Day
Bookmark and Share

Hispanics Want More From Illinois Redistricting

 

SPRINGFIELD — Despite gaining districts in the Illinois House and Senate, many Hispanic groups say the proposed redistricting map doesn’t adequately reflect their growing population in the state.

Nina Perales even went as far as to say the map — House Bill 3760 — would be illegal if adopted.

“We believe that HB 3760 does not create a sufficient number of districts for Latino electoral opportunities to comply with the (federal) Voting Rights Act,” said Perales, director of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or MALDEF, a organization that works for Hispanic rights.

Perales said the map violates the federal statute, which prohibits racial discrimination, by not establishing enough strong Hispanic districts. Perales would not say whether MALDEF, which has filed at least four lawsuits related to redistricting since 1980, would sue over the redistricting map.
In the proposed map, Hispanics gained three more districts in the House for a total of 11, and one district in the Senate for a total of five. States use U.S. census figures to redraw legislative and congressional districts every decade. The Hispanic population in Illinois grew by nearly 33 percent during the past 10 years, according to census numbers.
One of the biggest complaints MALDEF and others have with the map is the number of voting-age Hispanics for many of the new majority-minority districts isn’t high enough. Their preferred 65-percent majority exists in six House districts and no Senate districts.

Miguel De Valle, a former state Senator who has been involved in redistricting legal cases for the past 40 years, said the Hispanic population counted by the U.S. Census Bureau includes voting-age people who aren’t eligible to vote. Census takers aged residents for their birth dates but did not ask about their legal status.

“So when I look at these 51 (percent) and 52 percent numbers of voting age population in these districts, and I take that into account, we could be under 50 percent” in terms of eligible voters, De Valle said.

Sylvia Puente, executive director of the Latino Policy Forum, a nonprofit advocacy group for the Hispanic community in Illinois, said the 65 percent measure wasn’t picked arbitrarily.

“Our understanding is most case law in redistricting cases indicates that that’s a threshold that’s acceptable for Latinos to elect candidates of their choice,” Puente said.

She said her organization and MALDEF plan to create 13 House districts in which the 65 percent mark is met, though they did not have a legislator to sponsor the redistricting map.

However, United Neighborhoods Organization, or UNO, supported the proposed map.

“We recognize and accept that Illinois’ Legislature must strike a balance with other minority groups' interest, particularly the African-American community,” Juan Rangel, UNO chief executive officer. “We believe that the proposed map fairly balances those changes in population and the stakes other communities have in the Illinois legislature.”

UNO is a nonprofit group working to help the Hispanic community in Chicago, according to its website.

The redistricting plan has given many politically minded Hispanics, who generally vote for Democrats in Illinois, a strange bedfellow: Republicans.

During a joint hearing of the House Redistricting and Senate Redistricting committees, several Republicans said many districts drawn to elect Hispanic-favored candidates barely broached the 50 percent mark for voting age Hispanics.

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, voiced concern that voting districts that didn't have a higher threshold of voting-age Hispanics might be counted as a majority-minority district on paper, but in reality would not elect a Hispanic-favored legislator.

State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, is sponsoring HB 3760 and said anyone is free to offer suggestions for improvement to the proposed map before the General Assembly approves the final map by May 31.

 


STORY TAGS: HB 3760 , MALDEF , redistricting , Hispanic News, Latino News, Mexican News, Minority News, Civil Rights, Discrimination, Racism, Diversity, Latina, Racial Equality, Bias, Equality

Video

White House Live Stream
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
alsharpton Rev. Al Sharpton
9 to 11 am EST
jjackson Rev. Jesse Jackson
10 to noon CST


Video

LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
WAOK-Urban
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
KPFA-Progressive
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
WVON-Urban
Chicago - WVON-Urban
KJLH - Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
WADO-Spanish
New York - WADO-Spanish
WBAI - Progressive
New York - WBAI - Progressive
WOL-Urban
Washington - WOL-Urban

Listen to United Natiosns News