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Proposed congressional redistricting plan could split up historic Houston neighborhoods
The congressional map passed by the Texas Senate is horrible. It splits neighborhoods up and puts Congresspersons Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green into same district
Link to tweet
A Texas House committee is holding a hearing on a proposal by Senate Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional districts. A lot of the reaction is focusing on one element of the new map, a controversial proposal to put two Black Democratic members of Congress in the same district. Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Rep. Al Green once again traveled to Austin in hopes of convincing Republicans in the lower chamber to toss out the proposed redraw.
Dr. Michael O. Adams said he was not born in Texas, but he said he got there as fast as he could. He has been a professor at Texas Southern University in Houston for about 40 years. The historically Black college is in Texas’ 18th Congressional District, where he has lived for nearly as long. It was a district once represented by Barbara Jordan, the first African American woman from the South elected to the U.S. House. Adams said since then the district has been a "bastion of political power."
“It’s the culture, it’s the sum total of the people existence in the city of Houston, in the Houston metropolitan areas. Everything that defines Houston from our our food in terms of who we are, our politics, our churches, in terms of the black churches, we find these in the Third Ward and in the Fifth Ward," Adams said.
Houston’s historic Third and Fifth Wards, as well as TSU and the University of Houston have been in the district for nearly 50 years. The Texas Senate’s redistricting proposal splits them up. Jackson Lee has represented the district since 1995, but the Senate Republicans’ proposed map would take her home and those historic neighborhoods out of it.
"No matter what the district ultimately looks like, representation of whoever the people are is crucial. But the protection is to protect people who've had a history of discrimination, a history of segregation, to give them an opportunity to select a person of their choosing," Jackson Lee told Capital Tonight.
Dr. Michael O. Adams said he was not born in Texas, but he said he got there as fast as he could. He has been a professor at Texas Southern University in Houston for about 40 years. The historically Black college is in Texas’ 18th Congressional District, where he has lived for nearly as long. It was a district once represented by Barbara Jordan, the first African American woman from the South elected to the U.S. House. Adams said since then the district has been a "bastion of political power."
“It’s the culture, it’s the sum total of the people existence in the city of Houston, in the Houston metropolitan areas. Everything that defines Houston from our our food in terms of who we are, our politics, our churches, in terms of the black churches, we find these in the Third Ward and in the Fifth Ward," Adams said.
Houston’s historic Third and Fifth Wards, as well as TSU and the University of Houston have been in the district for nearly 50 years. The Texas Senate’s redistricting proposal splits them up. Jackson Lee has represented the district since 1995, but the Senate Republicans’ proposed map would take her home and those historic neighborhoods out of it.
"No matter what the district ultimately looks like, representation of whoever the people are is crucial. But the protection is to protect people who've had a history of discrimination, a history of segregation, to give them an opportunity to select a person of their choosing," Jackson Lee told Capital Tonight.
