Voting Rights Act

Apr 5 2012

Suit contends it would hurt minorities

COLUMBIA, S.C.—The South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and individual Black college students have moved to join a lawsuit to prevent the implementation of South Carolina’s so-called discriminatory voting law. 

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
Mar 8 2012

The redistricting battle over South Los Angeles

The relationship between the Los Angeles City Council’s three African American members—Bernard C. Parks and Jan Perry on the one side and Herb J. Wesson on the other—shows signs of combusting into an inferno that could deplete much of what political capital the city’s African American community has left.


The latest debacle is over the way Parks and Perry’s districts have been redrawn, but other sectors of the city also have a beef with the Los Angeles Redistricting Commission.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Feb 9 2012

Residents get to comment on proposed City Council maps

The proposed draft maps for the new Los Angeles City Council districts have been released, and to say that some people are not happy, is an understatement of epic proportions.

On Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m., citizens in the South Region will have the opportunity to offer input during a public hearing at West Angeles Church of God in Christ, 3045 S. Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Aug 25 2011

Majority Latino district proposed

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m. at the Hall of Administration in downtown L.A. to discuss the three recommendations the panel is reviewing for redrawing the county’s most powerful political districts.

The board has until the final day in September to adopt new boundary lines, and if that does not happen then three countywide elected officials—the sheriff, the assessor and the district attorney—will make up a committee that will have to approve the lines. This has never previously happened.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jul 14 2011

Claim latest visualization decimates Black representation

The African American Redistricting Collaborative (AARC) will hold a press conference today at 10 a.m. at the California African America Museum in Exposition Park to discuss the latest developments in redrawing legislative boundaries. The AARC’s press advisory notes that it “... is convening a press conference to declare the African American community’s refusal to accept any reduction in political representation.”

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.