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| Anatomy of Texas Congressional Map Plan C185 decleared discriminatory (Right-click and hit "open link" to enlarge and/or print.) |
PlanC185 was originally thrown out by local Texas courts soon after it was created and was replaced by those courts with Planc235, which is not much better. The Texas Attorney General appealed that ruling and the 8-28-12 decision was the result. See details and links to a copy of the 154 page ruling in this linked Dallas Morning News article on this decision.
As you study the above chart note that the demographic group percentages are relatively evenly distributed between the high percentage of 86% and the low percentage of 13%, except for a gap of over 12 percentage points! That gap tells the story of gerrymandering.
It is a gap that for the Anglo percentages is between 31.7% and 44.4%. No group would want to be in this "Maximum Loss" range. Sadly that is a range of percentages that are occupied by 15 Minority districts, but not a single Anglo district. That same gap translates to a gap between 55.6% and 68.3% for the Minority districts with not a single Minority district with percentages in this "Maximum Win" gap. However there are 15 Anglo districts with those percentages. Do you think this happened by chance? By accident?
Is this really 2012?
Hopefully in the next redistricting in Texas in 2020 citizens will be able to go online and build their own Texas redistricting plans. As the public becomes more aware of the power in redistricting they will no longer allow maps such as PlanC185 to even be considered. Yesterday's decision was a strong step forward. Texas also needs a replacement for PlanC235 which is the current Congressional redistricting plan we are working under. It is almost as bad as PlanC185. See a similar anatomy of Plan C235 at http://dallasredistricting2011.blogspot.com/2012/03/gerrymandered-texas-congressional-map.html .
As you study the above chart note that the demographic group percentages are relatively evenly distributed between the high percentage of 86% and the low percentage of 13%, except for a gap of over 12 percentage points! That gap tells the story of gerrymandering.
It is a gap that for the Anglo percentages is between 31.7% and 44.4%. No group would want to be in this "Maximum Loss" range. Sadly that is a range of percentages that are occupied by 15 Minority districts, but not a single Anglo district. That same gap translates to a gap between 55.6% and 68.3% for the Minority districts with not a single Minority district with percentages in this "Maximum Win" gap. However there are 15 Anglo districts with those percentages. Do you think this happened by chance? By accident?
Is this really 2012?
Hopefully in the next redistricting in Texas in 2020 citizens will be able to go online and build their own Texas redistricting plans. As the public becomes more aware of the power in redistricting they will no longer allow maps such as PlanC185 to even be considered. Yesterday's decision was a strong step forward. Texas also needs a replacement for PlanC235 which is the current Congressional redistricting plan we are working under. It is almost as bad as PlanC185. See a similar anatomy of Plan C235 at http://dallasredistricting2011.blogspot.com/2012/03/gerrymandered-texas-congressional-map.html .
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