Redrawing the Map: Grassroots organization trains Black college
students and young professionals on the importance of redistricting
[link removed]
Esther Schrader | Read the full piece here
[link removed]
Friend,
Sometimes making change means playing the long game. And Jasmine
Burney-Clark, founder of the Florida advocacy organization Equal
Ground, knows this well.
As a young girl, Burney-Clark grew up in Orlando, in a congressional
district so gerrymandered that it jigsawed unevenly across Central
Florida, and was represented by one of the few women of color in
Congress. As a young leader, she founded Equal Ground in 2019 to ramp
up the political voice of underrepresented communities of color.
[link removed]
Right now, even as the immediate battle for representation plays out
with the state's Republican-controlled Legislature convening to
redraw the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts, she
is keeping her focus on the future.
The result? A brand-new Redistricting Fellowship program that engages
Black college students and young professionals about the crucial
redistricting process that is taking place this year. Funded in part
by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the program is giving a new
generation the tools to monitor the redistricting process, and to
fight back against a system that, if history is any guide, is skewed
against communities of color.
"As the founder of Equal Ground, this work is tied deeply and
closely to how I was raised in a gerrymandered district the majority
of my life," Burney-Clark said. "That defined my political
existence. I saw from a young age how it kept my community from having
a proper voice. And I saw that affected everything. It meant a lack of
opportunity for housing, for community development, for education. It
meant more often than not that Black people were laborers in the
places they occupied, rather than leaders. It meant that had to
change."
Energizing young leaders
To learn how to direct such opportunities to communities who need
them, seven fellows from the northern, central and southern areas of
Florida are meeting virtually now through November with advocacy
leaders, legislators, local and state policymakers and others. They
are undergraduate and graduate students from historically Black
colleges and universities, and some are young professionals. They have
each demonstrated leadership on various levels, and they come seeking
equal representation with a level of energy that inspires.
READ MORE
[link removed]
In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond,
working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy,
strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
all people.
Friend, will you make a gift to help the SPLC fight for
justice and equity in courts and combat white supremacy?
DONATE
[link removed]
--
Unsubscribe [link removed] | Privacy Policy [link removed] | Contact Us [link removed]
Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104
334.956.8200 // splcenter.org
[link removed]
Copyright 2021
