Because mapping is fun!

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by: andgarden @ Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 01:55:37 AM UTC

I dig the Cleo Fields Z district, even if the SCOTUS hates it

Yes, it's a revolting gerrymander, but it promotes more minority representation in a state where race is still all too closely aligned with politics. Of course, with the Court's ruling in Bartlett v. Strickland, and with Kennedy primed to throw out Section 5, the strength of minority representation VRA provisions is weaker than ever.

I was trying my hand at Louisiana earlier today and could not seem to push the black pop. over 50% in District 2.  

20 years old, male, GA-12 (home), GA-10 (school); previously lived in CA-29, CA-28, CA-23, IL-06, IL-14, GA-01.

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by: Nathaniel90 @ Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 02:05:14 AM UTC

it's at about 48% here

I tried for higher, but it's in any case minority-majority.  

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by: andgarden @ Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 02:07:58 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I kinda like that movement

I think that hte VRA has long been abused to the points of encouraging and protecting political segregation by revolting maps like that segregate black and white voters and give them different representatives, and therefore even further limiting how much they are forced to work together for common goals.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 04:18:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

It's easy when you're a member of the demographic

majority to say things like that. Coalitions are great, but there's nothing quite like being represented by someone who gets you and has lived your experience.  

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 04:41:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

i understand that

but the spaghetti districts completely segregating voters in many areas aren't doing any favors in the long run. I understand what you are saying, but it in many of the areas working together would help ease differinces instead of further segregating the cultural and political differences between the races in the polarized areas.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 04:58:04 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Are blacks in north Louisiana better or worse off

for not having had Cleo Fields represent them since 1997? Do you think they can build a coalition with their white Republican neighbors?

VRA districts don't create segregation, they are the direct result of it.  

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 05:07:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

do you want to know the truth?

the truth is that they're that way because of inactivity. You have to work in democracy and less than 40% of the black population votes in these areas and among younger voters it can be even lower. If they participated at the same rates as white voters they would have a lot more political power. They have no dynamic leaders as well. What always happens, and this is tragic, local families end up profiteering off local politics, little groups and cliques form and they have no interest in public projects that don't help them or their allies. That's the way it is for all of Louisiana though, but its even worse for the black community.

And Fields was not that good a representative. Sad to say but Alexander has been doing really good things for this area for quite some time, i can't really get into better right now.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 05:19:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Blaming black people for being unable to get their racist neighbors

to vote for their preferred candidates. . .

I know what that sounds like to me.

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 05:25:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm not blaming them

I'm saying they have a lot lower turnout and even more corruption on average than te white politicians, which is an unfortunate situation and has definitely held the community back in many areas,

Its difficult, many times, to fully explain and show racial relations around the south. I say this as one of the most racially progressive white guys you'll find in the south, but its really easy to sit far removed on a pedastal but much harder to actually deal with and isolate.

I also don't like the way you use racist, it implies that only the whites are racist, while the truth is much of the black population is just as biased as the whites. I have family members who were fired from inner city jobs, a grandmother who we are certain was only fired due to discrimination, (it was a gospel radio station in Alexandria and she was a, their leading saleswoman, and b the only white worker there so when cuts came they fired their leading saleswoman over the underperformers). Racism cuts both ways. In the inner cities some places simply don't hire you if you're white.

What i hate about racism is that it must be stopped. Both communities must move beyond it. I don't share many of the goals of the modern civil rights movement, which seem to me to be searching out special treatment, especially when we have not even reached King's ideal of equality for all. I want a government that doesn't show favoritism by race, we must be a color-blind nation, and I think that King's goal was the noblest of works and I want to get to that point, but we aren't there yet and to get there it would take some real revaluation by the white community and the black community and both have to decide to start coming together. As it is segregation by the state is ended, but self-imposed segregation, both of politics and culture, is stronger than ever and that's the next great challenge.

I'm not a southern apo0logist for anything. I have to deal with heated and vile racism in my own family, i have to deal with a certain degree of 'ecentricity' for being the only person who doesn't tolerate racist jokes or the n-word, i know good and well that racism is very alive and very strong, its just no longer socially acceptable to be openly violent and racist, but its there and its in both communities and both communities to work to end it.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 15:32:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm sorry, but one group

is historically responsible for the racism and oppression, and has a responsibility to correct it. That is the purpose of affirmative action, and why the government CANNOT be color blind.  

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 15:40:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm sorry, but that will never

work. You don't make up for opression with more opression, you don't solve discrimination by discriminating against another group. What you are talkinig about is not the dream of Martin Luther King, its a quick fix solution meanat to try and cover up many of the more serious underlying problems facing the black community. Our government cannot be allowed to give any group special treatment because of the precedent that sets. You can't make up for what's been done, you can only try to move past it. The government has to be color-blind, just like the government cannot show favoritism to a religion or a nationality.

All affirmative action does is fight inequality with inequality. Its methods are fundamentally unjustand haven't and won't solve the problems. That's one of my favorite things about Obama is that he seems to share that sort of vision and viewpoint that you can't just be handed a better position in society, you have to work for it. The walls of goverment oppression were torn down and then many people realized that the next step would be harder, a lot harder than they thought and unfortunately they've been taking the easy way for sometime now instead of addressing the underlying issues and two decades of playing the race card and fighting tooth and nail for special treatment have 6got them nowhere. 50 plus VRA districts haven't solved any problems and neither will the broad host of affirmative action programs.

I'm sorry if I don't feel guilty for slavery, but it happened, its done and we've moved past it. Its time to forget the past and step forward into the future, you can't make up for something that's already happened, it holds you back and sometimes you just have to let the past go.

And i wasn't suggesting that most discrimination is done by blacks, not even a good bit of it, its overwhelmingly white, and i saw that when i campaigned door to door for obama and when I fought on the editorial pages for him. I'm definitely disenchanted with the southern view i held in even 2006 towards a populist appeal. I still hold a few things of it, like fair trade, because free trade encourages sweat shops and child labor to make cheap goods and drives american manufacturing out of business while hurting the possible incomes of the people making the clothing, but the rest of it is gone. I no longer even know if i want to appeal to the ignorance and petty racism involved and the liberalization of my political views effectively ends my chances for a political career here but somebody has to fight for it and it can't be people like you, who didn't grow up in this environment and have no credibility persay, because of up close experiences. What you said is no more than shallow moralizing, and moralizing period, whether in luiteratre, art, religion, politics, is always...I won't even start on that.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 16:55:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

well, I tell you what

your viewpoint on affirmative action is way outside the Democratic mainstream. You agree more with Clarence Thomas than most Democrats, it seems to me.

I doubt if most of Cleo Fields's former constituents would agree.  

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 17:31:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I didn't mean to suggest

that i don't think that i and other whites don't have a responsibility to help the black community, i agree with you on that, i strongly disagree, however, on the methods. I am a person who cannot tolerate injustice, even to make up for past injustices, they are just a line of discriminations and recriminations that never end. Whats more is that i'm interested in solving what's wrong at base, and i believe it falls down to positive youth influences, education, and optimistic drive, and solving those problems are a much more fundamental solution rather than a quick fix, cover to problem up that is affirmative action.

I cannot understand though, how anyone's solution to discrimination can be more discrimination, life is not a an eye for an eye, an eye for an eye is not fair and is not justice, it just leaves two people incapacitated instead of one.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 20:57:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

here's your problem

In comparison to blacks, whites are not incapacitated. So instead of pretending that there is equality, we have to work to make equality.  

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by: andgarden @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 21:06:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

i agree

but there must be better ways.

I do agree with you the state needs another black congressional district, as they are over 40% of the population, but I don't want another gross racial gerrymandering. I'm working on a map myself that creates a about a 44% black district that should be counted on to elect a black Democrat, though its unlikely Jindall will stand for it.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 21:11:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Perhaps it would help with racial relations

But I tend to think most folks dont pay enough attention to who their congressman is and what district and kind of district they are in. Most will probably shrug it off, even if they do vote for or against the African American representative.

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by: HarrisCountyBrian @ Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:44:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I was gonna post this in another diary, but...

I'll just post it here. I made my own map of LA based on the idea that they might want to recreate the "Cleo Fields" district given the huge explosion of black growth in the Baton Rouge Area. Here was the old Cleo Fields district.

Notice how it emanates from Baton Rouge, up the Mississippi, over to Shreveport in the northern direction, and does a weird swoop over to Lafayette in the southern direction. The large growth in the black community meant that your district didn't need to do the Southern swoop; in fact, yours didn't even take in all of Baton Rouge. I figured that if I took in all of Baton Rouge and clipped the district before it went to Shreveport and other crazy places then I could create something that would stand up in court. Here's what I came up with.

District 2 close-up/New Orleans Metro

Baton Rouge Close-up

Lafayette Close-up

Monroe Close-up

Alexandria Close-up

District 1 Full

District 1 (blue) is the new Cleo Fields District, stretching from Baton Rouge through Lafayette to the Southwest and up the Mississippi, West to some mid-size towns. It's actually very compact and geographically reasonable and get this - it's 57.7% black!!! Seriously, it looks just that good and it's just that black. I think it looks damn good as it is, but even if someone wanted to smooth out the edges a little, it could take it since it has about 7.7% to spare.

District 2 (green) is Anh Cao's New Orleans district. It takes in some white areas in New Orleans for population purposes as well as some rural black areas to the West to keep it VRA-protected. If someone wanted to smooth out the edges a little, it could take it since it's still 53.7% black.

District 3 (purple) is Charlie Melancon's district. It gives up some black areas to keep CD-2 majority black, while taking in white parts of Baton Rouge for proximity purposes, as well as some parts of the old CD-7. Melancon should be fine, unless I put Boustany's home in this district; if I did, he'll have one hell of a fight on his hands. (15.5% black)

District 4 (red) is John Fleming's district. It's pretty much the same thing, plus part of the old CD-7. He's pretty damn safe here, unless the black percentage raises over time. (30.5% black)

District 5 (yellow) Rodney Alexander's district. He should be safe; I may have put Boustany's home in this district, but it's mostly Alexander territory so he should win a primary easily. (21.4% black)

District 6 (teal) Steve Scalise's district, pretty much the same, except it now takes in parts of Baton Rouge for population purposes. Still the most Republican district in the state. (11.2% black)

So there you have it, I'm not sure where Cassidy ended up, but who cares, he has no seniority. He's either in CD-3 or CD-6 most likely. He'd lose in the primary in CD-6, and in CD-3 he'd either face Boustany in the primary and lose there or go on to face Melancon in the general, which would be a real race.

21, Male, Democrat, MD-02 (home/registered), MD-05 (college)

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by: Rupper @ Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 08:17:03 AM UTC

Those are some purtty districts

3-3 delegation here we come!

I do worry if Melancon can survive for much longer though. Hi district is bad now, this makes it worse, and it will continue to move that way through the next decade more likely than not. Maybe make the BR district a little less black for Melancon?

26, Male, Democrat, TX-26

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by: trowaman @ Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 09:42:55 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

not really

Cajuns are really Democratic, moderate but conservative, and reliably Democratic, but horribly racist. Clinton won this district twice in carrying Louisiana, he was a moderate, southern Dem capable of connecting to the demographic and it showed, it was a crucial part of the coalition that gave Clinton two easy wins in the 1990s.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 04:25:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Interesting map

I think the advantage of mine is that it is much better for Melancon, as his district is about 30% black.  

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by: andgarden @ Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 15:32:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I dunno about that

the black vote in Monroe is horrendously low, and participation is terrible and select community leaders effectively rule neighborhoods with their possies of friends and connections.

Lafayette is different, they are very unorgainzed as well, and turnout is very low and downright horrible. There's a reason Lafayette is so reliably Republican.


Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus

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by: ArkDem the Ragin Cajin @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 04:23:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

shots of my map

As for the districts
LA-1 (blue, Scalise): 15% African-American
LA-2 (green, a Orleans Dem): 66% African-American
LA-3 (purple, Melancon): 21% African-American
LA-4 (red, Fleming): 37% African-American
LA-5 (yellow, Alexander & Boustany): 25% African-American
LA-6 (teal, Cassidy): 26% African-American

ideally the 2nd would have be around 55 to 60%. But the only way to really do that would involve lopping off part of Baton Rouge or something like that.

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by: RBH @ Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 21:07:23 PM UTC

Most likely...

CD-2 and CD-3 will be merged. They took the largest hit in population. Whoever beats Cao next year will probably end up being elected in 2012  

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by: GOPVOTER @ Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:39:35 AM UTC