2011 marks the year for redistricting – the once-in-a-decade process to draw boundaries that determine your elected officials from local school boards and city councils to state and congressional representatives.
As all 50 states begin drawing lines, battles will ensue among political parties and other interest groups. On this edition, we examine the U.S. redistricting system and some of its pitfalls. What is gerrymandering and how does it affect us? How does the rise in prison population change power dynamics? What does the rise in Latino population mean for redistricting? And how can the redistricting process be fairer?
Featuring:
Barack Obama, U.S. president; Bernie Grofman, UC Irvine political science professor; Justin Levitt, New York University’s Brennan Center for Justicecounsel; Ed Rollins, former RNC chairman; Susan Lerner, Common Cause New York; Nancy Cordes, CBS News; Christina Hartman, Newsy.org; Alex Kellogg, NPR; EJ Dionne, NPR; Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Institute executive director; Neil Breslin, New York state senator; Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Hispanic Center associate director; Nina Perales, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund litigation director; Lydia Camarillo, Southwest Voters Registration Education Project vice president.
For more information:
Prison Policy Institute, Northampton, MA
Pew Hispanic Center, Washington, DC
Southwest Voters Registration Education Project, San Antonio, TX
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY
California Statewide Database, Berkeley, CA
Purdue University’s links to redistricting resources for each state
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
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Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
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