Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 September 2002 — Page 3
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6,2002
THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER
PAGE A3
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Continued from A1
• District 11 (59.5 percent Black) 25 district seats. a chaotically drawn district stretch- Unlike the Republican plan, ing along 38th Street from Sherman which has seven Black-majority disDrive east to Post and Mitthoeffer tricts ranging from 57 percent to 63 then reaching down as far south as I- percent Black, the Democratic plan 70. contains just five Black-majority dis- • District 14 (58.5 percent Black), tricts ranging from 50 percent to 77 a new district in the heart of India- percent Black. Two other districts, napolis including the Brightwood, in the Democratic plan, would be 44 Douglass Park and Brookside Park percent and 39 percent Black reneighborhoods. spectively. •District 15 (63.4 percent Black), Maps of the Democratic plan
another new district which includes weren’t provided to The Recorder Forest Manor and western Warren for analysis. But an analysis of the
Township.
census data in the Democrats’ redis-
Djstrict 17 (57 percent Black), tricting plan reveals one Black-ma-an oddly shaped new district com- jority district. District 6, which has prising parts of Center, Washington, an outrageously high Black percentWayne and Pike townships. age (77 percent). The other Black • District 21 (57.5 percent Black), majority districts in the Democratic another bizarrely shaped new dis- remap plan and their Black percenttrict stretching from 38th and Moller ages are: District 10 (52.8 percent), on the west to 30th and Central on District 11 (51 percent), District 14 the east. (61.7 percent) and District 22 (50.9
The Republican plan disenfran- percent),
chises nearly a third of Pike Unlike the Repubhcan plan which Township’s Black residents who cut Pike Township up into five counwere split into three strongly Repub- cil districts. Democrats created just lican districts. The GOP plan also three Pike districts. One, a new Discontains numerous examples of trict 2, would be 39.1 percent Black, Black precincts placed into GOP- a likely Democratic seat. Another dominated districts resulting in the Democratic potential seat would be dilution of Black voting strength and a new District 9, mostly in western influence. Pike and eastern Washington TownMeanwhile, the Democratic coun- ships, which would be 44.3 percent
cil redistricting proposal sacrifices Black.
the current seven Black-majority In initiating the council’s redis-
districts in favor of Democrats try- tricting process back in June; Citying to gain a majority of the council’s County Councilman Robert Massie
indicated that the council wanted to take into consideration “neighborhood boundaries” and other “communities of interest.” The Republican redistricting plans doesn’t do that. Their plan’s bizarrely shaped lines and oddly crafted districts are an apparent attempt by the Republicans to expand their razor-thin one seat council majority. Instead of protecting communities of interests and making it easier f«-citizens to know their council member, the majority Republicans have crafted a redistricting plan that has the opposite effect. The Republican proposal cuts PikeTownship into five council districts; Warren Township five, Lawrence Township six, Wayne Township seven. In the most outrageous example, the Republican plan places 13 council districts, over half the overall total, in Center Township. By contrast, the Democratic proposal cuts Pike into three council districts, Warren Township four, Lawrence Township five, Wayne Township six and CenterTownship into 10 districts. The public can comment on the two City-County Council redistricting plans at a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 17, before the council’s Rules and Public Police Committee. Call3274242for more information.
BRIEFS
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The 1968 crime has long haunted the nearly all-white rural Indiana city of about 12,000, which gained a reputation for racism after the slaying of Jenkins, who was Black. Shirley Richmond McQueen told investigators that at age 7 she watched from a car as her father stabbed Jenkins in the chest in a drunken rage while yelling racial slurs. Jenkins’ father, Paul Davis, said he was disappointed that Richmond died without a trial. “It is not like I wanted it to be, but
that is God’s will,” he said. “I feel very strongly that he committed the crime.”
Black Pilots honor Sept. 11 comrade (Special to the NNPA)—The Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP), at its annual in meeting in Atlanta, paid tribute to LeRoy W. Homer Jr., the first officer of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania during the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.
A video presentation that featured photos of Homer was shown during the recent tribute in which he was honored by Delta Airlines Capt. William T. Thompson, who delivered a stirring reading of “High Flight,” a much-loved poem among aviators. His wife, Melodie Homer, received a $5,000 gift from the organization for the LeRoy W. Homer Jr. Foundation, established to encourage and support young men and women who wish to become professional pilots and pursue aviation careers.
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