First of all, I want to echo Trace’s sentiments about our appearance on KWAM 990 yesterday morning. It was a good conversation, and I hope we have the opportunity to do it again.
During the show, the discussion turned to the 9th District race between Herenton and Cohen. In the course of that discussion, Thaddeus said something that the Herenton campaign has been saying since he announced his intention to enter the race. I can’t quote him directly but the crux of it was that the 9th District was designed to be represented by an African American.
Now, no one can look at the demographics for Shelby County and deny that we have a majority African American population. So, if you look only at that statistic, I suppose, that yes, the 9th was “designed” to be represented by and African American.
But that raises another question; was the 9th district designed to EXCLUDE a Caucasian, or any other racial background from representing the district? Clearly, the answer to this is no, otherwise we wouldn’t have had Cohen in Washington since the 2007.
If we look at all of Tennessee’s Congressional Districts we see at least three that are highly, and suspiciously gerrymandered. The 7th and 3rd being the most obvious, though the 4th is pretty bizarrely drawn too.
By contrast, the 9th is drawn in a relatively straightforward manner covering the majority of Shelby County.
So while demographically, the 9th may have a majority African American population, the notion that an African American is the ONLY one that SHOULD represent it, is purposefully divisive and exclusionary.
For me, I want the best PERSON for the job, regardless of race, sex, orientation or any other criteria that would be used to separate one from another. Who that is, is up to the voters. Hopefully, the voters of the 9th will not rely solely on race as a determining factor, but the legislative vision of the candidate that best suits the needs of the district.
More importantly, I hope the rhetoric of the campaign shifts to THAT discussion rather than what we’ve seen thus far. We can’t come together if we keep dividing ourselves. We can’t work for progress if we continue to regress into exclusionary attitudes. In doing these things, we’re selling ourselves short. Personally, I think we’re better than that.
Tags: 9th District, elections, Race, Steve Cohen, Willie Herenton
T. Sharp on Twitter (@newscoma)
Was the 9th REALLY Designed To Be an “African American” District?
First of all, I want to echo Trace’s sentiments about our appearance on KWAM 990 yesterday morning. It was a good conversation, and I hope we have the opportunity to do it again.
During the show, the discussion turned to the 9th District race between Herenton and Cohen. In the course of that discussion, Thaddeus said something that the Herenton campaign has been saying since he announced his intention to enter the race. I can’t quote him directly but the crux of it was that the 9th District was designed to be represented by an African American.
Now, no one can look at the demographics for Shelby County and deny that we have a majority African American population. So, if you look only at that statistic, I suppose, that yes, the 9th was “designed” to be represented by and African American.
But that raises another question; was the 9th district designed to EXCLUDE a Caucasian, or any other racial background from representing the district? Clearly, the answer to this is no, otherwise we wouldn’t have had Cohen in Washington since the 2007.
If we look at all of Tennessee’s Congressional Districts we see at least three that are highly, and suspiciously gerrymandered. The 7th and 3rd being the most obvious, though the 4th is pretty bizarrely drawn too.
By contrast, the 9th is drawn in a relatively straightforward manner covering the majority of Shelby County.
So while demographically, the 9th may have a majority African American population, the notion that an African American is the ONLY one that SHOULD represent it, is purposefully divisive and exclusionary.
For me, I want the best PERSON for the job, regardless of race, sex, orientation or any other criteria that would be used to separate one from another. Who that is, is up to the voters. Hopefully, the voters of the 9th will not rely solely on race as a determining factor, but the legislative vision of the candidate that best suits the needs of the district.
More importantly, I hope the rhetoric of the campaign shifts to THAT discussion rather than what we’ve seen thus far. We can’t come together if we keep dividing ourselves. We can’t work for progress if we continue to regress into exclusionary attitudes. In doing these things, we’re selling ourselves short. Personally, I think we’re better than that.
Tags: 9th District, elections, Race, Steve Cohen, Willie Herenton