The following statement is from Michelle Tremillo, Co-Executive Director of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), in response to the U.S. Department of Justice today announcing the filing of a lawsuit against the State of Texas over redistricting maps approved by the state legislature earlier this year:
“We thank the U.S. Department of Justice for suing against Texas Republicans’ discriminatory redistricting efforts that aim to shut Black, Latino, and Asian voters out of the political process for years to come.
“Governor Abbott and the Texas GOP purposely drew redistricting maps this past special session that weakened the voting power of our state’s growing communities of color, and they did so to cling to statewide political control. This already shameless partisan power grab is even more egregious when you factor in that 95% of the growth in Texas over the past decade has come from people of color.
“Lawsuits alone will not stop Texas Republicans’ extreme gerrymandering and overall assault on our voting rights. That’s why we once more demand our Democratic-controlled House, Senate, and White House to abandon the filibuster and put the future wellbeing of our democracy first by swiftly passing the For The People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
“Each day that passes without this legislation in place is a win for Abbott’s radical right-wing agenda, and a loss for fair representation in our state for Black and Latino Texans.”
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Texas Organizing Project organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris, Bexar, and Fort Bend counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve. For more information, visit organizetexas.org.
This statement was sent out December 6, 2021.