[WestMALocals] Fwd: [AriseAction] Reminder - Court hearing tommorrow!

[Owen Broadhurst]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tory Field <toryfield at yahoo.com>
Date: Aug 17, 2005 2:33 PM
Subject: [AriseAction] Reminder - Court hearing tommorrow!
To: ariseaction at yahoogroups.com


Please join us tommorrow, Thursday August 18th at 2pm
at the federal court house in Springfield (1550 Main
St.)when our motion for a preliminary injunction is
heard before Judge Ponsor!

Many of you know that on July 15th our lawyers filed a
motion for a preliminary injunction which asks the
court to temporarily delay the november city council
elections until our pending voting rights lawsuit
against the city is heard. Our voting rights lawsuit
charges that the current at-large voting system in
Springfield is racially discriminatory and seeks to
replace it with ward representation. It was filed on
April 5th with Arise, Oiste, the New England Chapter
of the NAACP, and seven Springfield voters, as
plaintiffs.

We need to pack the courtroom on Aug. 18th to show
that there is community support to delay this
election!

For more information call Tory at Arise 734-4948 or
email torylf at hotmail.com.

Please forward this email and spread the word!


What is wrong with At-Large voting in Springfield?:
-In the past ten years 51% of Springfield's City
Councilors have come from
just one of the city's eight wards, Ward 7. Ward 7 is
the ward with the
largest percentage of white voters and the highest
average household income.
-In a city that is over 55% people of color only 1
Latino and 1
African-American currently sit on the council.
-Only 1 Latino and 4 African-American candidates have
been elected to the
council in the entire history of at-large in
Springfield.
-Many of the wards, particularly those that are
predominantly
African-American and Latino, have no representation.
For example, none of
the City Councilors elected over the last 10 years
live in Wards 1,3,4, or
8.
-The School Committee is currently 83% White,
representing a school district
that is 50% Latino, 28% African-American, and 19%
White.
-At-large voting is being replaced throughout the
country. Springfield is
one of only three cities in Massachusetts (with
populations over 35,000)
that still uses this outdated system to elect city
councilors. Originally
used in the South to prevent African Americans from
winning office, the U.S.
Congress outlawed the at-large method for federal
elections because of its
tendency to produce discriminatory results. The U.S.
Justice Department has
challenged at-large elections in cities throughout the
country.
-At-Large voting makes it prohibitively expensive to
run a campaign for city
council. Because candidates have to run city-wide,
some candidates are
spending up to $40,000 to get elected. With ward
representation, candidates
without access to this kind of money could run by
campaigning in their
neighborhoods and going door to door.
-Because the council is dominated by councilors who
live in one area of the
city, many neighborhoods do not get equal attention.
Ward representation
would mean that councilors had to be from the areas
they were charged with
representing, providing more accountability for those neighborhoods.

Tory Field
Arise for Social Justice
94 Rifle St.
Springfield, MA. 01105
413-734-4948
torylf at hotmail.com

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