Liz Glynn, NJ Citizen Action Director of Organizing – December 9, 2021:
“The NJ Redistricting Commission will redraw the lines of our Congressional Districts. The Commission is expected to certify a new map in the next month. NJ Citizen Action has joined the coalition of groups advocating that the Commission keep communities of color together. The groups have released a Racial Equity map to illustrate how this goal can be accomplished while still keeping districts competitive.
NJ Citizen Action supports the principles of the racial equity map and participated in the process and discussions during the creation of this map. This map shows how to build power for communities of color and keep them together during redistricting, rather than diluting their voices. This map creates six districts where minority groups are the majority to complement the population increases in the latest Census count. Latino residents rose by almost 29% and AAPI residents rose by 31%, meanwhile the percentage of our white population declined by almost 8%.
We stand in unity with the coalition of groups advocating to build power for communities of color. We applaud the hard work of the groups and individuals involved in this effort, especially our own NJCA Board Member, Chris Estevez of the Latino Action Network. The groups who support this map include the NJ Institute of Social Justice, the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, Latino Action Network, Latino Coalition of New Jersey, Fair Share Housing Center, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, Association of Black Women Lawyers – NJ, Faith in New Jersey, the Inclusion Project at Rutgers Law School, Make the Road New Jersey, NAACP State Conference, New Jersey Appleseed, New Jersey Black Issues Convention, New Jersey Working Families, SALDEF, Salvation and Social Justice and United Black Agenda.”