Editor’s note: The following is a press release from the Texas Organizing Project about the undemocratic legislation Republicans are forcing through in Texas to insure seats in Congress.
Texas Organizing Project: “This Is White Supremacy at Work—Not a Flaw, but the System Working as Designed.”
Republican leaders ram through gerrymandered maps, proving once again that the system is doing exactly what it was built to do: protect white political power and erase Black and Latino Texans from decision-making.
Texas Organizing Project (TOP) is calling out Republican leaders in the Legislature for doing exactly what the system was built to do: using gerrymandered maps to strip Black and Latino Texans of political power. This is not a glitch; it is white supremacy operating as designed.
“Let’s be clear, this isn’t some accident or misstep. This is how white supremacy is supposed to work,” said Brianna Brown, Co-Executive Director of TOP. “These maps are a deliberate tool to keep Black and Latino Texans out of power. They’re not broken, they’re working exactly as intended.”
Black and Latino Texans account for nearly all of the state’s population growth over the past decade, yet Republican-drawn maps do not reflect this reality.
“When you see Republicans drawing maps to erase Black and Latino communities, don’t call it a failure, call it what it is: White supremacy doing exactly what it’s supposed to do,” Brown said. “They want us silent and invisible. But we know what’s going on, and we’re not going anywhere. We’ve survived worse, and we’re not shutting up or backing down now.”
TOP stressed that fair maps for all, regardless of Texans’ race, age, faith, gender, or income, are essential to ensuring representation on health care, housing, education, and other everyday issues that impact our lives.
“Politicians should not be picking their voters,” Brown said. “Our communities will continue to organize, mobilize, and demand fair representation; in the courts, in the streets, and at the ballot box. The power of Black and Latino Texans will not be erased.
The Texas Organizing Project (TOP), founded in 2009, organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve.
Our greatest strength is the more than 350,000 members and supporters who help lead our direct-action organizing, grassroots lobbying, and electoral organizing.
