Editor, The Commercial:
The Fair Redistricting Committee has contacted Redistricting Coordinator Doyle Webb regarding the reapportionment 2021 issue. We are requesting the committee take a serious look at the historical gerrymandering of congressional districts in Arkansas. For decades Democrats have historically disenfranchised black voters, taken them for granted and hoodwinked them into voting for a straw man in the form of a Democrat.
The Republican Party is now in control of reapportionment, can send a very strong message and live up to its legacy as being the party of civil rights. This party passed the 13th, 14th, 15th amendments to the Constitution, electing the first African Americans to Congress to include Edward Brooke in 1968, the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, separating the King-Lee Holidays, appointed the first Secretary of State, and the first African American woman as Secretary of State, etc.
This is not a partisan issue but an issue of fairness; nonetheless almost every majority black city in Arkansas that’s led by Democrat politicians is suffering from high poverty, crime and a need for educational improvement.
Rev. Jesse C. Turner
Pine Bluff