N.Y Guyanese to rally for legislative seats:
Written by VISHNU BISRAM
Monday, 06 February 2012 22:06
Chronicle -
A group of New York-based Guyanese and other residents of the greater Richmond Hill area plan to rally this afternnon at the office of the President of Queens Boro where there will be a final hearing on the redistricting of Queens for the New York State Senate and Assembly.
The organisers of the rally are urging Guyanese to come out in large numbers to show their support for the creation of an Assembly seat for the greater Richmond Hill area. The organisers have chartered buses to shuttle people from 127-16 LIBERTY AVENUE at 2:00 P.M to Queens Boro Hall where the hearing commences at 3:00 P.M.
After every census, every politically administrative unit in America must by law redraw electoral districts to provide fair representation to every ethnic group in the country that shows a community of interests or cultural bonding. Indo-Guyanese are classified as South Asians or as Indian Americans for census purposes, while Afro-Guyanese are classified as African-Americans.
Most Guyanese-Americans are settled in New York State. The boundaries to New York State’s 150 seats in its Assembly and 62 seats in the Senate must be redrawn by April. The redistricting to the US House of representatives (27 seats) will take place next month and that of New York City (51 seats) will occur later in the year.
Today’s hearing focuses on state redistricting for Queens County which has the largest number of Guyanese in America. And within Queens, Richmond Hill has the heaviest concentration of Indo-Guyanese so much so it is dubbed “Little Guyana”. The area was racially gerrymandered into six Assembly Districts(Ads) and two Senate Districts(SDs) after the 1990 census when prior to that it fell largely under one AD and SD.
Since Guyanese hardly voted in American elections, with one of lowest voter turnout rates, the Queens Democratic politicians carved out the area into six Ads, two SDs, three Congressional Districts and three City Council Districts, because they did not expect any electoral backlash. That move in effect has denied Guyanese a justly deserved seat in the Assembly, Senate, City Council and Congress. Of late, Guyanese are demanding a seat in the State legislature, City Council and US House of Reps and the community has threatened court action unless their demands are met.
In looking at the drawing of boundaries for state seats for electoral representation, African Jamaican American, Garth Marchant describes what has happened to Richmond Hill as “the worst form of racial gerrymandering in the history of America denying Indo-Caribbean people a seat”. Marchant, at a public gathering last Thursday evening on Liberty Avenue, said the greater Richmond Hill area needs to remain as a whole unit with its own seat. Each AD should have around 127,000 people.
The contiguous area surrounding Richmond Hill has a population of 196,000, according to the 2010 census, more than qualifying it for a seat.
Marchant described his role after the 1990 census in carving up Richmond Hill. He said Indo-Caribbeans did not have the numbers at that time and an agreement was made between African-Caribbean Americans and Italian- Americans to divide the area to create an additional assembly seat for African-Americans and an extra seat for Italian-Americans in Queens.
Marchant urged Guyanese and other Richmond Hill residents to collaborate with African-American politicians in Queens to retain the four African- American ADs in exchange for support for a seat in Richmond Hill.
Guyanese and South Asian advocates feel they qualify for two Assembly seats and 1 State Senate seat. The other proposed AD is North Jamaica where the population numbers 179,000 with a heavy concentration of Guyanese and South Asians.
Advocates like myself feel a third seat can be drawn in Queens Village where there is also a large concentration of Guyanese and other South Asians. I am advocating three ADs although realistically that won’t happen. The established politicians are opposed to giving any seat to Guyanese because they just don’t vote.
The proposed Senate seat will encompass most of the three ADs.
Guyanese Albert Baldeo nearly won the Senate seat representing Richmond Hill six years ago, losing by half a point to Republican Maltese. Baldeo backed down at the request of Democrats to allow Joe Addabboo to contest two years ago defeating Maltese by four points with Guyanese backing Addabboo. In 2010, Baldeo won his District Leader position with 80% of the votes cast, which further confirms this fact. "If we can do so well in districts that suppress and gerrymander our vote, it is clear that we will win fairly drawn districts," Baldeo said.
Italian and Jewish residents of Queens are opposed to the proposed creation of seats for Guyanese and other people of Asian descent in greater Richmond Hill. But they will find it difficult to deny Asians an increase in seats. The largest increase in the state’s population came from Asians who increased by 17% in the 2010 census from the year 2000. According to census enumerators, as many as a quarter of the Indo-Guyanese population were not counted in the 2010 census because of a variety of reasons denying the area where they reside much deserved resources to which they are legitimately entitled.
Written by VISHNU BISRAM
Monday, 06 February 2012 22:06
Chronicle -
A group of New York-based Guyanese and other residents of the greater Richmond Hill area plan to rally this afternnon at the office of the President of Queens Boro where there will be a final hearing on the redistricting of Queens for the New York State Senate and Assembly.
The organisers of the rally are urging Guyanese to come out in large numbers to show their support for the creation of an Assembly seat for the greater Richmond Hill area. The organisers have chartered buses to shuttle people from 127-16 LIBERTY AVENUE at 2:00 P.M to Queens Boro Hall where the hearing commences at 3:00 P.M.
After every census, every politically administrative unit in America must by law redraw electoral districts to provide fair representation to every ethnic group in the country that shows a community of interests or cultural bonding. Indo-Guyanese are classified as South Asians or as Indian Americans for census purposes, while Afro-Guyanese are classified as African-Americans.
Most Guyanese-Americans are settled in New York State. The boundaries to New York State’s 150 seats in its Assembly and 62 seats in the Senate must be redrawn by April. The redistricting to the US House of representatives (27 seats) will take place next month and that of New York City (51 seats) will occur later in the year.
Today’s hearing focuses on state redistricting for Queens County which has the largest number of Guyanese in America. And within Queens, Richmond Hill has the heaviest concentration of Indo-Guyanese so much so it is dubbed “Little Guyana”. The area was racially gerrymandered into six Assembly Districts(Ads) and two Senate Districts(SDs) after the 1990 census when prior to that it fell largely under one AD and SD.
Since Guyanese hardly voted in American elections, with one of lowest voter turnout rates, the Queens Democratic politicians carved out the area into six Ads, two SDs, three Congressional Districts and three City Council Districts, because they did not expect any electoral backlash. That move in effect has denied Guyanese a justly deserved seat in the Assembly, Senate, City Council and Congress. Of late, Guyanese are demanding a seat in the State legislature, City Council and US House of Reps and the community has threatened court action unless their demands are met.
In looking at the drawing of boundaries for state seats for electoral representation, African Jamaican American, Garth Marchant describes what has happened to Richmond Hill as “the worst form of racial gerrymandering in the history of America denying Indo-Caribbean people a seat”. Marchant, at a public gathering last Thursday evening on Liberty Avenue, said the greater Richmond Hill area needs to remain as a whole unit with its own seat. Each AD should have around 127,000 people.
The contiguous area surrounding Richmond Hill has a population of 196,000, according to the 2010 census, more than qualifying it for a seat.
Marchant described his role after the 1990 census in carving up Richmond Hill. He said Indo-Caribbeans did not have the numbers at that time and an agreement was made between African-Caribbean Americans and Italian- Americans to divide the area to create an additional assembly seat for African-Americans and an extra seat for Italian-Americans in Queens.
Marchant urged Guyanese and other Richmond Hill residents to collaborate with African-American politicians in Queens to retain the four African- American ADs in exchange for support for a seat in Richmond Hill.
Guyanese and South Asian advocates feel they qualify for two Assembly seats and 1 State Senate seat. The other proposed AD is North Jamaica where the population numbers 179,000 with a heavy concentration of Guyanese and South Asians.
Advocates like myself feel a third seat can be drawn in Queens Village where there is also a large concentration of Guyanese and other South Asians. I am advocating three ADs although realistically that won’t happen. The established politicians are opposed to giving any seat to Guyanese because they just don’t vote.
The proposed Senate seat will encompass most of the three ADs.
Guyanese Albert Baldeo nearly won the Senate seat representing Richmond Hill six years ago, losing by half a point to Republican Maltese. Baldeo backed down at the request of Democrats to allow Joe Addabboo to contest two years ago defeating Maltese by four points with Guyanese backing Addabboo. In 2010, Baldeo won his District Leader position with 80% of the votes cast, which further confirms this fact. "If we can do so well in districts that suppress and gerrymander our vote, it is clear that we will win fairly drawn districts," Baldeo said.
Italian and Jewish residents of Queens are opposed to the proposed creation of seats for Guyanese and other people of Asian descent in greater Richmond Hill. But they will find it difficult to deny Asians an increase in seats. The largest increase in the state’s population came from Asians who increased by 17% in the 2010 census from the year 2000. According to census enumerators, as many as a quarter of the Indo-Guyanese population were not counted in the 2010 census because of a variety of reasons denying the area where they reside much deserved resources to which they are legitimately entitled.
