"Young People Like Me Are Fed Up," North Carolina Teen Calls Out GOP Gerrymandering, Election Maps
- Daily Kos, Oct. 2, 2023.
When North Carolina’s state Supreme Court struck down conservative-gerrymandered election maps saying that they were in conflict with the state’s constitution, the belief that something approximating majority rule could thrive. Unfortunately, that decision was put in jeopardy as soon as the state’s Supreme Court flipped to Republican control. After rehearing the case, the newly conservative court ruled that Republicans could draw even more extremely gerrymandered districts.
Newly drawn maps will affect North Carolina’s elections for at least the rest of the decade.
On top of this, Republicans, realizing that their gerrymandering machinations are not simply grotesque violations of the public trust but also lead to wildly unpopular results, added new layers of obfuscation about the process. They accomplished this by burying a provision in the 625-page budget, reversing longstanding state law that would have made their “redistricting communications and drafting documents part of the public record once the new electoral maps became law.”
Public hearings began at the end of September, and many North Carolinians came to give their shady Republican legislators a piece of their mind.
- WATCH, NC teen warns Republicans that the youth "is watching" their redistricting machinations.- "My name is Eric Willoughby. I'm a senior in high school, & I come to you today from No. Mecklenburg County, Huntersville, to be specific. And I'm here today to convey a very, very simple message. I'm 17. I should be spending my Wed. afternoons with friends or family, but instead, I'm here with y'all. I'm here because every single day I have to worry about which liberties Republican legislators are going to choose to gut next"...
----------------
This included Eric Willoughby, a teen from Huntersville. Willoughby spoke for less than two minutes but made every second count. Calling out the unpopular leadership shown by conservatives in North Carolina over gun safety and reproductive rights, the high school senior warned that this new scheme showed Republicans were “coming for every North Carolinians’ right to fair representation.”
Willoughby reminded the audience that these are the same legislators who have proven repeatedly they care very little for our democracy and the idea that they should now redraw the maps would be satirical if it wasn’t so serious. He spoke clearly and ended by admonishing these short-sighted fools, telling them to “watch your step. Be very careful in what you choose to do, because young people like me are watching and young people like me are fed up.”... - More, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/2/2196845/--Young-people-like-me-are-fed-up-North-Carolina-teen-calls-out-GOP-gerrymandering
= new reply since forum marked as read
