After issuing scathing remarks in a press conference with the Tejano Democrats, Rep. Al Green (D) has issued another statement, further denouncing the GOP’s redistricting effort.
The Texas Democrat is calling out what he believes is an unconstitutional and racially motivated effort to dismantle congressional districts to silence people of color.
In a letter, the Texas Democrat called Texas’ redistricting efforts part of its “shameful history of unconstitutional racial discrimination,” citing past practices like white primaries, literacy tests, and poll taxes that were historically used to suppress the votes of people of color.
He argued that Texas is now continuing that legacy by targeting four minority-held congressional districts: TX-09, TX-18, TX-29, and TX-33.
He referenced communication from President Donald Trump’s (R) Justice Department to Governor Greg Abbott (R) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), which described the four districts as “vestiges of an unconstitutional, racially-based gerrymandering past.”
According to Rep. Green, the communication threatened legal action under the Fourteenth Amendment if Texas did not “rectify” these districts, which he argues exposes a racially discriminatory motive.
“Too late, Mr. Attorney General,” he shared in his letter. “The racist intent to eliminate four congressional districts where people of color are doing constitutionally what white people do… has been exposed.”
In response, Texas officials have denied any racial basis for the redistricting.
A July 21 communique from Attorney General Paxton’s office cited testimony from Senator Joan Huffman (R), who oversaw redistricting, claiming the maps were drawn “blind to race.” Rep. Green however dismissed that defense as disingenuous.
“Too late, you can't carry out a Trump Justice Department racist order and later claim that Texas is now doing for partisan reasons what President Trump's Justice Department has ordered you to do for unconstitutional, racial reasons,” he argued.
Calling the move a violation of the Constitution and an attack against democracy, he warned that “allowing President Trump’s Justice Department to infuse racism into Texas redistricting policies is sadly allowing Republicanism to degenerate into racism.”
