Community leaders decry anti-Asian bias in county redistricting plan
Local Asian American leaders repudiated the dilution of Asian-American voting power in the labor-backed local redistricting plans, noting it runs contrary to population, community, and geographic realities.
Benson Yeung, community leader:
Excluding and diluting Asian votes--that's what the county Supervisors' redistricting plan does and it has to be stopped.
It is unconscionable that the county is considering a plan that takes long-standing Vietnamese communities in San Jose, and parcels those communities out among different districts. This runs contrary to the law and spirit of redistricting. And it feels uncomfortably like payback from Labor partisans who are punishing our communities for their free market, entrepreneurial spirit.
We urge the Supervisors to rethink their terribly misguided plan and reject the Labor-drawn map.
Greg Tanaka, Palo Alto councilmember and candidate for US Congress for Silicon Valley:
The purpose of redistricting is to represent the population in geographic groupings that reflect the realities of the communities living there.
It is absolutely not a platform to try to game election results even before the elections take place--but that is exactly what is happening in the Silicon Valley congressional redistricting process--and it looks like the same thing is happening at the county level, too.
On the congressional level, it's clear to me that special interests are desperately trying to draw crazy maps so they can dilute the growing Asian vote. It's unacceptable.
Look at the facts: Asians are the largest ethnic group in Santa Clara county, somewhere around 40%--up substantially from 2010. But the proposed congressional redistricting is trying to draw the maps to deny that reality, and to create districts that preserve the racial and ethnic mix of a decade ago. Asian-heavy cities like Cupertino are carved out of the proposed district and instead includes Asian-lite cities across county like San Mateo. Palo Alto and Mountain view are separated from similar tech-centric cities like Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Santa Clara.. Instead, rural communities like Pescadero and La Honda are mixed in with urban areas. Silicon Valley, which should be viewed as an integrated community, is fragmented into an unrecognizable map that looks like a Rorsach test.
This kind of chicanery only benefits established interests and incumbents and runs contrary to the spirit of democracy and fair representation.
Bien Doan, candidate for San Jose City Council District 7:
Supporters of the labor-supported absurdly-named city redistricting 'Unity' map say it is "racist" not to support their scheme. The claim is ridiculous, because their plan effectively discriminates against the Vietnamese community by breaking up our communities into different districts, thereby diluting our votes and silencing our voices.
And it's not the first time: these same labor-backed partisans worked to defeat the last two Vietnamese councilmembers that ran for office in San Jose.
The Vietnamese community does not deserve this treatment, and I call upon the city council to reject this systemically racist redistricting plan.
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