Stuckey-Benfield: My District Targeted
She says Republicans want to change boundaries on the district, which now includes sections of Decatur and Avondale Estates.
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By Timothy Darnell
One Decatur/Avondale lawmaker's district has apparently been targeted by the Republican-led redistricting process.
State Rep. Stephanie Stuckey-Benfield, whose current District 85 includes portions of Decatur and Avondale Estates as well as Virginia Highland and Druid Hills, told Patch in an e-mail that her district is being drawn in with another Democrat's, state Rep. Howard Mosby's 90th district.
To see the proposed new district boundaries, look at this webpage.
To see the current boundaries for District 85, call up this webpage and then click on the words "District Map."
To see the current boundaries for District 90, call up this webpage and click on the words "District Map."
District 90 currently stretches from the Flat Shoals and Panthersville areas near Lithonia, and then southward into Henry County.
Newly redrawn legislative maps are expected to be released on Friday, and state Democratic leaders are accusing Republicans of purging white Democrats from the legislative landscape.
Benfield, who has been in the state House since 1999, is white, while Mosby, who took office in 2003, is black.
States are required to redraw and adjust their political boundaries every 10 years, after the Census is completed, to reflect population changes. The dominant party in the state legislature is in charge of redrawing the maps, and the process can be bitterly partisan and drawn out.
Beth Bond
8:34 am on Saturday, August 13, 2011
The Republicans have targeted many of the Democratic women in DeKalb. It shows just what happens when one party has control and has zero compunction to draw districts that make sense or show true representation. The new map (just look at the districts that are crazy vertical, incredibly thin and extend from Central DeKalb to South DeKalb which is a geographic burden for candidates) proves that Republicans are not only sexist as we lose many of our women who have been valiant leaders for children's and women's issues but also are basically setting up racial warfare as most of the new Democratic districts will be African American so the new House will be primarily African American Democrats against white Republicans. Jim Crow is alive and well! Republicans should be revealed for this pernicious, amoral tactic. I encourage all DeKalb residents to call, write and blog about this grave injustice.