Greene County Democrat

Category: Community

  • Trump Atrocities Report (TAR)

    trump-1The  Greene County Democrat begins a new column this week entitled Trump Atrocities Report (TAR) in which we will explain some of the outrageously negative and harmful actions taken by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration. The motivation for this column came from a discussion at a recent meeting of the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy, an Alabama collaborative of 40 social justice organizations.
    Some of these actions will be legislative changes, overzealous cuts in Federal regulations, appointees that are unqualified or chosen to destroy the government function they were asked to head up and official statements that do not make sense or are ‘alternative truths’.
    Some of the atrocities are where President Trump or members of his family will get a financial benefit from their position or have a clear conflict of interest.
    We are starting with some blatant examples of atrocious conduct by Trump. We already have a long list of items to make this a weekly column.
    We hope you will clip out this column and share it with your friends especially those working people and women who voted for Trump thinking he would improve their lives. We want to educate and persuade them that they made a grave mistake in voting for Trump and his supporters so that they will not repeat their error in future elections.

    Atrocity No. 1: Selecting a cabinet of millionaires and billionaires who are unqualified and chosen to destroy the department or agency they were nominated by Trump to lead. A few examples:

    a. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions for Attorney General. Sessions has opposed voting rights, civil rights, womens rights, LGBTQ rights and most human rights. He has been nominated to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer to enforce the laws protecting these rights that he does not believe in.

    b. Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education. She does not support public schools, never personally attended a public school and did not send her children to public schools. She has never used the Pell grant or college student loan programs she has been asked to administer. She did make $200 million in campaign contributions to Republican lawmakers in the past five years, which paved the way for her confirmation.

    c. Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Pruitt is a “climate change denier” who has sued the EPA twenty times to remove regulations on clean air, water and nature as Oklahoma Attorney General.

    2. Atrocity No. 2: Removing the Obama regulations that prevented the mentally ill from securing a permit to own a gun. This is the first of many regulatory changes dictated by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which will make our nation a more dangerous place to live!

    3. Atrocity No. 3: The ‘Muslim Ban’, which prevents visitors from seven Mideast countries from entering the United States. This is part of Trump’s unconstitutional attack on immigration and refugee relief. More than 60,000 legal visitors and H-1B visa holders were stopped from entering the country and there was chaos at the nation’s airports, until Federal courts intervened to correct this injustice. This action gives terrorist organizations a “trump card” in recruiting more members and has the opposite effect of keeping us safe!

    4. Atrocity No. 4: Removing regulations that required transparency in the payments by American corporations to foreign governments. This change was enacted on the day that former Exxon-Mobil Oil CEO, Rex Tillerson was elevated to become Secretary of State. Someone needs to explain how this regulation permitting oil and gas companies to hide bribes to foreign governments helps American workers to get more jobs!

  • Hillary Clinton wins Alabama Black Belt by 56,741 votes, more than Trump’s win in Michigan and Wisconsin

    By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher

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    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    Looking back over the final results of the 2016 Presidential election, according to Politico, Donald Trump received 306 electoral votes and 61,201,031 popular votes while Hillary Clinton received 232 electoral votes and 62,523,126 popular votes. In Alabama, Trump won by 1,306,925 to 718,084 popular votes for Clinton.
    Based on Politicos figures, Hillary Clinton won the election by 1,322,095 popular votes or a little over 1% of the total votes cast, including those for third party candidates.
    The results for the 12 county Black Belt area (including Montgomery) was 32,095 more votes for Clinton in the eleven counties (shown in the chart) and 56,741 more votes in the entire band of blue across the south central part of the state from Mississippi to Georgia.
    Trump won Michigan’s 16 electoral votes by a margin of 11,612 votes (2,279,805 for Trump to 2,268,193 for Clinton).
    He won Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes by 27,257 (1,409,467 for Trump to 1,382,210 votes for Clinton). Trump carried Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes by 68,136 votes. In the three closest states, Trump’s margin of victory was 107,005 votes.
    Trump earned that 46 vote Electoral College victory by a slim margin in those three states.
    The 56,741 votes of residents of the Alabama Black Belt were more than Trump’s margin of victory in two states – Michigan and Wisconsin.
    Don’t let anyone tell you that your vote doesn’t matter or doesn’t count. Every vote counts and everyone who is not registered, or did not have the proper voter id, or was too lazy to come to vote is responsible for the results.

    Map of Alabama – counties

    http://www.politico.com/2016electionresults/
    map/president/alabama

    election-2016_layout-1

  • Black Belt Community Foundation announces 2017 Arts Grant Cycle

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    SELMA, AL: The Black Belt Community Foundation recently announced its 2017 Arts Grant Cycle. Community-based organizations from Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, and Wilcox Counties are encouraged to apply.
    The BBCF seeks to support organizations who engage citizens in the Black Belt region in the arts. The 2017 Arts Grant Cycle will support projects addressing the arts in these categories: arts education programming, arts exposure programming and arts professional development.
    The BBCF will offer funding in two ways:
    • Small grants pool with funding up to $3,000 will cover arts education programming, arts exposure programming and arts professional development.
    • Larger grants with funding up to $10,000 will cover arts education programming only.

    The BBCF will be hosting six grant seeking workshops for the organizations who are interested in applying for a 2017 Arts Grant. Attendance at one of the workshops is mandatory in order to be considered for a 2017 Arts Grant. The Grant seeking workshops will be held at the following locations:

    • University of West Alabama, Livingston, AL. on Saturday, February 11th from 10 am to 12 pm
    • BBCF office in Selma on Wednesday, February 15th from 10 am to 12 pm
    • BBCF office in Selma on Thursday, February 16th from 6 pm to 8 pm
    • Black Belt Treasures, Camden, AL on Friday, February 17th from 10 am to 12 pm
    • Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center, Tuskegee, AL. on
    Saturday, February 18th from 2 pm to 4 pm

    • BBCF office in Selma on Saturday, February 25th from 10 am to 12 pm

    Please contact Jo Taylor at 334-874-1126 or jtaylor@blackbeltfound,org for more information about the workshops. Applications will be available by request, at the workshops and through the Black Belt Community Foundation’s website: http://www.blackbeltfound.org

    Applicants are encouraged to email completed applications to 2017artsgrants@blackbeltfound.org. or jtaylor@blackbeltfound.org.

    Grant Applications are due before 4:30 PM on Friday, March 3, 2017. These grants are made possible by the generous support of The Alabama State Council on the Arts
    As BBCF is a tax-exempt organization (ID 63-1270745) under the 501(c) (3) code of the IRS, your gift is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to the fullest extent allowed by the law. In compliance with federal tax laws, we acknowledge that no goods or services have been received in return for your gift.

  • Trump administration considers ending ‘conflict minerals’ BA

    child-miners
    Children miners in Africa

    Feb. 6, 2017 (GIN) – A rule requiring public companies to report their use of so-called “conflict minerals” from Congo may soon be eliminated.

    The change under review by the Securities and Exchange Commission could benefit the armed groups that control many of the small mines and provide cover to multinational corporations who buy the resources often at cut rate prices – increasing the region’s potential for conflict.
    Conflict resources include lumber, oil, diamond, gold, cobalt, oil, among others that are harvested through exploitation and terror during or after a conflict.

    This week, newly appointed Republican acting chairman of the SEC, Michael Piwowar, called the rule “misguided,” saying there is little proof it has reduced conflict or eased humanitarian suffering in Congo. In addition, he said, it may be creating a “vacuum filled by those with less benign interests” that could undermine U.S. security interests. He ordered the SEC to review the regulation.

    The SEC issued the rule in 2012 under the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul law. Public companies are required, under the law, to disclose information about their use of minerals from Congo in an effort to inhibit armed groups linked to atrocities who have profited from minerals used in electronics, jewelry and other goods.

    Companies that use the designated minerals from Congo and neighboring countries in their products must report annually on their efforts to trace the so-called “conflict minerals” back to their sources. The regulators said stricter reporting requirements might help curb the violence in Congo and would make companies more accountable to shareholders.

    Last May, at a Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains held in Paris, it was noted that states have an obligation under international law to take appropriate steps to protect people against human rights abuses by third parties such as companies. However, they report, “States are not meeting their commitment” to ensure that companies follow the rules.

    A recent Amnesty International report sounded the alarm on a “blood mineral” mined by Congolese children as young as seven and used in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries found in laptops, smartphones and even electric cars.

    The mineral is cobalt, and more than half of the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, including at least 20 percent which is mined by so-called “artisanal miners” in the southern part of the country. The report, titled “This Is What We Die For,” explains the conditions these miners work in:

    “These artisanal miners, referred to as ‘creuseurs’ in the DRC, mine by hand using the most basic tools to dig out rocks from tunnels deep underground. Artisanal miners include children as young as seven who scavenge for rocks containing cobalt in the discarded by-products of industrial mines, and who wash and sort the ore before it is sold.”

    “Our analysis shows that most companies seem to prefer business-as-usual to genuinely addressing the risk that their mineral purchases bankroll armed groups overseas,” said Carly Oboth, Policy Adviser at Global Witness.

    “This is alarming. Well-funded industry groups have fought the conflict minerals law at every step. If companies had instead spent these resources on properly investigating and reporting on their supply chains, their customers would be more confident their goods were conflict free.”

    The SEC has taken few public steps to administer the rule since 2015 and hasn’t pursued any enforcement action regarding it. In early 2016, it decided not to seek Supreme Court review of the Second Circuit decision that found elements of the rule to be unconstitutional.

    For years, armed groups and criminal elements in the Central African nation have fed off the illicit trade of gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten, according to reports by a United Nations panel of experts.

    Dr. Denis Mukwege, acclaimed Congolese surgeon and humanitarian, said: “Companies must do more to find out how the minerals they are buying have been produced and traded… They must show that they have put this right.”

  • Billionaire campaign finance maven Betsy DeVos confirmed as Secretary of Education

    The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Betsy DeVos as education secretary, approving the beleaguered nominee “with the help of a historic tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence,” reports The New York Times:
    It was the first time that a vice president has been summoned to the Capitol to break a tie on a cabinet nomination, according to the Senate historian. Taking the gavel as the vote deadlocked at 50-50, Mr. Pence, a former member of the House, declared his vote for Ms. DeVos before announcing that Mr. Trump’s nominee for education secretary had been confirmed.
    Here are some of the best Twitter reactions to the confirmation of DeVos, who as The Times notes, “has devoted much of her life to expanding educational choice through charter schools and vouchers, but has limited experience with the public school system.” NJ Senator Cory Booker pointed out that DeVos “did not attend public schools herself, did not send her children to public schools and has never taught in a public school”.
    At the Congressional hearings on her confirmation, it was also pointed out that neither she nor her children had ever applied for a Pell grant or student loan. As Secretary of Education she will be administering these and many other education programs that she knows little about.
    Critics protested the nomination because daughter-in-law of Amway cofounder Richard DeVos—who Forbes estimates is worth $5.1 billion––has had little-to-no involvement in the nation’s public schools. In the past several election cycles her family gave $200 million in campaign contributions to Republican Senate members, including four Senators who served on the committee that confirmed her.

  • The Women’s March organizers are planning ‘A Day Without A Woman’ strike

    By: Desire Thompson, VIBE
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    Womens March leader

    The minds behind the Women’s March on Washington aren’t giving up on the people. Their latest move hints at an economic boycott titled, “A Day Without A Woman.”
    The announcement was made Monday (Feb. 6) through their social channels with little detail. What has been shared is the general statement, “The will of the people will stand.” Last month, over a million women from all over the world came together in solidarity to protest the election of President Donald Trump, climate change, immigration laws and unlawful police practice. The Women’s March on Washington brought 500,000 people to the city, making it the most recent largest demonstration in the area. Crowd specialists reportedly stated the Women’s March brought three times the number of people than Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
    CNN reports after the exposure of several companies lining up with Trump, the organization made up of Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour and Bob Bland, released a statement on those boycotting companies like Uber and Nordstrom. “At a time when our foundational principles of freedom and equality are under threat, The Women’s March is committed to engaging in actions that affirmatively build community, strengthen relationships and support local, women- and minority-owned businesses,” The Women’s March said in a statement.
    General strikes thrived during the Civil Rights Movement and other labor movements. Strike4Democracy is currently planning a general strike on Feb. 17. So far, 16,000 people plan to take part in it. Last year, actor Isiah Washington attempted to launch a boycott where African Americans didn’t spend, work or attend school. Middle-class African Americans have been known to spend a hefty amount in a retail market, even with specks of racial inequality proving that black families have less access to substantial goods and services than white families. Nonetheless, the Women’s March organizers have stressed the importance of inclusion.

  • Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman to be released from Federal prison

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    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Friends and supporters of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman plan to gather along 20th Street in downtown Birmingham on Wednesday afternoon, between 2nd and 3rd Avenue North, to show their support. Siegelman, who will not be allowed to stop or make any statement, is expected to take that route shortly after 3 p.m. as he returns home.
    Family spokesperson Chip Hill confirmed Siegelman “has been told he will be released Wednesday,” but said they do not yet know exactly what will happen after that. Hill said, “He won’t just walk out of the prison and into the arms of his family like before,” referencing his release on bond while appeals were pending. “He will be transported from the prison by prison officials,” Hill says. It is expected he will be flown to Birmingham.
    A spokesperson for the US Bureau of Prisons would only confirm Siegelman is housed at the Oakdale facility in Louisiana, and citing “privacy reasons” would not provide details of his release.
    Hill said Siegelman, “Will be on very restricted supervised probation for an initial period of time.” He says he expects that will last approximately six months after which he says the former Governor will be on unsupervised probation for an extended but as of yet unspecified period of time.
    Hill said it is unknown if Siegelman will be allowed to return home Wednesday or will be housed temporarily at a halfway house for final processing. He said it is expected he will meet with a federal probation supervisor immediately upon his arrival in Birmingham to learn the exact conditions of his probation, what he will and will not be allowed to do, and the consequences of any perceived violations of those terms. Hill said he fully expects Siegelman will not be allowed any interaction with news media.
    Former US Attorney Doug Jones, a member of Siegelman’s defense team, tells WHNT News 19 he believes Siegelman should be able to go home Wednesday night rather than to a halfway house saying, “That paperwork should be complete.” Jones went onto say Siegelman will technically still be in the custody of the US Bureau of Prisons.
    Siegelman’s closest friends and supporters tell us they have been sworn to secrecy regarding his release and being reunited with his family. All media questions are being referred to Hill for now.
    Siegelman was elected the 51st Governor of Alabama in 1996 after serving as the state’s Secretary of State, Attorney General and Lt. Governor. He is the only person to hold all four top elected positions in the state. It was believed he had won reelection in 2002 until votes in Baldwin County were recounted hours after polls had closed giving the win to Republican Bob Riley. Former Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, who was recently identified as being on the “short list” of potential US Supreme Court nominees by President Trump, blocked efforts for a formal recount of the Baldwin County votes and certified the election.
    Siegelman was convicted of felony corruption charges in 2006 and sentenced to 7 years in prison for appointing HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to a board position in state government after Scrushy donated $500,000 to a fund Siegelman had established to promote a state lottery to benefit education in the state. Siegelman was the fourth consecutive governor to appoint Scrushy to that non-paying position.
    A CBS News 60 Minutes investigation, in February, 2008, revealed there was no evidence nor any allegation Siegelman personally benefited from the donation. Their report also revealed Siegelman was convicted largely on the testimony of his former aide, Nick Bailey, who the report says testified against Siegelman in exchange for leniency in an upcoming extortion trial not connected to the governor.
    113 current and former states attorneys general, from both political parties, signed a petition asking Congress to investigate whether the prosecution of Siegleman was pursued not because of a crime but because of politics.

  • Elizabeth Warren rebuked for quoting Coretta Scott King while debating Jeff Sessions’ nomination

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Coretta Scott King

    By: Paul KaneThe Washington Post

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., led a party-line rebuke Tuesday night of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for her speech opposing attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, striking down her words for impugning the Alabama senator’s character.
    In an extraordinarily rare move, McConnell interrupted Warren’s speech, in a near-empty chamber as the nomination debate heads toward a Wednesday evening vote, and said that she had breached Senate rules by reading past statements against Sessions from figures such as the late senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and the late Coretta Scott King.
    “The senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama,” McConnell said, then setting up a series of roll-call votes on Warren’s conduct.
    It was the latest clash in the increasingly hostile debate over confirming President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, during which Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to force through nominees without proper vetting. Democrats, unable to stop the confirmations that require simple majorities, have countered by using extreme delay tactics that have dragged out the process longer than any in history for a new president’s Cabinet.
    The Democratic moves, including a round-the-clock debate Tuesday night before Wednesday’s confirmation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, reached a boiling point during the debate over Sessions.
    McConnell specifically cited portions of a letter that King, the widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to Sessions’ 1986 nomination to be a federal judge.
    “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens,” King wrote, referencing controversial prosecutions at the time that Sessions served as the U.S. attorney for Alabama. Earlier, Warren read from the 1986 statement of Kennedy, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee who led the opposition then against Sessions, including the Massachusetts Democrat’s concluding line: “He is, I believe, a disgrace to the Justice Department and he should withdraw his nomination and resign his position.”
    The Senate voted, 49 to 43, strictly on party lines, to uphold the ruling that Warren violated rules of debate. Warren is now forbidden from speaking during the remainder of the debate on the nomination of Sessions.
    “I am surprised that the words of Coretta Scott King are not suitable for debate in the United States Senate,” Warren said after McConnell’s motion.
    Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., a freshman, issued a warning to Warren at that point, singling out Kennedy’s “disgrace” comment, and 25 minutes later McConnell came to the floor and set in motion the battle, citing the comments in the King letter as crossing the line.
    Other Democrats later came to her defense, but the liberal firebrand’s speech ended with a simple admonition from Daines: “The senator will take her seat.”
    Warren, a liberal firebrand who some activists want to run for president, took to social media to attack McConnell and Republicans for shutting down her speech.

  • Complaints about vicious and stray dogs dominate Eutaw City Council

    dogsBy: John Zippert,
    Co-Publisher

    Much of the discussion at the January 24, 2017 Eutaw City Council was devoted to complaints about vicious and stray dogs in the city.
    Part of the concern was with pit bulls owned by Lonnie and Channel Glenn who live at 122 Harris Avenue. Glenn is a police officer with the Eutaw Police Department. Channel Glenn, his wife, is an outspoken city resident who often attends City Council meeting and raises various grievances.
    This time the shoe was on the other foot, as several audience members questioned the Council about ordinances governing vicious dogs and stray dogs that are roaming the city.
    Blondie Means who was bitten by one of the Glenn’s pit bulls on Thanksgiving Day -2016 was at the Council meeting questioning the Mayor and Council about enforcing the ordinances against “vicious dogs” like the Glenn’s pit bulls. Means said she suffered lacerations on her hands, face and breast from the dog. The dog was shot by a passerby and later euthanized by the police. Means lives two doors down from the Glenn’s on Harris Avenue and says she is afraid to come out of her house because of the dogs.
    Mattie Roscoe, mother of George Roscoe, said her son was attacked by the same dogs on Thanksgiving and had to go to the hospital for treatment. The second dog was placed in quarantine for ten days because of the attack.
    Channel Glenn told this reporter “You at the Democrat have the story all wrong. Someone was trying to steal my dogs and that is why the dogs attacked them. You better get the story right!”

    At the January 10 City Council meeting, Ms. Glenn testified that,
    “I love my dogs like they are my children. They are locked up and never out. Someone was trying to hurt my dogs that is why they were bitten.”
    Residents asked Mayor Steele what he was going to do about enforcing city ordinances on vicious and stray dogs. Steele said he and the city’s attorney, Ken Aycock were studying the laws and would take appropriate action soon. The Mayor seemed in a difficult spot caught between angry citizens and a set of dog owners who are on the police force and who gave him political support in the last election.
    Eutaw Police Chief Derrick Coleman said, “ I was out of town at the last City Council meeting. I have heard about the problem with the dogs. One dog was put down and the other dog was cleared by a veterinarian in Greensboro, after the ten day quarantine and returned to the owners.”
    Coleman said that the Glenn’s may have as many as 7 or 8 pit bulls living in their house but they are very careful in taking care of them and supervise them when they let them out. Coleman said he was waiting on the Mayor to give him additional instructions on the dogs and enforcement of relevant ordinances against vicious dogs.
    Other complaints were raised at the City Council about packs of stray dogs running around in Eutaw and the need for an animal control officer to catch the dogs and take them away.
    Ms. Yvonne Smith of 324 Kirksey Avenue and her daughter Sabrina Smith came by the Democrat to complain of a pack of stray dogs in their neighborhood. They brought a photograph of the dogs camping out on their porch. Yvonne Smith said, “ I have to use a walker and I cannot chase the dogs away. They smell and leave behind bad odors. What is the city doing about these problems?”
    In the public comment period other citizens raised questions about flooding on Ann Street, due to clogged drains; lighting problems on Springfield Avenue; a sinkhole that needs to be corrected on Prairie Avenue; and a school bus driver raised concerns about a roadway at Hook Avenue off Mesopotamia.
    Faye Tyree complained that she was appointed to the Eutaw Housing Authority on October 25, 2016, based on a letter from former Mayor Hattie Edwards. Mayor Steele sent her a letter to vacate her board position because there was no record in the minutes of her appointment. Tyree said two other persons were appointed at the same time and they have not received letters from the Mayor.
    The Council approved a request by the National Wild Turkey Federation to use the National Guard Armory for a dinner and approved the city attorney to develop a resolution on clearing an abandoned house on Tuscaloosa Street adjacent to the Eutaw Elderly Village.
    Many citizens left the meeting shaking their heads about the need for action on the problem of the pit bulls and stray dogs. These citizens will be waiting to see what Mayor Steele and the City Council do to deal with these problems at future meetings.

     

     

  • Court orders redistricting before 2018 elections Rep. A.J. McCampbell’s legislative district among those ruled un-constitutional by 11th.Circuit

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    “My original district was 63-67% African-American in population but the new district has a 74% majority African-American, which is what is called packing.
    “To redraw my district, and the 12 districts ruled unconstitutional by the court will mean all of the lines will have to be redrawn statewide. I do not think you can cure this with just minor changes in the district lines. Once you change one district it affects the other neighboring districts and soon you will take in the whole state.”
    McCampbell says that the Legislature will have to appoint a special committee to draw a new redistricting plan before the 2018 elections. McCampbell says he has been following the issues closely and has indicated an interest in serving on the special committee when it is created.
    “I want to be sure to keep the commonalities of districts and we will not be able to divide precincts like last time.”
    The districts named in the court decision as unconstitutional are: House District 32, represented by Rep. Barbara Boyd (D-Anniston); District 53, represented by Rep. Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville); District 54, represented by Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham); District 70, represented by Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa); District 71, represented by Rep. A.J. McCampbell (D-Demopolis); District 77, represented by Rep. John Knight (D-Montgomery); District 82, represented by Rep. Pebblin Warren (D-Tuskegee); District 85, represented by Rep. Dexter Grimsley (D-Newville); and District 99 represented by Rep. James Buskey (D-Mobile).
    In the Senate, the ruling cited District 20, represented by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham); District 26, represented by Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross (D-Montgomery) and District 28, represented by Sen. Billy Beasley (D-Clayton).
    Some political observers in Montgomery wonder whether the Republican Party in Alabama is so strong and the Democratic Party is too weakened to field good candidates in legislative districts that will be redrawn as a result of this court decision.

    Friday, January 20, 2017, a three judge federal court panel ruled that the State of Alabama violated the US Constitution when it drew three Alabama Senate Districts and nine House Districts following the 2010 census and are barred by the court from using those districts as presently drawn in future elections. This means redistricting now becomes a major task for the Legislature during this 2017 Session. The current House and Senate were elected using these districts. All of the 12 districts are held by Democrats.
    Representative Artis J. McCampbell’s District 71, which includes parts of Greene, Sumter and four other counties, was one of the districts that was found to be “over-packed and stacked with minority (African-American) voters”. Previously, McCampbell’s legislative district included all of Greene and Sumter counties with the northern portion of Marengo and a small part of Tuscaloosa County.
    Each House legislative district was supposed to include 45,000 people based on the 2010 Census. Senate districts were supposed to have 135,000 people in each.
    The Republican dominated legislature, redrew all the legislative districts concentrating the African American voters in districts represented by African-American legislators. This took Democratic voters out of all the other districts and made it easier for Republicans, all of whom are white, to be elected in the other districts. This also resulted in the election of a two-thirds “super-majority” of Republicans in both houses of the Alabama Legislature – House and Senate.
    Representative McCambell commented, “I opposed the drawing of my District from the beginning. It cuts through too many counties. It divides up the counties in my district. It even divides certain precincts. I have parts of six counties – Sumter, Greene, Marengo, Pickens, Choctaw and Tuscaloosa. Before I had all of Greene and Sumter with the northern part of Marengo and a small part of Tuscaloosa, in the Ralph and Fosters area.
    “I have been a part of this Alabama lawsuit seeking equity in the redistricting process from the beginning. I am pleased with this latest decision, which comes after a five-year court battle that went up the Supreme Court and back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal twice.