Toward the end of N&R’s front-pager analyzing Sen. Trudy Wade’s plan to restructure the Greensboro City Council —which concludes that “four of the new districts proposed under Wade’s Senate Bill 36 would lean Democratic,” which would create a “more liberal-minded majority for this nonpartisan board”:
Not everyone is convinced.
Former state Rep. Marcus Brandon, a black Democrat who represented Guilford County, said African Americans don’t benefit from being packed into districts because it means their numbers are diluted elsewhere.
“We have more African Americans serving in the General Assembly than we ever had,” Brandon said. “That means nothing if you are staring down the barrel of a bunch of Republicans. That is the plan. It’s designed to neutralize.”
State Sen. Gladys Robinson, a black Democrat who represents Guilford County, said African Americans are better off working with like-minded people.
Providing more black precincts is “a good story on her part,” Robinson said of Wade.
“It’s not a good thing on the part of our community.”
Take those comments and interpret for yourselves, although I’ve always heard that only working with like-minded people rarely brings about effective change.
