{"id":23450,"date":"2015-01-06T12:01:26","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T17:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=23450"},"modified":"2015-01-06T12:01:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T17:01:26","slug":"race-and-voting-rights-in-ferguson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=23450","title":{"rendered":"“Race and Voting Rights in Ferguson”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another must-read from the New York Times about the exclusion of minorities from civic power: Race and Voting Rights in Ferguson – NYTimes.com<\/a>. Here are the first paragraphs of this highly significant story and as ever praise goes to the American Civil Liberties Union for doing the right thing:<\/p>\n

For most people, Ferguson, Mo., will be remembered for one awful August afternoon, when a white police officer there shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown.<\/em><\/p>\n

But that incident was only a snapshot in the town\u2019s long and complicated racial history \u2014 a history characterized by<\/a> entrenched segregation and economic inequality, as well as by familiar and systemic obstacles that have kept black residents from holding positions of political power.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s population is two-thirds African-American<\/a>, and yet its mayor, city manager and five of its six<\/a> City Council members are white. So are its police chief and all but three officers on its 53-member police force.<\/em><\/p>\n

The school board for the Ferguson-Florissant School District is much the same: More than three-quarters of the district\u2019s 12,000 students are black, but the seven-member board<\/a> includes only one African-American.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last month the American Civil Liberties Union sued<\/a> the school board under the Voting Rights Act, arguing that the way its members are elected blocks minority voters from fully participating in the political process.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another must-read from the New York Times about the exclusion of minorities from civic power: Race and Voting Rights in Ferguson – NYTimes.com. Here are the first paragraphs of this highly significant story and as ever praise goes to the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[161,746,675],"class_list":["post-23450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news","tag-civil-rights-lawsuits","tag-racism-in-america","tag-voting-rights"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t