In a sharp rebuke Wednesday, a federal judge denied Democrats an emergency injunction to impose New York congressional-district lines the state Court of Appeals found unconstitutional last week. Granting the request, the judge said, would impinge upon “free, open, rational elections.”
Newly politically active Asian Americans are watching these proceedings carefully. We have more reasons than ever before to vote, but the partisan redistricting chaos makes our efforts to be seen and heard even more difficult — especially when our communities are horse-traded as part of partisan gerrymandering and long-time incumbents refuse to speak with us.
To shore up incumbent Democrats, Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s unconstitutionally drawn district was to include Chinatown and the largest Chinese community in Brooklyn. With the goal of helping Asian voters get to know the contenders, I invited Nadler to participate in the Asian Wave Alliance candidate forum. His campaign not only refused to come but expressed his disdain for the new Asian political club I co-founded, simply because we chose to be nonpartisan.
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