by Milton Jordan
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| The Biden administration sued Texas…to block its new congressional map, accusing the state of gerrymandering to shut out nonwhite people in violation of federal voting rights law. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the enforcement action at Justice Department headquarters, saying the redistricting plans Texas adopted in recent months “deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group.” The Dallas Morning News, December 6, 2021 |
The relentless repetition of lies
so soured the air that creation’s breathing
and the functions of our equipment falter
while once adequate systems repeat
failures we had designed them to avoid.
Well practiced pretenders used just enough
bones and limbs from these dismantled structures
to obscure their exclusionary purpose
and deflect all critical review
of lines of demarcation to limit
participation to their chosen few.
Milton Jordan lives and writes with the musician Anne Elton Jordan in Georgetown, Texas.