Black lawmakers get passing grades on voting

“There have been so many injustices to Blacks that when it comes to making things right, I think we as Black legislatures, have a responsibility to do just that,” said State Rep. Arthur Turner (D-26).

“If I had to point to one disparity between minorities and whites it would be education. Schools in poor communities often Black and Latino neighborhoods, usually have some of the worse schools in the district.”

Turner was referring to an annual report examining the voting pattern of state lawmakers especially when it comes to racial equality legislation was recently released and gave good grades to Black lawmakers. The report also could be why state Sen. James Meeks sponsored SB750 (Property Tax School District) last year.

The bill would level the playing field for state funding to school districts. The bill, if passed, will amend the State Finance Act; will create a School District Property Tax Relief Fund; will require annual appropriations from the education appropriation minimum to the Fund; and would mandate the department of revenue to annually certify the amounts of property tax grants received by school districts from the Fund.

The Applied Research Center, a Chicago non-profit, issued the 2nd Annual Report, “Facing Race: Illinois Legislative Report Card on Racial Equality,” with a goal of promoting policies often buried and ignored by many state lawmakers each year, said Josina (cq) Morita, a senior research associate at Applied Research Center and author of the report.

“Elected officials need to be held accountable for their votes and the public needs to know how often their legislator votes and what types of legislation they normally vote for and against,” she said. “It is nearly impossible to address policies needed to improve to the lives of others without addressing race.” The report gave 10 lawmakers [all Democrats] a grade A for voting a majority of time for racial equality legislation in 2007 such as affordable housing, healthcare, education, and crime. Six of the passing lawmakers were Black.

They are state Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-16) and state Sen. Mattie Hunter (D-3) and State Representatives Elga Jeffries (D-26), Arthur Turner (D-26), and Esther Golar (D-6). It also gave an F grade to the 10 most lawmakers [all Republicans] who rarely voted in favor of such legislation. None of the 10 failing lawmakers is Black.

Among the top 10 was Sen. Hunter, who said it is essential that Illinois get on track like other states in passing laws that help its residents survive and get ahead in life. “I call it inequalities rather than racial equalities because there is so much unbalance when it comes to quality of life for all ethic groups living in Illinois,” Hunter said.

“From health to education, you name it. It’s hard to separate these categories because every thing is connected and a person cannot make it with one and not the other.” Maurice Shaw, 34, said the report would had been quite helpful to voters had it been issued before the primary election.

“I do not have the time to check the voting pattern of my lawmakers and I am sure other voters feel the same,” he said. “Had I knew about how some lawmakers voted on affordable housing [issues], I might had voted differently.” These days Shaw, married with two small kids, lives with his mother due to unexpected financial circumstances.

“Boy, I miss our old three bedroom town house. And to think, my state rep. could have voted against it and I never would have known,” added Shaw. Overall, Black lawmakers averaged an ‘A,’ for supporting 90 percent of racial-equity bills, while white lawmakers averaged a ‘C’, for supporting 76 percent of racial equity bills.

To view the report, log onto www.arc.org/pdf/ILL_embargoed_R C.pdf

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