GAINESVILLE — The Newtown Florist Club will host a meeting Monday of African-American and Latino leaders in Gainesville to discuss the city's at-large voting system.
The purpose of the meeting will be to form a Black-Brown Alliance with the Latino community and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials to call for an end to at-large voting in the City of Gainesville.
According to Rev. Rose Johnson, executive director of the Newtown Florist Club, "Something pretty miraculous is happening here. As I look back over the many decades of Newtown's work and now see the Latino community and its persistent organizing efforts to end at-large voting, there is a clear sense that we together are reaching across space and time. Today in the 21st Century, two distinct racial minorities stand united to share our experiences of the discriminatory impact of at-large voting. It is so important that we walk hand in hand to call for concrete change. The change that we seek is to simply be able to elect the candidate of choice from the districts where we live."
GALEO began its challenge to at-large voting two years ago appearing before the city council appealing for change by campaigning against Gainesville's at-large voting process, arguing that it violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by diluting the Latino vote.
The Newtown Florist Club is a 65-year-old social justice organization established in the 1950s initially to serve as flower girls during funerals to comfort families grieving the loss of loved ones. As time progressed it began responding to community needs related to social, economic and environmental justice.
The Club began its voter engagement work more than five decades ago. In 1991, members of the club filed the first Section 2 claim challenging at-large voting in Gainesville.
"Although we did not prevail in the litigation, more than twenty years later we have remained persistent in our call for change. This historic meeting unites minority voters together in an unprecedented way," Johnson added.
