Chicago City Wire

The Black and Latino caucuses are at an impasse concerning Chicago’s ward map, with the deadline for submission fast approaching.  

Black Caucus Chairman Alderman Jason Ervin has defended their intentions saying they have redrawn the map in a manner reflective of the city.

“What we’ve drawn is something that is representative of the city of Chicago and the Black community in its entirety,” Ervin said at a press conference at Harold Washington Cultural Center, Block Club Chicago reported.

Members of the Latino Caucus have countered the proposal, stating that fewer than 15 wards underrepresents neighborhoods composed of Latino Chicagoans.

“The only way Chicago’s growing Latino population gets its legally warranted and fair representation is with 15 majority-Latino wards,” the group said in a statement.

Roughly 41 members of the city council must agree on a ward map by Dec. 1; however the maps are becoming contentious. Ervin has stated that the city’s Black population should not receive less representation even though the number of Black citizens in the city has fallen. According to reports, the Black Caucus’s most recent projected map would include 18 white wards, 17 black wards, 14 Latino wards and 1 Asian ward.

According to Census information, the city consists of roughly 33% white, 30% black, 29% Latino and 6% Asian citizens.

"But we're concerned that the map that was put forward, that packs and cracks the Latino community, which are terms used under the Voting Rights Act, which are illegal," Ald. Gil Villegas, Latino caucus chairman told ABC 7.

The Latino Caucus’s suggested map would define 15 wards each for the Black, Latino, and white communities, and one Asian ward; while a coalition group proposes a proposed “People’s Map,” of 15 Black wards, 14 Latino wards, 13 white wards and one Asian ward, according to the station.