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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2022

(MILWAUKEE, WI) – Late last night, the Milwaukee Common Council’s Judiciary and Legislation Committee voted to maintain the maps they’d previously passed that failed to account for the dramatic growth in Milwaukee’s Latinx population south and west of the city.

After the six hour committee meeting, Voces de la Frontera held a virtual press conference (full video here), in which Voces’ Executive Director Christine Neumann-Ortiz, said:

“It is a disgrace that the Judiciary and Legislation Committee has failed to uphold democratic principles and not move forward with a map that accounts for the dramatic growth of Latinx residents in the city of Milwaukee and their ability to have greater representation as a community of interest. 

Latinxs now account for 20% of the city’s population. Since roughly 1 in 5 of all Milwaukeeans are Latinxs, 3 out of the 15 Alderpersons on the Common Council should come from and represent the voting choice of Latinx voters and the particular issues that impact that community.  

We think Alderman Spiker simply wants to maintain a conservative majority white district and essentially claiming reverse discrimination.  We thank Alderwoman Dimitrijevic for trying sincerely to work for larger representation that would have significantly impacted her own district.  

We just got the city attorney’s opinion, we’re evaluating it and we’re working on getting our own legal opinion. We’re carefully considering what our legal options are.”

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CONTACT: Anna Dvorak, 414-469-0118, anna@vdlf.org