Last week Maryland’s WYPR Midday program with Dan Rodricks hosted a fascinating 49 minute-long discussion about Somerset County Maryland:<\/p>\n
Craig Mathies<\/b> is the first African-American ever elected to help run Somerset County, despite its one-third African-American population. A newly elected County Commissioner, Mathies joins Dan in Studio A to talk about his historic election and the challenges that lie ahead. Also joining us two other key players in the drama: Kirkland Hall<\/b>, president of the Somerset County NAACP, and Deborah Jeon<\/b>, legal director of the Maryland Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union<\/p>\n
Somerset County was a central part of the campaign against prison-based gerrymandering in Maryland<\/a> because, as we explained in a fact sheet<\/a>:<\/p>\n 40% of the county is African-American, but an African-American has never been elected to county office. The county settled a Voting Rights Act lawsuit in the mid-1980s and agreed to draw a majority African-American district. Unfortunately, a new large prison in the remedial district resulted in the African-American resident population being split among multiple districts. An effective African-American district could be drawn if the prison population had not been included in the Somerset population count.<\/p>\n On the program, Craig Mathies, Kirkland Hall and Deborah Jeon explain the history of race relations and electoral fairness in the county and discuss their campaign for change.<\/p>\n