Arizona IRC Public Meeting Listening Tour 8.9.21 (Maricopa County)

This public meeting of the Independent Redistricting Commission took place here in Mesa three days ago at the Mesa Convention Center. Hizzoner John Giles showed up first to hog the introduction - admitting for the first time in public that the City of Mesa did practice racial discrimination for Mexicans and Blacks using 'racial covenants' in certain neighborhoods. That's no secret he said to acknowledge the city's history that's usually skimmed over. At the same time he seemed to state that almost to head off any assertions that could be made for a new Re-Segregation in some of the city's mostly-white master-planned communities and subdivisions, including those at Eastmark and Cadence that are included in Community Facilities Districts along the Outer and Inner Loops. He also 'piggy-backed' to publicize that the City of Mesa has its own Redistricing underway to redraw and re-map the six City Council districts to equalize populations that have shown uneven expansion into certain districts. Next up is a speaker from the Salt River Pima Maricopa Nation, reminding everyone that native peoples were the territory's first inhabitants in boundaries adjacent to Scottsdale and Tempe...More speakers are announced. This is three-hours-and-twenty-eight minutes: