Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel sounded unconcerned about the latest round of Congressional reapportionment–so long as Harlem-centric district is cast across the river.
Asked if he was hiring any lobbyists to persuade Albany lawmakers to protect his district–as some of his Congressional colleagues have done–and Rangel said no, but added with a laugh, “I would anybody to fight off Brooklyn.”
Most experts say that Rangel’s district can either stay in Manhattan and become more white and more Latin or jump to the Bronx or Brooklyn and remain the historic African-American district it is.
Rangel was kidding, but he clearly prefers the former.
“Don’t send anybody from Harlem to Brooklyn,” he added. “We have had historic political fight with Brooklyn, and the Bronx for that matter.”
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