There may be no African Americans on powerful new commission

Our Weekly
By Dr. Lula B. Ballton and Tunua Thrash
OW Contributors

In 2010 African Americans have a historic chance to shape our state’s future. All of us can play a part, and the time to act is now.
Taking advantage of this huge opportunity depends on you getting involved in a process that may seem obscure or even boring to lots of us: Legislative redistricting. But redistricting is a classic example of how something that seems technical and dull can affect each of us in a big way. If you care about jobs, schools, or your community, you should care about redistricting.

Redistricting, the process of drawing legislative districts, happens every ten years immediately following the census. Simply put, it determines what your community looks like on a political map, who represents you and how vigorously they do it.

In the past, the process has been controlled by legislative leaders in Sacramento and done with the interests of incumbents from both parties in mind. The result has been neighborhoods and communities carved up in order to put the right number of “friendly” voters in each legislator’s district. In effect, legislators have been choosing their voters instead of voters choosing their legislators.

This hurts everyone, but over the years it has disproportionately hurt African Americans and other communities of color. Since our vote can either be taken for granted or discounted by legislators, our issues have, in many cases taken a back seat to fundraising and other incumbent priorities. This situation has led to a sense of disenfranchisement and apathy in regards to voting.

Now we can end this nonsense. In 2008, California voters passed Proposition 11, taking redistricting out of the hands of legislators and handing it over to a new Citizens Redistricting Commission. Commissioners will be responsible for drawing state electoral districts and ensuring a transparent process. While community and faith-based organizations remain cautiously optimistic about this new commission, failure is a real possibility if African Americans don’t participate.

Currently, less than 4% of the accepted applicants are African Americans. It is feasible that when the commission begins its work in 2011 none of the commissioners will come from the 2.5 million strong African American community in our state. To work, the Citizens Redistricting Commission must truly represent the broad diversity of California and without a strong African American voice it will simply be another case of our community being “on the table not at the table” of California politics.

For more information visit us as www.greenlining.org under “Our Democracy.”

Dr. Lula B. Ballton is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of West Angeles Community Development Corporation (WACDC), a Ministry of West Angles Church. Tunua Thrash is the Director of Innovation for the Greenlining Institute, a public policy organization that advocates on behalf of African Americans and other communities of color.