Opinion: California redistricting commission may have no people of color

Mercury News
By Pete Carrillo and Orson Aguilar
Special to the Mercury News

In 2008, California reform-minded voters gave themselves the power to redraw legislative lines in California when they passed Proposition 11, the Voters First Act. This will be done through a soon-to-be appointed statewide Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Not surprisingly, so far an alarmingly low percentage of people of color is included in the pool of applicants from whom the 14 commissioners ultimately will be chosen. Less than 20 percent of that pool now is people of color, even though they make up 60 percent of California’s population.

This imbalance must change. Far more people of color must volunteer, and be accepted, for the selection pool by the Feb. 12 deadline.

Why does this matter? If the Bureau of State Audits — the state agency charged with the selection process — does not have a diverse pool of applicants to choose from, we will not have a commission that reflects our state’s population.

Since one of the core criteria for being a commissioner is an appreciation for California’s diversity, it is imperative for the commission itself to be diverse in order to stand the test of public opinion. Otherwise we could repeat the mistakes of previous reapportionment plans, which left some African-American, Asian-American and Latino communities shamefully fragmented.

The commission, chosen from the applicant pool through a complex system of appointments and random selection, will tackle the dull but exceedingly important process of redrawing lines for the state Assembly and Senate. The newly drawn districts will affect who represents our interests in Sacramento for the next decade.

In the past, the process has been controlled by legislative leaders and done with the interests of incumbents from both parties in mind. As a 2005 report from the Common Cause Education Fund noted, “For decades, incumbent deal making in the state Legislature has led to gerrymandered redistricting maps, and the packing and splitting of concentrations of voters to strengthen or weaken their influence to gain partisan, racial and personal advantage.”

The result has been neighborhoods and communities of interest carved up in order to put the right number of “friendly” voters in each legislator’s district. In effect, elected officials have been choosing their voters instead of voters choosing their elected officials.

Over the years, this has undeniably and disproportionately hurt communities of color. Since our vote is fragmented, it can be taken for granted or discounted by legislators, and our issues have in many cases taken a back seat to fundraising and other incumbent priorities. This has led to a sense of disenfranchisement and apathy. While people of color make up 60 percent of the population, they account for only 32 percent of likely voters.

This year we can change the way our communities and neighborhoods are treated in Sacramento. All communities should be a significant part of this process. We should challenge the redistricting commission to reflect our state’s diversity by having people of color make up at least half of the members.

Even if you have never been involved in state politics beyond voting, please take five minutes and visit www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov to see how you can play a role in making sure that your community is at the table, helping to shape our state’s political future.

PETE CARRILLO, principal of Silicon Valley Advisors, has been active in the redistricting process since 1981. ORSON AGUILAR is executive director of the Greenlining Institute, a public policy organization that advocateS for low-income communities and communities of color in California. They wrote this article for the Mercury News.