jonetta rose barras: Gerrymandering isn’t always a bad thing?

These days, most of us probably associate gerrymandering with the Republican Party and snake-like boundaries established to create districts that enhance conservatives’ efforts to dominate the political landscape in perpetuity. The most egregious application during this year’s redistricting process has landed more than a few states — Wisconsin and Texas, for example — in trouble and in court. 

Snaking aside, gerrymandering can be used to help build a political foundation for previously marginalized citizens. In segregated Southern states, a version of it was used to clear the path for Black political empowerment, which certainly has helped the Democratic Party.

Back in the 1980s, District politicians deployed not a snake but a finger to prevent then-Ward 3 DC Council member Polly Shackleton from losing her seat to a shifting boundary caused by the need to rebalance the District’s eight wards due to population changes. “It was Pollymandering,” former Ward 2 DC Council member Jack Evans joked during a recent interview. He represented Georgetown for many years: After the 1980 census prompted redistricting, almost all of Georgetown moved from Ward 3 into Ward 2. The rest was shifted in later decades; Shackleton was no longer in office. 

Evans chaired the redistricting subcommittee in 2011 and was heavily involved in 2001 and 1991. He knows a few things about shaping and reshaping the political landscape.

Gerrymandering often involves protecting an incumbent’s territory or that person’s perceived political base. Sometimes the effort provides new opportunities for an entrenched politico to shine. 

The DC redistricting proposal, expected to be presented to the DC Council next week by a subcommittee of the Committee of the Whole, would move Hains Point and the Capitol Building to Ward 6 from Ward 2, for example. Symbolically, that would strip one of the city’s most iconic structures from its role as an eastern anchor for the National Mall and other parts of the federal enclave that are in Ward 2. Sources told me that at-large member Elissa Silverman, the Subcommittee on Redistricting’s chair, made the change at the request of Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen, whose ward includes the Capitol Hill neighborhood. 

Truth be told, DC’s proposed redistricting map looks and smells like gerrymandering — in large part because it doesn’t make enough changes to the status quo, outside of the areas most impacted by the city’s population growth. It deliberately protects the dominance and clout of certain communities and special-interest groups that already hold such political powers. Most egregiously, it disregards the need for full and fair representation that could establish a more ethnically diverse legislature.

Consider that it makes no real attempt to enhance the political participation of Hispanics in the District’s elected government, although they are a fast-growing population in the nation and in the city. Last year at least four Hispanics ran for office, knowing they were likely engaged in a Sisyphus-like exercise. During the public hearings, several Hispanic leaders also sought to persuade the subcommittee to consider their community as they adjusted ward boundaries. 

“Why do you care about that?” a longtime political operative asked me when I raised the issue about Hispanic representation during a discussion about the redistricting proposal. “Most of them are undocumented; they don’t vote and the community is too young to vote.” 

I was dumbfounded, not to mention personally offended, by the remarks, but unfortunately I know that he’s not the only influencer who privately expresses such views — which is why I have included this part of our conversation. That kind of racial trope might win praise from former President Donald Trump, were it not coming out of the mouth of a lifelong Democrat. What’s more, his statement suggests that perhaps he hadn’t reviewed 2020 census data.

Over the past 10 years, the District’s Hispanic population grew from 54,749 to 77,652; that’s a 41.8% jump, according to the DC Office of Planning’s website. It’s true that they remain a minority in the city. However, there’s an argument to be made that they deserve attention, especially when considering the city’s African American population dropped by 6.3% — from 305,125 in 2010 to 285,810 in 2020.

Further, in 2010, only 42,705 Hispanics in DC were 18 and older; today that number is 60,375. And some advocates have urged the council to approve legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants the opportunity to vote in local elections.

While elected officials pontificate about ending institutional racism, their focus clearly isn’t on the plight of Hispanics, who as people of color have seen their own share of discrimination. It might be hard to craft a redistricting proposal with a predominantly Hispanic ward, but a few tweaks to the proposed map could provide them a better opportunity to gain a footing in elective politics.

“It’s absolutely incumbent on the people drawing the district to do so to empower voices that aren’t being heard,” Chuck Thies, a longtime political consultant, said during an interview earlier this week. “When looking at the political map, it is going to lead to certain people getting elected and others not getting elected. 

“The ethos is fairness,” added Thies, who offered as an example changes that would shift part of Ward 1’s Hispanic population into Ward 4. Both saw increases: Ward 1 jumped from 15,709 in 2010 to 17,269 in 2020. Meanwhile, in Ward 4, which has always been a Hispanic stronghold, their numbers increased from 14,179 to 18,646, according to Office of Planning data.

Explaining the merits of a reverse approach, Evans noted that the Hispanic population in Ward 4 mostly clusters at the southern border — and that the center of that community “has traditionally been Ward 1.” He offered that “in order to enhance [their] power, the redistricting map should add as many Hispanics [as possible] on the borders of Ward 4 into Ward 1.”

Silverman’s chief of staff, Sam Rosen-Amy, told me that the subcommittee heard testimony from Hispanic leaders and “did look specifically at the Hispanic population.” However, the members determined that it “could not draw a majority Hispanic ward in DC.”

“They are too scattered across census tracts,” Rosen-Amy said — a conclusion that ignores OP data. He added that the city might end up with one of those “really incredibly gerrymandered maps.”

When the subcommittee begins its next phase of redrawing boundaries for advisory neighborhood commissions, he said, there will be some attention to creating predominantly Hispanic ANCs. That sounds a bit like something that famed civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer heard when she and others in Mississippi demanded a more diverse delegation be seated at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. 

It’s the kind of crumb-feeding that many Blacks, especially those with Southern roots, have heard and understand. It’s ironic that two members of the subcommittee are Black and that currently the council is predominantly African American and female.

The plight of Hispanics isn’t the only problem with the redistricting proposal. Residents in Ward 5 have raised concerns about stripping their community of the Armed Forces Retirement Home, just as the site is slated for extensive redevelopment that may include hotels, retail outlets and green space. Ward 5 Council member Kenyan McDuffie issued a statement almost immediately after the release of the redistricting map, arguing that the changes to his ward are unnecessary.

Ward 7 Council member Vincent Gray has been fighting since the redistricting map was released, although like everyone else, including myself, he acknowledged the hard work of the subcommittee. In a letter he sent to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Gray lamented that it made only the minimum effort to expand Ward 7, which had the lowest population growth over the past decade. Further, it appears that unpopulated land, which could be ripe for future development, was also snatched from Ward 7 in the process. Gray has demanded that the council reunite the Kingman Park and Rosedale neighborhoods in Ward 7, while he’s pushing to retain RFK Stadium and fields along with Reservation 13. The latter area is where the old DC General Hospital sits and is finally being readied for major mixed-use development. That kind of addition to Ward 7 would enhance its socio-economic vitality, something its residents have been seeking for years.

Earlier this week, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B held a special meeting attended by more than 100 residents to consider a resolution that would support amending the proposed redistricting map to expand Ward 7’s reach into their community. The suggested change would essentially create a “west of the river” area of Ward 7 large enough to serve the interests of the residents and businesses there, according to proponents; others in the area say both proposed boundaries would unfairly split their neighborhood and cut it off from the rest of Capitol Hill.

Mendelson attended that meeting and hinted that the proposal from the “west of the river” group might gain traction by Tuesday when the council takes its first vote on the plan. 

But what about the city’s Hispanic community?

Last year, when the city wanted to ensure high response rates during the census survey, officials encouraged everyone to complete the form, including those Hispanics that the political operative believes should be dismissed. In fact, the amount of federal revenue the District collects is based on its population, which now includes more than 110,000 residents of color who don’t fit into the traditional Black-white dichotomy. According to the Office of Planning, after the 2010 census, DC received $6 billion annually from the feds. In 2016 alone, it received $350 million for housing programs like housing vouchers and low-income housing tax credits, often used to build affordable units. 

If brown people are going to be pimped, shouldn’t elected officials make a greater effort to bring them into the political structure, ensuring they are better represented in the local legislature? There’s still time to tweak the redistricting plan to achieve that goal.

This post has been updated to provide context for the use of an anonymous quote.

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jonetta rose barras is an author and freelance journalist, covering national and local issues including politics, childhood trauma, public education, economic development and urban public policies. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.