Packing the Vote: City council in Florida racially gerrymanders districts despite Black voter outrage
In the face of fierce Black community opposition during months of public hearings, the city council in Jacksonville, Florida, voted 17-1 on March 22 to pass a voting district map with racially gerrymandered districts.
The new map packs most of the city鈥檚 Black voters into districts 7, 8, 9 and 10, classifying these voters because of their race and weakening their ability to affect elections in other districts. 聽
Further, it fails to reflect the city鈥檚 changing demographics. According to the 2020 census, Jacksonville鈥檚 nearly 1 million residents had equal percentages of non-Latinx white people and people of color. In wider Duval County, which is filled almost completely by the city 鈥� the country鈥檚 13th largest 鈥� white residents slid into the minority.
Racial gerrymandering
A report that a coalition of civil rights groups submitted to the council concludes that Jacksonville鈥檚 districts show a consistent pattern of racially polarized voting over 14 elections since 2014, and that 鈥� in these elections 鈥� Black voters鈥� candidates of choice would have been elected, on average, in districts with at least a 41% Black citizen voting age population (the percentage of U.S. citizens age 18 and older who identify as Black).
was commissioned by the , the , the Harriet Tubman Freedom Fighters聽鈥� which is a client of the Southern Poverty Law Center in voting rights litigation against the state of Florida 鈥� and the .
The report found that candidates preferred by Jacksonville鈥檚 Black voters disproportionately failed to achieve electoral success citywide. Further, a majority of white voters in Jacksonville voted as a bloc against Black-preferred candidates. In every single election studied in the report, most Black voters supported one candidate and most white voters supported the opposing candidate.
The civil rights groups asked that the council analyze the report鈥檚 findings and redraw the currently proposed neighborhood seat plan such that Black voters are properly and lawfully represented in the final plan. The report鈥檚 author, Hannah Walker, assistant professor of government at the University of Texas, told the 人兽性交 that based on her analysis, 鈥渁n alternative map could be drawn with additional districts that allow Black voters to elect their representatives of choice.鈥�
Some advocates for the Black community believe the council never even considered their concerns.
鈥淎t the public council meetings, we were allowed three minutes to speak but we weren鈥檛 allowed to ask any questions,鈥� said Ben Frazier, president of the Northside Coalition, a community organization focused on social, racial and economic justice. 鈥淭he council said at the beginning [of the hearings process] that they were going to pass the map. They said the process was transparent and open. They heard, but they didn鈥檛 listen. It was an exercise in futility.鈥�
Widespread distrust
In Jacksonville, political distrust crosses color and party lines.
According to a University of North Florida (UNF) Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) issued in mid-February, 89% of Duval County鈥檚 registered voters said they did not trust the city council to draw districts fairly. A whopping 85% said maps should be drawn by an independent panel composed of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.
鈥淕iven recent challenges to the city council鈥檚 redistricting procedures, it鈥檚 not surprising that folks don鈥檛 have a lot of trust in the process,鈥� said PORL Faculty Director Michael Binder in a statement released with the poll.
The city鈥檚 most recent effort to create an independent panel on perhaps its most racially divisive issue 鈥� police brutality 鈥� went down in flames. That鈥檚 exactly why Black residents say they need fair political representation.
In 2020, the year George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis, there were 17 shootings involving officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff鈥檚 Office (JSO), resulting in 10 deaths, according to . The majority of the people shot were Black. That year, only 157 officers in the JSO鈥檚 1,274-member force were Black, according to the U.S. census.聽
In the wake of Floyd鈥檚 death, as protests erupted across the country, thousands of Jacksonville citizens marched in protest, accusing the JSO of the same kind of brutality exhibited in Minneapolis.
In response, the council last year empaneled a group to look at ways of improving the relationship between the JSO and people of color. One panelist, Tammy Hodo, a diversity and inclusion consultant and Jacksonville resident, wrote a report recommending a citizen review board for oversight of the department. The JSO virulently opposed the idea.
鈥淭hey shut me down,鈥� Hodo recalled.
Eventually, District 6 Council Member Michael Boylan quit the panel, saying it was pointless because the community had no trust in law enforcement.
The city disbanded the panel. So far in 2022, JSO officers have shot three Black people, resulting in one death.
Hodo said the city鈥檚 redistricting map is in line with everything else that goes on in the city.
鈥淭he [district] map borders on egregious,鈥� Hodo said. 鈥淚t has brought truly lasting damage to Jacksonville.鈥�
Anthony Brown, co-chair of the NAACP Jacksonville鈥檚 economic committee and executive board, expressed a common view that regardless of color, those in power are suppressing the votes of the city鈥檚 Black community.
鈥淛acksonville is a microcosm of the country. The districts that Blacks represent are the worst in the city in terms of all the community social indicators,鈥� Brown said.
鈥淒istricts 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 have . They are food deserts, even for the basics. They lack sidewalks, have poor irrigation, have no business of note 鈥� none that rival other parts of the city. still goes on but in other forms, and when money is allocated to these communities, the money somehow disappears.鈥�
Legacy of corruption, white supremacy
Big 鈥� and broken 鈥� promises to the Black community have a long history in corruption-plagued Jacksonville.
Critics of the redistricting map note the timing of a recent accusing two top Jacksonville Electric Authority executives of conspiracy and wire fraud in an alleged scheme to siphon tens of millions of dollars from the city-owned utility. A former city general counsel 鈥減erhaps the greatest fraud in Jacksonville history.鈥�
A group of businessmen 鈥� with the approval of the current mayor and other city officials 鈥� had attempted to take the utility private. They told citizens that privatization would lead to reduced electric bills. Billions of dollars were involved.
It was reminiscent of promises dating back decades to when, after a wave of major corruption, the city in 1968 was consolidated into the geographically larger Duval County. Politicians and community leaders claimed the consolidation would cut waste and graft and bring money to the inner core of the city by taxing residents living on surrounding farms and beaches to finally pay for services they used. Consolidation created the biggest landmass city in the U.S., with plenty of room to fairly reapportion Black voters.
However, many residents believe that consolidation backfired and led to the weakened political power of Jacksonville鈥檚 people of color.
鈥淭he city said it would expand the tax base and provide for improved public services like fire and police,鈥� said Frazier, the Northside Coalition president. 鈥淲e suggest there was another agenda: to consolidate and dilute the Black voter population from the beginning. We got the short end of the stick.鈥�
The already-blighted minority districts north and west of the St. Johns River became worse. (The city鈥檚 poverty rate is 15%, but some neighborhoods have a rate as high as 50%.)聽
鈥淧art of why downtown Jacksonville is so far behind other cities is that money that should be going to the city is going to the wealthy coastal communities and suburbs,鈥� said Sam Coodley, voting rights statewide organizer for the ACLU聽of Florida.
In the end, the battle over the district maps is all about equitable treatment and the distribution of resources.
鈥淲e are concerned about infrastructure, affordable housing, education, criminal justice reform and reallocation of funds that go to law enforcement,鈥� Frazier said.
In fact, nearly 40% of Jacksonville鈥檚 2022 budget of $513 billion goes to the JSO. In the most recent 2020 data, the crime rate was below the national average, although violent crimes slightly increased that year, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Giving Black Jacksonville residents the opportunity to elect candidates who represent their interests will help create more equity in the city, not just in law enforcement but across the board, advocates say.
Just ask 100-year-old Lloyd Pearson about the power of the vote. After retiring from the post office, Pearson registered some 35,000 Jacksonville voters 鈥� 29,000 Black and 6,000 white 鈥� between 1977 and 1991 under the NAACP鈥檚 political action committee.
鈥淧eople come out heavy in presidential elections but weak in local elections,鈥� Pearson said. 鈥淸But] when you want something done in the city, you go to the tax collector, the school board, the mayor, the sheriff and the city council. You don鈥檛 go to the president of the United States.鈥�
Top picture: (Credit: iStock)
