The blogosphere is all abuzz about the comments made by Del. Lionell Spruill Sr. regarding redistricting. Republicans have reacted with glee and Democrats with disdain. My sense is that both sides are unwilling to acknowledge that Spruill is both right and wrong.
Spruill is right when you consider the historical treatment of blacks at the hands of the Democratic Party. More than two years ago, then DNC chair Howard Dean discussed this at the African American Leadership summit, which prompted my post on the matter. One does not have to look far to see that blacks have a hard time getting elected in districts that are not minority-majority districts. Exhibit A is Charniele Herring, the first black woman to ever be elected from NoVA. In 2009, we are still having “firsts,” a reminder of how far we have to go.
At some point, Democrats are going to have to wake up and deal with the latent racism in our ranks. We can’t just call out the Republicans on this and not do anything on our side. There has to be a conscious effort on the part of the Democratic Party to seek out and support qualified black candidates. Much like the civil rights movement required white support, so does the movement to increase the number of blacks elected at every level. We cannot do this alone.
But my dear friend, Del. Spruill, is also wrong. One of the reasons why we have fewer blacks elected is that the Republicans have been very good at protecting majority-minority districts and making it impossible for any Democrat – black or white – to compete elsewhere. In his book, Whistling Past Dixie, author Thomas Schaller refers to this as an “unholy alliance:”
The vast majority of black legislators in America represent majority-minority districts, about half of which are in the south. Racial gerrymandering has benefited the Republican Party tremendously., which is why Republican leaders happily colluded with black politicians in the early 1990s to forge an “unholy alliance” intent on packing as many African-American voters into as few districts as possible.
[…]
For southern Republicans, redistricting strategy hinges upon the same, powerful premise on which most every other element of the southern strategy turns: Whenever and however possible, make Democrats pay for their support of racial minorities.
This unholy alliance has had the effect of making Southern Democrats fall into two categories, again, according to Schaller:
- Conservative whites, who run away from the national party and take socially conservative positions.
- Black and Hispanic legislators who are elected in majority-minority districts formerly represented by whites, which reinforce in the minds of white voters that the Democrats are the party of minorities.
I am not convinced that the election of Barack Obama will have any effect on this dynamic.
I remain a strong proponent of nonpartisan redistricting, despite the fact that it basically requires blacks to continue to trust the Democratic Party to do the right thing by us. And while I do not agree with Spruill’s conclusions, I understand where he – and others with whom I have spoken – is coming from.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
A simple proposal:
The Us Census provides data down to the neighborhood level (smaller than voting precincts). Take this data, and optimize the district boundaries to equalize population within districts, and to minimize the total perimeter of the districts (most contiguous).
All done by computer, no racial data involved. What could be more fair?
I believe that data is provided now. The issue of race is, AFAIK, related to the VRA of 1965.
The worst part of the partisan redistricting process is that of incumbent protection. To me, that shouldn’t be a consideration.
Redistricting is less torturous when you let computers do the decision making.
I can’t watch YouTube Videos at work, so I haven’t heard the comments from Spruill. But the timing seems odd, because (if I’m not mistaken) his son is running for the nomination for delegate in the 90th district. The 90th, which is mostly comprised of NSU and the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake, is one of those districts designed to be minority-majority. The incumbent is Algie Howell.
Having, again, not heard the statement, I could be wrong, but it seems likely that Spruill would prefer that his son was not running against a black incumbent in a mostly black district. Did Spruill have any such concerns before his son’s political aspirations were affected?
This really has nothing to do with his son. I don’t pretend to speak for him but I can tell you that when I was working with the Redistricting Coalition last year, we got pushback from legislators with similar views.
Del. Algie Howell does not represent any of South Norfolk, Del. Spruill, Sr. & Del. Melvin do, Del. Howell has part of Indian River district in Chesapeake. Fact Check
Del. spruill’s approach doesn’t have any relief for us dems stuck in a minority district or help any african americans in those districts either, however on the flip side it does mean I at least have representatives such as Del. Spruill and Bobby Scott in their repective offices that open their doors to my opinion even though I am not one of their constituents. So there is as Viv says two sides to this coin I suppose. I belief I will just have to put up with Oder until, he chooses to leave or a miracle happens.
Did Democrats ever call for bipartisan redistricting when they controlled both houses of the GA?
Vivian,
I’ve been watching your blog and enjoying the posts. I’ve submitted a couple articles to the political news website PopRule, which I co-founded, including this one: http://poprule.com/story/redistricting-pros-and-cons-democrats-stop-playing-blame-game
We’d love to have more of your political posts on our site. Feel free to check it out, vote for your story, and sign up for an account here: http://poprule.com/user/register
If you’re interested, we also provide a submission widget to make it easier for your readers to submit your stories to PopRule: http://poprule.com/poprule-tools
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best,
Andrew
PopRule
Spruill – is that the same bonehead calling for a ban on genitalia gangling from a truck and who took shots at Muslims last week? Looks like Brian Moran, who has Spruill on the dole, has a real winner there.