County Commissioners Fred Skillern and Larry Henry revealed Thursday that Republicans are ready to hash out the centennial drawing of new County Commission districts without public participation – except for the wants of Warren Mackey and Greg Beck, the commission’s only Democrats and African-Americans. Skillern said Thursday that the commission would observe the “precedent” that allows the nine-member commission’s African-Americans to have first go at mapping the districts the way they want to ensure their political needs.
There’s a lot wrong with this picture for everyone – with the possible exception of the current commissioners.
Skillern’s presumptuous approach can be expected to increase gerrymandering and irrationally odd-shaped districts, all to satisfy the intentions of the incumbents. But it will do nothing to encourage rational civic dialogue with respect to bipartisan political needs and racial diversity.
There is a legitimate civil rights and court-mandated need to arrange districts that reflect proportional minority representation in the ultimate make-up of the County Commission. That is necessary to meet federal guidelines in elections for racial parity in representation.
Regardless, Mackey and Beck should not be allowed, or desire, to draw districts that concentrate the political force and interests of the community’s entire black population into just two districts. With more attention to the broad interests of the African-American community, it may be possible to arrange district precincts with likely majorities in at least two districts, but also with a larger share of blacks holding influence on the political agenda in at least a third district.