Race rhetoric stokes Texas redistricting fire

Austin American-Statesman ^ | July 7, 2003 | Ken Herman

[Dog Gone]

Democrats sure to bring up minority concerns as House debates bill today

Redistricting — that most partisan of legislative issues — is inextricably, inherently and legally linked to race — that most thorny of American issues.

Not only is it devoid of any intent to be colorblind, the congressional redistricting process is overwhelmed by the issue. So pivotal is the topic that the GOP last week dropped a proposed map and did some overnight fine-tuning after discovering the original plan made minor cuts in minority voting strength in some districts.

The link between race and redistricting provides a recipe for ugly overtones, hard-to-miss undertones and in-your-face rhetoric that adds pain and confrontation to a process already endowed with plenty of each.

Texas Democrats are talking race — a topic sure to come up when the House debates the bill today — as often as they can, accurately noting that there are reams of legal opinions that make the protection of minority voting rights Job One in map-drawing. For years, courts, citing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, have denied approval of any map that reduces minority voting impact.

"My ancestors and my forefathers and my foremothers worked the fields," Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, recently told colleagues on the House Redistricting Committee before pausing to compose herself as she recounted a story about the ongoing battle against racism.

At another hearing, McClendon, who has given some of the most impassioned speeches on the topic that the Capitol has seen in years, complained that Republicans drawing the maps worked to make sure blacks in many portions of Texas would be "submerged" in districts that would be represented by Republicans. She cited districts in several portions of the state.

McClendon, and other minority Democrats including Rep. Richard Raymond, a Hispanic from Laredo, have pulled no punches in accusing Republicans of racism and branding their redistricting efforts as reminiscent of previous attempts to dilute minority voting strength.

"There were all kinds of ways, like hanging African American men from trees every other day to keep them from voting," McClendon said.

It's a touchy subject in an increasingly racially polarized Legislature. Of the 107 Republicans in the Legislature, none are black, and only two (a Hispanic and an Asian American) are minorities.

Only 22 of the Legislature's 74 Democrats are white.

Some of the white Democrats in the Texas congressional delegation, including several who represent substantial minority constituencies, are targeted by the GOP-backed map scheduled for a House vote today.

Throughout the hearings, Republicans on the House Redistricting Committee have opted not to say much in response to McClendon's rhetoric. They deny racial motives, acknowledge political motives and move on.

The proposed map does not change the number of districts in which minorities outnumber whites.

"My intention was to try to elect additional Republicans," Rep. Phil King, D-Weatherford, said after releasing a proposed map.

Disenfranchised GOP

Democrats now have a 17-15 edge in the congressional delegation. The latest version of the GOP-backed map, approved Saturday by the House Redistricting Committee, could give Republicans as many as 21 seats in the Texas delegation.

When asked what goes through his mind when he hears McClendon's speeches, House Redistricting Committee member Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, said he thinks about another class of people he believes has been unfairly disenfranchised by the process for years: Republicans — almost exclusively white — in Williamson County, a GOP suburb that for years has been in the political shadow of a Democratic urban core.

Don't forget the suburban victims, Krusee says.

"I think about all the people that for decades have been split, their community split in order to elect more Democrat congressmen," he said, referring to the fact that Williamson County has long been in two districts, something the currently proposed map would change.

Krusee, who is white, said he has no objection to minority lawmakers talking about hard-fought battles for voting rights. In fact, he said, his constituents have first-hand knowledge about it.

"Having been a victim of that ourselves to Democrat gerrymandering, we are sympathetic to it," he said.

Krusee has not avoided all committee arguments about race and redistricting. Krusee and Raymond, who sat next to each other at the redistricting hearing meetings, got into it over which side to blame for the raucous shouting match that lit up a recent hearing in Brownsville before a predominantly Hispanic audience.

"The intimidation I witnessed was from Democrats and the Democratic Party," said Krusee, who, like Raymond, was at the Brownsville event.

Raymond put an ethnic overtone on Krusee's comment.

"It's not Williamson County, and maybe he was a little uncomfortable listening to Hispanic veterans stand up for their rights," Raymond said. "If several World War II veterans scare you, I apologize on their behalf."

A political byproduct

Longtime political observer Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas government professor, said the racial component of redistricting is a byproduct of the Republicans' very upfront political motive.

The fact is that minorities, in overwhelming numbers, vote Democratic. Republicans are doing all they can to reduce Democratic impact.

"I don't think it's race, per se, in the old prejudicial sense, but race as a way to further marginalize the opposition," Buchanan said.

He noted Democratic complaints about a recent redistricting hearing notice e-mailed by the Harris County GOP. It featured a photo of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, a black lawmaker, without mentioning her name.

"She will be there to express her views," the notice said. "Will you be there to express yours?"

Lee, outraged, said , "A black face is frequently utilized to incite, provoke and encourage Republican voters to get out."

Harris County GOP spokesman Court Koenning said there was nothing racial about the e-mail. What it was, he said, was personal.

"The fact of the matter is, she is one who gets Republicans most excited on this issue" Koenning said, referring to her long-time support for things such as government assistance programs that many Republicans oppose.

Buchanan gives the Republicans the benefit of the doubt on this one.

"What they had in mind is, she is far to the left," he said. "She is concerned with divisive interest-group issues, and she doesn't represent the mainstream that Republicans claim they want to."

But, Buchanan added, "The blackness is just an added benefit."

"It is still tinged with racial connotation in some minds in the sense that it is no longer the kind of issue you can be overt about," he said. "Nor do Republicans want any part of a claim that they are playing the race card."

"There is almost nothing for them to gain by doing so," Buchanan said.

Dodging racism label

Krusee said he's figured out when to shut up. One good time to do that, he has decided, is when the other side hangs the racist label on your side.

"It's a tar baby because, once you get into it, they just start lobbing grenades at you, and it becomes very vitriolic very quickly," he said. "It takes a lot of restraint because our voters in the suburbs have been disenfranchised for decades."

So today, when the GOP-backed redistricting bill hits the House floor, expect lots of Democratic talk about racist motives. And expect Republicans to deny and move on as quickly as possible.

At this point, it's a numbers game, not a war of words. And the Republicans have the numbers in the House.

Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, who was the only "no" vote Sunday when the House Calendars Committee formally set the redistricting debate for today on the House floor, isn't kidding himself about the numbers game in that chamber.

With 88 of the House's 150 seats, Republicans can do just about whatever they want. But in the Senate, where the GOP has a 19-12 edge but it takes 21 votes to move forward on any topic, the game is not over.

"I think and I hope we can count on our colleagues in the Senate, our Democratic colleagues in the Senate, to stand by us and stand by the people of Texas and not allow this train to run over us," Menendez said.

[basil]

Can a person who uses the word "foremothers" be taken seriously?

[Jack Black]

Dems are evil. To compare lynching and redistricting is absurd. I'm not sure how R's answer a blood libel. Perhaps a challenge to duel? To have a standing rule that redistricting must create as many safe black, liberal, democratic seats as is humnaly possible is absurd. Of course the idiot SCOTUS supports this sort of thing so it is the highest law of the land. Time for new judges and Congress. Hopefully people will wake up and elect some real conservatives before it is too late, if it's not already.

[cweese]

...the other day on the local abc affiliate (kvue in austin) they ran a story on the redistricting. what a joke! the anchor was moaning about how one democrat official (anonymous, of course) said that this redistricting is ILLEGAL! i waited for the anchor to ask why it's illegal, but he just let it go as fact. since kvue parrots peter jennings on all issues, i wasn't surprised. however, there seems to be NO support whatsoever in the local austin media for the redistricting! what a surprise...

[goldstategop]

Its a commentary on a party that has sunk so low it needs to drag out the "race card" to preserve the jobs of white Democrats.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!) Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[bert]

The black Rats must learn that change is constant. Their hard won positions gained by gerrymandering can be lost by normal elastic political force that snaps back to more relaxed reality. Change to reduce political opposition is not racism, it is politics.

[cweese]

...it is indeed! what really galls me is that the austin statesman omitted the fact that the southern democrats were the ones doing all of the lynching and other racially motivated actions against the blacks in the old days, NOT the republicans...

[onyx]

It's a commentary on a party that has sunk so low it needs to drag out the "race card" to preserve the jobs of white Democrats.

Worthy of repeating.

[Lancey Howard]

Of the 107 Republicans in the Legislature, none are black, and only two (a Hispanic and an Asian American) are minorities.... Only 22 of the Legislature's 74 Democrats are white....

This is amazing.

[jimt]

"What they had in mind is, she is far to the left," he said. "She is concerned with divisive interest-group issues, and she doesn't represent the mainstream that Republicans claim they want to."

Sheila Jackson Lee is a racist communist. Her color is immaterial. The fact that she's an ignorant raving bigot, a lying communist and has an ego bigger than Lyndon Johnson are the major factors which incense voters in her district, me among them.

[cpdiii]

The amusing thing about Gerry Mandering minority districts is that it helps the GOP. When you concentrate the minorities into one district that votes mostly DEMONcrat who have removed those votes from districts that could go either way, thus ensuring a Republican win in those districts.

The one thing that none of the major news outlets (Paper or electronic media) will say is the reason the Dems are in the majority in Texas Delegation to Washington is that the districts in Texas have been Gerry Mandered by the Demoncrats for years. The Republicans are only trying to get a percentage that reflects the Republican vote in Texas.

[cpdiii]

"who have removed" should read as "you have removed"

[My back yard]

districts in Texas have been Gerry Mandered by the Demoncrats for years. The Republicans are only trying to get a percentage that reflects the Republican vote in Texas.

The problem as I understand it right there. Bears repeating.

[SwinneySwitch]

"There were all kinds of ways, like hanging African American men from trees every other day to keep them from voting," McClendon said." They were probably hung there by demonrats, McClendon!

[MeekOneGOP]

"My ancestors and my forefathers and my foremothers worked the fields," Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, recently told colleagues on the House Redistricting Committee before pausing to compose herself as she recounted a story about the ongoing battle against racism.

At another hearing, McClendon, who has given some of the most impassioned speeches on the topic that the Capitol has seen in years, complained that Republicans drawing the maps worked to make sure blacks in many portions of Texas would be "submerged" in districts that would be represented by Republicans. She cited districts in several portions of the state.

McClendon, and other minority Democrats including Rep. Richard Raymond, a Hispanic from Laredo, have pulled no punches in accusing Republicans of racism and branding their redistricting efforts as reminiscent of previous attempts to dilute minority voting strength.

"There were all kinds of ways, like hanging African American men from trees every other day to keep them from voting," McClendon said.

It's a touchy subject in an increasingly racially polarized Legislature. Of the 107 Republicans in the Legislature, none are black, and only two (a Hispanic and an Asian American) are minorities.

Only 22 of the Legislature's 74 Democrats are white.

[MeekOneGOP]

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