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April 22, 2004

Judges give nod to House districting map

Jeremy Schwab

Federal judges last week quickly approved a map drawn by state legislative leaders that would re-arrange Boston’s House districts in order to give black voters more clout.

In February, the court struck down the House’s previous map, ruling that it discriminated against blacks by diluting their voting strength.

“[The new map] is definitely better than the illegal plan which was struck down,” said Atiya Dangleben, program coordinator at BostonVOTE, a plaintiff in the case. “It is a step forward, and we hope the Legislature will not do any tinkering before it passes.”

The plan gives African Americans a majority in 4 of the 17 Boston-based districts, up from 3 under the overturned plan.

To increase the number of majority-black districts, legislators un-packed Rep. Shirley Owens-Hicks’ 6th Suffolk District, dropping it from 82 to 63 percent black.

Meanwhile, the House Redistricting Committee re-drew Rep. Elizabeth Malia’s Jamaica Plain-based 11th Suffolk District, dropping precincts in Roslindale in favor of precincts in Roxbury, so that the district’s black population soared from 22 to just over 50 percent.

While the opportunity for blacks to elect candidates of their choice may have improved under the new map as compared to the illegal one, the voting strength of people of color as a whole, including Latinos and other groups, may not have improved greatly.

In ruling only that the previous map discriminated against blacks, the judges ignored the plaintiffs’ oft-repeated argument that blacks and Latinos should be considered a voting block because they share common economic experiences and tend to vote for the same candidates and ballot resolutions.

“It shows the limitations of their thinking,” said BostonVOTE Board Chairman Gibran Rivera. “I don’t think our collective reality has yet translated to the law. Blacks and Latinos vote together, and share similar experiences.”

The newly approved map includes six districts where people of color constitute the majority of the voting-age population, compared to five in the illegal plan.

But the 6th Suffolk District remains packed, when black and Latino voters are taken into account. Legislators met the court’s demands to un-pack the 6th of black voters, but they simply added precincts in Roslindale and the eastern edge of Hyde Park where a large population of Latinos resides.

The judges approved the map after less than an hour of testimony Friday from defense and plaintiffs. The plaintiffs, who include BostonVOTE, the statewide Latino political organization ¿Oiste? and the Black Political Task Force, had presented their own maps for consideration.

But the judges, who had indicated in their decision that it was up to the Legislature to draw up new maps and to consult the plaintiffs on them, at the outset of last week’s hearing said they found one of the defense’s three proposed maps the most acceptable.

The judges’ decision ended over a year of legal wrangling. Now that the district lines appear to be settled, prospective challengers must scramble to register.

Voting-rights activists worry there may be insufficient time for minority candidates to make the tough decision to run in the new districts, and then gather signatures and file their candidates’ papers. The Legislature decided the day before last week’s hearing to set a May 11 deadline for candidates to file nomination papers.

 

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