THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512060014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The practice of racial gerrymandering is troubling. While the goal of greater minority representation among legislators has merit, the gerrymandering method leaves much to be desired.
Under President Bush, the Justice Department said a 1982 Voting Rights Act amendment required states to draw black-majority districts whenever possible. The result was one absurdity after another - the notorious I-95 district in North Carolina, equally odd districts in Georgia and Louisiana and the 3rd Congressional District in Virginia. Of it, the authoritative Almanac of American Politics says: ``the lines are grotesque.''
The redistricting has allowed Republicans to have their cake and eat it too. They have opposed the idea in principle while encouraging and gaining from it in practice. Concentrating overwhelming black voting power in a few districts has created numerous districts with a minuscule minority presence. The effect has been many conservative districts where Republican majorities are unassailable.
Reform meant to give a greater voice to minorities has increased the odds against their being heard. In one district, the minority candidate rules. But in three or four or more, minority concerns can be completely ignored. Such artificially homogenized districts aren't healthy for a pluralistic democracy.
The worst aspect of majority-minority districts is their elevation of race above all other issues. A legislative district ought to be composed of people with much in common: people who occupy the same geography, work in the same businesses, attend the same schools, rely on the same infrastructure, and are forced to deal with the same economic and social forces. In short, a district should represent a community.
The more extreme of the racially gerrymandered districts divorce people from most of what they have in common, except race. Instead of bringing voters together to address public issues, they string together - like beads on a string - voters from different towns and regions who share few political, social or economic circumstances.
The law should be changed to prevent the creation of nonsensical districts. But since a Democratic Congress embraced the idea and a Republican Congress benefits from the practice, the question has fallen to courts. District-by-district cases have been brought, and courts have begun to question the idea and the results of it. Tuesday, a case concerning North Carolina's 1st and 12th Districts was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
To their credit, some Republicans have objected to a practice that may have increased their political power but has also increased racial polarization, which works against community.
Ed Blum is a Texas conservative whose Campaign for a Color Blind America has helped fund challenges to racially gerrymandered districts. It is supporting a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond to question Virginia's 3rd Congressional District.
Some Republicans think Blum is trying to kill the goose that has laid the golden eggs. But Blum replies that ``segregating neighborhoods by race hurts everyone.'' He's right, and that's been the unfortunate effect of racially drawn district lines. by CNB