Gerrymander Rigged

Last night, the Little Rock School Board got busy with one 4 - 3 vote, which:

1. gerrymandered to ensure majority African-American zones even though the district is only 44% black;
2. divided neighborhoods among three zones (1, 6 and 7) to deny Hispanics the opportunity for meaningful representation so zealously guarded by African-Americans; and
3. abandoned its responsibility to balance by population by creating zones as far apart as 2,252 citizens, a difference of 8.5%.

After months of border battles and with just 20 days until deadline, the board voted for the seventh version of a map, originally drawn by the nonpartisan regional planning authority - Metroplan, but bastardized by self-interested board members and their lawyers.

If the races were reversed, and minority whites were preserving majority zones, this would clearly constitute a voting rights issue. Let me rephrase: The issue is exists; but its advocates are frozen in silence.

In another outstanding report by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Cynthia Howell, Zone 7 Board Member Dianne Curry, whose term expires this year, claimed to have talked to Hispanic residents about the boundary-line revisions.

"They understand it was not based on looking at [ethnicity] at all, but strictly by the census numbers, and we didn't even know who was in a particular area."

Disingenuous or disengaged? Either way, disturbing.

According to Ms. Howell's article, Metroplan was asked late last year to draft election-zone plans using specific parameters:

1. equalizing the populations (fair);
2. minimizing changes from the current School Board election zones (self-serving);
3. minimizing the splitting of neighborhoods and voting precincts (fair);
4. using landmarks and census blocks to define zone boundaries (fair); and
5. if possible, avoiding the placement of two incumbent board members in the same election zone to avoid making any board member ineligible to run for re-election (self-serving)

No. 5 clearly took priority.

Charles Armstrong (Zone 6), whose term also expires this year, is also running for State Representative. But with the September school election coming after May's primary, he has not ruled out running for both. According to Ms. Howell, Mr. Armstrong said "Alternative 6 and 7 plans enabled him to keep within his zone some of the neighborhoods with which he is familiar." No. 2? Check.

"The only community that has asked the whole board, 'do not separate us, please,' is the one that we are separating," said Zone 4 Board Member Greg Adams, referring to the division of Hispanic neighborhoods. "What is the compelling reason that trumps that request?"

There is none. The irony is that it took a white man giving voice to Hispanics to challenge the unacceptable hold one race has on the board and district. What he didn't say was the black community knew they didn't have to ask, while the white community gave up its voice in the district years ago, either through apathy, fear of being called racist, or overcompensation for past wrongs.

Lest you think three of our seven board members to be altruistic champions of fairness, the vote was 7 - 0 to deny thousands of citizens the basic right to vote for their representative. Even though Arkansas Code Annotated 6-13-631 calls for the election of all board seats after zone boundaries are redrawn, Attorney Chris Heller advised board members that the district "shall be exempt" because it meets the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act.

Somebody help me understand. To comply with the Voting Rights Act, zoned districts are required for all districts with minority populations ten percent and above. All districts' zones are required to be redrawn following the decennial census. The law states that all seats should be open for election after zone boundaries are redrawn. According to Mr. Heller's theory, are zoned districts which comply with the law and hold all new elections actually in violation of the law if the district meets the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act?

What ever happened to doing what's right instead of hiding behind what's potentially exempt. I guess it depends on what the meaning of "shall" shall be.

Once again, the agendas of seven board members and their enabling attorney took priority over the rights of 178,391 citizens (as of 2010).

School Boards should govern public school districts as representatives of the people. They should not, however, tell the people how they will be represented. At the legislature, the people, not incumbent school boards, should should finally be empowered to determine zones and when their representatives "shall" stand for election.

And while we're at it, we have a Mayor, County Judge, Governor and President. It's time we had a directly elected School Board President to represent and be accountable to all the people in the governance of their public school districts.

Meanwhile, a promising candidate, Leslie Fisken, has emerged to replace Melanie Fox (Zone 3). Charles Armstrong (Zone 6) hasn't said if he's running for one office or two. And Dianne Curry (Zone 7) just read in the Democrat-Gazette that she has Hispanics in her district.

May electable candidates emerge, incumbent or not, who will finally put the needs of students above their own.

Perhaps one or more were among the Tiger Tailgate gathering tonight at War Memorial Stadium. With the leadership of Muskie Harris and Leotis Harris, Jr., Little Rock Central High football alumni are organizing to return the Tigers, and by extension the entire school and neighborhood, to its tradition rich place among the state and nation's elite. Go Tigers!

Little Rock School District Demographics: The Majority Myth

Total Population - 178,391

White Population - 84,513 (47%)

Black Population - 78,724 (44%)

Hispanic Population - 12,551 (7%)

Other Population - 2,603 (1.5%)