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Politics

Florida Democratic Party Seeks to Bleach Black Districts

June 20, 2011 - 6:00pm

Call it the great whitewash. That's what Floridians can expect from Democratic leaders in the decennial redistricting process going on right now.

Listening to the mainstream media, you'd think that the Republican majority is doing everything it can to rig the system and sabotage the FairDistricts mandate passed by voters last November.

In actuality, it is the Democrats' passive-aggressive behavior that threatens to bleach minority districts.

The setup for this year's redistricting showdown came 20 years ago, when Republicans struck a deal with the then small handful of African-American legislators to create more minority districts.

By drawing boundaries around high-minority enclaves, Republicans effectively turned the state's Democratic Party into a minority party, literally. This deal ensured a GOP majority at the Legislature and gave African-Americans unprecedented levels of representation in Tallahassee. It was a win-win for blacks and Republicans.

Of course, this infuriated white Democrats who, after decades of marginalizing and patronizing their black constituency, found themselves on the outside looking in.

Today, with a large plurality of the Democratic seats in the Legislature held by African-Americans, the Democratic Party is in a bind. And (white) party leaders are quietly hoping that FairDistricts, which they touted as "reform," will give them a politically correct tool to bust up minority districts and elect more white Democrats.

"They have a secret agenda to sell the Democratic Party's most loyal constituent group down the river, reversing years of civil rights progress," says one insider who spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, saw what was at stake last fall when she campaigned against FairDistricts. She predicted that passage of the constitutional amendment would dismantle districts, such as hers, that gave minorities a fighting chance at representation in Washington and Tallahassee.

Brown, one of three Florida blacks elected to Congress in 1992, called FairDistricts "a giant step backward."

The NAACP sees the danger, too. It is working on a redistricting proposal of its own to ensure that truly "fair districts" are maintained.

And what of the Florida Democratic Party? FDP spokesman Eric Jotkoff, per his policy, would not speak on the record to Sunshine State News. But other observers say the FDP's unwillingness to put its own pen to paper speaks volumes about the party's intentions.

"If they seem incapable of drawing maps, maybe they could draw up a FairDistricts Jim Crow list. That would show which half of the black caucus they're selling out to put a few more middle-aged white men to make decisions for their community ... sounds like a plan Lester Maddox would quarterback," said one.

Connect the dots. Watch the Democratic brass's passive-aggressive game. This is the real story unfolding here, no matter how the party's handmaidens in the media try to spin it otherwise.

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A column by Kenric Ward, who can be reached at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.

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