Will the Historically Black District 11 Endure?

Congressional District 11’s black population has dropped from 71 percent in 2000, to 58 percent, according to a story on WNYC. In their article on the decennial redistricting process, They raise the question: can District 11 remain a historically black Congressional district despite gentrification?

District 11 contains parts of Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Flatbush, Brownsville and Windsor Terrace, as well as Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. Historically, a black politician has always represented the district in Congress. According to WNYC’s report, though, “black voting strength” may be weakened by the gentrification of Brooklyn.

“Now, in 2012, we’re facing the fact that that Western portion of the district …which was overwhelming white, and middle class or upper class, has started really expanding past Flatbush Avenue, into Crown Heights [and] almost all of Prospect Heights,” said Brooklyn Democratic Party leader Chris Owens to WNYC. Owens said the racial population in Prospect Heights especially has changed radically from what it looked like in 1992.

District lines must be re-drawn every 10 years to account for population shifts according to the census, and in order for the 2012 primary campaigns to begin, these district lines must be approved soon. Along with the changing ethnic landscape, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was enabled to combat discriminatory voting practices, maintains that minority votes cannot be diluted in any way. So, in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn, any redistricting attempts must also abide by Section 5 of the act, which says that any changes to the district must be precleared by the Department of Justice or a Federal court in DC, in order to make sure that minorities will not lose the chance to vote fairly for their candidate of choice. So how can district lines be redrawn to better serve the needs of each neighborhood? 

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who is running for Congress in 2012, told Capital New York that he’d like to see New York follow a model set by Florida, where a constitutional amendment was passed to set criteria for redistricting, which he says respects “the voting rights of communities of color,” as well as “standards that keep neighborhoods contiguous and don't break them apart for political reasons.”

Assemblyman Jeffries had considered running for state Assembly against Roger Green back in 2002, but , when the district’s boundaries were redrawn, according to a Patch report earlier this year. Jeffries ran again in 2006 and won.

Governor Andrew Cuomo had tried to pass legislation that would call for an independent bipartisan commission to redraw district lines. It was denied, and a subsequent lawsuit asserted that the legislation held up the redistricting process and put elections in jeopardy. Cuomo has maintained that he will veto any redistricting changes not done by an independent commission.

But what would the new District 11 look like? WNYC’s report says it would have to grow to include at lest 85,000 more people, as New York State is losing two congressional seats this year, and every district must expand. The article also suggests that current Congresswoman, Yvette Clarke will want to increase her support base by including the growing Caribbean community of the southwest section of the district (she is quoted as saying that representatives of a community must be able to understand the “culture dynamics, the concerns, the history” of a group). The NAACAP has submitted their own redistricting maps, according to the New York Daily News (click through for images of the maps).

“The big picture here is to preserve New York's black congressional districts and black New Yorkers' voting rights," NAACP New York State President Hazel Dukes said in a statement.