Redistricting must aim at racial justice

Redistricting is one of the rules of the political game. At least that is what former Watergate prosecutor and Common Cause President Archibald Cox once said. It is one of the rules that determines who has power and voice, and who can influence public policy. Voting rights without fair districting for communities of interest are meaningless.

For there to be real change in racial policy and disparities in Minnesota, the redistricting process that is ready to take place in this state must address the most profound disparity of all — in terms of representation. That is why Common Cause Minnesota has joined a coalition of plaintiffs in Minnesota bringing a lawsuit against the state not just to compel a fair redistricting process, but one that takes into consideration a rapidly growing and diversifying population of Black or Indigenous people or other people of color (BIPOC).

Since the 1960s, Minnesota courts have redrawn congressional and state legislative district lines every decade except for the 1990s. While they have done a good job respecting the principle of "one person, one vote," they never had to confront the issues of race and redistricting simply because Minnesota's BIPOC population was so small.

In the 1970s Minnesota's BIPOC population was barely 5%. It was easy to ignore and hard to draw congressional and district lines to give that population fair representation. The result was that the BIPOC population had little political voice and therefore little influence on policy. It is no surprise that the racial disparities in education, health care, housing, employment and criminal justice correspond to the way the BIPOC community was ignored or disempowered.

Today BIPOC communities comprise 21.4% of Minnesota's population (compared with 16.8% in 2010 and 11.8% in 2000). Yet they still lack fair representation and a voice in the political process.

The inability to secure political reforms across a range of issues after George Floyd's death speaks in part to that.

More than one-fifth of Minnesotans are BIPOC, and these communities are seeing the fastest population growth in the state. The coming redistricting, whether done by the Legislature or the courts, must confront the reality of this new and emerging Minnesota.

This year several lawsuits have been filed to force the Minnesota Supreme Court to be ready to oversee redistricting should the Legislature and governor fail to agree. With the partisan split at the Capitol, that is likely. Yet until now these suits have not pressed the issue of race and redistricting. This is the aim of Common Cause's suit. It is to tell the court that this time it needs to do more than make minor adjustments to the current lines. It needs to put front and center the reality of the changing demographics of the state, making it a central issue if and when the task of reapportionment comes to them.

The U.S. Constitution requires decennial census and a reapportionment of congressional seats based on it. Legislative and local government seats, too, are supposed to redistrict following the census.

Except, for most of American history that did not happen. As America became more urban, rural legislatures fought redrawing lines and awarding seats that would take power away from them. Eventually in the 1960s the Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional, declaring that apportionment of seats must reflect the principle of one person, one vote.

The redistricting process is also supposed to reflect other principles, including nondiscrimination based on race or ethnicity. Yet more often than not history demonstrates both intentional discrimination to hurt people of color, or simply neglect.

If Minnesota is going to change any of its policies to address the multiple racial disparities that afflict it, it needs to change the rules of the game when it comes to race. This is the challenge of the coming redistricting process.