Taxation without representation
2nd March 2022 · 0 Comments
African Americans will tell you being Black in America is exhausting. Notwithstanding money, fame, and significant accomplishments, African Americans must fight daily for rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. They must tread lightly during encounters with police and pay close attention to what elected officials do, not what they say.
Being Black in America is not just as simple as waking up in the morning and going about your business. African Americans’ struggle for fairness and justice is ever ongoing. This is not hyperbole. Nor victimhood mentality. It is a fact.
The latest battle for fairness occurred in the Louisiana legislature during its recent 2022 Extraordinary Session. Lawmakers met in Baton Rouge to carry out the federal mandate of reappointment.
“Reapportionment (re·ap·por·tion·ment) is the redistribution of representation in a legislative body, especially the periodic reallotment of U.S. congressional seats according to changes in the census figures as required by the Constitution,” according to Louisiana Secretary of State R. Kyle Ardoin.
“Reapportionment applies to any “local governing authority, including but not limited to any police jury, city or parish council, or school board which is required under the constitution or laws of this state or of the United States to reapportion its voting districts following each decennial census.” (La. R.S. 18:1921).
Ten years ago, we watched Louisiana’s majority Republican state lawmakers, most white, draw discriminatory district lines to ensure that Black people didn’t have a chance to elect Black people to critical governmental offices.
During Black History Month 2022, we see the same gerrymandering tactics whites have used forever to get an unfair majority in state and federal politics.
Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats and five of the House of Representatives seats.
While Census data estimates from July 2021 show whites comprise the majority, 58 percent of the Louisiana population, a fifth-grader can see the unfair majorities white Republicans hold: In the state senate, 67 percent, 74 percent in the statehouse, 100 percent in the U.S. Senate, 83 percent of the U.S. House, 73 percent on the BESE and 80 percent of Public Service Commission seats.
Clearly, Black Louisianians continue to be subjugated to taxation without representation. Indeed, white Republicans don’t represent our interests. White House Republicans from Louisiana voted against the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy and Reps. Steve Scalise, Mike Johnson, Clay Higgins, and Garret Graves all voted against the certification of President Joe Biden’s election on January 6, after the Trump mob’s insurrection. Senator Bill Cassidy and then-Congressman Cedric Richmond voted to certify Biden’s presidential win.
However, there is a silver lining to the same ole attempt to dilute the Black vote.
Many civil rights advocates watched the legislators draw discriminatory maps. Maps submitted by the NAACP, NAACP-LDF, ACLU of Louisiana, to name a few, created minority-majority congressional districts for East Baton Rouge, Caddo, and other predominately-Black parishes, a second majority-minority district on the Louisiana State Supreme Court, and additional minority-majority seats in the state senate and statehouse.
The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus (LLBC) sent a letter condemning the actions of their fellow legislators. Black legislators are expected to ask Governor John Bel Edwards to veto the maps. Meanwhile, Civil Rights attorneys are preparing to litigate against the discriminatory maps.
However, Black voters aren’t the only ones subjected to taxation without representation. “This is not just a Black-white thing,” voting rights advocate Carl Galmon says. “The Voting Rights Act protects all minorities, including Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Middle-Easterners.” In Louisiana, the second-largest ethnic group are Hispanics, primarily Mexicans, who comprise 5.3 percent.
Galmon is also condemning the New Orleans City Council for drawing district maps without first holding hearings in each district. He advocates for the expansion of the City Council to nine or 11 members.
It’s cold comfort to know that Louisiana’s African-American community and other people of color are not the only victims of taxation without representation. The drawing of discriminatory reapportionment maps by state legislatures and redistricting commissions is going on all over the U.S.
The Ohio State Supreme Court recently ruled that the Ohio Redistricting Commission’s maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor Republicans. The Court reasons that since 54 percent of the Ohio electorate is Republican and 46 percent Democrat, the maps needed to reflect the preferences of all voters.
The white-Republican majority on the Commission, including Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, initially refused to redraw the maps. They claimed 10 days wasn’t enough time to redo them. Last week the Commission faced contempt charges. The Ohio primary elections are set for May 3.
The Republican template for voter disfranchisement is being replicated nationwide: Pay Republican operatives to draw discriminatory maps that create Republican majorities, then fight like hell in Court to keep the partisan and racially gerrymandered maps in place.
Black and other voters of color can only hope that the lower federal courts and the DOJ recognize discriminatory maps and dispense justice.
We shouldn’t hold our breath, hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will see the racism and prejudice in the maps and rule against the Republican assault on our voting rights.
Three years ago, the predominately white, Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court took a hands-off approach when it ruled that partisan gerrymandering is a “political question.” The Court’s rulings are Republican-leaning and seem to favor state’s rights over its own ‘supreme’ powers.
As we bid adieu to Black History Month 2022, we must remember the courageous, brave, Black people on whose shoulders we stand. We can honor them by fighting on, speaking out, and demanding fairness, justice, and the enforcement of our constitutional rights. America is ours, too. Without us, there would be no America.
The contributions of our people loom large throughout history and every day. America owes us a debt that must be repaid. Its leaders can begin to pay by ensuring that our constitutional rights are protected.
We will win justice, ultimately. The demographic shifts in the U.S. population deem it. We have no tea to throw into a harbor to show our displeasure at being taxed without representation. But we have our voices to speak truth to power. We have our vote. And we can host economic boycotts against those who fill the coffers of politicians who marginalize and deny our constitutional rights.
Let us also remember the words of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” And like King, let our deeds and commitment to justice speak for themselves.
This article originally published in the February 28, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
