Mace’s Win Highlights Racist Gerrymandering in Charleston Area
Nancy Mace won South Carolina’s first district this past month. While the fact that she is the first woman to hold the seat should be commended, it is also important to realize her victory was only possible due to the marginalization of the African-American vote in the Charleston area. SC District 1 was drawn in such a way that it could exclude as much of the African-American vote as possible in the hopes of keeping it Republican. This is why essentially all of North Charleston and even the Northern part of the Charleston Peninsula (above Calhoun street) is not in District 1 but in District 6, Jim Clyburn’s district. However, I am somehow in District 1 all the way up in Dorchester County.
The gerrymandered district in District 1 highlights the marginalization of the African-American vote going back decades and centuries in this state. It has only been 55 years since the Voting Rights Act was signed, and unfortunately many of the protections of voting rights have been undermined. The gerrymandered district in District 1 highlights the marginalization of the African-American vote going back decades and centuries in this state.
This creates significant issues of representation in the state. Even though Trump only won South Carolina by 10 percentage points, 6 of the 7 congressional seats in the state are controlled by Republicans. This is not an example of democracy or equal representation, but rigging the system. To be fair, it was not just Republican states that have done this; in fact, some of the more egregious earlier forms of gerrymandering came from democratic states like Illinois. However, as some have noted, Democrats created gerrymandering but Republicans have perfected it, and at least in this area of the country it is particularly problematic as the gerrymandered lines are based almost entirely on race.
As much as we hate to admit it, in some ways Charleston is still living with strong remnants of Jim Crow. Our schools, particularly on the Peninsula and North Charleston, are highly segregated-levels that are not that far from pre Brown v Board levels. We have also segregated black voters (and increasingly Latino voters) into one district to dilute their political power and ensure that the white majority still controls what is occurring.
Nancy Mace says that she stands for the Lowcountry, but her district selectively removes large segments of the African-American community from her district. It is beyond time that South Carolina rids itself of its racially problematic gerrymandering and create more equitable districts that do not marginalize the voices of minorities. In that situation, people like Mace would have to listen to the needs of a wide range of their constituents and not be able to ignore those who have been selectively removed. We will never have a more equitable Charleston until we have a system where the people select their representatives instead of allowing the representatives to select their people.
