(Above, Inset, l-r): Kyle Hamilton Brazile, Director of Civic Engagement, NC Counts Coalition; Dr. Rebecca Tippett, Founder and Director, Carolina Demography; Robert Dawkins, Political Director, Action NC; and Chavi Khanna Koneru, Co-founder and Executive Director, NC Asian Americans Together. (Siliconeer/EMS)

 

At an Ethnic Media Services online briefing, held Sept. 9, the focus was on redistricting in North Carolina, the process by which the state’s legislators come together once every decade following the release of Census data to draw new district lines new electoral boundaries that reflect the demographic changes over the previous decade. The aim is to ensure that all communities get the representation and resources they deserve.

Speakers – Kyle Hamilton Brazile, Director of Civic Engagement, NC Counts Coalition; Dr. Rebecca Tippett, Founder and Director, Carolina Demography; Robert Dawkins, Political Director, Action NC; Ivan Almonte, Rapid Response-Durham; Chavi Khanna Koneru, Co-founder and Executive Director, NC Asian Americans Together; and Keisha Dobie, CROWD fellow with the Pasquotank branch of the NAACP – shared what community advocacy organizations are doing to fight for fairer representation for North Carolina’s historically underrepresented populations as well as for newly settled immigrants and what issues are at the forefront of their concerns.

Dr. Tippett, talked about three things – the 2020 Census and North Carolina, the redistricting impact, and finer details reflected on the Census.

With the 2020 Census results now out, Dr. Tippett says, “We know total populations and select characteristics such as race and ethnicity, and under 18 and 18 and over. What we don’t know are things like detailed age structure, household composition, and homeownership.

“At the national level this was a highly accurate census with an estimated under count of about 0.3 percent.”

Population estimates on the whole were in line with the census. But the differential under count or which groups were more or less likely to be counted is still debatable.

All North Carolina congressional districts will need to be redrawn as will many of the districts that comprise the state’s house and senate seats. It is still not known where the 14th district is going to go, or the specific boundaries of those districts that will need to be redrawn.

The 2020 Census shows that North Carolina’s total resident population was about 10.4 million, an increase of 904,000 since 2010.

The state has gained a 14th seat in the house of representatives.

The state’s fair share of the more than 1.5 trillion federal dollars that are guided by Census derived estimates and programs is also at stake. With 904,000 new residents since 2010 there were a growth of 2,654 children and for over 900,000 individuals the gain was in the adult population which means that 99.7 of North Carolina’s growth was due to growth in the voting age population.

There was a rapid diversification of the state in 2020. Significant increases in diversity – 60% White, 20% Black, 11% Latinx, 3% Asian and 6% all other race groups including American Indian, other race and multi-racial.

All racial ethnic groups grew over the decade but the largest numeric increase in the state was in the Hispanic population followed by an increase in the multiracial population and then by the Asian group. Both the White and the Black population increased by about 88,000 and the only group that decreased was the American Indian population.

The redistricting impact the ideal district size for the state. It is the total population divided by the number of districts.

At the congressional level, there are very small deviations, that means that all of the existing congressional districts are going to need to be redrawn.

Kyle Hamilton Brazile provided an overview of the fight for fair redistricting in the state.

“We work to undo those systemic barriers which have held all of our communities back and we work to tie this to larger work in democracy. We cannot advocate for fair maps and fair map making process without the hard work that has to go on during the Census count to ensure that each person is counted throughout North Carolina, and we do not get to a voting process that truly matters without first making sure we’ve ensured an accurate census count and fair maps that are representative.

“Voting and a proper redistricting process ensures that people who share interests and values be it a common sense of concern for environmental justice or focus on health equity that extends to equitable coveted relief process or common backgrounds that those interests are gathered and come together so that fair maps can be drawn that incorporate those communities that exist, and those communities can pick their political representatives,” said Brazile.

Redistricting directly impacts the allocation of resources in our communities as an example the funding for education supplies, the curriculum that teachers are now allowed to provide in the in the classroom, and the infrastructure and funding that supports health care.

North Carolina gives full authority to the legislature to draw congressional lines and draw state legislative lines. There is no independent commission that has authority here and the governor has no veto power.

Robert Dawkins, a veteran community organizer based in Charlotte, says, “When it comes to redistricting there’s a pattern practice that started back before 2010 election but was really highlighted in 2010. The pattern in practice is oppression and suppression. What is seen is that our general assembly uses every piece of legislative power to oppress and suppress people to vote their civil rights, their ability to join together and build any type of power.

“It is not by choice or chance that North Carolina wants to call itself the most progressive state in the South and it wants to use some of the most oppressive principles to make sure that nobody can talk against what they want to do and this is carried out not only in redistricting but in voting laws and voting rights. North Carolina still has some major things to work out,” said Dawkins.

Chavi Khanna Koneru is executive director of North Carolina Asian Americans Together, a pan-Asian social justice organization based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The organization ensures representation for the rapidly growing Asian American community in the state.

Koneru said, “The most growth we saw was in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area with Cabarrus county seeing a population increase. Asian American population increase by 245%, and despite this growth, Asian American needs and interests are not being considered in policy decisions and legislation impacting North Carolina. For the diverse Asian American voices in North Carolina to be heard, requires every person to be able to fairly exercise their right to vote. Asian Americans are already facing barriers due to voting rights, voter id laws, language access issues, and confusing registration procedures.”

Most resources are not offered in Asian American languages. The community is not a monolith, and this has never been more evident than it has been during the pandemic. The economic and health crisis have hit certain ethnic groups more significantly than others, for example – the Filipino community has experienced a higher number of COVID-19 deaths; the Bangladeshi community has lost more jobs; the Southeast Asian refugee communities have experienced high rates of food and security; the East Asian community has been particularly hard hit by COVID-related hate and discrimination incidents including those that have taken place in the state of North Carolina.

In order for these diverse Asian American voices to be heard, which range from all ends of the socio-economic scale, fair representation is required.

Keisha Dobie, a long-time teacher-educator pointed out the challenges faced on public transportation, services and facilities, in rural counties. “Lyft, Uber taxis are nice novelties. There is a lack of broadband. Vaccination rate is about 31% in the Albemarle region, so people are cautious about gathering in large groups, which might be a hindrance for some individuals coming out and offering their voice.”