City of Auburn has opportunity to create maps that are reflective of entire city by adding additional majority-minority ward

The City of Auburn has the opportunity to be on the right side of history by collaborating with the Lee County NAACP to draw city ward lines that are reflective of Auburn’s true demographics including drawing at a minimum a second majority-minority district.

At the December 7 Auburn City Council meeting, members of the Lee County NAACP requested the council take additional time to collect public and legal input into redistricting and “commit to prioritizing the creation and adoption of a map that prioritizes minority representation.”

Redistricting is a once-in-a-decade process of accounting for state-level population changes in Alabama to draw new district maps from the federal level to the local level which makes an impact on how funding is distributed for many community resources throughout neighborhoods.

“Auburn’s population has grown 42.6 percent in the last 10 years,” Laticia Khalif, vice president of the Lee County NAACP, said. “As a result of that population growth, Auburn’s minority population is now 36.8 percent of the total population and is indicative of a significant Black population, a significant Asian population, and a significant Hispanic population.”

Khalif said that means at least two of Auburn’s eight wards should represent a non-white racial minority group.

The NAACP has created a map concept that creates two majority-minority districts. Auburn has eight city council wards. Under the concept map created by the NAACP, one of the majority-minority districts would have 53.2 percent minority population and 50.8 percent minority population.

“The purpose of redistricting is to distribute political power amongst the people,” Lee County NAACP President Billy Allen said. “The selection of a new map is a high-stakes process and should be approached with significant time and attention. We are offering proof of concept that it is, in fact, possible to create two minority-majority districts. We are asking the city pursue a map that would give Auburn’s minority communities the representation they deserve.”

The local ward lines drawn by the Auburn City Council during this cycle will impact and shape Auburn residents’ lives for the next decade.

The council is responsible for tasks such as passing the budgets, regulating business licenses, responding to community complaints, passing ordinances and regulations throughout the city.

While the Lee County NAACP presented a concept with two potential minority-majority districts, Khalif said the NAACP primarily wants to slow the city’s process to allow for community input  on the city’s maps. The council is expected to vote on the maps on December 21.

“We spoke of our willingness to collaborate, and we reiterated the importance of working together collectively for the overall betterment of the entire Auburn community,” she said. “In doing so, we acknowledged the city’s proposed map as an improvement to the existing one and acknowledged that it has the strength needed to propel us into the future in a lot of aspects. The bottom line is our intent was not necessarily to propose an alternative map for the city council to vote on. Rather, our intent was to collaborate and work together on a map in preparation for a vote on December 21 or beyond.”

The map presented by the City of Auburn includes one majority-minority district, although the white population in Auburn has declined from 73.5 percent in the 2010 Census to 63.2 percent in the 2020 Census.  Based on Census numbers, Auburn should only create five wards that are majority white to establish fair and equal representation.

“The maps they wrote kept every one of the wards,” Warren Tidwell, lead organizer for Hometown Organizing Project, said. “As I understand, it is just a courtesy and only allows for one guaranteed majority-minority district. In the city’s eyes, they are doing their due diligence. A lot of folks have worked hard on those maps. The folks from the NAACP and all of us are very thankful for that work that has been put in, but at the same time, if it is indeed supposed to be a collaborative effort with the members of the town, what is the purpose of the open house?”

Tidwell said city leaders questioned why the NAACP and concerned citizens presented the map as late as December 7 when the city’s maps have been out since November 10.

“I wrote the city and reminded them that since November 10, concerned citizens who felt the maps weren’t fair enough formed a coalition, sought out an expert, provided a proof of concept all while working full-time jobs, all with a major holiday thrown in,” he said. “So, what they have done is quite admirable. What I hope to see from the city is that they will work with the NAACP.”

Tidwell said after the city council meeting, residents and members of the coalition didn’t feel heard by city leaders.

To date, the NAACP has not had any communication with the City of Auburn after the Tuesday meeting, Khalif said.

“Having a second majority-minority district is designed to give fair or better representation overall and could amplify our political power in the community,” she said.

Working with the Lee County NAACP and other concerned citizens to create fair maps representative of the City of Auburn could help Auburn combat recent accusations of racism in the city.

“The city needs to be working with NAACP and if they do not it’s going to raise some questions in folks’ minds if they push back against this organization,” Tidwell said. “I encourage the city in this new era if you’re dealing with anything related to voting lines, if you truly want to do your due diligence you need to be working with voting rights groups, human rights groups to ensure that traditionally marginalized communities have their voices are heard.”

The December 21 city council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.