Statement on St. Louis City Ward Redistricting #WeDraw314
Forward Through Ferguson adds its voice to the call for the Board of Alders (BOA) to raise the bar and commit to transparency, accessibility, and community involvement in the final moments leading up to the December 31st deadline for ward map redistricting. We believe that the Board has an obligation as elected officials to make public the hearings, data, and methods that are going into the creation of the ward maps. These ward maps are the landscapes that will have long standing political and public consequences for generations. We believe that the process undertaken to create the ward maps does not uphold the level of community engagement, transparency, and accountability that are needed to meet the needs of St. Louis city residents.
Living in St. Louis, examining St. Louis, it can often seem like systemic racism is built into the landscape, like it’s always been like this and that it always will be. But the over 3000-resident Ferguson Commission study and so many others across our region have named loud and clear that our history is the product of key choices, of secretive processes, of bad practices, and of inequitable policies. Sometimes by people with good intentions, sometimes with bad, sometimes in ignorance, without a second thought.
We are in one of those decisive moments. Right now the Board is writing history with their actions. Process matters. How districts are reconfigured matters. Who is at the table, what data is used, how much time is given for feedback, and how that feedback is ultimately incorporated into the final map matters. The quality of the process will either maintain the will of the powerful few or present the collective needs and ingenuity of the many.
Three years ago, we were involved in conversations with Alders to ensure that the redistricting process would be fair and equitable, but those discussions ultimately went nowhere because the full Board would not commit to a process… Three years ago, local researchers released a best practices guidebook for accountable and fair ward boundary redrawing by the Washington University School of Law Urban Revitalization Clinic… but it’s recommendations were ignored. Now, we are just shy of two months before the December 31st deadline to submit the ward map that will be used in the 2022 election cycle.
That’s why we stand with this coalition of community residents and organizations to demand more from our local government. Some leaders in St. Louis are comfortable with prioritizing products over community processes, with creating ward maps and plans and priorities without the deep listening and equity driven processes needed to realize systemic change.
Forward Through Ferguson supports Action St. Louis’ call for additional public meetings to allow residents to respond to each new iteration of the ward maps. We strongly endorse the #WeDraw314 campaign including the demands in the letter to the BOA and the petition to call for a more transparent process that hosts intentional public engagement.
