Gerrymandering deals blow to Asian community
GOP district maps slice through neighborhoods, activists say
An invisible line now separates the Korean Community Center in Spring Branch from its people. When Texas lawmakers redrew congressional maps following the 2020 census, they split up Asian American populations in both Harris and Fort Bend counties.
One district line, winding between a local car wash and bar, severs most of the Korean neighborhoods, grocery stores, restaurants and a senior center from the community center itself, which now hangs on the edge of one congressional district while most of its members reside in the next district over.
“It’s like (lawmakers) don’t even know we are here,” said Hyunja Norman, president of the Korean American Voters League, who works out of the center that offers language and culture classes and is home to political groups that work out of its offices. “If they were thoughtful, they could’ve included the Korean Community Center in (our district). But it’s like they are ignorant of us, or they just don’t care.”
Although they make up only about 5 percent of Texas’ total population, Asian Texans accounted for a sizable portion of the state’s tremendous growth over the past decade, increasing from a population of about 950,000 in 2010 to nearly 1.6 million in 2020.
The number of new Asian Americans in Texas surpassed both the Black and white population growth over the past decade, but fell behind Hispanic Texans. Vietnamese is the third most-spoken language in Texas, and the half of Texas households that “speak English less than very well” speak in Asian and Pacific Islander languages, according to a report from the governor’s office.
Those numbers gave hope to Texans like Norman that when lawmakers met to divvy up political representation, the redistricting process might yield stronger opportunities for people who look like her to be elected. Instead, Asian Texans lost voting strength around Dallas and Houston, where their numbers have grown the most.
When Korean citizens face language barriers while voting or seeking medical assistance, or undocumented family members need advocates, they look to the Korean Community Center for help. Severing it from its neighborhood, Norman said, exemplifies why representation matters.
During the pandemic, Asian American and Pacific Islanders nationally found themselves the targets of increased hostility. A Pew Research Center study found that 58 percent of Asian Americans said people more commonly expressed racist views toward them after the pandemic began.
In Fort Bend County, Lily Trieu’s parents grew scared of even routine errands like grocery shopping or filling their gas tanks after the March shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. And when Asian Americans in the U.S. House introduced a resolution condemning the shootings, almost every Texas Republican voted against it, including Fort Bend County’s Rep. Troy Nehls.
“This is why representation matters,” Trieu told Texas lawmakers when she testified at redistricting hearings. “This is why splitting our community to dilute our votes is directly denying our opportunity to receive that representation.”
Asian American populations in Fort Bend County have been cracked and packed between three congressional districts 7, 9 and 22 by drawing new lines straight through heavily Asian neighborhoods.
“It makes it really difficult for the (South Asian) community, an emerging political entity, that we haven’t had years of experience (with redistricting),” said Chanda Parbhoo, president of South Asian American Voter Empowerment of Texas. “
Multiple groups representing Latinos, Asian, Black and other voters have lawsuits challenging the new political maps, saying they intentionally discriminate and violate the federal Voting Rights Act.
“Mapmakers have to be careful in distributing African American and Latino populations, but they’re not required to do so for the AAPI community,” said Joshua Blank, manager of polling and research at the Texas Politics Project.