In Juneteenth’s birthplace, we lack equal voting
For us lifelong or longtime residents of Galveston County, Juneteenth has always carried a special significance. June 19, 1865, marks the date when federal troops arrived in Galveston and announced that all enslaved people were free, enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation two years after it was signed. We and other Black Texans have celebrated this day ever since. But on this Juneteenth, the first one recognized as a federal holiday, we are reminded not only of the power of joy and triumph, but of continuing efforts to keep us oppressed and silent.
Juneteenth represented the promise of freedom and liberation, a chance to be fully recognized by a state that had for so long treated people who were Black and brown as less than full humans. But for this promise to be true in practice, our communities must have equitable political power and representation in the places that govern our lives. Unfortunately, in the birthplace of Juneteenth, the fight for representation still continues.
Galveston County has sought to diminish the political power of Black and Latino people through redistricting maps for decades. The Commissioners Court has repeatedly tried to draw maps that split up our communities into several county precincts in order to dilute our voices. Each time they submitted these maps, they were struck down by the courts for being intentionally discriminatory and for violating the Voting Rights Act. These are the hard-won protections that leaders of the civil rights movement fought so long for.
But in 2021, the majority white Commissioners Court finally succeeded. Why? Because the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance requirement for Galveston County to obtain approval from the federal government before enacting voting changes.
Now, Galveston County’s map splits up our towns, neighborhoods and communities in a shameless attempt to stop Black and Latinos from holding any political power. Collectively, Galveston County’s non-white population, including Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, biracial and other races make up almost half of the county’s population at 45 percent. But as the map currently stands, every single Galveston County Commissioner precinct is now majority white. In 2024, we will most likely lose the only precinct where we hold power, where Commissioner Stephen Holmes, and Commissioner Wayne Johnson before him, has served since 1988 as the sole Black commissioner on the five-person court.
When the Galveston County Commissioners Court first considered these maps, we made every attempt to make our concerns heard, but the court made it nearly impossible for us to give public input, intentionally holding only one public meeting. We organized, we protested and we provided testimony, but the court refused to acknowledge our voices, something we know will become common practice when we lose the only representation we currently have.
We, as community leaders representing the Galveston League of United Latin American Citizens Council 151 and the three Galveston-area branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, refuse to take this sitting down, which is why we have decided to join a lawsuit against Galveston County.
Although the lack of preclearance has allowed these maps to move forward, we remain hopeful that we can stop them from going into effect. Our lawsuit is being led by civil rights organizations including the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, who are arguing that these maps, violate the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.
But this lawsuit should not be necessary. This map should never have been passed. Over 150 years ago, the federal government had to step in for emancipation to be effectuated. Now, weakened federal protections for voting rights have allowed politicians to choose their voters and dilute our power along racial lines. It is unconscionable that Black and Latino communities who live on the same shores where the news of liberation was spread in the South 157 years ago are still fighting for justice. But we will not back down.