Committee re-approves map Barrett vetoed
Aldermanic districts forwarded to the full council, but still face pushback from Latino, Muslim leaders
Milwaukee’s Judiciary and Legislation Committee has decided to move forward with a previously vetoed aldermanic map, voting to again forward that map to the full Common Council.
The map, which had been approved by the Milwaukee’s Common Council and subsequently vetoed by thenMayor Barrett in December, faced pushback from Latino leaders and residents alike throughout the redistricting process over fears it would deny the city’s growing Latino population proper representation, as well as a possible third majority district.
During a more than seven-hour meeting into the evening Monday, the committee was tasked with redrawing Districts 13 and 14, on Milwaukee’s south side.
But after deliberating for more than four hours in closed session, committee members came back with a decision that surprised many present: they would be recommending Map A — the map that had been previously approved by the Common Council.
For the City Attorney’s office, which advised the committee throughout its decision-making process, Map A was the only map that would be legally enforceable and would not violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act nor the Equal Protection Clause in the United States Constitution.
While Judiciary and Legislation Committee’s Chairman Ashanti Hamilton likened the roundabout process to the Twilight Zone, having gone through months of work and community efforts to end up with the same map as before.
“I got to formally apologize to everybody for the amount of time that we spent on this today only to end up back where we were months ago,” he said.
The map includes majority Latino Districts 8 and 12, Black majority Districts 1, 2, 6, 7, 9 and 15 and white majority Districts 3, 4, 11, 13 and 14. There are two districts — Districts 5 and 10 — which do not have a single demographic majority.
Latino leaders decry new map
Revision after revision, concerns about Latino and Hispanic representation across the city have been raised by advocates and local officials alike. Former Mayor Tom Barrett’s veto before he left office was seen as an opportunity to create maps that they felt would best
represent the city’s growing Latino populations.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Latinos and Hispanics represent 20.1% of the city’s population.
Forward Latino and Voces de la Frontera, two statewide organizations that support Latino and immigrant rights, proposed maps that were reviewed for Monday’s meeting.
Both organizations hoped to create a third majority district in Ald. Scott Spiker’s 13th Aldermanic District, the city’s southernmost district.
But their hopes were dashed with the late-night decision.
Milwaukee’s Assistant City Attorney, Kathryn Block, noted that these efforts to incorporate Latino districts of influence were not necessary to fulfill the requirements of the Voting Rights Act.
“They might be considered a good or a nice-to-have, but they are not a requirement,” Block said.
Block also said that the creation of a minority-majority district might violate the Voting Rights Act, as it would dilute existing majority-minority voting districts to a significant enough degree that it was “problematic.”
Latino community members and leaders issued statements, dismayed by the city’s recommendation of a map that would not offer as much Latino representation as they had hoped for.
“It is a disgrace that the Judiciary and Legislation Committee has failed to uphold democratic principles and not move forward with a map that accounts for the dramatic growth of Latinx residents in the city of Milwaukee and their ability to have greater representation as a community of interest,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Voces de la Frontera’s Executive Director.
“We think Alderman Spiker simply wants to maintain a conservative majority-white district and essentially claiming reverse discrimination,” she added, also thanking District 14’s Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic “for trying sincerely to work for larger representation that would have significantly impacted her own district. “
Neumann-Ortiz said her organization would be evaluating the City Attorney’s opinion and consider its own legal options.
District 8 Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa, one of the three Latino Alderpersons on the 15-member Milwaukee Common Council, called the committee meeting a “farce.”
Blaming the “poor advice” from the Office of the City Attorney, Zamarripa said members of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee, elected representatives of Milwaukee’s Latino community, and community advocates had been “hoodwinked” and “were led to believe that we could draw a more diverse map for Milwaukeeans, in particular on the city’s south side.
“The City of Milwaukee failed ALL of its immigrant and refugee communities as they were left with less tonight than when the day began,” she said.
Pushback from the city’s Muslim community
Despite pledges from Latino leaders to assure they would not compromise the representation of other community groups with their map proposals, several members of Milwaukee’s Muslim community disagreed.
Members of the Muslim community stepped up for the first time during Monday’s meeting to voice concerns about the impacts of the granting too much Latino representation in the south side districts, potentially dividing the city’s smaller minority communities between the two districts.
The U.S. Census does not ask questions nor collect data about religion, meaning there is no official governmental count of the Muslim population in the United States. Advocates, however, estimate that the city has somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000 Muslim residents — a group that has a diverse racial and ethnic makeup.
“We are a very highly diverse community, although we’re not properly identified ethnically,” said Janan Atta Najeeb, President of Milwaukee’s Muslim Women’s Coalition, noting that her community has a “vibrant” presence in District 13.
People of Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) descent, which includes Arab Americans, are officially categorized as white in race and ethnicity data released by the Census Bureau and other agencies.
Many Islamic advocates as well as Ald. Spiker voiced concerns granting more representation to the Latino communities in District 13, would be detrimental to the current Muslim population, which is seeing growth due to the growing Burmese and Rohingya numbers as well as the resettlement of Afghan refugees.
“We also have aspirations as a community and this is the only district that will really help us eventually fulfill those aspirations,” Najeeb said, referring to District 13.
What happens next?
While Latino advocates are seeking legal options to fight back the decision made by the Judiciary and Legislation Committee, the recommended Map A will be re-reviewed by the City Attorney’s office for legality and enforceability purposes.
If there are no issues, the map will be sent to the Common Council for approval on Jan. 18. An affirmative vote would send it to Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson for either his signature or veto. In his dual role as acting mayor and common council president, Johnson would not vote during council proceedings.
Johnson, who assumed his role as acting mayor when Barrett resigned to begin his post as ambassador to Luxembourg, is also running to complete the final two years of Barrett’s term.