“White people are not ‘communities of interest’”: LBUSD Board expresses concern over fair redistricting

Like all voting districts nationwide, the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) is redrawing its board representation boundaries based on how the population shifted over the past decade, as revealed by 2020 census data made official last month.

LBUSD is divided into five areas across Long Beach, Lakewood, and Signal Hill, and Avalon on Catalina Island, each with one elected board member. According to federal law under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, each area must have roughly the same voting population. 

LBUSD is seeking input especially from “communities of interest”—which are allowed to stay in one voting area rather than be broken up by redistricting—as it considers how to redraw its board representation map. So far, the district is considering three map scenarios that differently rebalance voting populations in each of the five areas.

However, during its Wednesday, Oct. 20 meeting, the board expressed concerns about how redistricting will affect community interests. 

Board Member Megan Kerr appreciated “Map Scenario 2” since it keeps neighborhoods together, including the entire city of Signal Hill.

Board Member Doug Otto called for LBUSD to conduct special outreach to the neighborhoods affected by redistricting. He also expressed concern that in some scenarios, the area he represents—Area 4 that covers southeast Long Beach, Signal Hill and Avalon—would become less diverse, both racially and socioeconomically.

“[My area is] becoming more white, and that has a downside to it,” he said of the redistricting scenarios. “Any area would be better if it were more diverse.” 

Board President Juan Benitez agreed and made an impassioned call to consider community interests when redistricting. The census count itself includes hard-to-count populations such as immigrants, renters and seniors, he said, adding that LBUSD is calling these “communities of interest” though they may be undercounted.

“The true essence of these maps is to ensure political representation for our underserved, historically underrepresented groups, that happen to be the same groups that get undercounted in the census,” Benitez said, adding that the board must be mindful of that since there are political implications.

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He suggested that LBUSD include racial/ethnic population breakdowns on each map scenario and to educate the community more so they participate in the redistricting process. 

“It’s not enough to say, ‘Here’s the link, we need your input,’” Benitez said. “Otherwise, we’re perpetuating the inequity of historically underserved, marginalized, disengaged, voiceless communities basically having their political destiny drawn for them by a system that, quite frankly, could be doing better by engaging [them].”

Benitez also said that though diversity is important, it shouldn’t come at the cost of “diluting” historical communities of color by spreading them out, such as the Black, Latinx and Asian communities in his Area 3 in southwest Long Beach, some of whom may get redistricted to vote in Area 2 of West Long Beach.

“White people are not ‘communities of interest,’” he said, clarifying that it means their numbers should not drive redistricting. 

Benitez also emphasized that LBUSD should especially reach out to communities that might change by redistricting because they may not even know it’s happening.

“When we talk about equity, when we talk about acknowledgment of historical inequities, this is the way it happens,” he said. “We’ll check off a box that says, ‘We had community input, we had community process,’ but we’re not targeting communities that would be most impacted by our decisions.”

Benitez noted that if the board doesn’t do this work now, it will be another nine years before the next census and potential redistricting, which includes three voting cycles that could impact funding and community partnerships.  

The board is scheduled to continue reviewing redistricting with public input before selecting a final new map on Dec. 1, which the Long Beach City Council will vote to approve or not on Dec. 7.