A.G. Gancarski
With a merciless August sun beating down, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown held a news conference Tuesday on the steps of the Federal Courthouse in Jacksonville to discuss the Legislature’s Special Session on redistricting and to announce a federal lawsuit she’ll file Wednesday morning regarding plans to move CD 5 to an east/west configuration whose objectors even include area Republicans object.
“This [presser] was at the last minute,” Brown said, “but I thought it was absolutely necessary.”
Brown, who said that she’s the “only Congressperson on call 24/7,” whether she’s at “church” or “the dollar store,” reminded reporters before the event of Josiah Walls, the Reconstruction-era black Republican who was elected “three times, and the third time they burned the courthouse down.”
Brown said she wanted to “clear up the confusion” regarding the recent withdrawal of a lawsuit.
“The plaintiff withdrew,” the Jacksonville Democrat said.
“I did not withdraw anything,” she said.
“There will be a lawsuit in the Northern District of Florida,” Brown said. “I will be filing my own lawsuit tomorrow.”
Brown contended that federal courts trumped state prerogative; that “the federal court drew the district in 1992” to “put communities of interest together.”
“The 3rd District was drawn by a federal court,” Brown said. “Why is it the target of the Florida Supreme Court?
Telling the Walls story a second time, Brown drew a parallel.
“As I stand here today, they are still trying to burn down the courthouse,” the 11-term congresswoman said.
The base map is flawed, she said, because its architects “knew [the new configuration] was a nonperforming district,” because “in the history of Florida, Duval has never been with North Florida,” and because the prison population, counted for population purposes, cannot vote.
Returning to the “communities of interest” theme, Brown said that Jacksonville doesn’t “have anything in common with [rural] North Florida” and that Jacksonville’s African-Americans “have more in common with downtown Orlando than Jacksonville Beach.”
“Commerce, ports, and tourism” link the Jacksonville and Orlando metros.
Saying “my name is not Corrine ‘Gerrymandering’ Brown,” she contended that the new map is an attempt to “destroy” CD 5.
The lawsuit, Brown’s attorney said, would be to enjoin the implementation and enforcement of any plan that would conflict with her client’s interpretation of the Voting Rights Act.
We asked Brown whether she had talked with the Duval Legislative Delegation, and she laughed ruefully:
“I have not talked with the Duval Delegation. Tomorrow may be another lawsuit.” Brown said it’s “illegal” for her to discuss this plan with them.
Another problem she has with the process: the lack of public testimony.
“I want to be able to testify on the record,” Brown said. “This is serious: It will affect minorities all over Florida.”
Brown told a few stories about the history of structural racism in Florida, such as one about how “Jackie Robinson couldn’t live in Sanford” and “if he had stayed in Sanford, they would have killed him,” a reference to the town’s sundown laws.
Clearly, Congresswoman Brown is making the case that the redistricting turns back the clock, putting Florida back on the road to a time when minority populations lacked effective representation.
