JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – City Council President Terrance Freeman has called for a special meeting Friday to discuss the next steps following a federal judge’s move to throw out Jacksonville’s newly-drawn council and school board district map that was set to go into effect next year.
Friday’s 1 p.m. meeting is what’s called a shade meeting, meaning the council will meet in private, outside the public eye.
The question is — what’s next? Will City Council appeal the decision or go along with it and draw new boundaries?
The judge says the latest version of the lines that were approved by the City Council last year essentially stacked Black residents into traditionally Black districts, when in reality, the Black population has spread all across the Duval County.
A group of civic organizations, including the NAACP and the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, filed a federal lawsuit, and a judge agreed with their argument that the maps are unfair and need to be redrawn.
“It was a good win for the city of Jacksonville,” said Isaiah Rumlin, president of the Jacksonville NAACP.
Dr. Marcella Washington echoes that sentiment. She was one of citizens who were part of that lawsuit.
Washington said the proposed district maps diluted the voice of minorities in Jacksonville by keeping the current minority districts in the same place, and she was glad the judge also sees it that way.
“We know we want Black representation, but we don’t want Black segregation,” Washington said. “We don’t want it packed in such a way that those will be the only districts that Blacks will have a voice and be able to have some say in Jacksonville politics.
“We want black participation to be citywide, and we want it to be reciprocal. And it’s not done that way right now by packing and segregating Blacks into these districts and saying, ‘Stay there. That’s your place. You go no further.’”
We could find out Friday during the special meeting of the City Council if they plan to appeal the federal judge’s decision and keep the new maps in play.
“I will certainly be very disappointed (if that happens) because it’s a signal that Jacksonville is not ready to move forward, that we want to continue the status quo keeping things as they are,” Washington said.
The ruling on the districts won’t impact the upcoming midterm elections in November, but there is a city election next spring -- and City Council seats will be on the ballot.
Mike Hogan, the Duval County supervisor of elections, said he hopes a decision is made quickly as they need to know what’s going to happen by December.