‘We are watching’: Rock Hill voters voice 2020 redistricting concerns to SC senators
Katie Crosby didn’t ask the South Carolina senators who met in Rock Hill on Thursday night to think about her when they begin to redraw district lines next month.
Crosby, who wore a “Black Lives Matter” shirt, asked the seven-member redistricting subcommittee to consider those in her Indian Land neighborhood who would benefit from more equal representation.
“I love where I live,” Crosby told the panel of senators. “I love my home and I love my neighborhood, but most of all, I love the people in my community — people just like we’ve heard from tonight, people facing very real problems, rooted in mis-drawn lines.”
The dozens of voters from York, Lancaster and Chester counties who attended the state Senate redistricting hearing at York Technical College clapped.
Before Crosby, several other voters, particularly Rock Hill residents, voiced the same worry — that the once-every-ten-year redistricting process would leave certain groups further underrepresented.
“We have a state in which those who are not a member of the majority race, and those who are low income, seem to be left out,” Lawney Harvey of Rock Hill told the senators. “And that results in lower education for people of color. It results in inadequate medical care for those who are poor, which also affects people of color, and it also results in a lack of affordable housing.”
Voters from nine counties, including York, Lancaster and Chester, were encouraged to share their input at the meeting to assist S.C. senators in redrawing district lines based on 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data.
The Senate is required, every 10 years, to draw new boundaries for its 46 state Senate and seven Congressional districts. The Senate aims to redraw lines to include 111,270 people per district.
Roughly 25 people, most from Rock Hill, spoke Thursday. They asked that senators work to protect parts of the city with predominately Black populations, and refrain from gerrymandering districts — a practice that sways voting areas toward a particular political party and protects incumbents.
“Let your reelections rest not on clever lines drawn but on the quality of your representation,” Crosby said. “Senators, you have a responsibility to uphold democracy and to ensure the value of every South Carolinian’s vote, and we are watching.”
Delays related to COVID-19 slowed the Census Bureau’s original redistricting data delivery, so the census won’t release the updated population data until Aug. 16. The bureau released some data in April, which showed South Carolina’s population grew by 10.7% since 2010.
Rock Hill isn’t any different. The city’s 2020 population estimates, using building permits, showed its six wards have each grown to include an additional 1,500-plus residents. Based on census estimates, Rock Hill’s population of about 75,000 people is about 55% white, 39% Black and 7% Hispanic or Latino.
‘We are awake now’
A handful of voters, including Twana Burris-Alcide, pleaded with the Senate panel to preserve the Saluda Corridor, which is about one mile from the city’s downtown and is comprised of critical Black businesses and providers.
“We have numerous medical facilities,” Burris-Alcide told the panel. “We have a barber shop. We have a salon. We have mechanical shops. We have convenience stores. We have churches. We have places of worship.... We have a very rich history dating back to 1913, and every day we take a stand for social justice.”
York County, especially Rock Hill, has experienced significant growth and development over the last 10 years, but Burris-Alcide said she fears that could leave parts of the city, such as Saluda Corridor, overlooked.
“We need to stay on course,” she said. “We need to continue to meaningfully transform. This is not a black and white issue. This is a people and purpose over politics issue.”
Several in the auditorium cheered and clapped.
After Burris-Alcide finished speaking, S.C. Sen. Ronnie Sabb, who is on the redistricting subcommittee, asked her to detail the roads that make up the Saluda Corridor. He quickly jotted down Saluda Street, Saluda Road and Midvale Road as she listed them.
Norma Gray, president of the NAACP Rock Hill branch, said she’s afraid, with the uptick in York County’s population over the years, that underrepresented populations could be ignored when the lines are redrawn. She asked senators to keep her fears, along with the many others shared Thursday night, in my mind throughout the redistricting process.
“I want this committee to understand that many in the Rock Hill community are now awake,” she said. “We may have slept on the last census redistricting, but we are awake now. The leaders in this community are awake and we are watching.”
The hearing Thursday was the third of 10 public hearings the Senate subcommittee plans to hold across the state by mid-August.
To join the Senate’s email list to hear about upcoming meetings, residents can send their name, telephone number and email to redistricting@scsenate.gov. To speak at a hearing, email redistricting@scsenate.gov, call 803-212-6634 or sign up in person.
This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 12:45 PM.
