The Black community may have missed its chance to have a second representative on the Ouachita Parish School Board, we dropped the ball, and now two white candidates are campaigning to represent a newly formed Black majority district
For nearly two years, Rev. Harold McCoy, the only Black member of the Ouachita Parish School Board, struggled to get a second Black seat on the board.
It was feasible because the 2020 Census shows that the white population in the parish has declined by five percent in the last ten years. However, the Black population in the parish has increased by five percent. It’s apparent that since Blacks are now 35% of the parish, the board should redistrict in a way that makes it possible to add a second Black member to the board
In response to the Federal redistricting mandate, McCoy used his influence to redraw the lines in a way that would create a second black district. At first, he tried to create a Black district to give West Monroe Blacks representation. It just wasn’t possible. There were not enough Blacks in West Ouachita, outside of the West Monroe city limits, to create anything close to a Black District.
McCoy switched gears and convinced the board redraw its lines to create a second Black district in East Ouachita Parish. So the school board shuffled the lines around and carefully created a district with a 55 to 58 percent Black majority, District F. The new district does not guarantee a black representative, but it makes it possible, especially if a viable black candidate qualified to run for the seat.
Hats off to the school board and McCoy for making the change without a fight.
This new Black majority district was possible because many Blacks are moving into the area as whites are moving toward the Sterlington area. For example, at one time, Presidential Estates was nearly all white. It is now nearly all-black. The same is true for some of the fine homes in the areas surrounding Ouachita High School; a third of those homes are now black-owned.
The population shift is reflected in the black population of the schools in the District. Ouachita High School is now a predominately Black high school, and the black student population of most of the schools in District F has increased. Those schools include East Ouachita Middle, Jack Hayes Elementary, Lakeshore Elementary, Shady Grove Elementary, Swartz Lower Elementary, and Swartz Upper Elementary.
The newly reconfigured district is unique because it means that no winning candidate can seek election and ignore the fact that 45% of the district is white or that 55% of the district is Black.
When qualifying for the November 8th elections ended last month, no blacks qualified for the new district. Two white men did qualify.
The good news is neither of them can expect to win an election with only white votes. They will split the votes in their own neighborhoods, and the winner will be the one that appeals to the 55 percent.
The wisdom of the school board’s redistricting plan is that the race of the District F board member will be less of a factor because any winner cannot ignore the significant racial blocks in the district.
As African-Americans, we missed our chance to have a second minority face on the school board, but the configuration of the district means that the interests of minorities will not be ignored by the eventual winner of the November 8 election; that’s a good thing.
