Redistricting is a chance for Latino and other diverse Kansas City voices to be heard

When a reporter for KCUR surveyed 112 board members across 18 different school boards of the Kansas City metropolitan area to self-identify their race in 2019, one person identified as Latino. That person was me.

We are in a time when preliminary census data reveals that Missouri is more diverse than ever before. In Kansas City Public Schools, the Latino student population is growing more rapidly than any other demographic. The same is true in many other districts across the country.

A 2020 study by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics found that from 2009 to 2018, the percentage of Hispanic public school students increased from 22% to 27%. During that same time, white students decreased from 54% to 47%, and Black students decreased from 17% to 15%. Missouri is more diverse than ever before, with its largest Latino community located in Kansas City. One of the Top 10 fastest-growing Latino communities in the state is just 20 minutes south of downtown in Grandview. Latinos’ population expansion is widespread, but the community’s representation in government is still abysmal.

As a previously failed candidate running in the more diverse ZIP codes in the state, I will admit that some folks lack the necessary status to participate in the political process. However, should that cancel out their voices when elected officials make tough choices? Should minorities be less of a priority when challenging funding decisions are made, such as which neighborhood to build a new park in?

Who is looking out for the voices in Kansas City’s Westside or Historic Northeast? The small businesses along Independence Avenue that badly needed COVID-19 related Small Business Administration supplemental business loans and grants — who checked on them because they couldn’t apply because of immigration status or Social Security requirements? Missouri bases Kansas City Public Schools’ accreditation on post-graduation college or workplace placement, but then bars undocumented students from getting a driver’s license or receiving state aid or in-state tuition at public universities. And only three Latinos currently represent our community statewide.

I am one of 112 school board members in our greater metropolitan area. We should all look toward what more we can do to empower diverse voices of every minority group, and particularly Latinos Kansas Citians.

How can we do it? Well right now, every government body with elected representation is undergoing redistricting for offices from school boards to Congress. We must not allow the majority to continue pigeonholing minority groups. Strengthening their voices and voting power can create diverse districts, and that generates opportunity for diverse leaders.

We should consider a change to the Kansas City Charter that would create more in-district City Council seats for more diverse representation opportunities. I believe in some at-large seats, but more in-district seats allow not only for wider ethnic representation, but also greater access to our elected officials. I have the privilege of serving on our city’s most diverse elected governing board, and the main reason for the richness of thought there is that we have five in-district seats and two at-large districts.

I ask our executive leaders to be more intentional about their appointment opportunities, from judges to parks boards. Make sure that skin color isn’t the only qualifier, taking true community attachment to historic neighborhoods into account as well. We all need innovative thinkers, but we don’t need ineffective tokens that only further perpetuate the stereotypes that I know we don’t want to build upon.

Let’s do this together. Let’s show up to these redistricting meetings, apply for boards and commissions, and make a priority of not only the Latino community, but also all the others who have lacked voices for so long. Now is the time for investment that will impact our city for the next 10 years.

This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.