Sam Gresham - Columbus, Ohio

“Gerrymandered districts undermine the economic and political power of poor people, working class people and people of color.

And if you don't have economic power, control over your community, good housing or good education, then your ability to grow as a community is stifled.”

I grew up in Chicago and came to Columbus in 1974 after graduating from the University of Illinois. Since that time, I’ve worked for the City of Columbus, and then served as the President and CEO of the Columbus Urban League, Chair of Common Cause Ohio, and Executive Director for the Ohio Commission on African American Males. If you come to Columbus looking for me, you just have to ask for Sam and most folks will know who you’re talking about.

Ohioans finally passed redistricting reforms for drawing state legislative districts in 2015, which have been ignored by the Ohio Redistricting Commission. The urgency for these reforms has increased radically in the last two years as the efforts by the Republicans in power to take away votes from low income people and people of color in Ohio has accelerated. That’s why this lawsuit is so important--we have to protect our democracy.

Gerrymandered districts undermine the economic and political power of poor people, working class people and people of color. And if you don't have economic power, control over your community, good housing or good education, then your ability to grow as a community is stifled. You can get up and go vote for the candidate you believe will represent your interests, but if the district isn’t drawn fairly, your vote doesn’t carry as much weight because the maps have been designed to favor those already in power.

In central Ohio, the Black population has been growing, but in spite of that growth, the majority of Black voters continue to be “packed and cracked” into the same number of districts. Franklin county is one of the fastest growing counties in the state and home to our state capital of Columbus, yet Columbus has one of the highest levels of income inequity in Ohio. Quite an irony that we’re seeing plenty of growth, but the Black community is not seeing any of the benefits. This is a direct effect of gerrymandering, which continues to dilute the political power and influence of Black voters.

This is a critical time for our country. This phenomenon we call democracy is actually an experiment that exists in few other places, and there are a lot of things we still have to accomplish in order to make this experiment work. And if we can’t make it work, it will set off chaos among the rest of the world that looks to us. So everyone needs to get involved and become engaged in this fight, because if we continue down this path of allowing those in power to choose their voters by drawing unfair maps, our voices--and our votes--will be silenced, and this experiment could fail.