2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission
Application Essay for Russell Yee, Applicant #11312
October 2019
1. WHY?
I believe in the American experiment in nationhood based on ideals and not ancestry. First among these ideals is equality. And one essential manifestation of that equality is equitable voting districts.
I’ve voted in every election since I came of age, with a sense that this American experiment always hangs in the balance. That balance is now tipping badly! Bipartisanship seems dead. Party loyalty has become absolute. An era of winner-take-all politics has turned open-mindedness and comity into intolerable weaknesses. Truth and facts have become debased currency. Voter turnout remains dismal. Faith in our system is wearing thin.
But I have faith in our system! I want to be part of this effort to renew and promote faith and function in our democracy, and so make my small contribution towards a more perfect union.
I want to help my state lead the nation in advancing political equality through non-partisan redistricting.
I enthusiastically voted for the Propositions behind this Commission. Non-partisan redistricting is both a fundamentally worthy idea and a salutary corrective in our hyperpartisan times. Recently, I was deeply chagrined by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Rucho decision but heartened by Wake County’s Lewis decision. But favorable court decisions aren’t enough without successful non-partisan redistricting efforts. I want to help California as it leads with a second round of the nation’s largest such effort.
I believe equitable voting districts help promote:
– Fair representation. While voting districts always involve many compromises, their fundamental goal should be for all votes to count as equally as possible. Minority (racial or otherwise) votes shouldn’t be artificially concentrated (“packing”) or dispersed (“cracking”). Gerrymandering is deeply and dangerously unjust.
– Faith in democracy. Fairness matters even more than winning. If I cast a losing vote, I need to know I lost fairly, or else I will lose my faith in democracy.
– A healthy political party system. We need a healthy two/multi-party system with genuinely contested elections. While regional political differences and communities of interest should be respected, minority parties should have conceivable pathways to greater representation. Likewise, the majority party should never feel entirely “safe” and should always need to re-earn its place.
– Commitment to the common good. We need leaders who are practiced in compromise and consider all their constituents regardless of party affiliation, who widely seek the common good even while honorably supporting their party positions.
– Positive trends in voter turnout. More people vote when they think it matters, when contests are truly contested.
This Commission is the first political opportunity I’ve encountered that motivates me 100% fully and unreservedly to get involved. This Commission is simply a great idea and I want to be part of it!
Practically speaking this is also an excellent time in my life for such a commitment. My kids are grown and my present work is flexible. I’ll be able to give this important work the focused time and full attention it needs and deserves.
2. BEING IMPARTIAL
At my former church, where I was the pastor, we spent a whole year on a big decision about which Christian denomination to join. It was a tough process with many very strong thoughts and feelings shared. In the end we all agreed on a choice that I had not initially preferred but came to fully support.
Some years ago I was a juror in a nine-week(!) murder trial. We deliberated the several charges at great length. As we debated the final count, I found myself a “holdout” on one point. After further consideration I eventually conceded, deciding I could live with the majority view. When we did finally reach unanimous verdicts it felt like justice had truly been served. That experience gave me great faith in the jury system.
I served as the first board secretary of the East Bay chapter of Habitat for Humanity. There were many strong personalities on that board and many decisions meeting after meeting. I remember prevailing in my advocacy for one particular family to be chosen for a house. I also remember conceding to the majority over one particular fund-raising effort. It was all a very positive experience doing important and challenging work together.
I’ve also sat in innumerable leadership meetings for other non-profits. I’ve had endless opportunities to practice listening to different sides, speaking my own convictions, and coming to decisions even with imperfect and incomplete data. I’ve led many meetings where deep disagreements were aired. While I can’t say I enjoy leading in contentious moments, I’m fully motivated to serve well, and have been told I lead effectively.
At my church I’m probably in the political minority. I chose to be in a place where I can learn from those who see things differently from me. While I’m a lifelong Republican I regularly vote for candidates of various parties. I have close friends and family of different parties, some apolitical and some strong partisan activists. I’ve learned a lot from different sides and have changed my own opinions on various issues over the years (e.g., after the Great Recession, I’m pro-financial regulation).
Being impartial is a way of acknowledging that none of us has the whole take on truth and all of us need to genuinely consider those we disagree with. Also, by culture, upbringing, and personality, I’m given to put shared needs above my personal desires.
I’m a married man with two daughters, so I compromise and “give in” all the time! In all seriousness, marriage and family life is a long exercise in putting the common good before personal wants. Earlier this year I had to mediate my family’s decision about where to go for a vacation. There were deep disagreements. In the end I had to not only compromise on my own preferences but also had to motivate my wife and daughters to each make her own compromises so that we could all finally agree. And in the end we had a great trip!
I was raised in a family that treated voting as a duty and privilege, and left us each to vote our own conscience. Now with my own family, we discuss candidates and measures together but respect our differing opinions and votes. In our family of four we have three different party affiliations.
3. DIVERSITY
I’m a longtime docent in the History Gallery of the Oakland Museum of California. Along with the California Museum in Sacramento, we tell the story of our Golden State. I love leading groups of schoolchildren, especially multiracial groups, and best of all with kids from recently-arrived immigrant families. I revel in impressing on these children the diversity of California. I start them with our map of California’s 100+ indigenous tribes and tell them firmly that “California has ALWAYS been vastly multicultural!” I lead them through our state’s history of immigration, displacement, settlement, migration, conflict, and integration. I take care to include Native American perspectives on history and on current efforts towards indigenous rights and cultural revival.
I teach a college class about Oakland, my home town. I delight in replacing simplistic ideas about Oakland with a wide appreciation for Oakland’s vast diversity. I show how Oakland has changed dramatically several times in its history. We look at historical U.S. Census figures for Oakland and I trace the changing racial categories (e.g., up through 1970 one could only be “White,” “Non-White,” “Negro,” or “Other”). We discuss how and why the Census treats “Hispanic” as an ethnicity separate from race. I take pains to emphasize the complexity and importance of these matters.
In my seminary teaching I emphasize matters of culture and faith. I challenge assumptions some students have about the normativity of the majority culture and/or the uniformity of any given minority culture. I have them reflect on their own senses of ancestry and self-identity, and listen to each other’s stories and (very) different perspectives.
I’ve been the director of several grant-funded projects exploring matters of culture in Christian worship. I’m especially proud of one conference that brought together Asian American and African American church leaders for a beautiful day of presentations, music, workshops, and meals exploring their two cultures.
I’m proud to be a California native and to locate my story among the vast landscape of peoples here. Ever since I was a boy I’ve had strong, distinct sense of place–of my city, state, and nation as mine. As a schoolboy I would ride around on our (then-new) BART trains just to ride around on it! I loved the sense of discovery and belonging, of taking full advantage of this diverse place where I get to live.
While I’ve only lived in the Bay Area I’ve also spent considerable time in Southern California. While I’m not bilingual I’m quite familiar with the wide landscape of Asian American communities. I interact regularly with recent and long-ago immigrants and am very familiar with bicultural dynamics.
While I believe diversity is good, it’s not an unlimited good. To be a body politic, to be a nation and a state together we do need some shared values, beliefs, and senses of our common identity. I believe in our American values of equality and freedom. I believe in our particular California qualities such as wide diversity, ongoing self-invention, a deep sense of our dramatically varied natural environment, and our willingness to lead into the future.
4. ANAYTICAL SKILLS
My education includes both science and humanities degrees. I’m comfortable with numerical data, statistics, charts, and figures. I use Excel regularly. I’ve taken a college-level statistics class and manage our family finances. But I’m even more at home in the world of narratives, descriptions, and reports. I savor excellent writing and am strongly motivated to craft effective and clear written work. Effective presentations warm my heart and I work very hard at my own PowerPoint talks.
And I love maps! Browsing Google Maps is one of life’s great pleasures! On airplanes I crave window seats and can spend whole flights gazing at the landscape below, with all its endlessly fascinating natural and humanly-created features. When I happen to fly at night, or over clouds, or don’t get a window seat, I’m greatly disappointed! As a marathon runner I’m constantly using GPS data and maps, and I love running in new places.
I also enjoy geography trivia. I can spend hours reading Wikipedia articles on boundary histories, disputes, and oddities. When I learned my younger daughter’s boyfriend is from Delaware, I soon learned about its Twelve Mile Circle and its Wedge (features of its northern border). I like knowing why Alameda and Contra Costa Counties share an odd border bend. One of my favorite displays at the Oakland Museum of California depicts how California’s eastern border was set after heavy debate at our 1849 constitutional convention in Monterey. Our state came close to looking drastically different!
I’ve also started educating myself about redistricting by listening to podcasts (especially FiveThirtyEight’s “The Gerrymandering Project”), watching documentaries (I just got Jeff Reichert’s “Gerrymandering” from the library), and reading books (currently Bullock’s “Redistricting: the Most Political Activity in America”).
Large analytical projects I’ve completed include my PhD dissertation (which was a sociolinguistic analysis of liturgical vs. free worship in Christian churches), my one published book (Worship on the Way: Exploring Asian North American Christian Experience, which remains the only book-length treatment of the subject), and my 2018 Boston Qualifying marathon race (which involved not only years of physical training but also years of reading, research, and quantitative analysis of my training progress). I’ve also had numerous essays published on local history topics, e.g., a detailed history of the “I AM AN AMERICAN” sign in the famous Dorthea Lange WWII photograph of a Japanese American storefront in Oakland.
The 2010 Commission’s maps, tables, meeting agendas, and reports motivate and excite me. So very much of my life, background, and interests inspire me to want to serve on the 2020 Commission. I would love to give myself to the technical work, training, hearings process, travel, issues and debates, and final map production of this Commission. I would love to document and reflect on this Commission’s work and then help inspire and inform others about the benefits and challenges of non-partisan redistricting. I would love to pour myself into something so very important for our state and our nation! Thank you for your consideration.
Russell Yee 