Black Florida voters should close this door that gerrymandering opened

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is about to find out that the Black vote is not a hand-me-down.

She has served 21 years in Congress, as former chair of the Democratic National Committee and as sitting chair of the House Democratic Steering Committee. Despite having an entire South Florida political network available, the only seat she could find to run in was one that Black voters built and that the entire Black political establishment of Florida told her, in writing, to stay out of.

A lot of Black voters in South Florida are quietly hoping — and some loudly hoping — that she gets blown out of the water during the Aug. 18 primary. She has earned it. 

I do not live in Florida, but I started my political career there, supporting Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008, as well as those of former state Rep. Sean Shaw (D) and former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D). I have watched this play before, and I have watched what happens to Black candidates told to wait their turn while a senior white Democrat decides his or her turn is now.

Consider what Wasserman Schultz did. The Florida Legislative Black Caucus and the Broward County Democratic Black Caucus asked her not to run. Ten of 15 elected Florida members of the Democratic National Committee asked her not to run, in writing. State Senate Democratic leader Shevrin Jones said Black representation was “a non-negotiable.” Candidate Elijah Manley and a field of Black Democrats had already filed.

She ran anyway. She looked Black Florida in the face, heard “no” from every body authorized to speak for it, and said her career mattered........

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