E-Mail This Article to a Friend VOTING-BOOTH FOLLIES Racing politics BY ADAM REILLY

As far as Web-site names go, theythinkwerestupid.com is pretty provocative. And that’s exactly the point. The site — which is slated to become operational on October 1 — explains and condemns the state’s 2001 House-redistricting process, currently the subject of a federal voting-rights lawsuit scheduled to go to trial on November 10.

According to the 2000 US Census, residents of color now represent more than half of Boston’s population. But the contested redistricting process — which increased the whiteness, for want of a better term, of districts represented by politicians including House Speaker Thomas Finneran while packing extra voters of color into the Sixth Suffolk District, now represented by Shirley Owens-Hicks, who is African-American — doesn’t reflect that demographic shift. Quite the contrary, in fact. If the recent redistricting plan is upheld, 12 of Boston’s 17 House districts will have a majority of white voters, a situation that would seriously handicap aspiring minority politicians.

In depositions linked to the suit, Finneran and State Representative Thomas Petrolati — a Ludlow Democrat who chaired the House Redistricting Committee — have both expressed ignorance about the racial and ethnic implications of the redistricting plan. For the lawsuit to succeed, meanwhile, the plaintiffs — including MassVOTE, the voter advocacy group behind the soon-to-be-unveiled Web site — will have to convince the judges that the proposed redistricting unfairly dilutes minority voting strength in Boston, and that racial discrimination adversely affecting the right to vote exists in the city.

Due to links among education, income, and voter participation, this latter requirement could lead to testimony about the quality of Boston’s public schools or local income disparities. Since simply uttering the word "busing" still elicits strong reactions in neighborhoods across the city, some observers may find the trial’s proceedings discomfiting. But George Pillsbury, MassVOTE’s policy director, insists that the issue of race must be addressed.

"White politicians can be extremely defensive, because they say, ‘Well, it’s not that true. Everyone’s changed. Look at how much Boston has changed, we’re not racist anymore, that was a thing of the past,’" Pillsbury says. "We would concede that in some areas, sure, there’s been some improvement — but certainly one of the areas where in fact there’s been the least improvement is politics itself. [It’s] very exclusionary, who gets to run and win. And it’s been done on purpose, these districts, to protect white incumbents."

In addition to unveiling theythinkwerestupid.com, MassVOTE is in the midst of a citywide get-out-the-ire campaign aimed at bringing disgruntled voters to the Moakley Federal Courthouse on Summer Street when the trial begins on Monday, November 10. The trial will be conducted by three federal judges and is expected to take less than a week. A decision in the case might not come until early 2004, however.