For those of you who are unaware, I started Louisianahbrah, the Instagram account that began the whole nah brah movement, in 2019 as You Can Ring My Bel to help Democrat John Bel Edwards get elected for a second term as Governor.
He was up against Eddie Rispone (Balogne Rispone) who was full of…you guessed it–balogne, and ran on a Trump-ed up platform. He was terrible in all the ways you can now very easily imagine.
Louisianahbrah started with a fever dream after Rispone dominated the primary. Within 48 hours, I had slapped John Bel’s head on Will Ferrell’s body and built out a whole campaign/website. I was filled with dread—there were so many possible consequences I feared from having a mini-Trump as Governor (consequences we are all now living)—but my number one concern was redistricting.
In one of my very first posts back in November of 2019, I posted this graphic:
THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE AT STAKE IN THIS ELECTION. This is it. Gerrymandering takes away our voice. It takes one group that is a unified voting block and splits them into so many different districts that statistically their votes cannot have an impact. This is how minority voices are restricted and it is ON PURPOSE. The Legislature is in charge of redistricting—and with a Republican-led Legislature and a gutted Voting Rights Act, the only person who has the power of oversight and the power of veto is the Governor. This is it, guys. THIS IS WHAT WE CAME FOR. THIS IS WHY WE HAVE TO VOTE. It’s not just today and tomorrow at stake. It’s the next ten years.
Welp.
We have now seen the result of all those fears. The Voting Rights Act has been completely decimated and Louisiana is ground zero for Jim Crow 2.0. They have stripped us of one of our Black Congressional districts, they have stolen 42,000 votes already cast in a now-cancelled House Primary, and they have changed our entire primary system in service of just one of the President’s many personal vendettas.
Janky Jeff is the poor man’s Balogne Rispone and we all have serious heartburn.
For those of you who heeded my desperate redistricting call seven years ago and have been rolling with me since, I appreciate you. For those of you who have joined us since in this absolute dystopian dumpster fire of a second Trump term and Janky Jeff’s sTrOnGmAn rule, I am so glad you’re here.
We have done so much together. We have raised our voices. We have lifted our tide. We have told so many mediocre white men to fuck all the way off. We have clawed our stolen rights out of their clammy little hands. WE ELECTED A SECOND TERM DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR IN RUBY RED LOUISIANA.
And today we need to do it once again.
Tomorrow, the House & Governmental Affairs Committee will meet at 9am for a final vote on SB 121, the bill that will get rid of our second Black Congressional district for good. Write them and tell them to vote against it.
This is it. This is the moment we have been preparing for since 2019 and/or since the beginning of time. This vote may not—probably won’t—go our way this time, but let’s just do it for our beautiful past selves of 2019. Who were so determined, so fresh, so pre-pandemically unjaded. Let’s close this circle and let them rest.
And at the very least we’ll know our voices were heard. And at the very least we will know, without a doubt, that we are in this together. WE ARE STILL HERE. And for that, none of this will have been in vain.
And then tomorrow is a new day.
call to action
BACKGROUND:
SB 121 is a bill by Senator Jay Morris that will strip Louisiana of a Black Congressional district. One of the final votes on it will be tomorrow in House & Governmental Affairs and we need to tell them to vote against it. For background of this f-ed up redistricting process, read this. Or watch this video:
TIPS FOR EMAILS TO YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS:
Feel free to use the script below, but the email will hold more weight if you personalize it. Use your own words or a variation of the talking points below and remember—they work for you. You are their boss. You don't have to know the complex legalities behind this bill. You just have to know how you want them to vote. And it is your right to tell them.
Copy & paste:
EMAILS: SEND BEFORE TOMORROW, MAY 21 AT 9:00 AM
hse048@legis.la.gov, lyonsr@legis.la.gov, hse056@legis.la.gov, hse102@legis.la.gov, hse034@legis.la.gov, hse033@legis.la.gov, hse015@legis.la.gov, hse027@legis.la.gov, hse026@legis.la.gov, marcelled@legis.la.gov, hse068@legis.la.gov, hse099@legis.la.gov, hse024@legis.la.gov, thomaspj@legis.la.gov, waltersj@legis.la.gov, wrightm@legis.la.gov, hse075@legis.la.gov, devillierp@legis.la.gov
EMAIL SCRIPT:
Subject: Vote NO on SB 121
I am urging you to vote NO on SB 121. This bill eliminates Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district and does not accurately reflect the Black population of this state. Louisiana is nearly one-third Black—our maps must reflect that.
This bill is wrong and you have the power to stop it.
Vote no.
[Your name]
[Your parish]
TALKING POINTS:
Callais struck down the map—it did not require the legislature to eliminate Black representation. This is a choice. Own it.
Louisiana is roughly 33% Black. One majority-Black district out of six is not proportional. The math has not changed.
Black Louisianans did not lose their right to representation under Callais. The legislature is choosing to take it.
The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. The Louisiana legislature is now sprinting to finish the job.
This is not a legal mandate. There is no court order requiring SB 121. This is a political decision being dressed up as a legal one.
Decades of organizing, litigation, and sacrifice by Black Louisianans produced that second district. This bill erases all of it in one vote.
Your constituents are watching this vote. History will record it.
Thank you for the steadfast work you've been doing and for the latest sample language.