Beaucoup Blues: Preparing to Turn Louisiana Blue

Written by: Guest Writer on Jul 27, 2005 8:38 AM EDT

Monisha Sujan, Deborah Langhoff, Gabe Bordenave, Andrew Doss, Seung Hong and Damon Lombard were the organizers/moderators at the Beaucoup Blues grassroots advocacy summit.

On Thursday and Friday, July 21-22, 2005, Democracy for America Chair, Jim Dean, gathered with Democrats from cities across Louisiana—Monroe, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and the Houma—in a downtown New Orleans Hilton for Beaucoup Blues: Democrats for a Blue Louisiana. Louisiana's first Democratic grassroots advocacy summit brought together local, state and national Democratic leaders, statewide grassroots activists and political novices for two days of cooperative community building. The enthusiasm and energy created by this event initiates a Democratic "comeback in Louisiana" and launches a conversation focused on Democratic core principles.

The heat and humidity of July, weekday work obligations, the forced postponement caused by Hurricane Dennis and Jim Dean's late arrival caused by a three and a half hour standstill on LaGuardia's tarmac did not deter the approximately 150 people who participated in Beaucoup Blues.


Crowds braved the heat, humidity and hurricane
postponement to attend the Beaucoup Blues Summit

Jim Dean brought his wealth of experience in organizing state conventions to Beaucoup Blues. His keynote speech clarified for all participants that effecting progress "is not an instant-gratification game" and motivated everyone to engage in unrelenting efforts which he promised would net results in the long-term. Despite participating in 25 state conventions, Jim was excited by the quality and innovativeness of the Beaucoup Blues Panels. He was able to participate in our first panel, "African-Americans in Louisiana Politics," and promised he would encourage such panels exclusively devoted to African-American politics at future state conventions.


Jim Dean at the Beaucoup Blues Summit

All four panels—"African-Americans in Louisiana Politics," "The Heart of the Party," "Taking the Streets" and "Media and Message"—were didactic and fun. All the panels, endowed with wise panelists, intelligent moderators and passionate audience, taught Democratic grassroots leaders how to restore real democracy at the local, state, and federal levels.

"African-Americans in Louisiana Politics" focused on the future of African American candidates in Louisiana's Political Landscape. The panel was moderated by Gabriel Bordenave and was gifted with State Senator Don Cravins, Political Consultant Jacques Morial, and long-time activist Catherine Flowers as panelists.


African-Americans in Louisiana Politics Panel

Mr. Cravins spoke about the obstacles African American candidates face when running in multi-county and state-wide elections and believes persistent grassroots efforts can overcome this problem. Mr. Morial shared his belief that the Democratic Party needs to do more to mentor young African Americans to become involved in the electoral process, especially African American males as they face more resistance in obtaining state-wide office than African American females. Ms. Flowers has fought for the improvement of Louisiana's education system most of her life and she strongly believes that changes in school curriculums, especially improved civics lessons, would encourage more African Americans to devote their lives to public service.

"The Heart of the Party: Why We are Democrats," moderated by Andrew Doss, sought to define the diverse spokes of the Democratic umbrella. The four panelists, Sybil Holt, an expert on labor, Willie Fontenot, an environment activists, Mike Robichaux, a doctor and former state senator, and Stephen Handwerk, a GLBT activist, brought so much clear and impassioned vision for what our shared core values are and how these values are failing to be defined and understood by the Party at large. The panelists advocated that the Party re-ignite its identity as the party of the working class, the party for the poor, the underprivileged, the oppressed, the elderly, children, the party for education and healthcare and the environment, the party that believes in an "XYZ" economic model rather than a trickle down model (as one panelist put it), and above all the party not simply of tolerance but of courageous equal rights.

"Taking the Streets," moderated by Damon Lombard, focused on energizing and mobilizing the base to elect more Democrats and turn Louisiana Blue. The panelists included John St. Julien and Mike Stagg, who together recently won a bond issue to provide fiber optic wire to homes and businesses, as well as former professional organizer Melissa Smith of Covington. Three best practices emerged from this panel—work locally to address basic issues of the people utilizing words or slogans that people can identify with, clearly define the focus of a project, and find dedicated people even in conservative areas.

"Media and Message," moderated by Seung Hong, explored how progressives can communicate strategically. Beaucoup Blue's panel of media professionals, media activists, and communications operatives explored how to communicate the progressive message and legacy of Franklin Roosevelt, that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" as well as issues of media democracy, civic responsibility, and strategic media thinking. The guest panelists, Renee Lapeyrolerie and Diane Newman, were remarkable, but media activist Vicki Lancaster and Andrew Koneschusky, the interim Executive Director of the Louisiana Democratic Party, excelled with their thoughtful analysis and infectious energy. Audience participation was amazingly high and the courageous spirit of the room would have made FDR proud as audience participants made it clear that their Democratic party was the party of Roosevelt driven by hope, courage, thoughtful dissent, moral principle, and great faith whose party virtues shined all the brighter in times of great challenge and fear.

Participants walked away with renewed energy and committed to engage in the hard work needed to turn Louisiana blue. A long-time Dean enthusiast, commented, "Beyond excellent. We need local voters to know about these stellar Louisiana people." A former Kerry activists agreed, "Excellent-thorough and timely." A former Kerry field organizer commented, "It was crucial to turn the corner from discouragement after last November to a new place of forward, hopeful thinking, of experiencing the force of community empowerment and taking it on with greater ownership and eagerness."


Deborak Langhoff, Jim Dean and Monisha Sujan

Organizers of Beaucoup Blues hope this movement can restore Louisiana to its blue status. While Louisiana voted in favor of Bush in 2000 and 2004, the electoral success of Bill Clinton, the numerous statewide offices held by Democrats and President Bush's destructive stance on Louisiana's coastal issues sets the stage for a color change from red to blue in Louisiana. The alliance behind Beaucoup Blues, which includes activists from the broad Democratic umbrella, grassroots individuals and Democratic officials, know this is the start to a organized effort to successfully reclaim Louisiana. To support this effort, please visit www.beaucoupblues.com.

Beaucoup Blues also received great coverage in The Times Picayune, New Orleans' newspaper.

—Monisha Sujan, Deborah Langhoff, Gabe Bordenave, Andrew Doss, Seung Hong and Damon Lombard

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