Tuesday night’s victory for Democrats in Virginia was a major turning point in the midterms, once again delivering a message to Republicans that they can’t just keep trying to gerrymander their way into stealing seats in Congress.
But “Why won’t you just let us cheat?” is fully on brand for the GOP, but that wasn’t going to happen on the State Senate’s President pro Tempore’s watch, though. Leave it to a Black woman to protect the entire state from being assaulted by the GOP.
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate the ferocity that is L. Louise Lucas, who has a history of standing up to anything the MAGA mediocrity tries with her. Permanent Trump sycophant Ted Cruz found out what happens when you come for Sen. Lucas when she hasn’t sent for you.
Since the GOP loves to scapegoat Black women more than any other group, they found plenty of racist and misogynistic ways to use AI as a weak way to try to bully her on social media. If you have any experience with Black Twitter--which has always been the best part of Twitter--you’ll know how well that’s gone over.
But Sen. Lucas is social media savvy and knows exactly how to use their dumb tactics against them.
Queen Louise Lucas could not be reached for comment for this piece, as she’s currently being fitted for her crown.
If any of the GOP’s tactics against Sen. Lucas seem familiar, it’s because you’ve seen it all before whenever a Black woman has stood in the way of the Trumplicans. Letitia James, Fani Willis, and Ruby and Shaye Moss have all been targeted by MAGA for having the audacity to do their jobs, which just happened to include holding Trump legally accountable.
And you saw it on the national level when former Vice President Kamala Harris had a mere 107 days to create a campaign that stood apart from that of President Joe Biden’s. You’ll recall the famous Black Women Zoom call from the night President Biden dropped out, which was a weekly scheduled call they were already going to have. And that alone should tell you that Black women have been carrying the Democratic Party on their backs, which is where the history of our country was built.
We really don’t have the time or space to delve into the role of Black women in America, but Democratic Black women in particular have saved this nation from the brink of destruction over and over. I’ve spent time thinking about what the world would look like right now if someone had put Black women in charge of figuring out the 2000 election mess in Florida, and I can tell you it wouldn’t have a convicted felon Epstein Bestie blowing up Iran over the Epstein Files.
That Zoom call didn’t just set records; it set off a FOMO-based chain reaction where literally every subgroup of Democratic voters was holding their own calls for Kamala. White women, in particular, decided this was the moment for all of us to finally step up and be better allies to Black women.
I was on the White Women for Kamala Zoom call, so many of the speakers were so cringingly self-serving and performative. I had applied to be a speaker, but much more famous women got the spots, and they all seemed to do the same thing when it was their turn. They all apologized for not being “more vocal allies” for Black women and swore to do better because they understood “the moment.” I understood that they had no idea how to be proper allies to Black women because they kept making it about themselves. They still couldn’t figure out how to have a conversation with Black women without sounding like they were in an amateur production of “The Help.”
It doesn’t really take a lot to be an ally to the communities you weren’t born into. I’ve always thought it was our responsibility as humans to learn about those who are different and honor those differences, not hate them. No one is born prejudiced against anyone; hate is carefully taught and passed down. The history of our country is often ugly and unpleasant, and since there is no justification for slavery, Republicans would rather literally whitewash it. How long did it take us to learn the real stories of Christopher Columbus and the first Thanksgiving? Where were the Japanese internment camps in our history books growing up? Why do too many Americans think the Holocaust wasn’t real?
Yet they accept all stories about America when it makes white people look good.
So once the White Women wrapped up that call in June 2024, I waited for the next one to be scheduled, and it never happened. The white women seemed to think that was enough, along with their “Brat Summer” memes, most likely posted from the Hamptons. The way white women evaporated long before the DNC in August led me to rename the standalone Zoom “The White Claw Women’s Call.”
White women were absolutely in the minority when I was in Chicago for the DNC. By that point, I’d been welcomed into a Twitter room for Kamala that was mostly Black women, and I read their comments about white women still failing to meet “the moment.” I’d had years of learning to listen, to come from a place of elevation and appreciation without cultural appropriation.
It’s never about “who’s the best white woman,” it’s about showing up with Black women at the polls and voting not just like Black women, but for Black women.
Black women belong in all the highest positions of power. Smoke 'em if you’ve got 'em, Queen Louise!