1.4M views · 115K reactions | The answer to what's happening in #Louisiana and in our country isn't despair: it's replacement. If you are disgusted by what you're witnessing happening in your community, in your state, and in your country, don't just complain. Don't just post on social media. Don't just #vote. Run. Run for the offices that can make a difference. Be the principled public servant you want to see. I don't care if you're liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican - if you think the current people in power have perverted our democracy and aren't fighting for the people, don't just complain - run for their seat and WIN. #politics #redistricting #geauxvote #democracy | Quentin Anthony Anderson

It all works. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. My name is Quentin Anthony Anderson, just here representing Common Sense, which is also underrepresented here. I'm here obviously in opposition to Senate Bill 121 and I want to be very clear. This is not normal. Nothing about this is normal. Candidates, Democrats, and Republicans qualified under one set of rules. Campaigns, Democratic and Republicans spent money under one set of rules. Voters of both parties and no party alike prepared to vote under one set of rules. And then you changed the calendar. Then you changed the rules. And now this legislature is about to pass a map that everyone in this room understands is designed for a predetermined political outcome. So let's stop pretending this is complicated. If Democrats were doing this, those evil Democrats, if Democrats cancelled elections, move dates, redrew maps, protected their friends, and punched their enemies in the middle of an election cycle, many of the same people supporting this bill would be outside of the capital calling it tyranny. There probably even be a shirtless shaman for emphasis. The rules can not only matter when your side is losing. Fairness can not only matter when your voters are angry. Democracy can not only be sacred when you're about to win. But this is the insanity that we're dealing with here. We're sitting in a committee room using official language following parliamentary procedure and pretending that somehow that makes this clean. But a rigged outcome does not become more honorable because we're all wearing suits. So let's be honest. We all know what time it is. We know that this bill is going to pass. That's the part that makes us so insulting. We get a few minutes to talk to you, the majority nods politely, and then we keep the machinery going. Nothing we say to you matters. So I want to use the rest of my time to speak directly to the young people watching. Is that my solo right there? All right. You are not crazy. What you are seeing is unfair. What you are feeling is justified. When you look at this process and think that it looks rigged, manipulated and insulting to voters, you're not being cynical. You're paying attention. When adults tell you to believe in democracy while they redraw maps to predetermined outcomes, you are right to notice the hypocrisy. And honestly, I am sorry. I am sorry your government is letting you down. I'm sorry the people who should be protecting your faith in democracy are giving you reasons to doubt it. I am sorry too many leaders are teaching you that power matters more than fairness and winning matters more than legitimacy. But do not mistake this circus for the end of the story. Because this is the result of elections. The people doing this have power because elections gave them power. That means the future is still in your hands. If you hate what you're seeing, do not just vote. Run. Run for the school board. Run for the city council. Run for the legislature. Run for Congress. Be the leader you keep waiting for. Be the leader your community deserves. The antidote to this moment is not despair. It's replacement. [on-screen] louse and Gover SB121 BY MEDIA eu