Oh, those backward Louisiana folk. First for being racists, and second for believing stupidly that state legislative redistricting will actuallly change the character of their neighborhood.

Right?

Well, hang on a second before you cast judgment. Here in D.C., residents of the rapidly gentrifying Southwest Waterfront have been vociferously resisting efforts to draw them into Marion Barry’s Ward 8. Many of their arguments about their neighborhood’s identity are similar if not identical to those being used in the Louisiana dispute. In one town hall meeting, described at the link above, Ward 6 gentry liberals voiced a preference for a dilluted vote — 0r even death, as one woman shockingly said — over being part of Ward 8. 

So how backward is Louisiana now?