Resolutions Louisiana can live with!

By Marjorie R. Esman
Guest Columnist

You only get one shot a year to make New Year’s resolutions, so the ACLU of Louisiana is pleased to suggest a list of Resolutions Louisiana Can Live With. If implemented, these resolutions can make life better for Louisianians and strengthen the protections we are all guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. While our focus is squarely on our state, many of the issues spotlighted are the same in other states across the U.S. While our suggested resolutions may not apply directly to everyone, we all benefit from extending equal rights under the law – and those rights apply to all of us, not just a few. So, in the spirit of optimism, we offer the following resolutions for the State of Louisiana.

• We, the public school teachers of Louisiana, resolve to stick to the curriculum and leave religion where it belongs — in the houses of worship and the homes. Prompted mostly by the actions of an overzealous science teacher in Sabine Parish, the ACLU of Louisiana last year filed suit on behalf of a Buddhist student who was harassed and ostracized because of his religious beliefs, by his science teacher and as part of a school system that preached to all of its students. The lawsuit was settled, and it’s time once and for all for Louisiana public school officials and teachers to follow the law and make public schools welcoming places for children of all backgrounds, races and religions; and not force their religious views and beliefs on students. At the end of the day, teachers should teach not preach.

• We, the legislators of Louisiana, resolve to fix our arcane and dysfunctional criminal justice system so that we will no longer have the dubious distinction of being the world’s incarceration capital. Our next door neighbors in Texas and in Mississippi have recognized the seriousness of their incarceration problems and the astronomical costs to taxpayers. Mississippi passed major reform legislation in 2014; Texas has revised its laws saving the people many millions of dollars and becoming safer at the same time. Louisiana needs new sentencing laws, the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences so that judges can do their jobs. We need to reduce sentences for simple possession of marijuana and for other nonviolent offenses, and we need to recognize that everyone is better than their single worst act. When we can’t fund our schools, universities, hospitals, and roads, we can’t afford to lock people up any longer than absolutely necessary to enhance public safety.

• We, the judges of Louisiana, resolve to stop sending people to jail for being poor. In Louisiana thousands of people are locked up simply because they couldn’t meet bail or pay a fine, while those who can afford to pay go free. This two-tiered system of “haves” vs. “have-not’s” is unfair and illegal. It punishes the poor, a disproportionate number of them minorities, and keeps our jails filled with people who haven’t been convicted of crimes but are simply there awaiting trial because they couldn’t pay a fine or some other legal financial obligation. Debtors’ prisons – where people go simply for the inability to pay a fine – were declared unconstitutional in 1983. Let’s stop this unlawful and discriminatory practice, and keep our jails and prisons for those people who are truly risks to public safety.

• We, the law enforcement agents of Louisiana, resolve to do our jobs fairly and without bias. Policing is hard work. Those who do it are asked to put their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. And while most officers serve honorably and well, we all know that profiling and bias are ugly facts of policing. Police must serve fairly, with common sense and peaceful resolution as the order of the day. Remember that everyone must be treated equally – and that SWAT teams and military machinery are not appropriate responses to ordinary community problems.

• Finally, we, the people of Louisiana, resolve to be informed about issues that affect us and our communities, and to take action when appropriate. We must advocate for the changes we want to see. Every one of us must resolve to contact our local officials – at all levels, from state representatives and members of Congress to local sheriffs, district attorneys, and city or parish council members—when we feel strongly about an issue. We must vote whenever the opportunity arises, and should participate in forums and community meetings when given the chance. And we must remember to be persistent when change comes slowly.

We, the ACLU of Louisiana, resolve to be steadfast in our efforts to protect and defend the rights of everyone in Louisiana, to keep the residents of our state informed and educated about issues involving your civil liberties; and to seek out injustice and fight for the rights guaranteed every individual in the United States and Louisiana Constitutions. And to those of you who support us and our work in any way, we thank you.

This article originally published in the January 12, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.