Watch what they do
14th March 2022 · 0 Comments
Voltaire said, “Nothing is more dangerous than ignorance and intolerance armed with power.”
If recent history taught us anything, it’s that justice is in the eye of the lawmaker. We trust our well-being, education, quality of life and community infrastructures to those we elect. We expect laws to be fair, equitable and just.
History also teaches us, by example, that people with the power to change lives provide opportunities and benefits and improve living conditions for those who vote them into office have choices.
Lawmakers can use legislative power for the good of all or to enrich themselves, their relatives, friends and donors. They can also wield power like a hammer to stop others from advancing, and to marginalize, discriminate and deny people they dislike, for whatever reasons, access to equal justice under the law and a share of the riches (government treasuries) in which they invest.
If you’re woke, you already know that some lawmakers propose legislation that does the most significant amount of good for the greatest amount of people (good bills). In contrast, others write legislation that serves the few and often injures many.
Louisiana’s state legislature, throughout its existence, has done more than most legislative bodies to harm those it purports to represent, especially Black Louisianans. The Black Codes, poll taxes, literacy tests, legal segregation, Pig laws, habitual offender statues, the death penalty, nonunanimous juries, cruel and unusual prison sentences, experimental charter schools and voter purges are just some of the laws that disproportionately harm Black Louisianians.
The nonunanimous jury practice of 1880 allowed nine of 12 jurors to convict a person of a felony. It was a way to continue the free labor provided by enslaved people because the U.S. Constitution allows prisoners to be treated as enslaved people. The same 13th Amendment that abolished slavery gave a wink and nod to continuing the peculiar institution within the prison industrial complex.
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction….” Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The nonunanimous jury was added to the Louisiana Constitution in 1898, during a convention whose primary purpose was “to establish the supremacy of the white race in the state.” It took a cadre of attorneys and 120 years to get the law overturned.
Even then, in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who argued against making their ruling retroactive. The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled that those convicted by nonunanimous juries didn’t have to be retried but left that decision up to the state. In April 2022, the issue will return to court as lawyers for the incarcerated fight for the inmates’ freedom.
For our own safety, It’s clear that we must watch what Louisiana legislators do when the Louisiana Legislature’s 2022 Regular Session starts at noon on March 14 and adjourns on June 6 at 6 p.m.
Will legislators pass just or unjust laws? Thus far, 1250 bills have been filed that cover various topics. Among the most critical pre-filed bills are those aimed at redistricting.
For example, one bill proposal would expand the Louisiana State Supreme Court from eight to 10 members. Some redistricting bills draw fair district lines, while others maintain the status quo that keeps white male Republicans the majority in the statehouse and U.S. Congress.
Some bills support using state funds for private school tuition. These marijuana legalization bills specify the way consumers obtain and ingest medicinal marijuana, and then there are bills designed to limit the governor’s power over health mandates.
Thus far, 22 bills have been filed that are designed to get around mandatory vaccines and proof of vaccines.
It’s not surprising that the sponsors of these anti-vaccine bills are all Republicans. Donald Trump set the anti-vax movement into motion when he refused to wear a mask and didn’t encourage Americans to get vaccinated. He took the vaccine but didn’t tell the public until he was coaxed in media interviews.
Trump touted Ivermectin, a dewormer, and hydroxychloroquine, an anti-parasitic used to treat malaria, as treatments for COVID instead of the vaccine. Trump loyalists followed suit and filed lawsuits against mandatory vaccines.
Trump is no longer president. He’s facing criminal and civil charges, but Republican officials believe Trump’s blessing is paramount to their reelections. So they continue his vile attacks on democratic government and on immigrants and people of color. Republicans pass voter suppression and voter purge laws to keep blacks and other people of color from electing representatives of their choice. They vote down or table sensible legislation that protects citizens (gun reforms, police reforms, voting reforms), enforce citizens’ constitutional rights and improve citizens’ quality of life (Republicans killed President Biden’s Build Back Better Plan).
However, there are also good bill proposals that have been pre-filed. There’s a bill to increase the state’s minimum wage to $10 and $12 incrementally and another that provides for the automated expungement of certain qualifying criminal records. One prohibits BESE from approving standards that limit or restrict the teaching of African-American history, and there’s an anti-discrimination bill involving hair. Another pre-filed proposal sets standards for obtaining teacher certification, while another eliminates the death penalty.
Most egregious is that we pay legislators to make bad laws that hurt us. Louisiana legislators’ part-time gig compensation is $16,800 plus a $161 per diem (mileage and business-related expenses).
We are victims of those we elect to protect and serve and represent us if we allow them to pass discriminatory laws. We can and must resist punitive legislation. For more information on pre-filed bills for the 2022 Louisiana Legislature Regular Session, visit https://legiscan.com/LA/legislation.
This article originally published in the March 14, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
