Black voters in Louisiana ‘embarrassed’ by state’s failure to pass anti-slavery amendment – By Curtis Bunn (NBC News) / Nov 23. 2022
“Are they trying to trick us into voting for slavery?” asked John Miles, a 41-year-old Black truck driver in Monroe.
Black voters in Louisiana are confused. Many are embarrassed. Some are angry. All seem to be concerned about how their state is being perceived after a constitutional amendment to eliminate slavery and forced indentured servitude failed to pass in the November election.
That may be, in part, because the lawmaker who authored the bill to allow the vote switched direction and worked to kill it.
Four other states — Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont — passed similar legislation, effectively ending “slave labor” in prisons. Louisiana, however, did not vote for the constitutional amendment, which had been introduced by Rep. Edmond Jordan, a Black politician known for fighting for Black people’s causes, like limiting police officers’ immunity in civil lawsuits.
