Print PDF

Yesterday, the Louisiana Supreme Court heard a death penalty challenge driven by the presence of a Confederate flag atop the Caddo Parish Courthouse in Shreveport, La. A black juror who refused to serve in a death penalty trial because of the flag’s presence teamed up with civil rights organizations to appeal a conviction in the case, arguing that the flag proves bias in the justice system.

According to the ACLU:

[The flag is] a symbol of one of the most … heinous crimes ever committed to another member of the human race, and I just don’t see how you could say that, I mean, you’re here for justice, and then again you overlook this great injustice by continuing to fly this flag which … put[s] salt in the wounds of … people of color.

“Allowing it to fly outside the Caddo Parish courthouse sends a clear statement that capital punishment cannot be fairly administered within the courthouse walls,” said ACLU Staff Attorney Anna Arceneaux. (See the ACLU’s amicus brief here.)

From ColorLines: “The Louisiana Justice Institute has documented that the Justice system in Louisiana has not been blind to race. Caddo Parish has among the highest rates of death sentences in Louisiana. And out of 17 men and one woman sentenced to death, 14 of them have been black.”

(5)