A Brief History of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry Weaving Racism and Criminal Justice | The last | Weekly Gambit

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Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is having a really tough few weeks.

Last week, Landry was called out for his disgusting and downright racist criminal justice-themed campaign ads by civil rights activists and Gambits owner Clancy DuBos. A few days later, Landry, who is unfortunately the state’s most senior and arguably least competent law enforcement official, himself received the campaign’s negative publicity treatment, this time from his fellow Republicans.

Of course, as anyone with even a passing familiarity with Landry knows, this isn’t the first time he’s said or done something overtly racist. And it’s also not the first time his case as attorney general has come under scrutiny. After all, who could forget when Landry was accused of not prosecuting an alleged pedophile due to family ties? Or when he shielded a friend who worked for Landry from being accused of sexual harassment and then went after The Times-Picayune for reporting on it?

So, in honor of Landry’s very bad weeks, here’s a small sample of the many times he showed his racism while serving as Attorney General!

Buddy is shocked, SHOCKED I SAY about all this ongoing racism.

Photo by Sarah Ravits/Gambit This Time Jeff Landry came to the defense of a clearly racist bill targeting black teenagers

Let’s start with a recent one! Earlier this year, the Louisiana House of Representatives passed a bill that would make the criminal records of minors public in some cases before they’ve even had their day in court. Although this is generally a bad idea, as these recordings would end up haunting children into adulthood, even if they were innocent, supporters made sure to give it an extra racist twist by limiting it to the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Orléans and Caddo, which manage to house majority black populations.

In a May 1 letter to the editor published in the Times-Picayune, Landry railed against the media for correctly pointing out that the law was, by definition, racist. Hilariously, Landry seemed to confirm that the Republican Party is also, by definition, the party of racists, when he noted an opinion piece in the newspaper called this legislation racist, but failed to mention that it was supported by both Democrats and Republicans.

The time Jeff Landry called Black Lives Matter protesters armed thugs

In January 2021, the National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to the Department of Justice condemning the January 6 uprising. Almost all nation-state GAs have signed it.

But not Landry. Instead, he decided to send his own letter back to NAAG accusing them of sending a message that some violence is okay, the Louisiana Illuminator reported. He then accused Black Lives Matter and other peaceful civil rights protesters of being armed thugs.

Attorney General Jeff Landry.

Photo by Meilnda DeSlatte/AP This Time Jeff Landry called a civil rights consent decree designed to end NOPD discrimination against black New Orleans a Hug-A-Thug policy

In 2012, the Justice Department entered into a civil rights consent decree with the New Orleans Police Department aimed at ending police brutality, corruption, and racial discrimination at the NOPD. Despite the progress, these three issues continue to plague the deeply troubled police department.

Predictably, Landry has never been a fan of the consent decree, and over the years has taken several photos on it. In an October 2022 letter to the editor of the Times-Picayune, he argued that all aspects of law enforcement have been commandeered by these hug policies and practices at the expense of our hard-working taxpayers, and too many lives have been lost due to ineffective and ridiculous demands.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.

Photo by Hilary Scheinuk/The Times-Picayune Remember when Jeff Landry called for a return to racist profiling by police?

Police so-called stop and search tactics have long been seen as rooted in racist attitudes and disproportionately affecting black Americans. In fact, many police forces specifically prohibit its use now. Obviously, this does not sit well with Landry.

He has made a number of statements praising its use, but his 2017 WDSU interview on the subject stands out. In it, Landry called the stop-and-frisk an essential law enforcement tool and even acknowledged that it could violate the civil rights of black New Orleans people, something he’s accused of. ‘OK. I am ready, as a law enforcement officer, to understand that there are limits to civil rights, he said.

Who can forget the days when Jeff Landry was totally on board with the police killing of Alton Sterling?

In 2016, Baton Rouge police shot in the back and killed Alton Sterling, a black man, while he was on the ground in a convenience store. His death outraged the black community and civil rights activists. But two years later, Landry announced that neither officer involved in the murder would face charges. At the time, he claimed there was insufficient evidence that they had used inappropriate force and, in fact, defended their actions, calling them reasonable and justifiable.

The City and Parish of East Baton Rouge ultimately paid the Sterlings family $4.5 million to settle a lawsuit.

Buddy wants all this racism to stop meow!

Photos by Sarah Ravits/Gambit and Hilary Scheinuk/The Times-Picayune And, of course, those times when Jeff Landry championed a Jim Crow-era policy designed to make it easier to put black people in jail

In 1898, a group of white delegates met to hold a constitutional convention intended to overhaul Louisiana’s legal system. The explicit goal of this effort was to “restore the supremacy of the white race.” One of the changes they made was the creation of non-unanimous jury decisions.

For more than 100 years, this law would imprison thousands of black people. After a Pulitzer Prize winning expos of the law by The Times-Picayune, the legislature then passed Senator JP Morrell’s measure to hold a statewide referendum on the jury system, and voters in 2018 finally put an end to the racist practice. Landry, understandably, objected to ending the practice. And even after voters spoke out on the issue, he continued to defend its use as constitutional even though he admitted it was written specifically to support white supremacy.

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