You could go to jail for tossing hate related throws at Mardi Gras parades
NEW ORLEANS, La. (KLFY)- A bill filed in the Louisiana Legislature would criminalize tossing “hate-related” throws at Mardi Gras parades.
Any objects that “suggest the supremacy of one ethnic, religious, or racial group over any other, or gives honor or praise to any violent actions,” will be banned if this bill is passed.
State Senator Troy Carter of New Orleans filed the bill less than two weeks after a father was shocked when his son caught a caricature of a black man holding a watermelon at the Mystic Knights of Adonis parade in Gretna.
The bill proposes a fine between $300 and $1,000 and imprisonment for 10 to 90 days for those who throw the offensive items.
If the person who threw the object cannot be identified, then the organization will be fined $1,000 for the first offense and up to $5,000 for the third offense, the bill states.
The 2020 Louisiana regular legislative session opens March 9.
This bill is in the prefiling stage and will have to be passed through both the House and Senate with a majority vote to become law.
Read the full bill here