New Orleans State Senator Troy Carter files a bill that will ban “hate-related” throws at Mardi Gras parades. Earlier this month a father was stunned when his son caught a racially-themed throw at the Mystic Knights of Adonis parade in Gretna. Carter says all races and ethnicities should be brought together at parades.
“No one should be subject to a swastika or some racial epitaph about any particular race. So, what we’re attempting in this legislation to do is what you think in 2020 we wouldn’t need to do,” says Carter.
When Carter learned a young boy caught a throw, which was a caricature of a black man holding a watermelon with a noose around his neck, less than two weeks later he filed the bill for the session that opens March 9th. “There’s just no place for that in our society at any time and certainly during Mardi Gras. When we have a blending of the races, blending of people, enjoying a wholesome celebration of Mardi Gras,” says Carter.
If a person is caught throwing hate-related throws in the proposed bill, Carter says the punishment is a tiered approach. “First offense is up to a thousand dollars, second offense twenty-five-hundred, third offense five thousand and those have to be consecutive,” Carter explained.
If the person cannot be identified, then the organization will be fined for the offense.
