By the end of a town hall meeting Saturday at Baton Rouge Community College, state Rep. Katrina Jackson vowed not to accept any further funds from payday lending lobbyists. Jackson is the chair of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, the organization that hosted the town hall event.
The caucus is composed of Louisiana’s 32 black state legislators — 23 representatives and nine senators.
Predatory payday lending dominated the majority of the town hall’s discussion, as several concerned citizens and community leaders gathered in the Magnolia Performing Arts Pavilion Theatre to ask questions and share experiences.
When Edgar Cage, a representative of Together Louisiana, got to the microphone, he warned of payday lending lobbyists buying out black caucus members in other states and persuading legislators not to enact payday lending reform.
Cage told the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus members moderating the discussion to listen to constituents and not to lobbyists. He would like to see every member of the caucus support payday lending reform.
“We have been sold into slavery once. Please don’t do it again,” Cage said.
Jackson responded by saying she could not be bought by any donor, though she acknowledged she had probably taken donations from payday lending businesses in the past.
Jackson’s fellow moderators, Rep. Patricia Smith, Rep. Regina Barrow and Sen. Sharon Weston Broome echoed her sentiments, saying money does not influence the decisions they make as legislators and black caucus members.
According to data from Together Louisiana, current state laws allow payday lenders to charge more than 700 percent in annual interest and fees on payday loans.
Issues of child discipline were also raised at the meeting when Shelton Charles Dixon, reverend at Greater Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, stepped up to the microphone.
Dixon lamented the fact that current state laws prohibit corporal punishment in schools, saying he wished Louisiana could go back to the days when Dixon feared “the paddle from my teacher, the hand from my coach and the belt from my father.”
Dixon’s suggestions were met with mixed reactions from the crowd, and Smith said she doubted state laws would ever return to condoning such measures.
Smith instead told the audience to be watchful for public episodes of child abuse, urging the attendees to speak out if they see something out of line.
“Discipline needs to not just come from the pulpit, but from the community,” Smith said.
The caucus also expressed its official support of reducing the sentences for marijuana possession.
Jessica Carter, a second year law student at LSU who attended the meeting, said she went to the meeting because she was curious about what the caucus leaders had to say.
“I think everybody got to speak about issues they are passionate about,” Carter said.
Louisiana District 16 representative Katrina Jackson speaks Saturday, Feb. 22, 2013 during the Louisiana Black Caucus Town Hall meeting in the Baton Rouge Community College's Magnolia Performing Arts Pavilion Theatre.
