On Saturday, March 23, voters in Caddo Parish (Shreveport), Louisiana, went to the polls for the third time to vote for sheriff. Democrat Henry Whitehorn, who is Black, decisively beat Republican John Nickelson, who is white, 21,147 to 18,800 votes. Whitehorn will be the first Black sheriff in parish history.
This win was a long time coming. After the October primary, Whitehorn and Nickelson went head-to-head in a runoff election in November, which Whitehorn won by one vote. Nickelson, however, challenged the results and alleged voting irregularities. In a case that went to the Louisiana Supreme Court, Nickelson argued that he deserved a do-over. He won by a narrow 3-2 margin in the appellate court (3 white judges versus 2 Black judges), and the state’s highest court refused to hear the case.
To be clear, the “voter fraud” Nickelson alleged in the election included some GOP leaders who may have voted twice. If true, it would not have affected the outcome. And, regardless of whether it was true or not, Nickelson did not raise the issue at the proper time. It cannot be that candidates for office wait to see who won before alleging voter fraud if they lose. Except, perhaps they can because Donald Trump did it and no one has yet to stop him.
Caddo Parish is about 50/50 white and Black, and the second sheriff election brought out some ugly racism on the part of white people, who argued that Whitehorn was both unqualified for sheriff – Whitehorn has been in law enforcement 40 years and his opponent, zero years – and that Whitehorn was running a “racist” campaign – meaning, racist against whites.
One group calling themselves Caddo Mama Bears, whose leader is a white woman named Lisa Reese Massengill who does not live in Caddo Parish, campaigned for Nichelson based on his tough-on-crime policies. In reality, the Facebook group served as a clearinghouse for racist banter. Many of the attacks are directed at the Caddo Parish District Attorney James Stewart, who is Black. Others accuse people of giving away food and Easter baskets for votes as well as accusing Whitehorn, now the sheriff, of being “racist.”
These are all old tricks. As I wrote in my analysis for Democracy Docket, the white residents of the ex-Confederacy have long feared Black elected leaders, especially Black sheriffs, based on anxieties that they would preferentially treat Black people over white people. From my article:
Because sheriffs interacted with people more regularly and directly, white people in charge did not want to see Black sheriffs wielding such power in their day-to-day lives. After the Civil War, when over 1,000 Black men were elected to federal, state, and local offices, one ex-Confederate declared that he could tolerate Black representatives at the state level, but he did not want to deal with a Black sheriff.
There weren’t many Black sheriffs as compared to other elected offices, both because of this attitude and because of the requirement in many states that sheriffs post a bond before taking office. Many Black candidates could not afford the outlay of this kind of money. (The idea behind sheriffs posting bonds was a kind of insurance to protect against improper arrests or other misconduct. But no word on whether anyone who couldn’t afford one got a surprise 60% discount, like some people.) At the same time, sheriffs were instrumental in violence, both facilitating extra-judicial violence in terms of lynchings – three out of four lynchings in Louisiana were facilitated by sheriffs – and using their powers to arrest and jail to enforce white supremacy through permissible violence under color of law.
The irony, of course, is that the demand of Black communities has always been to be treated equally – equal justice, equal policing, equal access to community resources. In the documentary Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, Sidney Logan, the candidate for sheriff in the Freedom Organization, says that he will treat everyone equally, Black and white. The ask feels still so out-of-reach.
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In other news, thank you all for the kind responses to my cover reveal! Preorder if you can, and I expect more book news will soon come.
Mel Brooks's 'Blazing Saddles'
[Gabby Johnson sees the sheriff riding into town]
Gabby Johnson:
Hey! The sheriff's a ni...
[clock bell chimes]
Harriet Johnson:
What did he say?
Dr. Sam Johnson:
He said the sheriff's near.
Gabby Johnson:
No, gone blame it dang blammit! The sheriff is a ni...
[clock bell chimes again]