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Alabama lawmakers have begun the process of purging racist language from the state constitution.
The Legislative Assembly committee on the recompilation of the Constitution met on Thursday to make changes to the constitution, focusing on three sections with racist language or intent, according to AL.com.
The state legislature voted in May to establish the 10-member commission, which includes six lawmakers and four others.
The panel will advise the state Legislative Services Agency on dating a revised constitution that would then be voted on by lawmakers, according to the website.
Alabama voters in November approved Amendment 4, which allowed the state to remove racist language from the constitution. The legislator can only remove racist language, as well as language that was repetitive and no longer applies.
The legislature will need to approve the language change by 2022, and then voters will approve the changes in the 2022 general election.
At Thursday’s meeting, the panel debated Articles 32, 256 and 259, according to Alabama political reporter.
article 32, according to his text, outlaws slavery and declares that there is no involuntary servitude “other than for the punishment of a crime, the part of which has been duly condemned”.
Article 256, which concerns public school systems, states that “separate schools will be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race will be allowed to attend school of the other race.”
Article 259 allows the use of voting taxes to support public schools in the counties where they are collected.
The panel decided not to vote on removing the language, as they decided to wait until the end of public comments on Tuesday. The panel will meet again on October 13, according to the Alabama Political Reporter.
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