John Knight (Alabama politician)

John F. Knight, Jr. (born June 7, 1945) is an American politician. He is a member of the Alabama House of Representatives from the 76th District, serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic party. Knight currently sits on the House Health Committee, the Internal Affairs Committee, and the Ways and Means Committee. He has been an advocate for the funding of minority higher education in Alabama, and is the named plaintiff of Knight v. Alabama.

Knight v. Alabama

Knight is the named plaintiff of Knight v. Alabama, a case filed in federal court in 1981. The suit, brought by Knight and others associated with two historically black colleges in Alabama, held that Alabama’s higher education system utilized racially discriminatory practices in allocating funding and admissions practices. The State of Alabama’s practices were determined to be in violation of the constitution as a result of trials in 1991 and 1995, and as a result the state was subject to monitoring by the district court.

Litigation continued in the wake of the initial cases, and extended into Alabama’s property tax system. The district court found that Alabama’s property tax system fails to collect enough tax to adequately fund education for all of its’ students, which disproportionately hurts minority students. Citing the property tax system, and its practices of limiting taxation of land zoned for agriculture to an average of less than $1 per acre, the district court called it “a vestige of discrimination” that has “successfully used the argument that it is unfair for white property owners to pay for the education of blacks”.

Though the district court offered findings, no action was taken against the state due to its original scope focusing on higher education. A new lawsuit, called Lynch v. Alabama, has been taken up to focus on K-12 funding.