We at BogalusaNews welcome readers to our inaugural post. We have chosen a very controversial topic for our first post. It seems the City Counsil and Mayor have included a history link on the Official City Website which has racially offensive language. The daily news will probably not print such words because they are so offensive, yet our City chooses to promote itself with this language. The fact a link to the Chamber of Commerce is placed at the bottom of the article makes one wonder exactly what type of business the City hopes to attract with such language.
(Direct quotes from the above historical accounts of Bogalusa history which is promoted by the City of Bogalusa's Official Website and linked to the Chamber so as to attract business.)
"As late as 1903, it was a scene of a mass killing, stemming from the alleged attempt by a "bad nigger" named Lott to murder a white woman. Lott was tied to a tree and burned. Not yet satisfied, the infuriated whites waited until there was a gathering of Negroes in Live Oak Church. A gun shot began a massacre in a racial conflict still known as the Ball Town Riot. When the smoke cleared, fifteen Negroes lay dead."
"...I kicked the nigger out of the car and left him in the woods alongside the road about ten miles out of Baton Rouge."
This blog post is being forwarded to news outlets with hopes that we can remove such language from official city promoted links. In a word, we find such language offensive.
If language was not enough the history linked by the City has many historically inacurate portials of the community. We feel it does not do justice to the honor of the hard working men and women who built this City deserve. It is just an attempt by the Goodyear family to justify their own abusive actions during the time they ruled Bogalusa. It is an inaccurate account of the History of Bogalusa which is self-serving to the Goodyear Family at the expensive of Bogalusa.
Having a link to the Chamber after such a piece of City promoted literature is an open invitation to the KKK to set up shop in our City. This has met with tragic results for our city, which cannot afford such destructive organizations that prevent economic growth. Real economic growth cannot occur in a City which promotes hate language.
In our view it is time to honor those who have contributed much to the progress of our community and do so in a formal manner. Specially we call upon the City to develop a Historical Honor Committee which will explore ways to honor those who have positively contributed to our City. We would hope special consideration be given to those who served our community so bravely during the Civil Rights Movement lead by Dr. Martin Luther King. To date, we have not found one thing, which gives public praise and honor to our brave citizens who in some cases gave their lives so all could be free. This must change.
We at BogalusaNews would like to see a replacement of the link to the offensive history of Bogalusa by a link for the reward being offered by the FBI for the murder of Washington Parish deputy sheriff Oneal Moore. A specific request for the placement of a historical marker on the murder site where officer Moore was slain should be made to the State of Louisiana. The community deserves honor for its fallen officers and this would be a good start.
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