When news broke that the local Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation’s annual banquet would be displaced from its home of over a quarter-century at the Monroe Civic Center, concern was understandable. The B.D. Robinson Conference Hall holds decades of history and…
Category: Editorial
Our Rich Black Heritage: The Forgotten Negro Organizers of “The First Official Monroe Chapter of The NAACP”
By Garry Blanson As Black citizens in Monroe, Louisiana, eagerly await the election to “select the NAACP’s next president,” I would like to inform everyone about a few of the “forgotten Negroes who helped make the Monroe Chapter of the…
Our Democracy needs committed people now more than ever
By Marie Brown The importance of strengthening the Ouachita Democratic Party Executive Committee There are times in the life of a community when sitting on the sidelines is no longer an option. I believe we are living in one of…
Our Rich Black Heritage: “The 1978 Landmark Federal Civil Rights Class Action Lawsuit Decision on the Ausberry Versus the City of Monroe Court Case
By Garry Blanson Concerning Voting Rights and Municipal Elections in Monroe, Louisiana” As I am thinking about the City of Monroe and its present system of government, I pause for a moment and ponder about all of the current Black…
The Alphas gave thanks, but the city should do more; much more
When the Monroe City Council passed Ordinance No. 12,309, declaring the deteriorating property at 911 Orange Street surplus and authorizing its sale to the Eta Delta Lambda Chapter Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Educational Foundation, Inc. for $20,000, it marked a…
Our Rich Black Heritage: The “Human Body Count”
By Garry Blanson Of the number of Negroes and Colored people who were lynched in Monroe, Louisiana, “on the grounds of The Ouachita Parish Courthouse” Please Note — This is Part One of a Two-Part Series. In April of 1939,…
Judge Rambo exercised respect, wisdom in Shelling case
There is an old legal adage that anyone who represents themselves in court “has a fool for a client.” When individuals choose to act as their own attorney, objectivity vanishes, emotions often take over, and the nuances of statutory law…