Shots Fired Into Greenwood Mayor’s Home, Also Targeted By Online “Hate Blog”

File this under “Yet Another Bizarre Story About a Louisiana Town’s First Black Mayor.”

Yesterday, two shots were fired into the home of Ernest Lampkins, Greenwood, Louisiana’s mayor. Lampkins is the first African-American to be elected mayor of Greenwood, a town of 2,600 located right outside of Shreveport. Lampkins believes the shooting was probably politically-motivated and claims it has not shatttered his resolve.

“Anytime you shoot in someone’s house, there is intent to kill,” Lampkins said.

The mayor said about 10 people in the town of some 2,600 residents oppose everything he does. “They’re really anti-administration. They are not team players. They are citizens who have a vendetta,” he said. “I’m not saying they have anything to do with it, but they have created an atmosphere to making such things possible.”

The story has already been picked up internationally, now appearing in the British paper, the Guardian, due, in large part, to the story of another Louisiana mayor, Gerald Washington. From the Associated Press article:

Greenwood is about 150 miles north of Westlake, where Gerald Washington, that town’s first black mayor, was found shot to death in a parking lot on Dec. 30, a few days before he was to take office. The coroner and the sheriff pronounced Washington’s death a suicide, but his family and supporters have questioned the ruling.

I hope we’re not earning a reputation for this.

On January 10, KTAL reported that Mayor Lampkins is also being targeted by an online “hate blog.”

KTAL News has learned that someone is using the internet to spread a message of hate aimed at the Greenwood Mayor Ernest Lampkins and his administration.

“The blog has always been one to condemn me. Call me chitlin heads and all kinds of racial names,” said Lampkins.

The Mayor says many of the posts are coming from members of the “Concerned Citizen`s Committee for Good Government,” a group who has vocally opposed his administration since day one.

“I`ve had meetings where they`ve walked by and called me a dumba**… In a public meeting.. They`ve said that they were doing to everything they could to keep this administration from being successful and quote take over the town,”said Lampkins.

Early Monday, someone fired two shotgun shells through Lampkin`s living room window. Since the attack, he`s started taking the threats more seriously and has been in contact with the NAACP.

“This is a group of racist people who have a racist agenda and not for the good of the town,” said Lampkins.