A predominantly white section of Baton Rouge has now been allowed to secede from the Black-majority Louisiana state capital.
Local news station WGXA reports that an eastern Baton Rouge parish will now be known as the city of St. George after Louisiana's state Supreme Court overturned lower courts' rulings that denied residents in the parish to form their own city.
Norman Browning, the St. George Transition District Chairman, described the ruling as "a historical and exciting day for the City of St George citizens" and vowed to "build an efficient, productive, and vibrant city while contributing to a thriving East Baton Rouge Parish."
However, the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP warned that allowing a wealthy white area of the city to simply secede set a bad precedent that could worsen racial relations and even lead to segregation in the city.
READ MORE: Read this powerful GOP senator’s pay-to-play 'benefits package' for lobbyists
“The St. George plan poses significant risks to our education system, threatens the continuity of critical programs, and challenges community representation,” the organization said. “The creation of a new municipality introduces considerable uncertainty around funding allocation for our schools, jeopardizing the cornerstone of our community's future: education.”
Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome was opposed to the move and said that "threats to basic services that effect our citizens’ quality of life are at stake" with the decision to secede.
