Lake Charles City Council members agreed to the name “Contraband Parkway” for a road planned to extend behind Target connecting Holly Hill Road and Nelson — a move that drew strong objections from councilwoman Mary Morris and one resident.

The new road will run through Contraband Pointe, a 150-acre development bordering Contraband Bayou. The road is funded through state transportation department dollars and will cost just over $10 million, according to the state’s website. It’s scheduled for completion in the spring of 2020.

Morris said she objected to having the word “contraband” in a street name. She said the word — which refers to illegal goods — connotes slavery.

“As African-Americans, we were the contraband at one time,” Morris said. “Why are we today still naming areas things like ‘Contraband Parkway’ when it does talk about a certain culture that we did such grievous things to a long time ago?”

She said she was “very upset” by the ordinance and that her vote would be “absolutely not.”

Lake Charles resident Paul Geary told council members that he, too, thought the word had ties to slavery.

“‘Contraband’ means just what it means,” Geary said. “Maybe I’m naive, but I thought councils and local government were for all people.”

Geary called it a “prime example” of white supremacy in action and told council members they were wrong to vote in favor. Council president Rodney Geyen asked Geary to refrain from calling out council members directly, and Geary consented.

Geary suggested the city name it after a U.S. veteran, a resident who has contributed to the community or an elected official.

“This is why the city has been stifled for 50 years,” Geary said. “We’re living in the 21st century. When are we going to go forward?”

Mary Hopkins, a local commercial real estate agent representing the LLC behind Contraband Pointe, said the intent was not to connote racism. The name was chosen “purely because the property borders Contraband Bayou,” she said.

“It makes sense that if the whole development is called ‘Contraband Pointe,’ which has already been approved, that we call the boulevard the same as the development,” Hopkins said.

Councilwoman Luvertha August agreed that the project shouldn’t be voted down.

“If I’m going to look forward, there’s some things I have to be positive about, and I can’t find an insult in everything,” August said. “If this area for years has been known as ‘Contraband Bayou,’ why not name the road by what originally was out there? If it was some slave owner or something indicative of someone in bondage, I could see that, but not this.”

Six out of seven council members voted to approve the name; Morris voted against.