this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023

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Black man who says he was elected mayor of Alabama town alleges that White leaders are keeping him from position (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 2 years ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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A Black man who says he was elected mayor of a rural Alabama town but has been kept from taking office by White leaders of the town has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.

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[+] MicroWave@lemmy.world 117 points 2 years ago (3 children)

[deleted]

[–] Jackcooper@lemmy.world 65 points 2 years ago

Inheriting political positions is literally anti-American. We fought a war over this. Fucking Alabama.

[–] ed_cock@kbin.social 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Braxton was allegedly the only person who qualified for the position of mayor, according to the lawsuit. Stokes "did not bother to qualify as a candidate," the lawsuit said, even though he knew Braxton was planning to run. No candidates qualified for town council positions, either.

Braxton was elected mayor by default, making him the first Black mayor of Newbern in the 165 years since the town was founded.

That's an important bit of context, they still didn't have a proper election.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 70 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They did have a proper election. There was only one candidate, so he won. Then they had a second, improper election where only the previous council was allowed to qualify for office or vote.

[+] ed_cock@kbin.social -21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Legally yes, but part of the article makes it sound like there was a regular election between two candidates with everything you expect and the winner is being denied. That's not the case and we don't know how the citizens actually feel about this. It did, after all, take decades for someone to do this.

Not that any of this should have ever happened in the first place, they should have just run the elections normally.

[–] czech@no.faux.moe 26 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes, I'm sure they haven't held an election in 165 years because the 85% black population all agreed it would just be a waste of time. Are you serous?

There actually was a regular election- the incumbents just declined to run a candidate against Braxton. Are you suggesting we should cast doubt on that result until the incumbents agree to qualify a candidate (so, never)?

[+] ed_cock@kbin.social -12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Yes, I'm sure they haven't held an election in 165 years because the 85% black population all agreed it would just be a waste of time. Are you serous?

What are you suggesting happened? Nobody seemed to give a shit for decades even though the situation seems clearly in favour of whoever actually decides to go through the official channels. It sounds like everyone has just been completely apathetic to who's running the town, including the 85% black majority.

There actually was a regular election

What I mean by "regular" is the kind of election where people go out to vote for one of two or more candidates. Someone winning by default doesn't say much about what the people want, except that they, once again, don't seem to really care.

[–] czech@no.faux.moe 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

What are you suggesting happened?

I'm suggesting that what happened with this election may have happened in the past.

When he approached Stokes for information about running for mayor, Stokes allegedly gave Braxton "wrong information about how to qualify" for the election, and did not provide public notice to residents about the election.

just weeks after his election, Stokes and his council members Gary Broussard, Jesse Donald Leverett, Voncille Brown Thomas and Willie Richard Tucker allegedly "met in secret to adopt a 'special' election ordinance." Notice of the meeting was not published, and the group set a special election for Oct. 6, 2020.

No notice of that election was ever published, according to the lawsuit. Because the election was not publicized, only Stokes and his council members qualified.

you wrote:

It sounds like everyone has just been completely apathetic to who's running the town, including the 85% black majority.

Does it? It actually sounds like a white minority council bends over backwards to keep themselves in power by ignoring opposition and holding private special elections.

What I mean by "regular" is the kind of election where people go out to vote for one of two or more candidates. Someone winning by default doesn't say much about what the people want, except that they, once again, don't seem to really care.

Don't confuse oppression with apathy.

Stokes and his council allegedly changed the locks for a third time, and according to the lawsuit, Braxton and his council have not had "uninterrupted access" to the building since April 2021. This meant that in November 2022, he could not help set up voting machines for Newbern's most recent election.

They will not let them hold elections. Read the article before you "innocently assume" these people "don't seem to really care".

[+] ed_cock@kbin.social -15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

I don't see how a small group like that could truly oppress them, especially in an age where everything can easily be documented with video proof and when this case seem clear cut. Someone could have done this ten or twenty years ago. Running a small campaign on the platform of "fuck those racists" should be simple enough in a town with an 85% black majority, but that wasn't even necessary here because that clique's so dumb.

Anyway, I've made my point, you can have the last word.

[–] czech@no.faux.moe 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I don't see how a small group like that could truly oppress them

That's wild because it's literally explained in the article and then quoted by me here. It's the part of my posts you keep ignoring.

Your questions are not unanswered- the white minority council has evidentially maintained power by ignoring elections and by holding private special elections, like they did in 2020, and by also refusing to allow elections to take place, like they did in 2022.

The only point you've made is that reading the article is not a requirement to comment on it.

[–] jaye@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

More like made an ass out of yourself but sure bud

[–] wolfpack86@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I think the whole reason that they didn't field a candidate against Braxton is precisely to get people casting doubt on the a validity of "won by default".

There is a process to hold office, everyone has a pretty good idea of what that means. They can't plead ignorance.

[–] zaph@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There are a large number of local elections decided because only one person applied for the job and they don't have any issues like this.

[–] DeanFogg@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago

Sounds fucky

[–] vd1n@lemmy.ml 33 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Small towns suck. Big towns suck. Cities suck. America sucks and it's not coming back.

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If this happened in 2021 and 2022 why wait till now to file a federal lawsuit?

[–] Pandantic@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No one would take his case.

[–] Reliant1087@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

Not just that, the first lawyers he approached scammed him I think.

[–] zencat@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

America needs free and reformed education and more psychedelics.

[–] kklusz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Do you see either of those happening anytime soon?

[–] Lemjukes@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

It's a shame, aside from all the racism, Newbern actually seems like a lovely little southern small town.

To clarify, this came in response to looking up Newbern on Google maps and seeing the only photo attached to the town is a group of smiling black women celebrating the 4th of July. If that's the representation of the town, it seems like a nice place.

I probably should have said more specifically 'aside from the racist white minority leadership it seems like it could be a really nice place.' Nice places can have shit leaders. Was happy to see the town hall already has some one star reviews in response to this story. Hopefully more attention will help them toss the bigots to the curb.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 30 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I dunno, man. The racism sounds like it’s one of the towns primary characteristics.

[–] Jarmer@slrpnk.net 21 points 2 years ago

Yeah lol. You can’t really “aside from the racism” when that’s their primary focus.

[–] Lemjukes@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

Pretty sure the more than %70 black/African American town population might disagree with you. Seems pretty unkind and disingenuous to paint a whole town as a shithole because some assholes are in charge.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

It’s a shame, aside from all the racism, Newbern actually seems like a lovely little southern small town.

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

[–] XaeroDegreaz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

There's 130 people that live in that town. No one there really gives a flying

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