this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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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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[–] [email protected] 117 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Braxton said in the lawsuit, which CBS News reviewed, that Newbern had not held an election "for decades." Instead, "the office of mayor was 'inherited' by a hand-picked successor," and that mayor then chose town council members, again without an election. All prior mayors have been White residents, the lawsuit said, even though about 85% of Newbern's population is Black. Only one Black person has ever served on the town council.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago

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

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year 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.

[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 year 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago