Patrick Braxton, the first Black mayor in Newbern’s history, will be reinstated.

For decades, white officials appointed Newbern’s mayor and council members in lieu of holding elections. Most residents weren’t even aware that there were supposed to be elections for these positions.

The settlement will reinstate Patrick Braxton as the mayor of Newbern, the first Black person to hold the position.

Braxton was the only candidate who filed qualifying paperwork with the county clerk in 2020, so he won the mayoral race by default. The incumbent, Haywood “Woody” Stokes III, hadn’t even bothered to fill out the paperwork to run again. Haywood Stokes Jr., his father, had previously been mayor of the rural Black Belt town.

Cross posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16944653

  • @[email protected]English
    42•6 months ago

    Kinda hard to throw them out when the majority didn’t know that they could.

    Most residents weren’t even aware that there were supposed to be elections for these positions.

    • @cheese_greater
      18•6 months ago

      🎶We were moving mountains long before we knew we could

    • @cm0002
      14•6 months ago

      I think he was meaning more “run them out of town” and less “vote them out of office”

      • @[email protected]English
        14•6 months ago

        Only white people can run people out of towns in the US without facing over the top legally supported retribution.