Patrick Braxton said that the "minority White residents of (Newburn), long accustomed to exercising total control over the government, refused to accept his election as mayor.

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.

  • themeatbridge
    70•1 year ago

    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.

      • czech
        26•1 year ago

        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)?

          • czech
            11•1 year ago

            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”.

              • czech
                8•1 year 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
                6•1 year ago

                More like made an ass out of yourself but sure bud

          • @wolfpack86
            4•1 year 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
        21•1 year ago

        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.