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.

  • ed_cock@kbin.social
    113·
    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?

    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·
      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”.

      • ed_cock@kbin.social
        116·
        1 year ago

        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
          7·
          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.

    • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
      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.