Imagine a black mayor elected in the United States locked out of City Hall for being black. This is another story of systemic racism in America. Patrick Braxton ran for and won the seat of mayor in a small town in Alabama called Newbern in 2020.
Mr. Braxton is suing Haywood Stokes III and the town council. Who were all self-appointed and self-installed. He is suing them for denying his rights and the rights of every resident in Newbern to have an elected mayor.
Patrick Braxton (left), Haywood Stokes III (right)
Handpicked Mayor
The town council of Newbern, Alabama, has hand-selected the mayor for decades. A town council that in its entire history has had a single black member in a town where the population is 85% black. This makes it unsurprising that there has been no black mayor ever in the town’s history.
In 2020, Braxton (Black) decided to run against the current mayor, Hayward Stokes III (White). Braxton won. Stokes failed to give the residents of Newbern public notice of the mayoral election. The town council would not handpick the mayor.
The reason Braxton won is because Braxton qualified for the election. Stokes did not qualify for the election. That caused Braxton to win by default and be declared the mayor by a judge. Braxton was now the first black mayor in the 165-year history of the town.
New mayor Braxton, appointed council members from the Black and White communities. Only the black members accepted.
And what happened next? The all-white mayor and town council met secretly and made themselves mayor and town council again. Ignoring the new council that Braxton put together. The all-white mayor and council said there was a problem with the election and made Stokes mayor again, saying Braxton was no longer mayor.
The Story Doesn’t Stop There
The town council and the mayor changed the locks on City Hall after they took over, locking Braxton out. Braxton cannot access the town’s PO box because the postmaster, appointed by the all-white council, will not let him. Braxton and his council don’t have access to government documents, bank statements, or any other information they need.
Stokes and his all-white council meet in secret instead of City Hall. This has been going on since 2020.
The 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act did not eradicate systemic racism in America.