Blunderbuss Firozabad
Made of Pumpkin pie
Patrick Braxton, 57. Woody Stokes III
“When I first became mayor, [a white woman told me] the town was not ready for a Black mayor,” Braxton recalls.
The town is 85% Black.
Newbern, Alabama
"In 2020, a controversy arose as the only candidate to file for the mayoral election — Patrick Braxton — was obstructed from assuming office by the previous officeholder (Woody Stokes III) and the town council.
It is alleged that a proper election has not been held in Newbern in decades, with the mayorship being passed from "one friend to another".
As of June 2023, Stokes remains the acting mayor, with Braxton unable to carry out any duties.
In response, Braxton filed a federal civil rights suit, arguing that the actions of the town council constitute racial disenfranchisement.
This is further compounded by the fact that despite being a majority black town, executive offices in Newbern have historically been exclusively held by white people."
" According to the lawsuit, the city council was informed in August 2020 that Braxton was the incoming lawful mayor, but the city council called a special undisclosed meeting, where it passed a city resolution creating a new election and moving the deadline to file for candidacy back."
" Braxton says in the lawsuit that the second election never took place, and no one knew about it until Braxton discovered the discarded meeting minutes in the City Hall.
In the minutes, a councilman introduces a resolution announcing that Braxton is the mayor which passes unanimously, but Woody then says that Braxton's election was a "mistake" and needed to be rectified through a new election, the lawsuit says. "
They changed the locks to the town hall which also serves as the fire station.
Patrick Braxton has been a volunteer fireman for over a decade.
" Not only has he been locked out of the town hall and fought fires alone, but he’s been followed by a drone and unable to retrieve the town’s mail and financial accounts, he says.
Rather than concede, Haywood “Woody” Stokes III, the former white mayor, along with his council members, reappointed themselves to their positions after ordering a special election that no one knew about."
" “I have been on several house fires by myself,” Braxton says. “They hear the radio and wouldn’t come. I know they hear it because I called dispatch, and dispatch set the tone call three or four times for Newbern because we got a certain tone.”
"Two years ago, Braxton says he was the only volunteer firefighter in his department to respond to a tree fire near a Black person’s home in the town of 275 people.
As Braxton, 57, actively worked to put out the fire, he says, one of his white colleagues tried to take the keys to his fire truck to keep him from using it.
In another incident, Braxton, who was off duty at the time, overheard an emergency dispatch call for a Black woman experiencing a heart attack.
He drove to the fire station to retrieve the automated external defibrillator, or AED machine, but the locks were changed, so he couldn’t get into the facility.
He raced back to his house, grabbed his personal machine, and drove over to the house, but he didn’t make it in time to save her.
Braxton wasn’t able to gain access to the building or equipment until the Hale County Emergency Management Agency director intervened, the lawsuit said."
OH, these damn SJWs, amirite? Why do they care so much about the law being applied equally?
A Black man elected mayor of an Alabama town says white residents conspired to hold a secret election to unseat him: lawsuit
Patrick Braxton, who won an Alabama town's mayoral election, is suing white officials who he says held a special election to get him out.
www.insider.com
A Black Man Was Elected Mayor in Rural Alabama, but the White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve
For three years, Patrick Braxton says he has experienced harassment and intimidation after becoming the first Black mayor in Newbern, Alabama.
capitalbnews.org
