A Black Man Was Elected Mayor in Rural Alabama, but the White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve
A Black Man Was Elected Mayor in Rural Alabama, but the White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve
Town of 275 people, 89% black? Total of 30 white people? They should just individually name the problem people in the article
Horrific article to read, old mate had to go to fires by himself and respond to emergencies from black people while all the white people hid. Terrible
Not just that, but they locked and restricted his access to medical equipment so he had to make a detour to get a different one, and that time cost the person he was trying to save her life.
Complete scum.
Not just hid but tried to prevent him from responding at all.
Undeniably racist and absolutely disgusting.
Hopefully their houses catch on fire and no one helps them.
I feel like we need to have a more concerted focused effort against the racist bigoted trash people, wherever they are. Because they are the ones that don't belong in this country.
From the looks of it it takes another civil war, where the less barbaric people remove the more barbaric people from power. Unfortunately i am afraid that nothing short of that will work, as the system is so unstanle that things like this can happen.
But I was assured racism was over because Obama was President!
Sounds about white.
I think this is the same guy who was arrested by his own police force not long ago for “trespassing”. The guy walked down the driveway of a house he thought was abandoned, the homeowner saw him, grabbed his gun and held him at knife point until the police arrived and arrested him. I’ll see if I can’t find a link.
Edit: I was thinking of another (acting) black mayor of a southern state who’s being stymied by his racist colleagues. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna93318
Here's what I don't get... town is 85% black and only has 275 people.
That means a 234 to 41 split black to white. 5.7:1 ratio.
If those 41 people really are that racist and regressive, you haul them all out of their homes, tar and feather them, and ride them out of town on a rail.
This. Violence is not the answer.
Until it is. Violence sometimes only can be corrected with violence.
I suspect (based on nothing, really) that most white people in this country are not racist. It's the tiny pockets of diarrhea like this town that are disproportionately racist, and have disproportionate representation in national politics.
I wonder if WFH could change this, as liberal white people from places like California start moving to different states, and begin to turn them blue. Or maybe I'm being too optimistic?
Racism/bigotry is not really a yes or no thing. It is a spectrum. Everyone is at least a little bigoted. Some people are pretty far up in that racism spectrum though.
The problem isn't just small towns like this where the clock stopped 70 years ago, it's huge portions of the South.
Gentrification from blue states isn't happening because the services needed (high speed internet) aren't available in small towns like this, and, because of other problems, nobody from the outside wants to live there.
Alabama ranks #44/50 on a "Best States" list:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings
40 Crime & Corrections
33 Economy
44 Education
20 Fiscal Stability
44 Health Care
36 Infrastructure
47 Natural Environment
32 Opportunity
Haha, at first I read "country" as "county" and was like...wtf are you smoking, this is Dumbfuck, Alabama but on a country-wide level, I agree.
Idk about moving state to state but I noticed people's definition of "reasonable commuting distance" got a little bigger durring covid. Like I'll do a longer drive if I'm doing it 2x a week instead of 5x. People that'd otherwise be in town or a blue suburb pushed a little farther into the exurbs.
I think a lot of people are racist tho so idk if that's helping
That's just cruel. Someone shouldn't be not allowed serve soley for the color of their skin. That's not the point of the election – it's meant to be for the citizens elected this person! They're just being racist at this point and it's obvious!
It's honestly kind of sweet that you sound so surprised.
I agree with you, with the caveat that the article says that there wasn't an election - it was a win by default as the only person to qualify / submit candidacy.
So he was running unopposed? That happens all the time.
Sounds like a town so devoid of life that it would be more productive to just let it collapse.
There's a bunch of tiny rural towns that have basically no jobs and no real reason to exist anymore.
Globalization was not kind to rural America. And people listen to snake oil salesmen like Trump because he's the only one talking at them with a distorted compassion.
Jesus, that article just kept getting worse the more I read. Thanks for posting this. I was able to send a donation their way.
Wow, anyone who feels like we just have the "casual racism" of some people being impolite to other races needs to read this article. Full of stuff like:
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.
It's worse than the old cross-burning shit. Horrific. Not sure how to combat it when a whole town's leadership and infrastructure is so overtly racist.
With bricks through the windows of all their homes. Fuck these racist fucks. They're willing to let black peoples houses burn down for no reason? Yeah fuck them.
Perhaps not just "let". Look up the lady that's been helping him. Her house recently burned down. I didn't dig deep enough to know if anyone has tried to tie it to this particular town, but I'm gonna let them be guilty until proven innocent in this particular case.
And yet a bunch of people, mainly good ol boys, from the south say racism isn’t real. How messed up has the US become. It doesn’t matter what your skin color is, what matters is your integrity. This is why I am actively trying to get the hell out of Texas, I can’t stand racism no matter who it’s by.
I escaped Tennessee.
All I can say is: It gets better.
Get out as fast as you can, nobody deserves to have to live in the south.
Beautiful states with the absolutely most ugly people.
Facts. I transplanted here from Iowa in 2011. Everything was great until 2016 when the racist overtones really came to a head. My wife is a born Texan and she is liking the idea of moving to Colorado for more than the lack of of racism we see here.
I live in east Texas and the racism here is so prominent by all colors that it’s no longer appealing.
you've got to consider that to a lot of these people racism "isn't real" because their bar for what qualifies as racist is set incredibly high. "how could that be racist if it's true?"
you can see a similar anti-trans sentiment in the people who defend jk rowling. "she's just saying gender can't mismatch assigned sex, how could the truth be transphobic?" nothing could ever be transphobic or racist or whatever to these people when they think very concept of being bigoted isn't legitimate
True
My white former mother told my black wife both that A.) Racism is everywhere you go and also B.) Racism isn't that bad and she must be doing something to deserve the racism that our entirely white town was giving her. And that's why she's my former mother.
Another sign of a racist, deny and deflect. Classic narcissistic attitude. I can’t be racist it must be something you did
what's new? thats such disgusting behavior. can't believe this shit still goes on in 2023
Alabama, so no surprise. Town needs to rise up and take over.
This could happen In almost any rural area of almost any state.
Sounds about right. When I joined the military I met people from Alabama, and even people from other Southern states had nasty things to say about that state. I didn't believe it at first, but then I saw enough over time to realize, "I hate to say it, but maybe they're right. At least about some of the smaller towns and more rural areas."
I met a few nice people from Alabama, yes. I also met... a surprising number of not so nice types. I'm Asian by the way, not White. I'll let people fill in the gaps.
Asian who had to live in the south before I managed to escape.
It's probably worse than you've heard, I loved the midwest, but the south was just vile.
This is not a state specific thing, and it's using a single state as a scapegoat because of this single news story. This kind of shit could happen in rural areas of almost any state. This is a ignorance and racism issue, not a geography issue.
If theres one thing that pisses me off about lemmy its the word filter. I have no idea what you said.
Noah, get the boat.
but he's the mayor, wouldn't he have legal jurisdiction do serve anyway? up to and including arresting those that try to stop him?
The previous administration is still running the town, so how is Braxton going to arrest them when they control the police force?
He became mayor because he was the only one to qualify for election in 2020, because the incumbent declined to submit paperwork (because they weren't planning to actually hold an election; the last proper mayoral election was at least 60 years ago, according to the article). The city council responded by holding an unannounced (and probably illegal) special election to re-elect the previous mayor, which no one knew about so Braxton couldn't apply for it. So the previous mayor has simply continued doing the job, with the backing of the council and all his officials. That's why Braxton is bringing a lawsuit against them.
presumably the mayor will win the lawsuit, the other guy has no case.
"If we don't get them, they gonna get us all
I'm down for runnin' up on them crackers in they city hall" - Dead Prez
That is messed up. Racism can get quite bad.
Understatement of the millennia.
I read the post title and wondered which community it was and it was called usa so I just continued scrolling.
The I thought I should leave a trace of this experience nonetheless so here it was.
This dude sounds like a pretty weak mayor. He is literally the mayor, he can unilaterally appoint a new sheriff and arrest all 30 of the "white town leaders" for interfering with the official duties of the mayor. He has 100% of all official power that a local government has and I'd say at least 60% of the unofficial power, and yet he can't stop <30 people from running amuck?
He is either a collaborator, or so clueless that he should have never been mayor to begin with. Similar to Obama honestly.
Mid. Even if they did, you'd find some other reason to undermine the victim or defend the bigots like people like you always do.
arrest all 30 of the “white town leaders” for interfering with the official duties of the mayor
This is America, negroes can't arrest whites, that's how it's always been. If he tries anything like that he's going to jail and never coming back out.
There is no racism law in America, does that sound crazy? It is.
Tell me you don't understand soft power without etc....
Yea, that's what I'm saying, this dude has no fucking clue about soft-power, so why is he mayor and complaining to some random news conglomerate?
Those white fucking kkk should be run out of town. It fucked up to have a town that as no elections.
Especially a town that is 89% black. They should come together and take their town back.
And qualified immunity should not keep you away from breaking civil rights act. Fuck racist states.
Small towns are rough man. People will run as both the dem and republican candidate in my town and you can't vote in town meetings if you aren't a property owner
Small towns need to be made a bit smaller, so they stop being cesspits.
Where is this? Outside of HOA nonsense, I thought property ownership died as a requirement in the 1800's.
I guess the slightly less doxx-y question is: what states still allow that crap?
There ain't that many one solid protest from the surrounding communities would wreck the towns racists
Spoken by someone who has clearly never lived in the south.
Brown people in the south are afraid for good reason, you can't imagine the kind of terror those fat fucks will inflict because they know nobody can stop them.
They would arrest and convict the majority, and move on. With state support, 275 people is just not enough. A few surrounding communities? Their police forces would join in.
The small-town South Sucks if your skin isn't white.
if all kkk members were run out of all rural town; there would be no rural american anymore except for the new places they created
This rural town is 89 percent black. 59 percent of the black population in the US lives in the south in mostly rural places. Rural towns would still exist, they'd just be more pleasant and less racist. I'd even argue that rural America would thrive, because the majority of the population down there would be able to live their lives and do whatever they want, free of discrimination and prejudice.
If all of the KKK were to leave their current towns and start their own, it would be relatively small. According to estimates from 2016 there are about 5,000 - 8,000 KKK members in the US.
Bullshit. Don’t paint everyone with a broad brush.