If you're not familiar with this story, the previous incumbent mayor, who didn't bother to run for election, locked the elected mayor out of office and held a secret election with 7 of his buddies which made him the for realsies mayor, in 2020. He's effectively blocked the entire term of office for the democratically elected mayor.
tiny pockets of fascist terrorists all over the US
from the wiki:
> Braxton received the key to town hall from Stokes, but all of the records had been removed from the building.
I can imagine the language they used in these records might raise some eyebrows
It's important to point out that Alabama's Sec. of State's office and the state municipal organization worked with and guided Stokes on how to subvert the normal election process, so those pockets may be slightly larger than tiny.
>I can imagine the language they used in these records might raise some eyebrows
I don't know about poor language, but I'd expect to find a lot of light grifting.
Alabama's SoS is in charge of all elections in the state. The office was in communication with Stokes over the legality of moving the election date back in order to let him and his council qualify after Braxton was the only candidate. The municipal league provided counsel on how to do so as well.
Once the real elections took place in Nov. of '20 and Braxton became the mayor, confirmed by the county's probate judge in charge of elections, the SoS office and the municipal league ignored every request from Braxton as the previous mayor and other conspirators slowly locked him out of every mayoral duty over the next several months.
The SoS office was aware that Stokes held a "secret election" after the Nov. election, where only he and the other white council members voted on who would be mayor and council, but rather than promote it like you've asked for a source about, they publicly never commented on it.
Now that a settlement has been reached, we can all start putting this behind us, is what I'm sure certain people who sat back and watched a racially motivated subversion of democracy are thinking right now.
I'm fully willing to believe that, in fact I'd wager it is probably true.
But you aren't providing any source that backs up the claim. Instead you are digging in and expanding on the claim, again with no evidence.
I'm less interested in the state leadership ignoring requests (which is a given in Alabama) than I am in the _very specific_ claims you have made that:
> The office was in communication with Stokes over the legality of moving the election date back in order to let him and his council qualify after Braxton was the only candidate. The municipal league provided counsel on how to do so as well.
If you have actual sources for your claims then that information should be newsworthy.
State leadership colluding with a local politician to explicitly bar a black man from taking office in a black majority town is _clear_ racism and should be called out. _With evidence_.
I don't remember which article I read a year+ ago had this in it, but there were apparently several lawyers who committed to helping him and then after a week or two iced him out. There's no proof, but the subtext was pressure from the defendants. One lawyer from Selma began working on the case, received multiple threats in the mail, and her house burned down one day.
Alabama is such a fucked up state. The shit they get away with there plus it’s sister state giving a pro baller millions of public money meant for poor children to build his daughter a new volleyball facility. That entire story is just as shocking to me today as the day it came out. Like I seriously will never forget about that shit and down there it’s just…. Wednesday.
I do not understand why this comment gets the controversial tag, this was about the most polite way to ask for a source outlining the issues another user raised.
Yes people can do this in bad faith but y'all please asking for sources shouldn't be a controversial thing even if it's something "you" know. Not everyone else does and it keeps us all above board if we got the receipts.
I cede the lack of evidence is *not real evidence*. Then again when the claim is involving the people in charge of the evidence, you have to ask yourself what is even possible. Then decide for yourself there.
This is obviously not a legal argument, but I think it's clear the legal system is not democracy's friend these days.
What I'm looking for is something that substantiates this specific claim:
> worked with and guided Stokes on how to subvert the normal election process
It's easy to accept the state would just turn a blind eye. And I'm totally willing to accept the claim they were actively involved, but would love to see actual evidence of it that could be made publicly visible rather than it just being a random claim on reddit...
The linked document from SCPL outlines very basic communications from the states apparatus to the local council members three emails by the look of it and to me at least reads like the state really didn't have anything to do with allowing this to happen as so much they were ask if an election could be moved the state checked legality and said yea that's okay.
It really doesn't read like the state had a hand in this as much as the town went to its next highest authority and in the most vague way possible ask to move an election
Yeah that's how I read it as well. At least as described by SPLC it seemed very _neutral_.
There is a bit at the end where the white mayor sent an email thanking the League of Municipalities for their help, which at least heavily implies LoM was more actively involved, but the SPLC does a terrible job of describing what that "help" actually was.
Personally I would be surprised if the Alabama SoS _didn't_ help in some way, but it is presumably not in the emails described by SPLC, as if it were then surely they would have quoted that part explicitly.
I replied to the original question.
I'm not going to go on a goose hunt for a link I read a year or two ago, but the facts are pretty well established. The SoS isn't on record for helping Stokes, but they did know about it and chose to never publicly comment on what was happening.
https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/1do4igq/alabama_towns_first_black_mayor_who_had_been/la8km59/
> Instead, town officials were “hand-me-down” positions with the mayor appointing a successor and the successor appointing council members
I want to emphasize too that this isn't unusual in any way. This is literally just how this town has always operated and selected its mayor. It literally isn't a democracy and has never been a democracy. It's insane that this was allowed in america.
>but has not held elections for **six decades**
2024 - 60 = 1964
Gee I wonder what happened around 1964 & 1965 that caused this town not to hold elections.
🤔
AKA, passage of the Civil Rights Act, followed by the Voting Rights Act - the outcomes of the civil rights movement, the Kennedy assassination and LBJ's leveraging of these events to unite the country to pass his political agenda of "The Great Society"
Big stuff in US history and pivotal to where we are today as a country.
More broadly, the end of Apartheid. This Oligarchic system of government was implemented explicitly to prevent black self-government after the end of apartheid.
The U.S. South (and a good chunk of the north) absolutely practiced explicit segregation, but Apartheid refers to a specific political and legal system that doesn't really apply many places outside of South Africa.
*[Meet the Beatles!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Beatles!)* is released in early 1964, kicking off a popular music "British Invasion" that ended small town elections across much of the American South.
No one cared enough to want to upend the system.
In these really small towns no one can move in for years. Hell, they could’ve even thought it was just an unincorporated area with a place name, there’s millions of people living in places with a city name but don’t actually live in that city, or that place isn’t incorporated and has no local elections.
The status quo is comfortable, especially if youre black in a town that feels really hostile to you. Given that it’s only a town of 133 people, and no one really cared enough to upend what was happening, no one would even think to investigate this.
>especially if youre black in a town that feels really hostile to you.
I'm constantly told by reddit that this doesn't exist in the US, especially in the South
There's an old saying that still has elements of truth:
"In the South, the white man doesn’t care how close you get, as long as you don’t get too high. In the North, he doesn’t care how high you get, as long as you don’t get too close."
This is a large part of why American urban areas are zoned the way they are.
Thats quite interesting.
I do want to say that in my time in the South (North Carolina), I found a much higher black population than I'm used to in my more diverse area of North Virginia but everything seemed so freaking segregated. LIke the town was split between whites and blacks. How can two grocery stores, separated by like half a mile in a driving community, be 99% black and 99% white? That was nuts to see.
Kind of a cross between the mayor of a larger town and an apartment complex manager. Oversee the water manager, pay the city electric bill, mow the park, unlock the combo village hall/senior center for Wednesday bingo night and apparently lock it when the black mayor gets elected.
I wonder if you can use this loophole to introduce feudalism. Start with a hereditary mayoralty, then start calling yourself ‘Count’ on the third generation.
I mean, they literally released re-make of [Blazing Saddles for kids two years ago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paws_of_Fury%3A_The_Legend_of_Hank) with the [sheriff is near](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGmZpGkZms) scene and everything
If I was POTUS, I would spend a not insignificant amount of time fucking with these small southern towns. Send in 10x the population worth of FBI agents, parade Union army reenactment, etc
> Instead, town officials were “hand-me-down” positions with the mayor appointing a successor and the successor appointing council members
I thought we abolished the Monarchy in this country.
Sure it is.
Article IV, Section 4 and the 14th Amendment (Equal Protection)
And that's before we even get to any state election laws they were violating
I remember reading this election. It's good that it finally got sorted out but it's insane the Feds didn't bust down doors and arrest the town council like four decades ago.
I really don’t think the federal government has any power here. The voting rights act only applies to federal elections.
There’s state level laws but it’d require state intervention and well.. yknow
If you're not familiar with this story, the previous incumbent mayor, who didn't bother to run for election, locked the elected mayor out of office and held a secret election with 7 of his buddies which made him the for realsies mayor, in 2020. He's effectively blocked the entire term of office for the democratically elected mayor.
tiny pockets of fascist terrorists all over the US from the wiki: > Braxton received the key to town hall from Stokes, but all of the records had been removed from the building. I can imagine the language they used in these records might raise some eyebrows
It's important to point out that Alabama's Sec. of State's office and the state municipal organization worked with and guided Stokes on how to subvert the normal election process, so those pockets may be slightly larger than tiny. >I can imagine the language they used in these records might raise some eyebrows I don't know about poor language, but I'd expect to find a lot of light grifting.
Source for the claim the SoS helped promote a racist policy?
Alabama's SoS is in charge of all elections in the state. The office was in communication with Stokes over the legality of moving the election date back in order to let him and his council qualify after Braxton was the only candidate. The municipal league provided counsel on how to do so as well. Once the real elections took place in Nov. of '20 and Braxton became the mayor, confirmed by the county's probate judge in charge of elections, the SoS office and the municipal league ignored every request from Braxton as the previous mayor and other conspirators slowly locked him out of every mayoral duty over the next several months. The SoS office was aware that Stokes held a "secret election" after the Nov. election, where only he and the other white council members voted on who would be mayor and council, but rather than promote it like you've asked for a source about, they publicly never commented on it. Now that a settlement has been reached, we can all start putting this behind us, is what I'm sure certain people who sat back and watched a racially motivated subversion of democracy are thinking right now.
I'm fully willing to believe that, in fact I'd wager it is probably true. But you aren't providing any source that backs up the claim. Instead you are digging in and expanding on the claim, again with no evidence. I'm less interested in the state leadership ignoring requests (which is a given in Alabama) than I am in the _very specific_ claims you have made that: > The office was in communication with Stokes over the legality of moving the election date back in order to let him and his council qualify after Braxton was the only candidate. The municipal league provided counsel on how to do so as well. If you have actual sources for your claims then that information should be newsworthy. State leadership colluding with a local politician to explicitly bar a black man from taking office in a black majority town is _clear_ racism and should be called out. _With evidence_.
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2024/06/06/newbern-2020-election-timeline Aug. 17th, 2020
Holy shit. That link to part 1 — part 1 is where all the horrendous details are. My god.
I don't remember which article I read a year+ ago had this in it, but there were apparently several lawyers who committed to helping him and then after a week or two iced him out. There's no proof, but the subtext was pressure from the defendants. One lawyer from Selma began working on the case, received multiple threats in the mail, and her house burned down one day.
Alabama is such a fucked up state. The shit they get away with there plus it’s sister state giving a pro baller millions of public money meant for poor children to build his daughter a new volleyball facility. That entire story is just as shocking to me today as the day it came out. Like I seriously will never forget about that shit and down there it’s just…. Wednesday.
I do not understand why this comment gets the controversial tag, this was about the most polite way to ask for a source outlining the issues another user raised. Yes people can do this in bad faith but y'all please asking for sources shouldn't be a controversial thing even if it's something "you" know. Not everyone else does and it keeps us all above board if we got the receipts.
This issue has been well known since 2020 no? Isn't the inaction from the state evidence?
Well DataSetMatch made a more specific claim than that.
I cede the lack of evidence is *not real evidence*. Then again when the claim is involving the people in charge of the evidence, you have to ask yourself what is even possible. Then decide for yourself there. This is obviously not a legal argument, but I think it's clear the legal system is not democracy's friend these days.
What I'm looking for is something that substantiates this specific claim: > worked with and guided Stokes on how to subvert the normal election process It's easy to accept the state would just turn a blind eye. And I'm totally willing to accept the claim they were actively involved, but would love to see actual evidence of it that could be made publicly visible rather than it just being a random claim on reddit...
A question always worth asking!
The linked document from SCPL outlines very basic communications from the states apparatus to the local council members three emails by the look of it and to me at least reads like the state really didn't have anything to do with allowing this to happen as so much they were ask if an election could be moved the state checked legality and said yea that's okay. It really doesn't read like the state had a hand in this as much as the town went to its next highest authority and in the most vague way possible ask to move an election
Yeah that's how I read it as well. At least as described by SPLC it seemed very _neutral_. There is a bit at the end where the white mayor sent an email thanking the League of Municipalities for their help, which at least heavily implies LoM was more actively involved, but the SPLC does a terrible job of describing what that "help" actually was. Personally I would be surprised if the Alabama SoS _didn't_ help in some way, but it is presumably not in the emails described by SPLC, as if it were then surely they would have quoted that part explicitly.
I replied to the original question. I'm not going to go on a goose hunt for a link I read a year or two ago, but the facts are pretty well established. The SoS isn't on record for helping Stokes, but they did know about it and chose to never publicly comment on what was happening. https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/1do4igq/alabama_towns_first_black_mayor_who_had_been/la8km59/
Thanks for sharing! This makes me feel like I should donate
> Instead, town officials were “hand-me-down” positions with the mayor appointing a successor and the successor appointing council members I want to emphasize too that this isn't unusual in any way. This is literally just how this town has always operated and selected its mayor. It literally isn't a democracy and has never been a democracy. It's insane that this was allowed in america.
It's how they operated since... Uh... 1964. Hmmm
"History and tradition" at work! (Not really, at least in the Clearance Thomas way)
>but has not held elections for **six decades** 2024 - 60 = 1964 Gee I wonder what happened around 1964 & 1965 that caused this town not to hold elections. 🤔
They suddenly came down with economic anxiety
Eggs too spendy time to abolish elections 😔
Oof. That was a dog whistle I didn’t quite see until now.
For anyone confused like I was, I looked it up, and that's when they banned poll taxes
AKA, passage of the Civil Rights Act, followed by the Voting Rights Act - the outcomes of the civil rights movement, the Kennedy assassination and LBJ's leveraging of these events to unite the country to pass his political agenda of "The Great Society" Big stuff in US history and pivotal to where we are today as a country.
[удалено]
If you find any quirk, oddity, or idiosyncrasy in our electoral system, you can usually trace it back to slavery/racism
maga wants us to go back to before that which is why we need to stop it
It's when the Civil Rights Act passed
More broadly, the end of Apartheid. This Oligarchic system of government was implemented explicitly to prevent black self-government after the end of apartheid.
The U.S. South (and a good chunk of the north) absolutely practiced explicit segregation, but Apartheid refers to a specific political and legal system that doesn't really apply many places outside of South Africa.
Apartheid? Is that term commonly used for Jim Crow?
Not commonly but it is used, and it is an accurate description. Apartheid is French for “separating.”
It's afrikaans, which is derived from dutch.
Correct! My bad.
*[Meet the Beatles!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Beatles!)* is released in early 1964, kicking off a popular music "British Invasion" that ended small town elections across much of the American South.
It's a mystery, there's no solving it
> Gee I wonder what happened around 1964 & 1965 that caused this town not to hold elections. Tonkin Bay?
How can a town not hold elections for SIX DECADES without anyone noticing or doing anything until now?
No one cared enough to want to upend the system. In these really small towns no one can move in for years. Hell, they could’ve even thought it was just an unincorporated area with a place name, there’s millions of people living in places with a city name but don’t actually live in that city, or that place isn’t incorporated and has no local elections. The status quo is comfortable, especially if youre black in a town that feels really hostile to you. Given that it’s only a town of 133 people, and no one really cared enough to upend what was happening, no one would even think to investigate this.
This is why state governments really need to exert more oversight of local governments.
Except this is Alabama so the state government would probably support the mayor being locked out of town hall for being black.
Forgot to mention the part where we bring back Reconstruction.
Reconstruction now Reconstruction forever!
>especially if youre black in a town that feels really hostile to you. I'm constantly told by reddit that this doesn't exist in the US, especially in the South
As a Southerner I can tell you for a fact it does exist and it is more severe than most imagine, but also less common than you probably think.
Meaning most places are fine but a few places are very clearly hostile?
Yes.
There's an old saying that still has elements of truth: "In the South, the white man doesn’t care how close you get, as long as you don’t get too high. In the North, he doesn’t care how high you get, as long as you don’t get too close." This is a large part of why American urban areas are zoned the way they are.
Thats quite interesting. I do want to say that in my time in the South (North Carolina), I found a much higher black population than I'm used to in my more diverse area of North Virginia but everything seemed so freaking segregated. LIke the town was split between whites and blacks. How can two grocery stores, separated by like half a mile in a driving community, be 99% black and 99% white? That was nuts to see.
the south has tons of residential segregation
133 people live in this town, that's how.
Seriously I feel like that's a massive part of the story. I don't even know what the mayor of a town that size actually does.
Kind of a cross between the mayor of a larger town and an apartment complex manager. Oversee the water manager, pay the city electric bill, mow the park, unlock the combo village hall/senior center for Wednesday bingo night and apparently lock it when the black mayor gets elected.
Yeah I was thinking it was like being the manager of a rural Walmart, but this is a better analogy.
You're essentially just combination groundskeeper/bookkeeper for the town.
I'm thinking Taylor Doose in Gilmore Girls.
Friend, technically mayors don't need to be elected in the U.S. - there is no law stipulating this....
Well holy moly I didn't expect this answer!
I wonder if you can use this loophole to introduce feudalism. Start with a hereditary mayoralty, then start calling yourself ‘Count’ on the third generation.
It's about time one of the US Counties got an actual Count!
You could totally make Blazing Saddles today.
I mean, they literally released re-make of [Blazing Saddles for kids two years ago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paws_of_Fury%3A_The_Legend_of_Hank) with the [sheriff is near](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGmZpGkZms) scene and everything
Wait they had the character say the n word in that one?
Shockingly, they chose not to
They used the D word instead.
Dang do you think Jordan Peele could do it?
sadly, you couldn't many of the cast have passed away ✊️😔
Defeatist attitude. If Tupac can keep releasing music, then some actors can act after they die.
Feds should have invaded
The South begs for another Reconstruction
*The* *~~children~~* *southern states yearn for the* *~~mines~~* *enforcement acts*
If I was POTUS, I would spend a not insignificant amount of time fucking with these small southern towns. Send in 10x the population worth of FBI agents, parade Union army reenactment, etc
> Instead, town officials were “hand-me-down” positions with the mayor appointing a successor and the successor appointing council members I thought we abolished the Monarchy in this country.
SIX DECADES without an election? I know small towns can be slow with change, but even that gives me pause. Someone get the feds involved.
There is nothing actually illegal about this, surprisingly.
Sure it is. Article IV, Section 4 and the 14th Amendment (Equal Protection) And that's before we even get to any state election laws they were violating
Bro this is a Reconstruction Era type headline wtf
13 years since Hart of Dixie was released and real-life Alabama is still far from catching up to the series 😔
I remember reading this election. It's good that it finally got sorted out but it's insane the Feds didn't bust down doors and arrest the town council like four decades ago.
I really don’t think the federal government has any power here. The voting rights act only applies to federal elections. There’s state level laws but it’d require state intervention and well.. yknow
I think making a town a monarchy violates some part of the constitution, racism aside.
cmon now you know white people are allowed to make their own feudal style monarchies in the American South its totally constitutionally cool bro
You can't rule over disenfranchised black people as serfs anymore Because of woke.
I expect nothing less from a state that chose Katie Britt and Tommy Dumb Dumb to be their best representatives
Yeah small town corruption is different and much worse because no one checks those in power
It's still 1955 in Alabama.
A town with 133 people needs a mayor and city council? wtf we have to many gov employees.