First Black mayor of Ala. town who was locked out of office reinstated

(NewsNation) — Patrick Braxton, elected as the first Black mayor of Newbern, Alabama, in 2020, is set to be reinstated to his position, years after he says white officials locked him out of town hall.

Braxton, according to Al.com, filed a lawsuit against Newbern in federal court. On Friday, the two parties agreed to settle, meaning they will avoid a trial.

Now, per the settlement with the previous mayor, Haywood Stokes III and white council members, Braxton will be reinstated. The settlement still has to be approved by U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose of the Southern District of Alabama. 

“I’m pleased with the outcome and the community is pleased. I think they are more pleased that they can voice their opinion and vote,” Braxton, 57, said Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Newbern Government

Newbern, according to AP, has a population of 133 and is about 40 miles west of Selma. Despite having a mayor-council system of government, the town has not had elections for sixty years. Braxton’s lawsuit said in lieu of elections, town officials were given “hand-me-down” positions with the mayor appointing a successor.” 

Doing this, the AP reported, made it so the town’s government had an overwhelming white majority, even tough Black residents outnumber white ones by a 2-1 margin.

In 2020, Braxton met the qualifications to run for mayor, a non-partisan position — and was the only person to do so, Al.com wrote. 

After appointing a town council, Braxton said in the lawsuit, he was met with resistance when trying to actually take office.

The Lawsuit

Town officials, Braxton alleged in his lawsuit, “conspired to prevent the first Black mayor from exercising the duties and powers of his new job” and stop what was supposed to be the town’s first mostly-Black council from being seated. Locks at town hall were changed, the lawsuit said, and outgoing council members held a secret meeting to set up a special election. The AP reported that the lawsuit says members’ aim in this was to “fraudulently” re-appoint themselves as the town council.

“Every time I turned a corner, there was another obstacle in my way,” Braxton said in an interview with the New York Times, where he detailed his plans to set up his cabinet and run for re-election. 

Defendants, in court filings, denied any wrongdoing, with town officials saying claiming Braxton’s election as mayor was “invalid” and that the special election war proper. 

Terms of the proposed settlement state that, along with returning as mayor, Braxton will get immediate access to the town hall. 

All other “individuals holding themselves out as town officials will effectively resign and/or cease all responsibilities with respect to serving in any town position or maintaining any town property or accounts,” the proposal is quoted by the AP as saying.