"Black Mayor's Battle for Power and Justice in Alabama Town"

Patrick Braxton, a Black man who claims to have been elected mayor of Newbern, Alabama, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that White leaders in the town are preventing him from taking office. Braxton states that the White residents, who have historically controlled the government, refused to accept his election and held a special election to reappoint the acting mayor, Haywood Stokes III. The lawsuit also highlights a lack of elections in Newbern and the exclusion of Black residents from positions of power. Braxton is seeking to be granted access to his mayoral duties and for the defendants to be prohibited from conducting town business.