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#firefighter jim
muirmarie · 23 days
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jim being canonically the shortest one of the triumvirate is genuinely so important to me lmao, like yesssssss, let that beefy babe be shorter than both his boyfriends!!!!
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soupinaboot · 30 days
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Firefighter Steve Harrington and Chief of Police Jim Hopper beefing at every party get together.
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trashendence · 2 years
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iri i need to know who jim the hot firefighter is. you can't just leave that in my tags and bounce i DEMAND ANSWERS
help why is this so funny. jim is the hot firefighter turned paramedic turned doctor who was married to the one and only melinda gordon (jlh) in ghost whisperer.
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he’s THEE malewife and he and au!buck should f-[lightning strikes me dead]
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nomaishuttle · 1 year
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also stop trying to tease an andrea romance ik you guys arent gonna give her one bc shes a black woman. you guys are not slick. and you kill her at the end of the season so melinda can have a white best friend instead.i know this you cant lie.
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chaoticbiguysblog · 1 month
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Do you guys know my absolutely favourite thing about Buddie in S5? In this scene....
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Eddie tells Buck that he can't be there for Maddie in the way she needs right now, and what she needs is a partner to take care of her, and Buck isn't that person for her.
Later in the season....
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Eddie goes through a mental health crisis of his own and Buck steps up as a partner to take care of HIM. He wasn't meant to take care of Maddie, he couldn't be the partner she needed but he was the partner that Eddie needed. Buck took care of his son, he took care of the house and he helped Eddie see that Eddie's life as a firefighter has had a huge impact on people's life, that it means something. This was all happening simultaneously as Chim and Maddie's reunion storyline. Just like Maddie, Eddie was also getting some professional help to get better but this assurance from their partners was so crucial for their recovery.
I mean this show......one moment I'm like this is some incredible storytelling and if it was written as a romance from S2, it would've given the Bridgerton couples, Jim-Pam, Jake-Amy, Meredith-Derek etc. a run for their money. But then, the next moment I remember that they couldn't show it as an explicit romantic parallel bc Fox wasn't comfortable with it. So many missed opportunities, BUT regardless they'll forever be soulmates, just like Madney are, and no one can take that away from us.♥️
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odinsblog · 1 year
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Patrick Braxton became the first Black mayor of Newbern, Alabama, when he was elected in 2020, but since then he has fought with the previous administration to actually serve in office. (Aallyah Wright/Capital B)
NEWBERN, Ala. — There’s a power struggle in Newbern, Alabama, and the rural town’s first Black mayor is at war with the previous administration who he says locked him out of Town Hall.
After years of racist harassment and intimidation, Patrick Braxton is fed up, and in a federal civil rights lawsuit he is accusing town officials of conspiring to deny his civil rights and his position because of his race.
“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, and 29% of Black people here live below the poverty line.
“What did she mean by the town wasn’t ready for a Black mayor? They, meaning white people?” Capital B asked.
“Yes. No change,” Braxton says.
Decades removed from a seemingly Jim Crow South, white people continue to thwart Black political progress by refusing to allow them to govern themselves or participate in the country’s democracy, several residents told Capital B. While litigation may take months or years to resolve, Braxton and community members are working to organize voter education, registration, and transportation ahead of the 2024 general election.
But the tension has been brewing for years.
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.
“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.”
This has become the new norm for Braxton ever since he became the first Black mayor of his hometown in 2020. For the past three years, he’s been fighting to serve and hold on to the title of mayor, first reported by Lee Hedgepeth, a freelance journalist based in Alabama.
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Incorporated in 1854, Newbern, Alabama, today has a population of 275 people — 85% of whom are Black. (Aallyah Wright/Capital B)
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.
Braxton is suing them, the People’s Bank of Greensboro, and the postmaster at the U.S. Post Office.
For at least 60 years, there’s never been an election in the town. Instead, the mantle has been treated as a “hand me down” by the small percentage of white residents, according to several residents Capital B interviewed. After being the only one to submit qualifying paperwork and statement of economic interests, Braxton became the mayor.
(continue reading)
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stevieschrodinger · 8 months
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I really want to write this as like a fully fledged, 100k word fic, but I just do not have the time. I need to get the idea down so here it is.
So modern AU. Steve is an Alpha, always known he wanted to help people, little boy who wants to be a police officer or a firefighter, that sort of thing. Mother humors him, Dad is disinterested, both parents are hands off to the point of being borderline neglectful without actually crossing the line - the second Steve can legally get out, he goes to college. Ends up taking an interest in Omega studies, of all things - which leads neatly into the career choice that Steve didn't even know he needed.
By the time Steve is 23 he's leading his own little team under the watchful eye of his superior - Jim Hopper. They're a special branch of the FBI, geared specifically to finding and breaking up illegal Omega abduction and trade rings. Steve's good at what he does - really good - top of his class for firearms, has an affinity for the Omega he comes into contact with, and his control over his Alpha is pretty second to none. Steve can radiate comfort in the middle of a firefight if he has to - if it means keeping these people safe.
Steve sees some pretty horrible shit - he's miraculously well adjusted, goes to his mandated therapy sessions like a good boy, and gets on with Hopper surprisingly well for how surly the guy can be.
Steve's worst attribute is that he's a workaholic - he has a history of failed relationships, so he gives up entirely and has no social life to speak of.
And then Steve's out with his team - it's taken months to track this down. Steve's been supervising undercover agents, starting with a tip off about illegal drug trades that pinged Steve's radar as Omega hormones. So rather than heading in and arresting at base level, Steve, with Hopper's nod, pulls the thread.
They assumed the hormones were heat inducing - they were wrong, and what they find is horrifying. The drugs have been used on un-presented kids. Stolen kids, as young as 11, to try and force them into presenting as Omega. These kids have been abducted from everywhere, no sense to it that anyone can see - except that these kids all come from poor families. Marginalized by society - in a lot of cases, kids that haven't even been reported as missing.
To top it off - the kids are being abused. Neglected, starved, left in filthy conditions and being regularly sexually assaulted. It is by far the worst thing Steve, or even Hopper, in his long carer, has ever seen.
They go in, break up the ring, the perpetrators are either killed in the ensuing firefight or captured and brought in.
Steve sustaining only minor injuries in the altercation, continues on with his job to clear out the kids and get them to safety- in his haste to get to where the final group of kids are being held, sets off a booby trap of some sort.
Steve is badly injured- his lower left leg taking the vast majority of the damage- for the first time in his career, Steve panics. But then he has a kid with him, big brown eyes and a mop of curly hair, skin too pale and drawn, dirty fingers and bare feet. And this kid is trying to comfort Steve, obviously understanding that this is a rescue. By the time the rest of his team get to him, Steve is finding comfort in the scent of un-presented pup - the little guy curled up right against Steve.
The pup is, evidently, also finding comfort in Steve, both of them locked together, faces buried in each others scent glands.
They wont let go of each other, even in the ambulance, and it's decided pretty quickly that if they're keeping each other calm, to let them stay that way. On arrival to the hospital, they're both sedated for their own good - Steve wakes up to find he's missing his left leg from the knee down, and Hopper asleep slouched in the chair next to him.
The first thing he does is ask about the pup - Hopper tells him what he can, the kid is called Eddie, was small because he was starved and actually was thirteen years old - and he's safe and well, already reunited with his uncle.
Steve can relax. But not really. Because once his leg heals, he's in physio, and then learning to regain his mobility with a prosthetic, also dealing with the deafness the explosion left him with in his left ear, and the scarring that stretches all the way up to his left hip.
Hopper is determined not to loose Steve off his team - he basically invents a roll for him, if he wants it - Steve is too good to be wasted, so he goes back to work for Hopper in an investigative roll. He'll never work in the field again, but he becomes the brains behind a lot of successful operations.
But still, he's listless, missing the hands on aspects on his roll. He treads water for nearly two years, before he happens to have a conversation in the office break room, with one Robin Buckley.
Steve's known Robin for years, she's an Omega behaviorist, and works a lot with traumatized Omega, rehabilitating, therapy, that kind of thing. She's always been there, on the periphery of Steve's team, taking the Omega off their hands. After Steve's rescues, it's with Robin that the real work often begins. From the conversations they've had previously - Steve handing over information about conditions he'd found Omega in, likely what they've been put through, and anything else that will help Robin do her job, he's always found her sympathetic but no nonsense. He's always respected Robin.
And maybe that's why their conversation easily slips into Steve confessing his listlessness - and what prompts Robin to suggest he retrain. She's heard herself how bombproof Steve's Alpha is in the field - would he be interested in a day or two a week with her team? Positive Alpha exposure is often a vital step in the reintegration process.
Steve thinks about it. He talks about it with Hopper. Between them both, Steve figures he has nothing to loose, and Hopper agrees to release Steve a day a week to Buckley's department on a trial. Steve takes on extra training - bolstering up his Omega Studies qualifications from College. Steve loves it. it's fulfilling. It gives him the hands on aspect of his job he'd been missing.
And then Hopper lands a file on his desk - it's come to them via unorthodox means, through a local doctor, then a hospital specialist, then flagged by Buckley's team as it's an old rescue case. A closed case. And Steve opens the file to find a picture of himself, grainy, black and white, but unmistakably Steve. He's sitting on a gurney, someone desperately doing something to the mess of his leg, but in his lap, the curly haired pup he hadn't let go of that day.
The pup who, apparently had presented an Omega. Steve reads, doing the math, reading the hospital records from that day. The kid had presented basically the second he'd woken up. He'd presented, most likely, while Steve was in surgery still.
That stirs something in Steve. Something a little unfamiliar; the feeling that he hadn't been there and he should have been.
There's another picture, Edward Munson, the kids put on weight, he's grown some. Still has big brown eyes looking out of a very pretty face; and that stirs something in Steve too.
Munson basically hasn't been okay since the rescue. At first they put it down to the usual stuff, the kid had survived being abducted, drugged, sexually assaulted, physical harm, that kind of trauma can take years to work though, decades, a lifetime. But everyone is maintaining there's something a little off with this kid, something else wrong, something hindering his recovery that really shouldn't be; it's like he's mate sick.
But he doesn't have a mate.
The one time they tried to expose this kid to an Alpha, it ended so badly he became aggressive. And then someone dug deep enough to find this photo, to read this file.
Steve's standing up before Hopper gets to the end of the question, yes, he wants to see the Omega, yes, he's going to work with the Omega.
There's a frustratingly long song and dance around it - Buckley wants to follow protocol to the letter, so their first meeting is in one of the Omega work rooms, just Eddie and Steve, very calm, very controlled, with Robin and Hopper observing from the other side of a one way glass mirror.
Eddie backs away at first, is dubious of Steve, but Steve has a worn shirt with him and leaves it on a chair within reach, and once Eddie, finally scents it, he bursts into tears, "is it really you?" he sobs, and Steve confirms that it is, and Eddie is climbing into Steve's lap, still sobbing, "I thought I'd never see you again."
And they stay like that, until Robin finally breaks them up, but Eddie will not let go of Steve, not completely, and Steve doesn't want to let go of Eddie either, but he has to.
He has to make his case. He has to explain that that sixteen year old Omega, a decade Steve's junior, is without doubt Steve's mate. There's a lot of back and forth, they need the uncles blessing, which after a thirty second conversation with Eddie, Wayne doesn't hesitate.
Steve takes Eddie home, with instructions from Hopper to take all the time he needs.
This is where the real work starts, Eddie is traumatized, has been mate sick since the day he presented, and needs a hell of a lot of work. Their bond is solid, but formed in trauma, so the attachment issues become almost immediately apparent.
They put in the work - Eddie has a therapist who is not Steve, and Steve still goes to his own therapy sessions like a good boy. They deal with a lot of things, Eddie's night terrors, his awful relationship with food, his inability to settle, the panic attacks. Eddie's first heat, where nothing happens because Eddie is still terrified of sex. They work through Eddie's confused feelings; Steve falls utterly and completely in love.
Eddie slowly picks up his reading - the education he's missed - starts gently with a distance learning course. Steve goes back to work, a gentle three half days a week to start with.
They get through it all, and make a life together.
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emmy-likes-attention · 5 months
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If I had a nickel for every time Jennifer Love Hewitt played a M named character (Maddie/Melinda) who’s husband is a firefighter/paramedic with a name ending in -im (Chim/Jim) that has suffered temporary amnesia, I’d have 2 nickels.
Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.
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katy-l-wood · 3 months
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On July 6, 1994, fourteen wildland firefighters gave their lives on Storm King Mountain during the South Canyon Fire near Glenwood Springs. Twelve firefighters were unable to outrun the blaze and perished. Two more helitack firefighters were also killed as they tried to flee to the northwest. Today marks the 30th anniversary of that event:
Prineville Hotshots: Kathi Beck, Tamera Bickett, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Douglas Dunbar, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Jon Kelso
Missoula Smokejumper: Don Mackey
McCall Smokejumpers: Roger Roth, Jim Thrash
Helitack: Robert Browning, Jr., Richard Tyler
I now work in the district where this fire and these deaths occurred, and there is a lot being done to honor the 30th anniversary. I’ve met a handful of the survivors this year, and also hiked the memorial trail for the first time.
Halfway up the trail is an overlook that shows the whole fire line where this occurred, along with placards explaining the event. When I hiked it, I found that someone had left a little toy fire truck at that overlook, the truck staring out at the line.
I’ll never forget that little fire truck, nor the people it honors.
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reasoningdaily · 1 year
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NEWBERN, Ala. — There’s a power struggle in Newbern, Alabama, and the rural town’s first Black mayor is at war with the previous administration who he says locked him out of Town Hall.
After years of racist harassment and intimidation, Patrick Braxton is fed up, and in a federal civil rights lawsuit he is accusing town officials of conspiring to deny his civil rights and his position because of his race.
“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, and 29% of Black people here live below the poverty line. 
“What did she mean by the town wasn’t ready for a Black mayor? They, meaning white people?” Capital B asked.
“Yes. No change,” Braxton says.
Decades removed from a seemingly Jim Crow South, white people continue to thwart Black political progress by refusing to allow them to govern themselves or participate in the country’s democracy, several residents told Capital B. While litigation may take months or years to resolve, Braxton and community members are working to organize voter education, registration, and transportation ahead of the 2024 general election.
But the tension has been brewing for years. 
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. 
“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.”
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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. 
Braxton is suing them, the People’s Bank of Greensboro, and the postmaster at the U.S. Post Office. 
For at least 60 years, there’s never been an election in the town. Instead, the mantle has been treated as a “hand me down” by the small percentage of white residents, according to several residents Capital B interviewed. After being the only one to submit qualifying paperwork and statement of economic interests, Braxton became the mayor.
Stokes and his council — which consists of three white people (Gary Broussard, Jesse Leverett, Willie Tucker) and one Black person (Voncille Brown Thomas) — deny any wrongdoing in their response to the amended complaint filed on April 17. They also claim qualified immunity, which protects state and local officials from individual liability from civil lawsuits.
The attorneys for all parties, including the previous town council, the bank, and Lynn Thiebe, the postmaster at the post office, did not respond to requests for comment.
The town where voting never was
Over the past 50 years, Newbern has held a majority Black population. The town was incorporated in 1854 and became known as a farm town. The Great Depression and the mechanization of the cotton industry contributed to Newbern’s economic and population decline, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
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Today, across Newbern’s 1.2 square miles sits the town hall and volunteer fire department constructed by Auburn’s students, an aging library, U.S. Post Office, and Mercantile, the only store there, which Black people seldom frequent because of high prices and a lack of variety of products, Braxton says.
“They want to know why Black [people] don’t shop with them. You don’t have nothin’ the Black [people] want or need,” he says. “No gasoline. … They used to sell country-time bacon and cheese and souse meat. They stopped selling that because they say they didn’t like how it feel on their hands when they cuttin’ the meat.”
To help unify the town, Braxton began hosting annual Halloween parties for the children, and game day for the senior citizens. But his efforts haven’t been enough to stop some people from moving for better jobs, industry, and quality of life. 
Residents say the white town leaders have done little to help the predominantly Black area thrive over the years. They question how the town has spent its finances, as Black residents continue to struggle. Under the American Rescue Plan Act, Newbern received $30,000, according to an estimated funding sheet by Alabama Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, but residents say they can’t see where it has gone. 
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At the First Baptist Church of Newbern, Braxton, three of his selected council members — Janice Quarles, 72, Barbara Patrick, 78, and James Ballard, 76 — and the Rev. James Williams, 77, could only remember two former mayors: Robert Walthall, who served as mayor for 44 years, and Paul Owens, who served on the council for 33 years and mayor for 11.
“At one point, we didn’t even know who the mayor was,” Ballard recalls.  “If you knew somebody and you was white, and your grandfather was in office when he died or got sick, he passed it on down to the grandson or son, and it’s been that way throughout the history of Newbern.”
Quarles agreed, adding: “It took me a while to know that Mr. Owens was the mayor. I just thought he was just a little man cleaning up on the side of the road, sometimes picking up paper. I didn’t know until I was told that ‘Well, he’s the mayor now.’” 
Braxton mentioned he heard of a Black man named Mr. Hicks who previously sought office years ago.
“This was before my time, but I heard Mr. Hicks had won the mayor seat and they took it from him the next day [or] the next night,” Braxton said. “It was another Black guy, had won years ago, and they took it from.”
“I hadn’t heard that one,” Ballard chimes in, sitting a few seats away from Braxton.
“How does someone take the seat from him, if he won?” Capital B asked.
“The same way they’re trying to do now with Mayor Braxton,” Quarles chuckled. “Maybe at that time — I know if it was Mr. Hicks — he really had nobody else to stand up with him.”
Despite the rumor, what they did know for sure: There was never an election, and Stokes had been in office since 2008.
The costs to challenging the white power structure
After years of disinvestment, Braxton’s frustrations mounted at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he says Stokes refused to commemorate state holidays or hang up American flags. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the majority-white council failed to provide supplies such as disinfectant, masks, and humidifiers to residents to mitigate the risks of contracting the virus.
Instead of waiting, Braxton made several trips to neighboring Greensboro, about 10 miles away, to get food and other items to distribute to Black and white residents. He also placed signs around town about vaccination. He later found his signs had been destroyed and put in “a burn pile,” he said.
After years of unmet needs of the community, Braxton decided to qualify for mayor. Only one Black person — Brown Thomas, who served with Stokes —has ever been named to the council. After Braxton told Stokes, the acting mayor, his intention to run, the conspiracy began, the lawsuit states. 
According to the lawsuit, Stokes gave Braxton the wrong information on how to qualify for mayor. Braxton then consulted with the Alabama Conference of Black Mayors, and the organization told him to file his statement of candidacy and statement of the economic interests with the circuit clerk of Hale County and online with the state, the lawsuit states. Vickie Moore, the organization’s executive director, said it also guided Braxton on how to prepare for his first meeting and other mayoral duties. 
Moore, an Alabama native and former mayor of Slocomb, said she has never heard of other cases across the state where elected officials who have never been elected are able to serve. This case with Braxton is “racism,” she said.
“The true value of a person can’t be judged by the color of their skin, and that’s what’s happening in this case here, and it’s the worst racism I’ve ever seen,” Moore said. “We have fought so hard for simple rights. It’s one of the most discouraging but encouraging things because it encourages us to continue to move forward … and continue to fight.”
Political and legal experts say what’s happening in Newbern is rare, but the tactics to suppress Black power aren’t, especially across the South. From tampering with ballot boxes to restricting reading material, “the South has been resistant to all types of changes” said Emmitt Riley III, associate professor of political science and Africana Studies at The University of the South.
“This is a clear case of white [people] attempting to seize and maintain political power in the face of someone who went through the appropriate steps to qualify and to run for office and by default wins because no one else qualified,” Riley added. “This raises a number of questions about democracy and a free and fair system of governance.”
Riley mentioned a different, but similar case in rural Greenwood, Mississippi. Sheriel Perkins, a longtime City Council member, became the first Black female mayor in 2006, serving for only two years. She ran again in 2013 and lost by 206 votes to incumbent Carolyn McAdams, who is white. Perkins contested the results, alleging voter fraud. White people allegedly paid other white people to live in the city in order to participate in the election and cast a legal vote, Riley said. In that case, the state Supreme Court dismissed the case and “found Perkins presented no evidence” that anyone voted illegally in a precinct, but rather it was the election materials that ended up in the wrong precincts.
“It was also on record that one white woman got on the witness stand and said, ‘I came back to vote because I was contacted to vote by X person.’ I think you see these tactics happening all across the South in local elections, in particular,” Riley said. “It becomes really difficult for people to really litigate these cases because in many cases it goes before the state courts, and state courts have not been really welcoming to overturning elections and ordering new elections.” 
Another example: Camilla, Georgia. 
In 2015, Rufus Davis was elected as the first Black male mayor of rural, predominantly Black Camilla. In 2017, the six-person City Council — half Black and half white — voted to deny him a set of keys to City Hall, which includes his office. Davis claimed the white city manager, Bennett Adams, had been keeping him from carrying out his mayoral duties. 
The next year, Davis, along with Black City Council member Venterra Pollard, boycotted the city’s meetings because of “discrimination within the city government,” he told a local news outlet. Some of the claims included the absence of Black officers in the police department, and the city’s segregated cemetery, where Black people cannot be buried next to white people. (The wire fence that divided the cemetery was taken down in 2018). In 2018, some citizens of the small town of about 5,000 people wanted to remove Davis from office and circulated a petition that garnered about 200 signatures. In 2019, he did not seek re-election for office.
“You’re not the mayor” 
After being the only person to qualify and submit proper paperwork for any municipal office, Braxton became mayor-elect and the first Black mayor in Newbern’s history on July 22, 2020.
Following the announcement, Braxton appointed members to join his council, consistent with the practice of previous leadership. He asked both white and Black people to serve, he said, but the white people told him they didn’t want to get involved.
The next month, Stokes and the former council members, Broussard, Leverett, Brown Thomas, and Tucker, called a secret meeting to adopt an ordinance to conduct a special election on Oct. 6 because they “allegedly forgot to qualify as candidates,” according to the lawsuit, which also alleges the meeting was not publicized. The defendants deny this claim, but admit to filing statements of candidacy to be elected at the special election, according to their response to an amended complaint filed on their behalf.
Because Stokes and his council were the only ones to qualify for the Oct. 6 election, they reappointed themselves as the town council. On Nov. 2, 2020, Braxton and his council members were sworn into office and filed an oath of office with the county probate judge’s office. Ten days later, the city attorney’s office executed an oath of office for Stokes and his council. 
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After Braxton held his first town meeting in November, Stokes changed the locks to Town Hall to keep him and his council from accessing the building. For months, the two went back and forth on changing the locks until Braxton could no longer gain access. At some point, Braxton says he discovered all official town records had been removed or destroyed, except for a few boxes containing meeting minutes and other documents.
Braxton also was prevented from accessing the town’s financial records with the People’s Bank of Greensboro and the city clerk, and obtaining mail from the town’s post office. At every turn, he was met with a familiar answer: “You’re not the mayor.” Separately, he’s had drones following him to his home and mother’s home and had a white guy almost run him off the road, he says. 
Braxton asserts he’s experienced these levels of harassment and intimidation to keep him from being the mayor, he said. 
“Not having the Lord on your side, you woulda’ gave up,” he told Capital B.
‘Ready to fire away’ 
In the midst of the obstacles, Braxton kept pushing. He partnered with LaQuenna Lewis, founder of Love Is What Love Does, a Selma-based nonprofit focused on enriching the lives of disadvantaged people in Dallas, Perry, and Hale counties through such means as food distribution, youth programming, and help with utility bills. While meeting with Braxton, Lewis learned more about his case and became an investigator with her friend Leslie Sebastian, a former advocacy attorney based in California. 
The three began reviewing thousands of documents from the few boxes Braxton found in Town Hall, reaching out to several lawyers and state lawmakers such as Sen. Bobby Singleton and organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center. No one wanted to help.
When the white residents learned Lewis was helping Braxton, she, too, began receiving threats early last year. She received handwritten notes in the mail with swastikas and derogatory names such as the n-word and b-word. One of theletters had a drawing of her and Braxton being lynched. 
Another letter said they had been watching her at the food distribution site and hoped she and Braxton died. They also made reference to her children, she said. Lewis provided photos of the letters, but Capital B will not publish them. In October, Lewis and her children found their house burned to the ground. The cause was undetermined, but she thinks it may have been connected.
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Lewis, Sebastian, and Braxton continued to look for attorneys that would take the case. Braxton filed a complaint in Alabama’s circuit court last November, but his attorney at the time stopped answering his calls. In January, they found a new attorney, Richard Rouco, who filed an amended complaint in federal court.
“He went through a total of five attorneys prior to me meeting them last year, and they pretty much took his money. We ran into some big law firms who were supposed to help and they kind of misled him,” Lewis says. 
Right now, the lawsuit is in the early stages, Rouco says, and the two central issues of the case center on whether the previous council with Stokes were elected as they claim and if they gave proper notice.
Braxton and his team say they are committed to still doing the work in light of the lawsuit. Despite the obstacles, Braxton is running for mayor again in 2025. Through AlabamaLove.org, the group is raising money to provide voter education and registration, and address food security and youth programming. Additionally, they all hope they can finally bring their vision of a new Newbern to life.
For Braxton, it’s bringing grocery and convenience stores to the town. Quarles wants an educational and recreational center for children. Williams, the First Baptist Church minister, wants to build partnerships to secure grants in hopes of getting internet and more stores.
“I believe we done put a spark to the rocket, and it’s going [to get ready] to fire away,” Williams says at his church. “This rocket ready to fire away, and it’s been hovering too long.”
Correction: In Newbern, Alabama, 29% of the Black population lives below the poverty line. An earlier version of this story misstated the percentage
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wintersoldierslover · 2 years
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my fic recs masterlist
---
Bucky Barnes:
all bucky barnes
headcanon  -  blurb  -  one-shot  -  series - two-parter
40s  -  The Winter Soldier  -  Avenger  -  TFATWS
dbf!bucky  -  brother’s bff  -  bff’s brother
neighbour  -  housewife reader
lumberjack  -  firefighter  -  bodyguard
priest bucky  -  college
football player  -  hockey player  -  boxer
professor  -  teacher  -  librarian/bookshop
coffee shop  -  soulmate  -  royal
other AUs  -  taboo
moodboard  -  deactivated:(
---
Stranger Things characters:
all eddie munson  -  all steve harrington
eddie and steve (x reader)
billy hargrove  -  jason carver  -  mike wheeler
dmitri enzo antonov  -  jim hopper
robin buckley  -  nancy wheeler
---
Outer Banks Characters:
all Rafe Cameron
all JJ Maybank
Rafe Cameron and JJ Maybank (x reader)
Pope Heyward  -  Topper Thorton
John B.  -  Sarah Cameron
Kiara Carrera
---
Marvel characters:
Wanda Maximoff  -  Kate Bishop
Natasha Romanoff  -  Yelena Belova
Peter Parker  -  Pietro Maximoff
Steve Rogers  -  Stephen Strange
Frank Castle  -  Matt Murdock 
Moon knight  -  Steven Grant
Joaqín Torres - Clint Barton
Loki Laufeyson  -  Druig
Eddie Brock  -  Miles Morales
Miguel O’hara  -  Hobie Brown
---
Harry Potter characters:
Sirius Black  -  Remus Lupin 
James Potter  -  Poly!Marauders
Lily potter  -  Cedric Diggory
George Weasley  -  Fred Weasley
Severus Snape  -  Tom Riddle
Draco Malfoy
---
Avatar (James Cameron) charachters:
neteyam  -  aonung  -  lo’ak
rotxo  -  kiri  -  spider
jake sully  -  neytiri  -  tsu’tey
tonowari  -  ronal  -  colonel quaritch
---
Top Gun chracters:
Fanboy  -  Hangman  -  Rooster  -  Bob
Iceman
---
Wednesday characters:
Xavier Thorpe  -  Ajax Petropolus
Wednesday Addams  -  Divina
---
Bridgerton characters:
Anthony Bridgerton  -  Benedict Bridgerton
Colin Bridgerton
---
Criminal Minds characters:
Spencer Reid  -  Aaron Hotchner
Derek Morgan
---
The Last of Us characters:
Joel Miller  -  Ellie Williams
Abby Anderson
---
The Devil All The Time characters:
Tommy Matson  -  Lee Bodecker
---
Uncharted characters:
Nate Drake  -  Sam Drake
---
Euphoria characters:
Elliot (Euphoria)  -  Fezco
---
On My Block characters:
Mario Martinez  -  Oscar Diaz
---
Modern Family characters:
Luke Dunphy  -  Alex Dunphy
---
Ted Lasso:
Roy Kent  -  Jamie Tartt
---
NHL players:
Matthew Ktachuk  -  Trevor Zegras
Nolan Patrick  -  Tyler Seguin
---
Actors:
Sebastian Stan  -  Joseph Quinn
Jamie Campbell Bower  -  Danny Ramirez
Drew Starkey  -  Rudy Pankow
Ben Hardy  -  Bella Ramsey
Jenna Ortega
---
Miscellaneous characters:
Eli ‘Hawk’ Moskowitz  -  Marcus Baker
Rodrick Heffley  -  Hunter Sylvester
Lloyd Hansen  -  Ari Levinson
Nick Fowler  -  Tangerine
Rhett Abbott  -  Hayden ‘Harvard Hottie’
Colin (Not Okay)  -  Min Ho (Xo, Kitty)
Ash (No Exit)  -  James Maguire (Derry Girls)
Jake Peralta  -  Nick Miller  -  Brian O’conner
Anakin Skywalker  -  Bruno Madrigal
Tadashi Hamada  -  Kakashi Hatake
---
Miscellaneous real people:
Billie Eilish  -  AEW Hook
---
*Updated whenever there’s a new character <3
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911lsbts · 1 day
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lizardsfromspace · 1 year
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Very heartening to learn everyone who worked on Person of Interest despised Jim Caviezel, for a multitude of reasons (not even just politics, apparently he doesn't understand acting or his character and was a hugely dangerous fuckup on set) but learning he refused to do a episode where they save a gay couple, until he was told that "on 9/11, firefighters didn't ask if someone was gay, they saved everyone", and then ran around set the rest of the day comparing himself to 9/11 first responders is...Jim Caviezel dot jpeg
Also love that Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel had to have the concept of someone willing to save everyone explained to him, like it was a new idea
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officialbruciewayne · 1 month
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Hi Bruce<3 I have a question about bottled water prices? Me and Stray were talking and do you think we'd be able to invest into free bottled water?
Absolutely. Is this for the community, or personal use? Regardless, in Gotham this is an absolutely vital part of my tzedakah.
The Thomas and Martha Wayne Foundation provides free bottled water from most community centers, libraries and free clinics.
This would be a good place to start for anyone, but a lot of people are not able to regularly make use of this, it's just not possible for everyone to carry that much water home that often, so I'm interested in expanding to a bottled water delivery model. This would be ideally in partnership with Gotham's vigilantes, firefighters, EMTs and other valued emergency service personnel (no offense intended Jim).
Additionally, The Thomas Wayne Foundation offers free "water filtration and testing kits" which includes: a handhold filtration device, ph and standard toxic strip tests and a tap attachment.
These are freely provided at multiple community centers and any associated free clinics, but people can also reach out to [email protected].
I hope this helps. Well done for thinking forward.
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The reason I relate so much to Dale Gribble isn’t because he’s a hilarious little gremlin they keep around for comic relief.  There are a lot of hilarious gremlins out there.
I like that there is so much TRUTH in his character.  He isn’t a complete paranoid headcase character who doesn’t trust anyone ever no matter what.  He fiercely and intensely trusts the people he loves to the point that when that trust is broken he is broken.  He loves and trusts his wife and his friends so deeply that he simply cannot acknowledge it when they betray him.  Cognitively, this man is fully capable and KNOWS that his wife is having an affair that Joseph isn’t his, that his friends are lying to him about his wife.  But emotionally, he can’t handle that.  So he tucks it in the vault and does what he does best: He builds an elaborate conspiracy theory alternate reality that explains everything so he can continue living in a world where his wife and friends would never betray him.
And yeah, he can’t trust anyone else and lives and breathes conspiracy theories.  But he has good reasons to be untrusting!  He lives in a country which has committed many, many genocides against its own citizens from the gay genocide of the 80s to the Native American genocide from the 1600s to today, to slavery and Jim Crow.  He is NOT crazy to believe that his government is shady and evil because they ARE.  They really, truly are.  And Chuck Mangione really IS living in the Mega Lo Mart!
But he doesn’t let that make him a bad person too.  He doesn’t let the horrible world he lives in twist him into a monster.  Sure, he has some episodes - the rabies incident comes to mind - but on several occasions he uses his special interests and skills to help the people in his life.  He helps John Redcorn fight the government to get land from them.  He helps Hank (eventually) when he is misgendered at the DMV.  When they volunteer as firefighters, Dale switches Hank’s oxygen tank and his own so Hank gets the full one.  He transfers a swarm of fire ants onto his own body to save Bobby Hill.  He saves the entire Arlen Gun Club from a violent maniac with a clever ruse.  His knowledge of military equipment saves Bill from being court martialed when he helps return a stolen tank back to the military base!
Coward though he is by nature, he always changes his mind in the end and comes to his friends’ rescue.  He would do anything for his friends.  He goes against his very nature as a paranoid coward to help the people he loves time and time again.
Everywhere Dale goes is hostile to him.  Of course it is!  He is a neurodivergent little freak!  This man farms gerbils for meat and raises show turtles and has a special interest in conspiracy theories and guns.  He’s a weirdo.  Even in his social clubs he is engaged in constant power struggles.  The ONLY friends who stick by him, who he doesn’t have to be suspicious of are Hank, Boomhauer, and Bill.  He would be completely lonely and isolated if those three fucking messy ass dudes didn’t hang out with him.  The four of them are all deeply broken, and they need each other.  And despite the boys many many flaws, their friendship is beautiful.
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eightstarr · 11 months
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Hey Zoe!! It’s the girl who cut her fingers lolz tho I don’t want you to only know me by that so if it’s ok I’ll start using the swan emoji :D 🦢 Or the kiwi 🥝 idk. Anyway, since Halloween is tomorrow I was wondering what you think Abs and Ellie’s costumes would be and if they would be into the idea of couple costumes. Don’t know if you’ve already been asked this but just wanted to know your thoughts 🙏🏻 also, how are you?! Hope you’re having a good week and have a fun Halloween if you celebrate :D <3 🎃
hey!!! omg you can use any emoji you want, both the swan and the kiwi are so cute! i'm doing okay, thank you for asking <3 we don't really celebrate halloween in my country but if you do, i hope you have the best time!! ily
i'm no expert but this is what i think!!
if they did individual costumes, i think ellie would either do something hyper specific that like maybe one person gets (film bro tendencies) OR she would be like… a traffic cone. something very silly that somehow still works for her. but me personally? i would dress her up as jim from treasure planet. if you get the vision i love you
i can see abby saying that she doesn't care but as soon as she picks a costume and gets excited about it, it becomes unacceptable for it to be anything except perfect. she has to get every detail right!! goes out of her way to get a realistic firefighter jacket and is so offended when you wanna take it off of her (she'll do it of course, she just needs a little coaxing! and perhaps a kiss or two)
as far as couple costumes, i think ellie would pick yours! she gets ideas all throughout the year and writes them down in her notes app. it's a yearly tradition for her to sit you down and go through all of them asking for your thoughts (and maybe softly guiding you to pick the one she happens to like the most) (they're all some guy and his cool hot girlfriend but that's what she loves). please please please be jesse and jane from breaking bad with her, she'll be so happy <3
abby, however, will literally be whatever you want. she completely lets you take the lead. doesn't care about the details because she doesn't mind looking silly if it makes you happy! how can she feel stupid when you're so excited about it? i think she would have fun literally just being your accessory, like if you're a cute mushroom fairy she'll be the moss. and if you wanna do mia from the princess diaries, she'll look hot in any of chris pine's outfits <3 abby would also slay as emmett from twilight if you wanted to be rosalie!! she's got the built for it and she basically already dresses like him
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