For the first time since the shooting death of Michael Brown, Ferguson, Mo., will pick a new leader.
The suburb of St. Louis with a population of about 21,000 will head to the voter booths on Tuesday with the possibility of electing a new mayor.
Ferguson’s current mayor, James Knowles III, is seeking what would be his third and last three-year term. Knowles, 37, is white and was first elected in 2011. Blacks make up about two-thirds of the town’s residents.
Running against Knowles is retired businesswoman and city councilwoman Ella Jones. Should the 62-year-old win, she would become the first black mayor in the town’s 122-year history.
Knowles became the face of Ferguson after the death of Brown, a black unarmed teen who killed by white police officer Darren Wilson. Unrest broke out in Ferguson multiple times following the Aug. 9, 2014 shooting. However, Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing and resigned from the police force in November 2014, and Knowles kept his post despite speculation he would step down.
Since then, the Justice Department investigated the police department, finding unconstitutional policing and court practices that targeted Ferguson’s minorities. The city has also entered into a $2 million consent decree with the federal government, aiming for a complete overhaul.
“I’m committed to make sure we see through some of the reforms that we’ve made, the progress we’ve made, so that we don’t go backward, that the city continues to have a bright future,” Knowles said at a forum last week.
Jones meanwhile has called for a change in leadership to see through the police changes.
“This is about whether we break away from the image and reputation of our city as divided, unwilling to change and grow, or we remain as a symbol of oppression and regression,” she said at a debate last week.
Ferguson is also voting on a policy that would make it harder for officials to block the public’s access to footage shot on police body cameras. Nearby in St. Louis, voters will decide if they want to equip their police force with body-worn cameras.
