Residents in Ferguson, Mo. Tuesday elected two black city council members, transforming the political body's racial composition after months of protests over racial profiling and police brutality.
One sitting black member of the council was not up for re-election. When the two new African-American council members take their seats it will be the first time that blacks have controlled half of the council, despite the fact that two-thirds of the city's 21,000 residents are black.
Demonstrations gave way to increased civic activism with 29% of eligible voters casting more than 3,700 ballots. That's more than double the 12% of eligible voters that came out for last April's mayoral election.
Since the shooting death last summer of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, by a white police officer, activists in the St. Louis suburb have implored people to vote. That message came through Tuesday as voters elected Wesley Bell, who is black, in Ward 3, Ella Jones, who is also black, in Ward 1, and Brian Fletcher, who is white, in Ward 2....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/04/07/ferguson-voters-head-to-polls/25401037/
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