Ella Jones (Twitter/@kpsmg1)
by Derek Major – Ella Jones made history last night, becoming the first African-American and first woman elected mayor in Ferguson, Mo., Jones was elected nearly six years after the death of Michael Brown Jr., who was shot by a white police officer.
According to the New York Times, Jones, who received 54 % of the vote, vowed to continue changes enacted after Brown’s death, including a federal consent decree, a legally binding agreement requiring reforms to a police department
Jones previously served as a member of the Ferguson City Council and will relieve James Knowles III, who could not run for re-election because of term limits.
The mayor-elect said she supports the protests going on across the country denouncing
police brutality and racism and plans to continue to make Ferguson a place African Americans can be proud of.
This is not the first time Jones made history in Ferguson.
In 2015, Jones, a Ferguson resident for more than four decades, became the first African American woman to be voted to the city council.
