Betty McCray, the newly elected mayor of Kinloch, Mo., just minutes from Ferguson, is facing opposition from the St. Louis County town. Officials in the town allege that McCray’s win happened by way of voter fraud and served her with impeachment papers on her first day on the job.
Similar to what’s happening in the town of Parma, Mo. with its newly elected Black mayor Tyrus Byrd, McCray’s troubles began after she was sworn in by St. Louis County officials in Clayton last Thursday (April 23).
When the 64-year-old McCray arrived at Kinloch’s City Hall, a makeshift building that was once an elementary school, she was denied entry by around 20 Kinloch Police officers and served with impeachment papers by the City Attorney, James Robin son. McCray refused to accept the papers and exchanged words with the official, demanding the keys to the facility. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch captured the exchange on video.
McCray, who served as a former alderman in the city, but her former colleagues at the Board of Aldermen decided not to swear her in. McCray says that the current blockades are nothing more than false claims that she used illegal votes to win her election. Kinloch, which was one of the county’s first established Black communities, currently has a population of 300.
According to reports from the Post-Dispatch, city hall officials believe that 27 people who don’t live in Kinloch were registered to vote in the election. There was also an observation made that some of the apartments in town were actually vacant, to which McCray claimed were recent evictions because they supported the incoming mayor. The city has denied such claims.
McCray said she will be hiring a lawyer and filing an injunction against the city.
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Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
