Poetic Justice as Ferguson City Councilman Defeats Prosecutor in Brown Case

Today marks four years since a Ferguson police officer gunned down Michael Brown, killing the unarmed teenager and igniting weeks of civil unrest around the country. The county prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, who failed to indict Darren Wilson, in a voter-led example of poetic justice, lost the election Tuesday to keep his job to a young African-American attorney motivated into political action in the wake of calls for police reform in Ferguson and the nation.

“Ferguson brought about an awareness regarding criminal justice reform,” says 43-year-old Wesley Bell, the St. Louis County Prosecutor-elect.  “It contributed to your average citizen starting to realize there might be a need for a change. And, it was incumbent upon us to make our case to the voters that we had the ideas to move this county forward.”

Ferguson voters elected Bell to the City Council in 2015. He worked on the negotiating team charged with implementing the consent decree from the Department of Justice. And, as an attorney, educator, and son of a police officer, he says he ran a campaign on “the issues.”

“We struck a tone of bringing people together and ran an inclusive campaign. It resonated,” he says. “I’m proud of the volunteers and our staff…so many people all over St. Louis county helped us, not only cross the finish line, but sprint across the finish line.”

Bell’s win is being celebrated by social justice activists around the nation. The Color of Change supported him early in the campaign when the odds of defeating McCulloch, a 27-year incumbent, in the Democratic primary seemed nearly impossible.

Dr. Veronica Newton, a St. Louis-area native and sociologist living in Atlanta, watched the election last night.

“It was phenomenal and brought hope,” says Newton, who specializes in Race, Gender, Education and how they intersect for African Americans. “Last night show us change is possible and change is coming.”

Because there is not a Republican challenger in the St. Louis County prosecutor’s race, Bell is the new prosecutor. Hours it was clear he had won the election, Bell was commending his supporters and talking with reporters, saying, “I’m still running on adrenaline, but I’m too inspired to be tired.”