‘Why Don’t You Call Me a N****r Like You’ve Been’: Explosive Showdown Between Alabama Black Mayor and Councilman Captured on Video

An Alabama mayor and councilman with a long history of infighting on the city council traded verbal blows, physical threats, and allegations of racist insults during a town meeting. Tarrant Mayor Wayman Newton and city councilmember Tommy Bryant quarreled during a meeting that marked just another altercation in a series of clashes between the two city leaders. Tarrant, Alabama Mayor Wayman Newton (left) and Tarrant City Councilman Tommy Bryant (right) during a Nov. 18, 2024 council meeting. (Photos: YouTube/AL.com) According to AL.com, Newton and Bryant have been at odds with each other for years since Newton was elected the town’s first Black mayor of Tarrant, a town nestled just outside Birmingham. Their feud surfaced again in a Nov. 18 meeting that quickly devolved shortly after the council was seated to talk official city business. This time, the fiery confrontation reportedly began with Newton’s ongoing effort to dismiss Tarrant Police Chief Wendell Major. Newton previously accused Major of professional misconduct, alleging that he downgraded serious offenses, including homicides, and courted work as an attorney while simultaneously working as police chief in a town of 6,000 people. This prompted Bryant to recapitulate a confrontation between himself and Newton in 2022 in which...