Ella Jones just became the first black person and first woman to be elected mayor in Ferguson, the city whose protests almost six years ago solidified the Black Lives Matter movement following the police killing of Mike Brown. On Tuesday (June 2nd), Jones made history as the first black woman to become mayor of the Missouri city in its 126-year history. 

"The common goal is the people," Jones, who's lived in Ferguson for more than 40 years, told Missouri resident, Jason Rosenbaum, about her new position. "It's 'We the people.' I tell people all the time, if you go look in the budget, the first thing you see is the organizational chart. When you look at the organizational chart in the budget, at the top of that chart it says 'citizens.' And then from the top, the elected officials. The elected officials appoint and hire a city manager and a city clerk. If the people are not in charge of what they're doing, then you're gonna have chaos. We have had enough chaos."

As you'll recall, on August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. was shot dead by former police officer, Darren Wilson, in Ferguson. The tragedy sparked immense outrage, leading to protests in Ferguson that lasted weeks as well as the official public recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement. Wilson was never charged for his crime.

However, Jones wants better for her city and the people who live in it, and she plans to use her new position to include Ferguson residents in this positive change. "I am going to be very transparent," she said during an interview with KSDK News. "As a matter of fact, after my first 90 days in office, I've already started putting a task force together so that we can do a town hall and the people of Ferguson will know the state of their city. It's very important that the people be informed of what's going on. They can be a part of the government." According to The New York Times, Jones won 54% of the vote, beating out her opponent, Heather Robinett. Jones succeeds James Knowles III, who has been mayor of the city for the past nine years since 2011. Check out some of the reactions to this incredible news on Twitter.

When A$AP Rocky was jailed in Sweden last summer over assault charges, many brought up his past comments regarding the Black Lives Matter movement as the reason why they didn’t sympathize with his plight. In a 2015 interview with Time Out New York, Rocky controversially said: “Why would I feel compelled to rap about Ferguson? I’m not about to say that I was down there throwing rocks at motherfuckers, getting pepper-sprayed. I’d be lying. Is it because I’m black? What the fuck, am I Al Sharpton now? I’m A$AP Rocky. I did not sign up to be no political activist. I wanna talk about my motherfuckin’ lean, my best friend dying, girls, my jiggy fashion and my inspirations in drugs. I live in fucking Soho and Beverly Hills. I can’t relate.” 

Rocky has tried to clarify his stance on the matter before, but since people are still holding the above comment against him, he rehashed it on Kerwin Frost’s YouTube series, “Kerwin Frost Talks”. “I thought I addressed that in the past and to be in jail hearing people still trying to stir up some weird shit,” Rocky said around the 53-minute mark. “What I will say though is in those old interviews I used to say ‘I think it’s inappropriate for me to rap about things I didn’t help with. I felt like when it came to Ferguson, J. Cole went down there and he actually was on the news and he helped. I felt like he deserved to rap about it. So when someone ask me that in 2015 I’m like: ‘I just feel, personally, if I’m in SoHo or I’m here I can’t even talk on that’… That’s appropriating. … It’s not sincere. It’s pretentious.”

During his conversation with Frost, Rocky also expressed support for Ian Connor, his former protege who has been accused of sexual assault by many women. “I heard of people doing some real fucked up shit. I can say that [Connor] gets picked on more than people think. A lot of it is cyberbullying,” Rocky said.