The words were from God’s lips to the ears of the people of Ferguson, by way of Lady Denise Thimes, who prays over which selection to sing: “You made them hear you,” she sang.
Thimes was adapting the Stephen Flaherty song “Make Them Hear You” for the ceremonial swearing in of Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones on Wednesday, June 17. Thimes was singing to the new mayor and the city and the people’s movement that resulted in her election.
“They blamed you for the way you chose to fight,” Thimes sang. Since the ceremony was taking place at the Ferguson Empowerment Center, formerly ground zero for the Ferguson Uprising, the echo of struggle was clear. Thimes emphasized the point with a shout: “Ha!”
Ferguson’s first black and first woman mayor was introduced by St. Louis County’s first black prosecuting attorney, Wesley Bell. She was sworn in ceremonially by Missouri’s first black chief justice, George Draper.
Like most of the speakers, Bell quoted scripture: “Faith without works is dead.” Bell ran alongside Jones for Ferguson City Council in 2015 and served alongside her on the council. He knows her work ethic.
“Pastor Ella, she’s a worker,” Bell said.
Jones is a former pastor and a former leading Mary Kay cosmetics salesperson. Her church and her Mary Kay families came out in force for the ceremony.
The new mayor said in 90 days she would host her first town hall meeting to update the public on what she had done and planned to to do. She said Ferguson needs and was going to get transparency.
“When I was a pastor, you could even ask the children and they would know what was going on in the church,” Jones said.
Jason Armstrong, the current police chief of Ferguson, attended but watched the ceremony quietly from under a shade tree. The Ferguson Police, which brought this small town to the attention of the world, was not an issue. The department and the city currently are being monitored for compliance with a federal consent decree. When Jones said, “In Ferguson, we practice constitutional policing,” one woman said, “We do!” There was no further comment.
The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis built out the Ferguson Empowerment Center on the site of the QuikTrip that was torched on August 10, 2014. It was the brainchild of President and CEO Michael P. McMillan, who hosted the swearing in ceremony after providing Jones’ campaign with a safe space.
“This is the future of the City of Ferguson,” McMillan said. “Thank you to those who voted for her and gave us the opportunity to be here. It is your challenge to let this not be the end of your time with her. The city needs your help. It needs your time, talent and treasure. These are historic times.”
