Ferguson mayor James Knowles says he is best man for the job, despite attempts to oust him

An effort in Ferguson has called for a mayoral recall election

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Embattled Ferguson, Missouri Mayor James Knowles insists that he is the best man for the job even as many people in his town are calling for a recall election that could see him tossed out of municipal government.

Mr Knowles has been under fire since last summer when 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer, setting off nationwide protests of policing and race relations in the US.

The calls for his ouster from city politics increased after a Justice Department report showed years of systematic bias by Ferguson police and courts. A group called Ground Level Support is getting signatures on a petition that would require a recall election in Ferguson.

“(Mr) Knowles swore an oath to uphold the Missouri Constitution and the United States Constitution and he has failed to uphold that oath,” the group’s website says. “Knowles has presided over a police department and court system that as a matter of practice, is racially biased, and more concerned with revenue generation than citizen safety. He has refused to be held accountable. He has refused to step down. With your help, we will hold him accountable. With your help, we will force him out of office.”

Despite this pressure from his constituents – and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union – Mr Knowles said he plans to push forward as mayor and also will seek re-election in two years, the New York Times reported.

“If everybody just left, it would be chaos,” he told the Times. “If you really want the change to happen, who’s going to make that change happen? As the person who is the de facto leader of the Council, somebody has to push that along, and I’ve committed to seeing that.”

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