Let me guess. A long time under Democrat control. Just a hunch.
The mayor is white, believe it or not. The last black mayor was so despised that many blacks didn’t vote and the white guy one.
It is run by majority of black Democrats in the city council and all the other branches of government though.
Mayor of Memphis is a Democrat:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Strickland_(politician)
Prior mayors were Democrat going back decades.