St. Louis Observer: August 5, 2022
State grant for urban farms creates more hurdles than help; legal challenge to redistricted state senate map filed; four officers federally charged in murder of Breonna Taylor
Editor’s Note
On Tuesday, Congresswoman Cori Bush crushingly defeated her challenger, State Sen. Steve Roberts, receiving 71% of the Democratic votes cast to Roberts’ 25%. Rep. Bush’s platform embraced a tangible transformation of public safety, including abolishing the death penalty, ending mandatory minimum sentencing and solitary confinement, and expanding infrastructure to review the backlog of more than 18,000 clemency petitions. Roberts’ criminal justice stance focused more on Rep. Bush instead of substantive policy ideas.
The dichotomy of the two Democrats represented a bigger picture within our current political climate: abolition has become a key issue for voters, and voters care about candidates who have concrete ideas to alleviate the social problems caused by mass incarceration. But in taking the issue a step further, we would argue that the two-party political system shares responsibility for maintaining the status quo.
Since the 1970s, both Democrats and Republicans have yoyoed between being “tough on crime” and making unenthusiastic policy proposals that failed, year after year, to address the root causes of crime. Decades after its launch, the so-called “War on Drugs,” considered to be the “New Jim Crow,” remains ongoing with no evidence of success (if “success” was ever actually defined), and at the expense of tens of millions of Black and brown families who have been disproportionately impacted by the more than $1 trillion policy.
Imagine if those public funds were instead allocated to housing, healthcare, and education programs that disrupt the cycle of poverty, instead of perpetuating it. This approach is and always has been nonpartisan. But as both parties’ policy priorities suggest, most elected leaders are willing to spend more taxpayer dollars on private prisons than public schools.
The idea of abolition is not radical. For decades, abolitionists have been fighting across party lines to reimagine a future where public safety centers on the public - rather than policing. Policies that directly tackle disproportionate sentencing and race-based policing have started to show importance in local and state governments across the country, and leaders like Congresswomen Bush, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan have supported federal policies that bring us a step closer to achieving this “radical” future.
Abolition is about creating a society where all people can collaborate, thrive, and live full lives as their basic needs are met. As more and more people are introduced to the concept of abolition and understand that this future is possible - as radical as it may seem - the more likely that future becomes.
In the words of Dr. Angela Y. Davis, “you have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”
In the News
Police, prosecutorial, and judicial accountability
Four Louisville police officers have been federally charged in connection to the murder of Breonna Taylor, the young unarmed Black woman who was shot in her own home during a botched raid. Federal investigators discovered that the warrant used to enter Taylor’s home lacked probable cause and some of the police officers had submitted “sworn” affidavits supporting the warrant that was based on lies and false information. [St. Louis American/Brett Wilkins of Common Dreams]
Free Thought, a Missouri-based nonprofit, sources used books and donates them to jails and detention centers across the state. Founded in 2020, the organization has been able to donate more than 3,600 books with a next-to-no budget, relying on donations and the founders’ own funds to reach thousands of detainees. [Riverfront Times/Reuben Hemmer]
Economic development & housing
This past legislative session, the Missouri legislature passed a bill that allocates funding to urban farms to address food insecurity grants, but applicants have encountered difficulties in accessing those funds. The “grants” require a farm seeking assistance to contribute $12,500 to the project and operate on a reimbursement system, meaning the farms must first spend their own money and get paid back later. [KCUR/Eva Tesfaye]
Most of the $16 million in ARPA funds dedicated to homeless services remains widely unspent, partly due to the lack of access to grant-writing support to apply for the federal funds. Grassroots organizations that serve the unhoused typically do not have some of the baseline requirements for receiving federal dollars, like a legal structure or tax-exempt status. [St. Louis Public Radio/Kavahn Mansouri, Shahla Farzan]
Further reading
Boeing workers have indicated that a strike is likely to happen, largely due to changes to Boeing’s 401k plan and a two-tier pay system that disadvantaged employees hired after 2014. A remaining sticking point in negotiations is Boeing’s refusal to pay a liveable wage to new employees. [Riverfront Times/Benjamin Simon]
Black women and women enrolled in the state Medicaid program have been found to be up to 8 times more likely to die within one year of pregnancy, with nearly 75% of maternal deaths deemed as preventable. Recommendations made by through the report, published by the state Department of Health and Senior Services, have widely been ignored or defeated in the state legislature, and there is no clear direction for Missouri to address the maternal mortality rate, which is one of the highest in the country. [Missouri Independent/Tessa Weinberg]
Mayor Jones has appointed two members to the St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education, and all seven seats on the Board are now filled. Brittany Hogan has a social work background and most recently served in the Rockwood School District’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) office. Dr. John Wright has served as the superintendent for the Kinloch, Normandy, and St. Louis school districts and brings a long, distinguished career to the SLPS board. [St. Louis American/Staff]
A lawsuit challenging the state senate redistricted map alleges that Black residents in St. Louis were “packed” into two cramped districts, diluting Black representation. The boundary lines for five of the 34 senate districts are specifically at issue and a number of counties were split across multiple districts without good cause. [Missouri Independent/Rudi Keller]
Legislative Update
St. Louis City Board of Aldermen
The St. Louis City Board of Aldermen currently is in recess. The Board will reconvene on September 16, 2022.
BB 26 and BB 29, sponsored by Ald. Green, would put before City voters the ballot issue of enacting a surcharge on developers who reduced the number of units for housing rehabs and redevelopment. The bills were assigned to the Neighborhood Development Committee on May 13.
BB 47, sponsored by Ald. Clark Hubbard (Ward 26), will strengthen the City’s Civilian Oversight Board and would add paid support staff, as well as create the new Division of Civilian Oversight within the Department of Public Safety. Finally, this bill would legislatively create the Public Integrity Unit through the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office. The bill was passed by the full Board of Aldermen on July 15 and has been delivered to Mayor Jones to sign.
BB 56, also sponsored by Ald. Clark Hubbard, would allocate emergency funding for rental and other housing assistance. The bill was perfected and passed by the entire board on July 13.
BB 61, sponsored by Ald. Annie Rice (Ward 8), establishes the Reproductive Equity Fund that would assist pregnant people in St. Louis with logistical support to access abortion services in other states. The bill was passed by the full Board of Aldermen on July 15 and was signed into law by Mayor Jones on July 21.
Learn more about how a bill becomes a City ordinance.