St. Louis Observer: June 24, 2022
St. Louis City bans no-knock warrants; Freedom Memorial Suit memorial unveiled; SLDC considers massive reform following federal indictments
Editor’s Note
This week, the U.S. celebrated its first federal Juneteenth holiday, more than 150 years after the last enslaved persons in Galveston, Texas, were notified of the end of the Civil War - and the institution of slavery along with it. Local, state, and national leaders have increased their calls for reparations to Black Americans in the last few weeks, and public support for restorative justice to the descendants of enslaved persons has increased in recent years. Reparations are not a new concept to the U.S. - historically speaking, the federal government has used reparations to acknowledge and atone for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and for the forced removal and destruction of the communities of the Ottawas, the Chippewas, the Seminoles, the Sioux, the Klamaths, and Alaskan natives.
To understand how reparations would work, we first look at how the United Nations defines the process: (1) cessation, assurances, and guarantees of non-repetition; (2) restitution and repatriation; (3) compensation; (4) rehabilitation; and (5) satisfaction.
Following the end of the Civil War, however, the U.S. never made it past Step 1.
Instead, during the period called “Reconstruction,” our white male (and for some, formerly slaveholding) elected leaders chose to “rethink” slavery, enacting the Thirteenth Amendment to allow for enslavement, forced labor, and human trafficking under certain conditions. The U.S. never ceased the practice of slavery, nor did we assure the Black victims that slavery would never return, as the first step of reparations would prescribe. Instead of “guarantees of non-repetition,” American leaders deliberately chose to repeat horrific abuses toward Black and brown bodies under a different name: “incarceration.”
Since Reconstruction following the Civil War, the U.S. has experienced arrested development, unable to move beyond the widespread oppression and subjugation of Black people. Getting “unstuck” would require the repeal and replacement of the Thirteenth Amendment, closing the loopholes that have allowed slavery to persist. The amendment of the U.S. Constitution is a daunting task, but is only one of many legal and legislative reforms required if this country is serious about reparations to descendants of enslaved persons.
Reparations cannot be made by public apologies or “investments in underprivileged communities.” Simply writing a check will not be sufficient to undo the multi-generational damage caused by slavery, convict leasing, Jim Crow, sharecropping, mass incarceration, redlining, and other state-sponsored institutions. Reparations require a systemic overhaul, stopping the practices that cause the harm and changing the laws that have enabled or protected the harm. They must include full compensation for the stolen lives, labor, family, traditions and culture, and personal autonomy, and for the kidnapping, torture, rape, and other forms of physical violence integral to chattel slavery.
Reparations are owed to the descendants of enslaved Africans who were displaced, exploited, robbed, murdered, raped, and abused during and in the aftermath of slavery. The harms caused were not only perpetrated and supported by the U.S. government, but by hundreds of corporations, banks, educational institutions, churches, philanthropies, and individuals who profited from Black labor and lives.
As such, we call on local, state, and federal leaders to establish exploratory commissions to investigate the lasting impact of slavery & all of its forms, with the ultimate goal of determining how reparations can be made to those impacted at every level of government.
In the News
Police, prosecutorial, and judicial accountability
The St. Louis County Jail has disclaimed responsibility in the tragic, violent death of Cameron Caves, who was excessively tased inside the jail and whose death was blamed on Florissant municipal police officers. Jail surveillance footage - which had to be obtained via lawsuit & not voluntarily disclosed under public records laws - revealed that jail employees tased Caves multiple times, despite his confinement in a cell within the maximum security facility. [Riverfront Times/Ryan Krull]
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones signed an executive order, banning St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s use of no-knock warrants, which generally allow police to enter a property without announcing their presence. No-knock warrants have led to several deaths in St. Louis City, including that of Don Clark, who was murdered by a police SWAT team in February 2017 when they served a no-knock warrant on Clark’s home based on falsified information provided by a police officer. [Missouri Independent/Rebecca Rivas; St. Louis Public Radio/Kate Grumke]
St. Louis County attorneys have been chided as being “at best lackadaisical and careless, and at worst unscrupulous and dishonest” by a federal judge, after attorneys failed to produce a death report and investigative files for another jail-related death of Drexel Starks, pursuant to a previous order to do so. Starks died, shackled, in jail custody, as a result of severe dehydration and drug withdrawals. [Riverfront Times/Ryan Krull]
Economic development & housing
Following the federal white-collar indictments of three aldermen, the St. Louis Development Corporation is seeking consultants to review SLDC’s internal operations and to locate potential areas of conflict & abuse. The move comes after SLDC’s involvement within the aldermanic scandal was uncovered, showing potentially decades of abuse through the City’s administration of Land Reutilization Act (LRA) properties. [St. Louis Public Radio/Kavahn Mansouri; Riverfront Times/Ryan Krull]
Similarly, SLDC is accused of maintaining outdated databases that supposedly track tax abatements issued in the City. According to the map, no properties have been abated since 2019. Data that has been included in the map reflects that it likely is inaccurate and incomplete. [Riverfront Times/Ryan Krull and Monica Obradovic]
Further reading
The 14-foot tall bronze Freedom Suit Memorial statute was unveiled on Monday, paying tribute to the 330 enslaved persons who filed lawsuits against their Missouri slaveholders between the 1830s through the 1850s. While white judges, lawyers, and jurors presided over these cases, an estimated 120 slaves were able to win their freedom through the legal system. The landmark Supreme Court case, Dred & Harriet Scott v. Sandford, is one of the Missouri-based freedom suits honored through the memorial. [St. Louis Public Radio/Andrea Y. Henderson]
Renewed calls for reparations are increasing, as more and more of the public favors a study on the enduring impact of slavery and the inequities that persist in education, healthcare, employment, and wealth for Black Americans. Advocates have leaned heavily on President Joe Biden to issue an executive order to launch an exploratory commission similar to the State of California’s recent reparations task force. [Missouri Independent/Rebecca Rivas]
The Missouri Legislature passed an election omnibus bill this session that includes a photo I.D. requirement to vote, changes to absentee voting and registration, and establishes new rules for election authorities - likely inspired by and reflective of elements of “The Big Lie,” the false conspiracy that the 2020 presidential election was corrupted and “stolen” from former disgraced president Donald Trump. Gov. Mike Parson has not yet signed the bill into law, as voting rights advocates prepare to launch legal challenges in the meantime. [St. Louis Public Radio/Sarah Kellogg]
Two members of the New Life Evangelistic Center clergy have been suing the St. Louis City over a now-dismissed 2018 citation, which punished them for passing out sandwiches and coffee to the City’s unhoused. Ray Redlich and Chris Ohnimus recently argued before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that the City’s intervention was a violation of their free exercise of religion and of expression; the City continues to fight in support of the ordinance, sponsored by Ald. Jack Coatar (Ward 7) in 2017. [Riverfront Times/Ryan Krull]
Washington University’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity, is partnering with SlaveVoyages, a database of the slave trade, to better understand St. Louis’ role in human trafficking and the institution of slavery. William Acree, co-director of Wash U’s program, said that researchers will use the database to locate historical records of St. Louis-area plantations and slaveholders. [St. Louis Public Radio/Andrea Y. Henderson]
A mobile substance abuse treatment bus will serve three north St. Louis neighborhoods, assisting primarily with therapy assessments, drug & alcohol abuse counseling, and medication. The bus will park at the CareSTL Health clinics in the Greater Ville, Riverview, and Wells-Goodfellow neighborhoods five days a week. [St. Louis Public Radio/Andrea Y. Henderson]
Beyond the Paywall
To read these below articles in full, please visit SLPL.org and access these articles through the Digital Content tab. St. Louis City & County residents can read these publications for free using their library cards.
“St. Louis loosens experience requirements for police chief position,” by Dana Rieck, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Florissant, Freeburg residents among people arrested in Idaho suspected of planning riot,” by Jacob Barker, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Reparations commission needed in St. Louis, social justice groups urge,” by Dana Rieck, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Ex-Ferguson consent decree coordinator named to head St. Louis justice council,” by Mark Schlinkmann, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Bombshell indictments may change how St. Louis handles incentives, land sales,” by Jacob Barker, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“‘We have to do better’: Statue in St. Louis honors legal fight of enslaved Missourians,” by Taylor Tiamoyo Harris, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“On the empty lots of north St. Louis, a lavender farm plants seeds of industry,” by Katie Kull, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“City empties workhouse, keeps it open as contingency plan,” by Dana Rieck, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Legislative Update
St. Louis City Board of Aldermen
BB 1, sponsored by President Reed and Ald. Marlene Davis (Ward 19), creates the City’s budget for the fiscal year 2022 - 2023. The bill was passed by the full Board of Aldermen on June 14 and delivered to the Mayor’s Office on June 16 for signature.
BB 18, sponsored by Ald. Megan Green (Ward 15), would establish the “City Youth Council,” comprised of children and adults, to serve as an advisory board on youth-related issues to the Office of the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen. The bill was passed by the full Board on June 3 and delivered to the Mayor’s Office on June 10 for signature.
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), would 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 introduced and assigned to Public Safety Committee on June 10.
BB 56, also sponsored by Ald. Clark Hubbard, would allocate emergency funding for rental and other housing assistance. The bill was introduced, read for the first time, and was assigned to HUDZ Committee on June 16.
Learn more about how a bill becomes a City ordinance.
Quote of the Week
Tell the world that we not afraid to put up a monument that reminds us we have to do better
Judge David Mason at the unveiling of the Freedom Suits Memorial, June 20, 2022