The St. Louis Observer: September 10, 2021
St. Louis City set to get new police chief; Ameren seeks rate increase at customers' expense; Missouri pro-abortion groups prepare for ban similar to Texas'
Editor’s Note
Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, mere weeks after the last U.S. troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan. After two decades, trillions of dollars, and a dramatic expansion of the domestic surveillance state, the limits of the American empire have been realized, again.
Although the al-Qaeda operatives who orchestrated the attacks were Saudi, Lebanese, Egyptian, and Emirati, we did not attempt to invade those nations. American politicians - disguising their imperial ambitions as the evangelizing of democracy - set their sights on Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen, since September 11, 2001.
Entire generations were stolen under the false pretense that the armed conflict was necessary in order to rectify the attacks and to assert the civil rights of Afghans. With the expansion of empire came white supremacy, islamophobia, and racist reductions of ancient cultures & histories of the Muslim world. The extent of damage of U.S. colonialism will not be realized for decades, if not centuries.
As the world watched the conflict unfold abroad, those living in the U.S. saw the domestic attacks on our own democracy, our privacy, our movement, and our autonomy. American imperialism did not dominate only overseas but at home, as well. The Patriot Act, still in full force today, has chipped away at our domestic civil rights and has been used as a platform for the U.S. government to terrorize its own, especially Black and brown citizens.
As we pause this weekend to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks and the Allied service members who lost their lives, let us not forget the more than 100,000 Afghan and Iraqi civilians killed in combat zones, many more who were by the colonial ambitions of the US government.
They are deserving of our remembrances, too, as well as the attacks on our own civil rights these past 20 years.
In the News
Local governments have mixed responses to voided federal eviction moratorium
An encampment at the Interco Plaza on North Tucker, where more than a dozen unhoused persons resided, was cleared out by St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) and City officials after ongoing complaints of increased violence and drug use. Many residents at the encampment were receiving services from St. Patrick’s Center next door and have been unable to join communities set up at Camp Cole and the former St. Louis RV Park due to capacity limitations. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Katie Kull, Mark Schlinkmann, Steph Kukuljan]
The St. Louis County Council has voted to reinstate its eviction moratorium following the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the federal freeze. The moratorium applies to renters or homeowners who have lost wages due to the pandemic and who are at risk of becoming homeless. [St. Louis Public Radio/Rachel Lippmann]
St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office is processing about 25 evictions per day and St. Louis City has reported processing around 6 evictions per day, following the striking down of the federal eviction moratorium. St. Louis City Sheriff Vernon Betts stated that his office planned to add more staff to process evictions as landlords begin to file more cases with the courts. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Jacob Barker]
State Department of Corrections legal woes continue
Corizon Health has been temporarily cleared to continue services within Missouri Department of Corrections facilities after the embattled company sued to block the contract from going to another corporation. Centurion Health, a subsidiary of Clayton-based Centene, recently won a state contract to take over for Corizon, which has settled dozens of prisoners’ civil rights cases for medical malpractice in the last few years. [Missouri Independent/Rudi Keller]
The Missouri Department of Corrections - and Missouri taxpayers - has been ordered to pay more than $700,000 as part of an employment discrimination judgment entered against the state. The judgment is the latest in a series of discrimination lawsuits that have resulted in the Department being ordered to pay more than $55 million to former Corrections employees since 2017. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Kurt Erickson]
Further Reading
At an emergency request of the Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a hearing on the arguments on the release of Kevin Strickland, a man wrongfully convicted for a triple murder since 1979, has further been postponed. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, whose predecessor obtained the wrongful conviction of Strickland, has argued that the sole evidence used in Strickland’s case has since been recanted; Schmitt has argued - without citing evidence - that Strickland was guilty. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Associated Press]
Ameren Electric is seeking state approval for a $300 million rate increase, which would add $12 to the average electric bill in the St. Louis area. The rate hike must be approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission, which will take public testimony in a series of hearings this fall. [Missouri Independent/Allison Kite]
Workers represented by SEIU Healthcare Missouri participated in a strike at a north St. Louis nursing home, demanding a $15 minimum wage and affordable health insurance. The workers are nearly a year into renegotiations with Blue Circle Rehab and Nursing’s New York-based owner, previously striking earlier this year after low wages forced staffing shortages and high turnover. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Michele Munz]
Although the State of Missouri is delaying the processing of applications, healthcare advocates across the state are notifying newly-eligible residents of the Medicaid Expansion legal victory, an estimated 230,000 adults. Missouri residents who may qualify for expanded coverage - earning $17,774 for an adult age 19-64 or $36,570 for a family of four - can apply online through mydss.mo.gov and can find assistance through the Cover Missouri hotline at 1-800-466-3213. [St. Louis American/Dana Rieck]
Missouri Republicans have announced that they will introduce an anti-abortion law similar to the one passed in Texas, despite legal scholars’ warnings that the bill is unconstitutional and violative of women’s rights. Pro-abortion groups are calling on supporters to donate to local abortion funds, to prepare to fight disinformation campaigns, and to be ready for protests and direct action when the restrictive bill is introduced in the state general assembly. [St. Louis Public Radio/Sarah Fentem]
Missouri has become the final state to enact the “mental health parity law,” a federal law designed to ensure that mental healthcare is covered by insurance providers the same as physical healthcare. Prior to passing the law, insurance companies in Missouri were allowed to deny coverage for mental health services, shifting costs to taxpayers and state-based healthcare programs like Medicaid. [St. Louis Public Radio/Tessa Weinberg]
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief John Hayden announced that he will retire in February 2022 after serving four years as the “top cop” in the City of St. Louis. As police chief, Hayden oversaw the investigation into the “Russian roulette” shooting death of Officer Katlyn Alix, more than 130 protests where activists were subjected to chemical weapons and rubber bullets, and the trials of three white SLMPD officers who beat a fellow Black officer during the 2017 Stockley protests. [St. Louis Public Radio/Rachel Lippmann; St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Erin Heffernan]
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Missouri has seen a rise in the number of Black families choosing to homeschool their children. Citing racism, bullying, and negative socialization in schools, the number of homeschooling Black and mixed-race families has more than quadrupled in Missouri, and organizations like the Black Homeschool Union have risen to support families by sharing educational resources. [Missouri Independent/Rebecca Rivas]
Quote of the Week
Texas’ inhumane six-week abortion ban doesn’t allow exceptions for rape or incest. That doesn’t sound pro-life to me. They’re pro-birth, not pro-life… Under [the Texas abortion] ban, people no longer have control over their lives, they cannot decide when they become parents or something that will greatly impact the trajectory of their life and their income.
— Mayor Tishaura Jones at Thursday’s “Stop the Bans” rally for abortion access at the Old Courthouse in Downtown St. Louis.
Legislative & Legal Update
City of St. Louis
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen returns from its summer recess, with regular sessions to resume this morning.
State of Missouri
The Missouri State Legislature is on recess until January 2022.