In the eyes of many BLACK St. Louisans, the continued unrest in Ferguson is a STRANGER in the house

                                         

(Stranger In My House - Tamia)

Protesters in Ferguson, Missouri

I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.  Except for the 18 and a half years I lived in California (14 years in the San Francisco Bay Area and 4 and a half years in Los Angeles), I have lived the remaining of my 54 years in St. Louis.  I have always felt a sense of disappointment of how few professional opportunities that were available to the African-American community in St. Louis.  As is the case in most of America where professional opportunities are few and far between for African-Americans, there sure is a laundry list of reasons as to why that has been and continues to be the case.  I have addressed some of those reasons ad nausea and will continue to address some of those reasons ad nausea.  However, I won’t do so in this piece.  I will take a look squarely in an internal direction.  I will look at the African-American community in St. Louis.  There are some housekeeping issues we African-Americans in St. Louis, and elsewhere, surely need to address.  One major issue – make that THEE major issue – is a sense of unity.  There are many African-Americans in St. Louis who absolutely DETEST the protests in Ferguson that have arisen as a result of a white Ferguson police officer named Darren Wilson shooting and killing an UNARMED black teenager named Mike Brown on August 9, 2014.  In the eyes of many BLACK St. Louisans, the continued unrest in Ferguson is a STRANGER in the house. 

I was born in 1960 and in the mid-1960s, downtown St. Louis underwent a renaissance. The Gateway Arch and Civic CenterBusch Memorial Stadium (the formal name of thenew stadium then) were two dynamic construction projects that jump started that renaissance.  The city of St. Louis  – downtown in particular - WAS and 

The Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium under construction

 still IS the epicenter of the St. Louis Metropolitan area, which encompasses several counties of Southern Illinois as well.  With the population within the city’s borders at 775,000 people, St. Louis was the 10^th largest city in America - a MAJOR city – instead of the mid-level TOWN it is now.  It was an exciting time in St. Louis then.  I could feel it, too, even as a 5 year old black kid.  As the Arch was being constructed, one of the things I looked forward to on most Saturdays was my dad taking me to the riverfront so I could see the progress of the construction of the Arch first hand.  (See … I have ALWAYS been a GEEK and a NERD)  I was fascinated with the safety net strewn between the legs of the Arch that was supposed to catch construction workers in case of a fall as the structure rose.  Surprisingly and thankfully, there were no deaths to any construction workers building the Arch. 

As altruistic as I was as a 5 year old about the Arch, not all in the African-American community in St. Louis felt the same way.  As large of construction projects the Arch and Busch Stadium II were, there were NO black contractors or black construction workers hired to work on either project.  The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) took note of this and began organizing protests on the Arch construction site (insert picture).  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had just been signed into law and apparently no one had informed MacDonald Construction Company, the general contractor on the Arch project.  After meeting with the construction company and demanding the

Percy Green and Richard Daly on the leg of the Arch

company hire some blacks and having those demands go unmet, something drastic had to happen.  Percy Green, 29 years old at the time and chairman of the employment
committee with C.O.R.E., and Richard Daly, a 26 year old white college student from Minnesota, climbed 125 feet up the north leg of Arch as a means of protest.  This was as bold a move as could be imagined – ESPECIALLY for someone black in 1960s St. Louis.  Green and Daly eventually came down and were arrested.  A month later, Green was “laid off” from his job at McDonnell-Douglas (now Boeing), although the company ran newspaper ads recruiting new hires for the position he once held.  Percy Green went on to a long career in activism in St. Louis.  At 78, he is still active in St. Louis.  (Percy Green II recalls his historic 1964 protest with Richard Daly)

Bill Clay

There were other notable black activists and protests in St.

Lacy Clay

Louis.  Before he was a Congressman in the First District of Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives, William L. (Bill) Clay, Sr. was an activist as well.  In August 1963, C.O.R.E. was at it again.  This time the target was Jefferson Bank, located just west of downtown St. Louis.  The bank only had 2 black employees at the time and C.O.R.E. demanded the bank hire at least 4 more African-Americans.  These protests went on until March 1964, by which time Jefferson Bank had hired 6 more African-Americans.  The protests had cost Bill Clay 105 days in jail for his activism.  The demonstrations worked and Bill Clay parlayed that success into an illustrious 32 year career in the U.S. House of Representatives.  His son, William L.(Lacy) Clay, Jr., succeeded him in Congress in 2000. 

 

As a result of the actions of Percy Green, Bill Clay and others, professional opportunities previously unavailable to black people in St. Louis started to become available.  More black people were starting to get good paying jobs that catapulted some into a middle class lifestyle.  Things were progressing so rapidly in the 1960s for black people in St. Louis that a group of investors founded Gateway Bank – a full service financial institution owned and controlled by black investors.  Things were getting better for the African-American community in St. Louis.  It was a direct result of what Percy Green and Bill Clay laid the foundation for. 

The trip down memory lane was necessary in order to paint the picture of what conditions were for black people in St. Louis THEN compared to what they are NOW.  As much good work the activists of the 1960s did, if there was one area I would say they fell short in was identifying and grooming a successor of my generation.  Those pioneers are in their 80s and mid to late 70s now, but there WAS no one in the generation after them to carry the torch.  My generation enjoyed the accoutrements of the opportunities the previous generation provided.  That was both good and bad.  It was good for obvious reasons.  Where it was bad was that my generation got intoxicated with the perceived upward mobility and became COMPLACENT and SELFISH.  My generation was unwilling to outwardly and collectively stand up to the oppression that was still prevalent in St. Louis.  We were unwilling to demand a seat at the table where the dish of change was served.  We were able to get mortgages, buy nice cars, get credit cards and live in nice neighborhoods.  It was not conducive to job security to let the boss know you didn’t appreciate his racist jokes or to complain about a hostile work environment.  Nor was it a good idea to complain about being passed over for jobs within the company that we were more than qualified for - only to see less qualified white co-workers get them instead.  The choice was simple: Keep your DIGNITY or keep your JOB.  We were bought and paid for.  It WAS and IS slavery 3.0.  Many black St. Louisans of my generation WERE and ARE more than happy to be docile.  They’re proud of it.  Some even brag about it.  What happened in Ferguson has shed a light on this complacency and selfishness. 

 

Because of the unrest in Ferguson, a lot of black people in St. Louis are uncomfortable.  A lot of black people in St. Louis want the protestors to fade into the sunset.  A lot of black people in St. Louis question what the protestors are doing; what they’re hoping to accomplish.  See, to those black people, the change the unrest in Ferguson has brought to the St. Louis Metro is uncomfortable.  It causes them to have to answer uncomfortable questions they get from white co-workers who detest the protests and demonstrations, too.  It puts them in the uncomfortable position of listening to their white co-workers refer to other black people as “animals” and “thugs” and knowing they can’t disclose to those white co-workers how uncomfortable they are hearing those outrageous and racially insensitive comments.  They also know that as a result of the unrest in Ferguson, their bosses and co-workers look at THEM differently now.  A lot of black people feel the NEED to prove over and over to many people they are not like “them” – with “them” being the protestors in Ferguson seen on the nightly news. 

The protests and demonstrations have spread to other parts of the Metro.  On Saturday night, this was the scene at Powell Symphony Hall:

The fact this protest has moved to the symphony – not exactly a venue known to attract many black people – will certainly become the talk of the town.  This latest move will once again put the onus on a lot of uncomfortable black people.  The protestors have shown up at Ferguson City Council meetings; the St. Louis County Courthouse where the Grand Jury is hearing testimony and reviewing evidence and deciding if criminal charges will be filed against Darren Wilson; they’ve attempted to shut down major highways in the Metro during weekday rush hour; and they’ve have a constant presence across the street from Ferguson P.D. headquarters.  Critics are upset because the protests have disrupted the natural and regular order of things.  HELLO!!!  That is the purpose of a protest – to disrupt the natural and regular order of things.  As a result of the protests, approximately 4,000 people have registered to vote.  Most importantly, a new power generation of activists in the St. Louis African-American community has been born.  They’re young, energetic, dedicated, relentless and FEARLESS.  They have NOTHING to lose and everything to GAIN.  They have yet to be influenced by material gain.  They are seeking a gain of EQUALITY while at the same time developing and sustaining DIGNITY.  From my purview, EQUALITY and DIGNITY are far more valuable than material gain.  I wish them luck and I admire them for their courage and for taking a stand and advancing their cause.  I also have a message from actor/rapper/entrepreneur Ludacris for the DOCILE African-Americans in St. Louis:

 



An argument can be made that St. Louis has REGRESSED in many ways in the last 40 years – population wise, socially and along racial lines.  Since 1970, the population within the city’s borders has shrunken from 800, 000 people to 325, 000 people.  The racial DIVIDE has morphed into a racial CANYON.  Black people have no more stake in the city than they did 40 years ago.

In a study released in the Business Insider in November 2013, St. Louis was ranked the SIXTH most segregated city in America.  (Business Insider: The 25 Most Segregated Cities in America)  That's quite a distinction considering the southern cities St. Louis was ranked ahead of.  The powers that be in St. Louis have been accustomed to black people in St. Louis making a little noise when they have grievances and then quietly fading into the sunset.  Unfortunately, there is a significant number of BLACK people in St. Louis who have come to expect that same, docile reaction to grievances – make some noise, give a few speeches and then get lost.  Those black people are starting to realize this cause is different and there is no real end in sight.  This is strange and uncharted territory for those black people.  They’re more uncomfortable than white people in St. Louis are.  That’s on them. 

In the eyes of many BLACK St. Louisans, the continued unrest in Ferguson is indeed a STRANGER in the house. 

Peace, peace. 

Craig Riggins

Email: therigginsreport517@gmail.com
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