Daniel Shular
Protesters march through St. Louis County on Saturday, May 30, 2020 against the police killing of Floyd George. Daniel Shular/Missourian
The crowd of protesters spilled from the steps of the St. Louis County Jail onto Clayton’s Carondelet Avenue on May 30, a sea of people calling for reform in the wake of the nation’s latest episode of racial injustice. Rasheen Aldridge, wielding a bullhorn, reminded them that their work was only beginning. For change to truly take hold, said Aldridge, a Missouri state representative and Expect US protest organizer, patience, persistence, and a coalition of people eager to dig in will be required. That has been the message since late May, when George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis.
Calls for racial equity have rung out across the country, including here in St. Louis, where organizations like Expect US have led large, diverse crowds of protesters in Clayton, St. Charles, Brentwood, both O’Fallons, and neighborhoods in between. They’ve demanded reforms to the criminal justice system and local government—calls to action St. Louis has heard before.
When unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson by police officer Darren Wilson in 2014, the ensuing uprising forced the region to take a critical look at its systemic failings. When the Ferguson Commission, an independent group appointed by then-Governor Jay Nixon to examine issues of inequity, released its report on those structural shortcomings in 2015, it identified the general issues that leave communities like Ferguson at a disadvantage. It also recommended changes that could make the St. Louis region more inclusive.
So as other cities are still finding their way, our metro area at least has a road map for implementing lasting change. The report was meant to be a living document that provides guidance through more than just a singular moment in time, and those who worked on the report believe that it’s as relevant as ever.
Nicole Hudson is an assistant vice chancellor for the Washington University Academy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and a contributor to the Ferguson Commission report. “People say, ‘Oh, [the report] has 189 calls to action. That’s way too many,’” she says. “But you can say that there’s one call to action, and that is to make St. Louis an equitable place for all, and here are 189 first steps.”
Signs of change began to surface after a 2019 follow-up report by the group Forward Through Ferguson found that the Ferguson Police Department had increased police training hours, revised use-of-force policies, and helped update a use-of-force statute for fleeing suspects.
Expect US is calling to defund the police, or direct some of its budget into prevention initiatives. St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson has said “defunding the police department is not a way to get a better police department.”
In June, the mayor, together with Director of Public Safety Judge Jimmie Edwards and St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden, released a statement that said de-escalation, implicit bias, and racial equity training had been part of police curriculum since 2014. “We support the following: a national registry of bad and corrupt police officers; national standards for police training; and the hiring of mental and behavioral health specialists to assist police,” the statement read.
In July, Krewson, Edwards, and Hayden announced an outside review of police policies, focusing on best practices, recruiting and training, and reducing gun violence. “[The review is] about acknowledging that Black lives matter,” the mayor said. “In St. Louis, far too many Black lives are lost to violence.” The city’s review will be led by former Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey, who served on President Barack Obama’s President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page also announced a review of public safety in county police, in coordination with the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. Thomasina Hassler, a member of the county’s Board of Police Commissioners, said she was looking forward to collaborating with the organization.
But it’s not just the police who need to change, says Aldridge, who sat on the Ferguson Commission. He and the committee wanted to make it clear that there are stakeholders in every sector. “We looked at it as ‘Everyone has a role to play,’” Aldridge says. “You’ve got your protesters and your legal observers. You’ve got people who can work on criminal justice reform. You’ve got folks who can work on health care.”
Hudson, formerly an aide to Krewson, agrees. That’s because many of the recommendations outlined by the report require not legislation but rather policy changes in local companies, communities, and organizations.
“If people are serious about saying they want to see a better place,” Aldridge says, “it’s time for people to put their money where their mouth is and look at some of the recommendations."
Expect US has released a five-point plan. Here’s what it includes:
1. Defund the police.
Redistribute some of the police budget to community initiatives.
2. Disarm, decommission, and dismiss officers.
This would end the use of deadly weapons. Officers with a history of use of excessive force and those who kill or cause serious injury would be fired.
3. Close the Workhouse.
Some call St. Louis’ medium-security jail an unsafe debtor’s prison built on the cash bail system.
4. Free political prisoners.
This includes those imprisoned for fighting systemic racism.
5. Make reparations.
This is especially important in North and South St. Louis and North County, Expect US states.
