A Different St. Louis Requires a Different Kind of Leadership

Reflections on Forward Through Ferguson’s meeting with the Mayor and the desperate need for transformational leadership in St. Louis.

Charli Cooksey, Lead Catalyst at Forward Through Ferguson—the organization created by the Ferguson Commission to be a catalyst and advocate for Racial Equity in St. Louis.

OUR MEETING WITH KREWSON

Wednesday morning we met with the Mayor of the City of St. Louis, Lyda Krewson, to follow-up on the calls to action that we issued in our September 21st statement. On behalf of our 60 co-signers and the thousands of people who contributed to the Ferguson Commission’s report, we presented the mayor with immediate opportunities to break the cycle of injustice and racial inequity that have held our city hostage for far too long.

Our focus was specific, on the policy changes needed to: a) advance greater police accountability to the community and b) ensure that African Americans and other People of Color are protected from police abuse when exercising their right to protest and when going about their daily lives. We entered the meeting with a belief that our city needs the mayor to be a transformational leader who invests her time, energy, and the full power of her office to effect positive change. We called on her to demonstrate a commitment to Racial Equity in four immediate ways:

1. Be a champion for the creation of an independently managed 25-year Racial Equity Fund that supports those who advance the Calls to Action in the Ferguson Commission Report through resources generated from a public-private partnership. [COMMITED TO ACT]
2. Utilize the executive powers of the Mayor’s Office to act on policy changes that address: Just Use of Force Investigation | Police Response to Demonstrations | Minimization of Police Use of Force | Implementation of Effective Community Policing | Independent Civilian Oversight Board [NO ACTION]
3. Increase public accountability and transparency through the rescheduling of public forums that give residents access to the mayor and a voice in her decision-making. [NO ACTION]
4. Convene a meeting with County Executive Steve Stenger that calls him to act on policy changes that reflect a regional commitment to Racial Equity. [NO ACTION]

We invited Mayor Krewson to act in ways that are radically different from how her predecessors have traditionally used their influence and decision-making power in the St. Louis region. We urged her to commit to solutions that acknowledge the pain and inequitable outcomes People of Color in our city experience when engaging with law enforcement and the justice system.

While we and the mayor found some common ground during our time together, we left with few substantive commitments. Mayor Krewson is still evaluating her options and is not yet ready to put a stake in the ground. She has yet to embrace, declare, enact and enforce a clear path forward for our city that will transform the business as usual mentality that has retarded our progress and prosperity. What we need right now from Mayor Krewson is not a perfect plan, but an adoption of a culture of trying, an embrace of Dr. King’s wisdom to “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

We concluded our meeting with the mayor knowing that we were honest, unflinching, and humble in our dialogue with her. We feel confident that we carried with us the spirit of the community members and Commissioners that contributed to the Ferguson Commission report and the growing energy around Racial Equity that has since surfaced in places we could have never imagined before the death of Michael Brown.

Yet, we also left knowing that our efforts were not enough. There is much work to be done. The lives of Black and Brown people in our region demand that we be even more unflinching, even more radically collaborative, and even more relentless about the pursuit of a future where we can celebrate equity instead of fight for the right for People of Color to live.

RACIAL EQUITY THROUGH PRESSURE AND PARTNERSHIP

As we step into advocacy for policy and systems change as our core work, we know that we have to take the long view as well as respond to the fierce urgency of now. Getting policy actors and decision makers to change overnight rarely happens. Only steadily applied pressure and partnership can get us to municipal and regional transformation, and ultimately to better lives for the residents of this region.

St. Louis continues to desperately need all our engagement, leadership, humility, investment of time, energy, and serious, genuine attention to effect change.

There are several actions we must take:

• We must rise to a long-term vision of a Racially Equitable city.
• We must grow beyond the confines of who we are today and allow the potential of who we can become to serve as our North Star.
• We must develop a set of strategies that are sustained by deliberate pressure and partnership with those who have policy making power.
• We must work relentlessly to advance these strategies over time.
• We must build alliances that push us out of our silos even if that means discomfort.
• We must be bold leaders who dare to do things differently because our city deserves better, and because our Black and Brown children deserve to grow into Black and Brown men and women who can thrive in a place they call home.

Once again, we are committed to action. Collective, strategic, bold, policy-driven action. Our action can’t yield different outcomes without you:

Elected officials and those with policy power:

• Dare to be different leaders, break out of the ways of the past, and get some policies passed that are authentic, long-term responses for a better St. Louis.

Concerned citizens, organizations, and coalitions:

• Your advocacy, protests, and voices will always be the impetus for change. Persist. Remain unflinching in your advocacy.
• Use the Report as the roadmap as we envision a future that we can be confident is worthy of our children. We don’t always have to agree or use the same methods, but we must always leverage one another in service of a movement that is bigger than ourselves.

Civic, business, and philanthropic community:

• Use the unique power and resources you have to support the 25-Year Racial Equity Fund and to apply pressure and deepen partnerships with policymakers. Let the Calls to Action and the voice of the community inform your advocacy and how you use your influence.

Today, the reality we confront is a choice. As elected officials, business, civic, and philanthropic leaders, and concerned citizens and coalitions with the capacity to show up differently through our beliefs, actions, and power, we must choose a new way of courageously existing as a united community.

Our actions in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead will be the true measure of our commitment to Racial Equity and a better St. Louis that is just for all. We have the power to transform our region and reverse the culture of complacency, privilege, and racism that has stifled us. We call on you to choose to lead and partner differently.

Will you join us?

–Charli Cooksey

Lead Catalyst, Forward Through Ferguson