The Long Road Ahead for STL
Last night, Nicole and I attended the ESOP (Ethical Society of Police) community engagement forum for the police chief search this city is about to dive into. Redditt Hudson kicked off his exceptional moderation of the event by welcoming everyone to “…the world famous Vashon High school”. There we sat in the auditorium, community members (and to be clear, I’m talking about the North St. Louis African American community, with a few white people also in attendance), activists, police officers, Mayor Krewson, and Senator Nasheed. There were three panelists for the evening, John Chasnoff, Rick Frank (personnel director for the city), and ESOP president Heather Taylor. They each gave long and insightful introductions and monologues centered around the police chief search and importance of community policing. Frank detailed the process going forward as being unique from any process before — there is a citizen advisory committee which will lead the process through a series of public meetings starting this coming Tuesday and they will be responsible for deciding how this search runs and public input is encouraged. Chasnoff spoke at length about community policing and “problem-solving” policing and the challenges and opportunities both afford. Taylor, who is a sergeant in homicide, described the current pay structure in the force and the long hours (or second jobs) our officers need to make their ends meet.
At one point Hudson jumped back to the podium and preached about how our next chief must have it in them to stand up to the structural racism in the force, must be willing and able to hold their officers accountable when they break the law, especially when another unarmed black boy is killed. He gave an emotional and honest plea to the mayor and the rest of us that if we’re being serious we need to stand up against the racism that exists within our institutions in meaningful and brave ways, or we’re not getting anywhere and it doesn’t really matter who our next chief is.
When it was time for audience questions, it was clear that the level of disenfranchisement, mistrust, and pain that many or most of our city’s black residents feel daily is gulfs away from the progress that most white residents think this city has made in the last decade. Despite city hall’s best-efforts, even crafting a citizen advisory committee appears just to be more pomp and circumstance for someone who’s family was left behind by this town generations ago. For me, it was a reminder that we can only expect so much from a system that was setup only for some of us. Chasnoff later replied to a question about an example of a city doing community policing right — Cincinnati has done a good job over the past decade or so, he said, but even there different chiefs have come and gone and the community policing model has been fighting uphill the whole time.
This is a great opportunity for St. Louis to make a gain, and I wish Nicole luck every morning when she heads to work at city hall but at the end of the day what our city and country need right now is something new. We cannot expect our society—one based on white supremacy—to change from within, it was literally setup not to change. Progress may be made, laws may be changed, but the setup remains the same—the system just reorganizes itself time and again. Segregation? It may be illegal, but its legacy is still so embedded in our way of life that it remains the way we divide our lives. Slavery? That may have been outlawed two centuries ago but even the amendment that outlawed it had a loophole allowing for the rise of prisons filled with black and brown bodies. The list goes on…
I hope St. Louis finds the police chief it needs and deserves. I hope they are strong and lead on community policing when we need it most. I hope they can begin to repair the trust that’s been broken (or maybe never existed) in this town and I hope the residents of this city feel like their voices were heard in the process. I also hope that we take this potential gain for what it is — one step ahead in a world that’s always pushing us two steps back—and realize that to truly change the world actually means shedding the current one. Our progressive gains should be seen as points along the transition to a new and completely different, transformed, society. Often, I fear, they are seen as the panacea instead.
One final thought for everyone working to change our systems from within. That stuff about our city’s cops not making enough money and the Mayor scrambling to find more money to keep our officers from jumping ship to the county where starting salaries are significantly higher? There are 58 police departments in St. Louis County, and one here in the city that is being beaten up by all of its neighbors. Let’s try to work together more shall we? Maybe drop that number to two, and then maybe even one. A regional police force based on community and problem-solving policing, that would be a nice transition point on our way to a transformed world!
Ball’s in your court, Ms Krewson and Mr. Stenger.
