This was written by Maggie, one of our summer interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.
Even though the proposed merger through the Better Together plan did not go through, many are keeping the conservation going to promote consensus and compromise, especially groups like FOCUS St. Louis that provide leadership and civic education programs for the city. Some support small steps to expand collaborating and gradually consolidate, while others want to radically unify the governance soon. However, whatever will work will require much thought and commitment, which the racial equity forum that took place this July will be pivotal in making progress for the city and county of St. Louis. Specifically, the need to brainstorm and implement ways to become more diverse in political representation and reform our criminal justice system.
This program began with Cristina Garmendia, Associate Director of Community Engagement and Applied Learning for the Race and Opportunity Lab at the Brown School at Washington University, sharing her work in writing the St. Louis City Equity Indicators Baseline Report, which included statistical data about racial equity and inequity. Then, Wray Clay, who is the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at United Way of Greater St. Louis, talked about the county version of this Equity Indicators Report. After these summaries, the panel discussion began with questions and answers and a live Twitter wall. The speakers included Wesley Bell, Prosecuting Attorney of St. Louis County; Dr. Andrea Benjamin, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia; Hazel Erby, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for St. Louis County; and Captain Perri Johnson, Sixth District Commander of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Dr. Wally Siewert, the Director of Civic Engagement at FOCUS St. Louis, moderated the panel.
Garmendia authored the St. Louis Equity Indicators Baseline Report, which was released in January 2019. In order to write this, she had to work with St. Louis City departments to measure racial equity. Garmendia has launched a think tank for academics, founded a government tech company, and helped manage a nonprofit community development corporation. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis’ Sam Fox School of Design with a B.A. in architecture, she attended the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to get a Master of Public Policy.
Since 1984, Clay has worked for the United Way of Greater St. Louis and is currently creating an Equity Indicators Dashboard to collect data from many counties. Previously, she served as Vice President of Allocations/Agency Relations and Vice President for Community Impact, where she led the organization’s strategic community impact partnerships. In March of 2016, Clay became the first Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion at the United Way. Beyond this organization, she participated in FOCUS Leadership St. Louis, Edwardsville (IL) School Board, Delta Sigma Theta, and St. Peter A/M.E. Church. Clay obtained a M.S. degree in public administration from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.
Since 2017, Dr. Siewert helps lead FOCUS St. Louis as the Director of Civic Engagement and Director of the FOCUS Impact Fellows program. For several years, he has worked in civic engagement everywhere from the grassroots level to analytic academics. Before joining FOCUS, he served as the Director of the Center for Ethics in Public Life (CEPL) at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Dr. Siewert received his political philosophy and ethics Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Barbara after earning his M.A.in philosophy and B.A. in philosophy and German from Western Michigan University. In addition, he has done political organizing and lobbying, such as being the Campaign Director for the Coalition for Consumer Justice of Rhode Island, and worked in the small business industry.
Councilwoman Erby has been a Democratic Committeewoman for University Township since 1996. In 2004, she was elected to represent the 1st District of St. Louis County Council, becoming the first African American woman to do so. She also became the first African American woman to be on the county administrative staff, serving as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the new county executive Sam Page.
Captain Johnson has worked in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for 27 years, working as the Deputy Commander of Community Engagement, Juvenile, and the Gang Unit and Commander of the Juvenile Division. He has also taught at the Police Academy, been a detective, and worked in the Mobile Reserve Unit and SWAT. Captain Johnson now commands District Six, which is the northernmost district of North County and is known as one of the most violent ones. His work includes organizing gun buy-back programs for St. Louis and the “Cops and Clinicians” program, in which social workers and police officers work together.
Dr. Benjamin is from Northern California, where she got her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis, and then she received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She wrote a book called Racial Coalition Building in Local Elections: Elite Cues and Cross-Ethnic Voting, which provides information on Black and Latino coalitions and on the Co-Elite Cues Theory. Now, she is moving towards researching ways communities can make demands and decisions well.
Bell historically won his election for St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, being the first African American to hold this position. He works towards reforming bail and incarceration as well as citizen and prosecutor relationships. Bell was raised in St. Louis by a police officer and county civil servant and received degrees from Lindenwood University and the University of Missouri-Columbia law school. As a St. Louis County special public defender, he served hundreds of clients that have been systematically discriminated against and disenfranchised. Bell has started his own criminal defense practice as well as been a municipal court judge, criminal justice professor, and Ferguson City Councilman.
Dr. Siewert began the event by saying that “any talk of equity in governmental reform must start with these basic functions – that’s why we are starting this conversation with criminal justice and political representation.” The idea of a city-county merger is a long time issue, which demands serious conversations creating solutions. Another idea brought up is that African Americans have faced 400 years and beyond of discrimination, thus these long time issues must be equitable for all. Dr. Siewert discussed two legacies: a history and ongoing legacy of self-sacrifice and public service and a history and ongoing legacy of unjust racial disparities in the use of violent government force. An example of racial disparity in St. Louis is that the Black caucus has only been part of the city council for 30 years. An overarching theme of this event was that representation does not equal equity.
A significant part of the presentation was the thorough explanation of the 2018 Baseline Report produced by Equity Indicators, moving toward the STL region working for all. This 200+ page report shows how St. Louis has to go until racial equity is reached. Examples of racial disparities are that Black drivers are twice as likely to be stopped by police than white drivers and that the majority of Black zipcodes are four times as likely to have warrants issued by the police. Racial inequity is evident in St. Louis, and research and reform are necessary in solving this major problem. The discussion focused on the definition of racial equity, “a state in which statistical outcomes cannot be predicted by race.” Garmendia provided data related to the topic; “in 2016, which is the last time the police department released an annual report, there were 1,187 officers of which 763 where white and 385 were Black. What this translates to in terms of racial disparities is that white residents are more than twice as likely to be represented in the police force.” She also stated, “in 2017, we received applications from 394 white applicants and 366 Black applicants. White residents are only 15% more likely to submit job applications to the police department then Black residents… A third of Black trainees resign or are dismissed compared to only 10% of white applicants.” She overall highlighted the racial disparities in terms of the St. Louis Police Department. In addition to the Equity Indicators’ Baseline Report, the United Way has worked with its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs to make a Regional Racial Equity Dashboard that is data-driven and engaging the community.
Much of the conversation of the panel involved discussing the police, urging more transparency within police departments to reduce the great fear people currently feel. The statistics show that the system can be unjust, which requires changes in its structure and policies. Community police is an important solution in which police are evaluated properly as well as get to know the people in their community, allowing them to police better when connected with the people they serve. They measure their actions in how many people they help, not just the number of stops, tickets, and people locked up. There needs to be community engagement across the board, reaching people beyond their skin color. To end the rampant violence in St. Louis, Captain Johnson, who commands the district with the highest assault, homicide, and infant mortality rates, suggests pouring just reform into community as well as performing random acts of kindness, which he calls “RAKs.” He wants to improve criminal justice and reduce recidivism by creating resources, holding meetings around issues, increasing RAKs, and advancing standards of community police.
Demographics do not have to be destiny, and elected officials need to represent interests and not just demographics. Dr. Benjamin stressed that people need to focus on substantive representation. She mentioned that some people think if people look like them, they will put in policies that support them, which is not always the case. During this event, the panelists prefaced the conversation saying that communities of color, such as the Asian, Latin X, and immigrant populations, are seen, but in St. Louis, the city is very racially divided among Black and white populations. Currently, the city is about 50/50 Black and white, but with a merger, it would be ⅓ Black and ⅔ white. Instead of fragmented communities, all people need to be represented, and more collaboration needs to be fostered. Community members need to know their police, city council, and other governing bodies, and quality people need to run for city and county councils and other elected offices. Another topic in this panel was a board of freeholders with a merger, which Councilwoman Hazel does not totally support but explained if there needs to be one, it should be made up of community members. Overall, ruler determine outcomes, and people at the table make the rules. Tables need to be representative of and equitable for communities, resulting in just policies.
Some other important quotes were Hazel Erby’s comment that “somehow we have to make sure that there’s a climate within the police department that says everybody deserves respect.” Welsey stated he is “a big advocate of community policing, I’m a big advocate of looking at how we evaluate officers because if the promotion is based on the number of arrests and the number of tickets, maybe we need to look at evaluating them on the number of people they know in the hood, and I think that’s when we start having that type of engagement and building that trust we want to see in our communities.” Lastly, Captain Perri Johnson said that he asks his officers to get out of the car, spend time in the community, and get to know the people they are protecting. He said that he believes community policing means being there in uniform and out of uniform to help build relationships and always putting a “humanity spin” on the job; “this badge has a heartbeat.”
Many of the panelists expressed the idea that voting is not enough; people need to show up to meetings, listen to community members, and help develop policy. The data was presented at this event, but action is needed. Panelists informed the audience to mobilize and take action by being heard and seen, showing up and vote, talking to their elected officials, and dismantling the unjust systems in and out.
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