St. Louis & Missouri still a lightning rod for protests & riots
/St. Louis & Missouri still a lightning rod for protests & riots
By Robert Foreman
The aftermath of George Floyd’s death continues to reverberate throughout the nation with both protests and, in some cases, rioting and looting. St. Louis, and the state of Missouri, seems to be a lightning rod for it all. Recently, there was a resurgence of protests in the city after the new prosecutor, Wesley Bell, announced that he would not be filing criminal charges against former officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Brown was shot and killed by Wilson in Ferguson in 2014. On what was the sixth anniversary of Brown’s death many of the supporters were frustrated with the decision not to charge Wilson after Bell ran on a campaign of criminal justice reform.
Wilson claimed self-defense in Brown’s death and the prosecutor opted not to file charges after relying on the previous investigations from the police department and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department during President Obama’s term. The DOJ had opted not to file charges against Wilson based off of their own investigation. The death of Brown in 2014 had led to two weeks of rioting in Ferguson. In the weeks and months following Floyd’s death we have seen largely peaceful protests, yet there have been incidents of rioting and looting. The full article can be found here: https://www.theroot.com/protests-planned-in-st-louis-mo-after-new-prosecutor-1844582823
Now, to be blunt, I will always support any protests by disenfranchised groups who are fighting for equality against systemic discrimination and racism. While I understand where the anger and frustration comes from, I have never been one to support those who riot or loot. For one, rioting and looting distracts from the very cause that you are protesting against. In fact, that behavior just allows those in power who do not want to discuss the real issues to just focus on the unlawful and destructive behavior of those who are causing the damage. Secondly, rioting and looting creates a loss of jobs, wages and services. Those businesses that have been destroyed will take weeks, or months, to reopen. Or they may opt not to reopen at all and those jobs, wages and services are lost forever in that community. Yet, protests and riots have been a part of the American story for what seems like forever and Missouri, and specifically St. Louis, always seem to be one of the epicenters.
The Civil War
St. Louis saw its first bouts of civil and racial unrest from 1861 through 1865 during the Civil War. The city was already highly polarized and volatile as political and economic interests clashed over slavery and the German immigrants who were fiercely opposed to slavery. Violence erupted after the Union forces, with the help of German volunteers, captured a Confederate-leaning militia at Camp Jackson. Union General Nathaniel Lyon marched his prisoners through the streets while a mob of residents looted a gun shop and gathered to meet the parade of prisoners. The crowd verbally abused the prisoners and soldiers, and some of the people who had looted the gun shop began firing on them. The ensuing violence caused the deaths of dozens of innocent people, including women and children. The full article can be found here: https://www.stlmag.com/history/civil-unrest-st-louis-civil-war/
1917 Riots
In 1917, St. Louis experienced what has become known as the ‘East St. Louis Massacre’ or what survivors called ‘The East St. Louis Race War’. From July 1 through July 3, a festering labor dispute exploded into all-out racial violence where black residents were summarily beaten, lynched, shot and killed. The tensions in the city began to boil in East St. Louis after thousands of African-Americans had moved from the southern states for factory jobs. Once the largely white workers at an aluminum ore company had gone on strike many of the transplanted African-Americans were hired as replacements. Many of the angry white workers were unhappy about this and filed formal complaints. The tensions finally exploded after news spread about the attempted armed robbery of a white man by a black man. When the dust had settled after three days of bloody violence, nine white residents and anywhere from 39 to more than a hundred African-Americans were dead. The full article can be found here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/east-st-louis-race-riot-left-dozens-dead-devastating-community-on-the-rise-180963885/
The 1960’s
Ironically, St. Louis managed to avoid the major riots that arose in other cities during the turbulent decade of the 1960’s. The only reported major incidents of violence in the city happened in 1968 after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis. Inmates inside of a St. Louis jailed rioted, but the uprising was ended by police using tear gas. There were incidents of windows being smashed in some commercial buildings and a grocery story was attacked with an explosive that failed to detonate. However, a mix of non-violent and militant activists joined forces to march on Palm Sunday in honor of Dr. King. What started out as a group of 7,500 people grew to a racially-mixed size of 30,000 people. The full article can be found here: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/st-louis-area-largely-spared-by-civil-rights-era-rioting-that-hit-other-cities/article_b9a25f8d-efbf-5f4d-af88 173f543989fe.html#:~:text=During%20the%20socially%20turbulent%201960s,Dr.
As I mentioned earlier, protests and riots have been a part of the American story for what seems like forever and St. Louis continues to be at the epicenter. Why this one city seems to always be in the mix is a mystery. Yet, one thing that cannot be ignored is that protesting, regardless of the issue, is a freedom of expression that is given to all Americans. But, with that said, rioting and looting are not ‘inalienable rights’ that are given to any citizen, regardless of their race, creed, color or religion. The late civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis called upon people to “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” Protesting is an example of ‘good trouble’ whereas rioting and looting are not. No matter what justification people give violence never solves any problem, it only creates new ones.
