In
the post-Ferguson Uprising period, urban
communities across the country began changing
the political landscape by electing
prosecutors with an agenda for fairness and
justice. In the not-to-distant past,
prosecutors racked up as many convictions as
they could by any means necessary under the
guise of fighting crime. At the heart of this
reform movement was the unshakable demand to
put police in check and hold them accountable
for their lawlessness.
For
those of us fighting for abolition, the
campaigns to reimage public safety organically
moved to calls to de-fund the public or to
re-invest in program and services for people
(whichever term was more palatable in your
town). On the way to abolition, it means
holding police accountable for their violence
and corruption.
The
police murders of Philando Castile, Eric
Garner, Atatiana Jefferson, George Floyd,
Breonna Taylor and a host of others gave the
abolitionist movement a big boost from all the
energy channeled for transformative change of
the police, courts and prison. That energy was
met with the brick wall of blue, as law
enforcement unions and associations began to
double-down on their resistance to any
meaningful change for communities of color.
And given their level of organization, they
are beating back any progress made in the last
decade.
St.
Louis City and St. Louis County elected their
first African American prosecutors after the
murder of Mike Brown by a Ferguson, MO cop.
Wesley
Bell unseated the white incumbent of nearly
thirty years in St. Louis County. Bob
McCullough’s father was a cop who was killed
by a Black man. Many believed he used his
office to extract revenge for his father’s
death. Black people who came through his court
were unmercifully prosecuted and given severe
sentences. The Democratic prosecutor still
pompously boasts about the 23 souls he put on
death row during his regime.
Kim
Gardner was the first Black, female prosecutor
in the city. From Day One, she hit the ground
running with the wind of a wildly enthusiastic
community behind her back, remaining steadfast
in its support of the office carrying out the
reform agenda. That’s why Gardner’s
announcement of her resignation last week felt
like a punch in our communal gut.
The
twice democratically elected circuit attorney
had made a brief appearance just days before
the announcement at her office’s roundtable on
youth. She vowed never to quit and to keep
moving forward on behalf of her constituency.
Gardner received a rousing ovation from the
audience for her recommitment in the face of
ongoing brutal attacks. But in the end, the
Republican strategy proved successful.
As
the first Black, female prosecutor in the City
of St. Louis, Gardner came into office in 2017
with a community-inspired, justice-centered
reform agenda. She immediately became a target
of the racist right-wing who have spent
countless hours weaponizing whatever she said
and did against her. They spent millions of
taxpayers’ dollars challenging her law
license. Their relentless pursuit was focused
and intentionally destructive. Their character
assassination efforts were public and
ruthless. Clarence “Tom” Thomas, this is an
example of a high-tech lynching!
The
attacks didn’t stop with the announcement of
Gardner’s resignation. A now-emboldened
unelected, state attorney general, Kevin
Bailey, declared the June 1 effective
resignation date as not soon enough. Trust and
believe, if Kim Gardner left now, she would be
accused of a reckless and irresponsible
departure.
The
televised hearing for wrongfully convicted
Lamar Johnson and the recent CBS special on
his case exposed the years of corruption in
the circuit attorney’s office. It has been a
well-documented, but mainly hidden,
dysfunctional office for the last fifty years
of prosecutorial misconduct. The main
differences now are the social media that
exposes the injustices and woke voters who
demand accountability. There has never been an
acknowledgment of the years of mess that
Gardner inherited.
St.
Louis continues to hold onto its antebellum
style of governance where white men with power
carry out their wishes, disregarding ethics or
rules of order. They have demonstrated their
skill in manipulating the narrative, elected
officials and legislative processes to suit
their needs. City-wide Democrats watched the
blatant disenfranchisement of voters without
so much as a peep. They witnessed the
unprecedented act of the unseating of a peer
by another party.
There
are many communities who had built some
momentum in this arena and who must now fight
on two fronts. One, to defend their gains
against a highly entrenched racist system
motivated to protect its narrow
self-interests. Two, to reorganize around an
updated strategy that includes expanding our
base to engage in a long-term battle that
slows down the bourgeoning police state.
Communities
may concede the painful loss of one round, but
there are still rounds left in this battle. We
are in training, building more muscle for
endurance and developing a new strategies for
the current political realities. The People
must always be the victors, not a few in the
minority - usurping and abusing power with the
aid of their minions.
