Politics
Robin Rue Simmons discusses what St. Louisans can do to get reparations
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Since the spring, the St. Louis Reparations Commission has held seven monthly public meetings to hear how Black St. Louisans would like the City of St. Louis to repay them for decades of racial discrimination.Over the course of the year, some residents have expressed that they would like reparations to come in the form of interest-free home loans, a free college education and more mental health resources in the community. Others want cash payouts.Black St. Louisans are not alone in their reparations requests to repair race-based harms.In Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago, officials in 2021 approved the nation’s first reparations program. The city began disbursing checks up to $25,000 to Black residents for home down payments or repair to help restore the damage to families who endured decades of housing discrimination.It was the lack of access to living wages, the lack of affordability in the city for Black residents and the overpolicing in certain areas that led to the council’s push for reparations in Evanston, said Robin Rue Simmons, a former Evanston alderwoman who led the city’s reparations efforts.“If you drive through our community, you will be able to identify just on infrastructure, housing stock, community development or lack thereof where the Black community is,” Rue Simmons said. “It is the community that has been disinvested, and this story is the same all across the United States.”She said this is the first step toward repair and is using her blueprint to hopefully convince cities around the country that reparations for Black Americans are attainable.Rue Simmons is keeping a close eye on St. Louis’ reparations push and believes St. Louis is on course with listening sessions and preparing a harm report. However, she said for Black St. Louisans to receive true reparations, city officials must stand on their principles of creating equity for residents, especially Black residents.“The City of St. Louis’ budget is a moral document, it tells you the values of the city,” Rue Simmons said. “If the city cannot designate a reparations funding, find a new revenue source or identify one existing and commit it to reparations, then they have not given the type of tangible commitment, real actionable commitment that I would hope to see from municipalities.”St. Louis Public Radio’s Andrea Henderson spoke with Rue Simmons about the reparations process and her thoughts on St. Louis’ efforts.This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.Andrea Henderson: How did you build the case for reparations for Black residents in Evanston, Illinois?Robin Rue Simmons: Once I began my research, I quickly learned that in 2002, the City of Evanston passed a reparations resolution that supported HR 40, and I thought, ‘Here is the fight foundation of our work.’ We certainly should be looking in our own backyard and holding ourselves accountable. I used that as a basis of how we can show our own commitment to repair as a locality, starting with a deep dive reporting on anti-Blackness in Evanston. When we established the reparations committee, my only request for staffing at the time was our Corporation Counsel so that our legal team would be assigned to the reparations work, understanding that we would have legal challenges, but also understanding that we need to have a viable legal framework that this wasn’t only aspirational, but that we could actually implement and disburse reparations.I knew that reparations were in line with the values that we were expressing as a city at that time with racial equity being one of our core values. So using reparations, not so much as a political agenda, but as a legislative possibility for us to be true to who we say we value. And that is done through policy and budgets and on the municipal level. So, the case that I presented … was in line with everything that we said, we valued, and we passed it with overwhelming support in 2019.Henderson: How did you all get people to come out to the reparations meetings and talk about the core issues and repayment? Because in St. Louis, only small crowds of people show up to the meetings.
Robin Rue Simmons is the founder of FirstRepair, a nonprofit that informs local and national reparations plans. She previously served as the former 5th Ward alderwoman for Evanston, Illinois. During her time as alderwoman, she led the country’s first city-funded reparations program that began paying out to Evanston’s Black residents in January 2022. She said St. Louis is on the right track with trying to repair the race-based harm done to its Black residents, but city officials must stay committed because it can be a long road to actual repayment.
Rue Simmons: It is the same in every city. I wish I could report back and say, ‘In Evanston, everybody Black was there,’ it’s just not the case. First of all, Black folks don’t really trust anything that the government is doing. Many Black people just dismiss it as lip service, it’s not going to happen. We had a respectable turnout for our process, but relative to the subject matter, the opportunity and the harm, we should have had standing room only. We didn’t have that, and I haven’t been to a city yet that has had that.It wasn’t until we started giving out checks and benefits that we were hearing from residents like, ‘Wow, I really wish I would have applied, I wish I would have participated.’ Now we have proven that reparations are attainable, possible, and that we’re committed to accomplishing it. I believe that going forward, other cities and our own will start to see an increase in participation because what they thought would never happen, is happening.Henderson: One of the main questions residents always bring up is, ‘Where is the city going to get this money to make this huge payment out to Black St. Louisans?’ So, how did you all come up with the $10 million payout?Rue Simmons: We came up with the $10 million as a seed. And so that’s not any type of scientific calculation on what it will take to repair, it was a seed to begin this complicated work. I don’t believe that reparations is a transaction, and there is so much more than a dollar of any amount that can repair the Black community.So, part of the process when we were asking ‘What did we want as a Black community for repair, how might we fund it and who was eligible’? We were informed fully in our process by the Black community. There were recommendations of a reparations tax. There were other recommendations like opt in a reparations payment on your water bill, there was a public event tax on Northwestern University … there were a host of ideas. My colleague Ann Rainey … said to use the cannabis tax. At that time, the state hadn’t approved recreational cannabis, we only had medicinal. Immediately, it just made so much sense, so I quickly asked our police chief for a report on our policing as it relates to marijuana. That’s when I got that report back saying 71% of the arrests were in the Black community, but we were 15% of the population. There was no better use for this revenue than reparations.Henderson: At our reparations meetings, people often ask ‘How will Black St. Louisans qualify for repayment?’ So, how did you all come up with the calculation of $25,000 for each qualified Evanston resident?Rue Simmons: Absolutely, so eligibility is a big challenge everywhere, and starting with the harm report as the first step in the reparations process is important, because it informs everything else. So, the harm in St. Louis, let’s say like in Evanston, is in housing. You can look at housing-related ways to repair if it’s in education, if it is in policing, environmental injustices, whatever it might be, it can help you prescribe what repair looks like. The same thing is true for eligibility. In Evanston, we had an anti-Black zoning law that was enforced from 1919 until 1969. Therefore, everyone Black in Evanston during that 50-year time period, plus their descendants, could qualify. That’s how we determine eligibility. If you were Black, and in Evanston, all you had to do was show your race and place in Evanston and you qualify for reparations.Henderson: Since many cities are setting up reparations commissions and preparing race-based harm reports, what are your thoughts on the likelihood of other cities disbursing reparations in the next year or two to help repair the harm done to its Black residents?Rue Simmons: The only place I know disbursing is Evanston right now. I’m hearing cannabis sales tax come up in most cities that are looking to do local reparations. Some will be very difficult, but we have learned that home rule taxes are the most viable way to fund reparations. Home rule taxes don’t pass through the federal government. They’re within the purview of the municipality, especially if it’s a home rule city. So that is a recommendation that I do share with all municipalities, that they look at their home rule taxes first, and there’s a long list.Henderson: St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones created a volunteer reparations fund in spring 2022, where the residents can contribute to this fund by adding money to their property tax bills or their quarterly water bill. Residents were able to start contributing to the fund in November 2022. As of October 31, 2023, it has only collected $1,288.31. What are your thoughts on voluntary reparations funds, and is this a good strategy?Rue Simmons: I can agree with that as an option to supplement a budget line-item commitment. The City of St. Louis budget is a moral document, it tells you the values of the city. If the city cannot designate a reparations funding or find a new revenue source or identify one existing and commit it to reparations, then they have not given the type of tangible commitment, real actionable commitment that I would hope to see from municipalities.Henderson: What advice would you give to Black St. Louisans who hope to see reparations in their lifetimes? And what would you tell those Black residents who are leery about reparations?Rue Simmons: Well, I would say that in the case of St. Louis, they can look to all these other cities now that have passed. They can look to Evanston, that’s giving out checks. There’s been reporting on the recipients, so they can see that it is attainable, it is possible and they should use that as accountability to their own elected officials and not opt out because they don’t believe it can happen. They can point to Evanston and say it’s happening there. They can point to Asheville, North Carolina; Amherst, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; San Francisco, California; they can point to these other examples now. But it’s also fair to understand that Black residents just don’t trust a government process. If we don’t do it, it will not get done, no one is coming to save us. It’s going to take Black community members, Black legislators, our allies, and institutions committed to this as well, for us to get repair and we have to keep hope.
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A proposed constitutional amendment legalizing abortion in Missouri received support from more than half of respondents in a new poll from St. Louis University and YouGov.That’s a boost from a poll earlier this year, which could mean what’s known as Amendment 3 is in a solid position to pass in November.SLU/YouGov’s poll of 900 likely Missouri voters from Aug. 8-16 found that 52% of respondents would vote for Amendment 3, which would place constitutional protections for abortion up to fetal viability. Thirty-four percent would vote against the measure, while 14% aren’t sure.By comparison, the SLU/YouGov poll from February found that 44% of voters would back the abortion legalization amendment.St. Louis University political science professor Steven Rogers said 32% of Republicans and 53% of independents would vote for the amendment. That’s in addition to nearly 80% of Democratic respondents who would approve the measure. In the previous poll, 24% of Republicans supported the amendment.Rogers noted that neither Amendment 3 nor a separate ballot item raising the state’s minimum wage is helping Democratic candidates. GOP contenders for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and secretary of state all hold comfortable leads.“We are seeing this kind of crossover voting, a little bit, where there are voters who are basically saying, ‘I am going to the polls and I’m going to support a Republican candidate, but I’m also going to go to the polls and then I’m also going to try to expand abortion access and then raise the minimum wage,’” Rogers said.Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Kehoe has a 51%-41% lead over Democrat Crystal Quade. And U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is leading Democrat Lucas Kunce by 53% to 42%. Some GOP candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer have even larger leads over their Democratic rivals.
Brian Munoz
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St. Louis Public RadioHundreds of demonstrators pack into a parking lot at Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri on June 24, 2022, during a demonstration following the Supreme Court’s reversal of a case that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.
One of the biggest challenges for foes of Amendment 3 could be financial.Typically, Missouri ballot initiatives with well-funded and well-organized campaigns have a better chance of passing — especially if the opposition is underfunded and disorganized. Since the end of July, the campaign committee formed to pass Amendment 3 received more than $3 million in donations of $5,000 or more.That money could be used for television advertisements to improve the proposal’s standing further, Rogers said, as well as point out that Missouri’s current abortion ban doesn’t allow the procedure in the case of rape or incest.“Meanwhile, the anti side won’t have those resources to kind of try to make that counter argument as strongly, and they don’t have public opinion as strongly on their side,” Rogers said.There is precedent of a well-funded initiative almost failing due to opposition from socially conservative voters.In 2006, a measure providing constitutional protections for embryonic stem cell research nearly failed — even though a campaign committee aimed at passing it had a commanding financial advantage.Former state Sen. Bob Onder was part of the opposition campaign to that measure. He said earlier this month it is possible to create a similar dynamic in 2024 against Amendment 3, if social conservatives who oppose abortion rights can band together.“This is not about reproductive rights or care for miscarriages or IVF or anything else,” said Onder, the GOP nominee for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District seat. “Missourians will learn that out-of-state special interests and dark money from out of state is lying to them and they will reject this amendment.”Quade said earlier this month that Missourians of all political ideologies are ready to roll back the state’s abortion ban.“Regardless of political party, we hear from folks who are tired of politicians being in their doctor’s offices,” Quade said. “They want politicians to mind their own business. So this is going to excite folks all across the political spectrum.”
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Mark Osmack has been out of the electoral fray for awhile, but he never completely abandoned his passion for Missouri politics.Osmack, a Valley Park native and U.S. Army veteran, previously ran for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District seat and for state Senate. Now he’s the Democratic nominee for state treasurer after receiving a phone call from Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Russ Carnahan asking him to run.“There’s a lot of decision making and processing and evaluation that goes into it, which is something I am very passionate and interested in,” Osmack said this week on an episode of Politically Speaking.Osmack is squaring off against state Treasurer Vivek Malek, who was able to easily win a crowded GOP primary against several veteran lawmakers including House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig.While Malek was able to attract big donations to his political action committee and pour his own money into the campaign, Osmack isn’t worried that he won’t be able to compete in November. Since Malek was appointed to his post, Osmack contends he hasn’t proven that he’s a formidable opponent in a general election.“His actions and his decision making so far in his roughly two year tenure in that office have been questionable,” Osmack said.Among other things, Osmack was critical of Malek for placing unclaimed property notices on video gaming machines which are usually found in gas stations or convenience stores. The legality of the machines has been questioned for some time.As Malek explained on his own episode of Politically Speaking, he wanted to make sure the unclaimed property program was as widely advertised as possible. But he acknowledged it was a mistake to put the decals close to the machines and ultimately decided to remove them.Osmack said: “This doesn’t even pass the common sense sniff test of, ‘Hey, should I put state stickers claiming you might have a billion dollars on a gambling machine that is not registered with the state of Missouri?’ If we’re gonna give kudos for him acknowledging the wrong thing, it never should have been done in the first place.”Osmack’s platform includes supporting programs providing school meals using Missouri agriculture products and making child care more accessible for the working class.He said the fact that Missouri has such a large surplus shows that it’s possible to create programs to make child care within reach for parents.“It is quite audacious for [Republicans] to brag about $8 billion, with a B, dollars in state surplus, while we offer next to no social services to include pre-K, daycare, or child care,” Osmack said.Here’s are some other topics Osmack discussed on the show:How he would handle managing the state’s pension systems and approving low-income housing tax credits. The state treasurer’s office is on boards overseeing both of those programs.Malek’s decision to cut off investments from Chinese companies. Osmack said that Missouri needs to be cautious about abandoning China as a business partner, especially since they’re a major consumer of the state’s agriculture products. “There’s a way to make this work where we are not supporting communist nations to the detriment of the United States or our allies, while also maintaining strong economic ties that benefit Missouri farmers,” he said.What it was like to witness the skirmish at the Missouri State Fair between U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce.Whether Kunce can get the support of influential groups like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which often channels money and staff to states with competitive Senate elections.
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Politics
As Illinois receives praise for its cannabis equity efforts, stakeholders work on system’s flaws
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Medical marijuana patients can now purchase cannabis grown by small businesses as part of their allotment, Illinois’ top cannabis regulator said, but smaller, newly licensed cannabis growers are still seeking greater access to the state’s medical marijuana customers.Illinois legalized medicinal marijuana beginning in 2014, then legalized it for recreational use in 2020. While the 2020 law legalized cannabis use for any adult age 21 or older, it did not expand licensing for medical dispensaries.Patients can purchase marijuana as part of the medical cannabis program at dual-purpose dispensaries, which are licensed to serve both medical and recreational customers. But dual-purpose dispensaries are greatly outnumbered by dispensaries only licensed to sell recreationally, and there are no medical-only dispensaries in the state.As another part of the adult-use legalization law, lawmakers created a “craft grow” license category that was designed to give more opportunities to Illinoisans hoping to legally grow and sell marijuana. The smaller-scale grow operations were part of the 2020 law’s efforts to diversify the cannabis industry in Illinois.Prior to that, all cultivation centers in Illinois were large-scale operations dominated by large multi-state operators. The existing cultivators, mostly in operation since 2014, were allowed to grow recreational cannabis beginning in 2019.Until recently, dual-purpose dispensaries have been unsure as to whether craft-grown products, made by social equity licensees — those who have lived in a disproportionately impacted area or have been historically impacted by the war on drugs — can be sold medicinally as part of a patient’s medical allotment.Erin Johnson, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight officer, told Capitol News Illinois last month that her office has “been telling dispensaries, as they have been asking us” they can now sell craft-grown products to medical patients.“There was just a track and trace issue on our end, but never anything statutorily,” she said.
Dilpreet Raju
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Capitol News IllinoisThe graphic shows how cannabis grown in Illinois gets from cultivation centers to customers.
No notice has been posted, but Johnson’s verbal guidance comes almost two years after the first craft grow business went online in Illinois.It allows roughly 150,000 medical patients, who dispensary owners say are the most consistent purchasers of marijuana, to buy products made by social equity businesses without paying recreational taxes. However — even as more dispensaries open — the number available to medical patients has not increased since 2018, something the Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office “desperately” wants to see changed. Johnson said Illinois is a limited license state, meaning “there are caps on everything” to help control the relatively new market.Berwyn Thompkins, who operates two cannabis businesses, said the rules limited options for patients and small businesses.“It’s about access,” Thompkins said. “Why wouldn’t we want all the patients — which the (adult-use) program was initially built around — why wouldn’t we want them to have access? They should have access to any dispensary.”Customers with a medical marijuana card pay a 1% tax on all marijuana products, whereas recreational customers pay retail taxes between roughly 20 and 40% on a given cannabis product, when accounting for local taxes.While Illinois has received praise for its equity-focused cannabis law, including through an independent study that showed more people of color own cannabis licenses than in any other state, some industry operators say they’ve experienced many unnecessary hurdles getting their businesses up and running.The state, in fact, announced last month that it had opened its 100th social equity dispensary.But Steve Olson, purchasing manager at a pair of dispensaries (including one dual-purpose dispensary) near Rockford, said small specialty license holders have been left in the lurch since the first craft grower opened in October 2022.“You would think that this would be something they’re (the government) trying to help out these social equity companies with, but they’re putting handcuffs on them in so many different spots,” he said. “One of them being this medical thing.”Olson said he contacted state agencies, including the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, months ago about whether craft products can be sold to medical patients at their retail tax rate, but only heard one response: “They all say it was an oversight.”This potentially hurt social equity companies because they sell wholesale to dispensaries and may have been missing out on a consistent customer base through those medical dispensaries.Olson said the state’s attempts to provide licensees with a path to a successful business over the years, such as with corrective lotteries that granted more social equity licenses, have come up short.“It’s like they almost set up the social equity thing to fail so the big guys could come in and swoop up all these licenses,” Olson said. “I hate to feel like that but, if you look at it, it’s pretty black and white.”Olson said craft companies benefit from any type of retail sale.“If we sell it to medical patients or not, it’s a matter of, ‘Are we collecting the proper taxes?’ That’s all it is,” he said.State revenue from cannabis taxes, licensing costs and other fees goes into the Cannabis Regulation Fund, which is used to fund a host of programs, including cannabis offense expungement, the general revenue fund, and the R3 campaign aiming to uplift disinvested communities.For fiscal year 2024, nearly $256 million was paid out from Cannabis Regulation Fund for related initiatives, which includes almost $89 million transferred to the state’s general revenue fund and more than $20 million distributed to local governments, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.Medical access still limitedThe state’s 55 medical dispensaries that predate the 2020 legalization law, mostly owned by publicly traded multistate operators that had been operating in Illinois since 2014 under the state’s medical marijuana program, were automatically granted a right to licenses to sell recreationally in January 2020. That gave them a dual-purpose license that no new entrants into the market can receive under current law.Since expanding their clientele in 2020, Illinois dispensaries have sold more than $6 billion worth of cannabis products through recreational transactions alone.Nearly two-thirds of dispensaries licensed to sell to medical patients are in the northeast counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will. Dual-purpose dispensaries only represent about 20 percent of the state’s dispensaries.While the state began offering recreational dispensary licenses since the adult-use legalization law passed, it has not granted a new medical dispensary license since 2018. That has allowed the established players to continue to corner the market on the state’s nearly 150,000 medical marijuana patients.But social equity licensees and advocates say there are more ways to level the playing field, including expanding access to medical sales.Johnson, who became the state’s top cannabis regulator in late 2022, expressed hope for movement during the fall veto session on House Bill 2911, which would expand medical access to all Illinois dispensaries.“We would like every single dispensary in Illinois to be able to serve medical patients,” Johnson said. “It’s something that medical patients have been asking for, for years.”Johnson said the bill would benefit patients and small businesses.“It’s something we desperately want to happen as a state system, because we want to make sure that medical patients are able to easily access what they need,” she said. “We also think it’s good for our social equity dispensaries, as they’re opening, to be able to serve medical patients.”Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who was the first statewide project coordinator for Illinois’ medical cannabis program prior to joining the legislature, wrote in an email to Capitol News Illinois that the state needs to be doing more for its patients.“Illinois is failing the state’s 150,000 medical cannabis patients with debilitating conditions. Too many are still denied the patient protections they deserve, including access to their medicine,” Morgan wrote, adding he would continue to work with stakeholders on further legislation.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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Poll: Support for Missouri abortion rights amendment growing
Democrat Mark Osmack makes his case for Missouri treasurer
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