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St. Louis County Quietly Removes Racist Historical Marker | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

January 24, 2023

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click to enlarge GEOFF WARD This historical marker commemorated when white settlers first arrived in St. Louis County and was quietly removed in November.
St. Louis County has quietly removed a historical marker noting the date when “the county was first visited by white colonists” — but one of the people who advocated for its removal isn’t happy with how it happened.Geoff Ward, a professor of African and African-American studies at Washington University, believes the county’s quiet removal, without public conversation or publicity, was a missed opportunity: “It was taken down in a way that deprives the community of an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of its removal.”Ward remembers seeing the sign not long after he arrived in St. Louis in 2018 to start his faculty position. He was shocked.“The marker was very explicitly identifying St. Louis County as a place where history begins with the presence of white people. And I think that is a very obviously racialized way of framing history,” he explains.According to Esley Hamilton, the former county historian, the marker was once outside of the Clayton Community Center near Clayton High School and was part of a series of markers put up by the State Historical Society of Missouri. Clayton took down the sign and stored it in a closet in the community center, but when the community center was about to be demolished, the county took possession of the sign and eventually put it up at the corner of Forsyth Boulevard and Meramec Avenue. click to enlarge GEOFF WARD A close-up of the county marker that was recently removed.

Ward says the timing of the marker is noteworthy. “This marker was erected in 1955, a year after the Supreme Court holds that segregation is unconstitutional… in these moments [of liberal reform] you get this backlash in the form of reactionary measures, including the establishment of racist commemorative objects.”Since the sign was in Clayton, Ward initially wrote to its municipal leadership about the issue. By then it was 2020, and protesters across the country were tearing down offensive monuments and markers in response to police killing George Floyd. Clayton, which had started an equity commission, looked into Ward’s suggestion only to realize St. Louis County actually owned the marker.In mid-June 2020, Clayton and Ward brought the marker to the attention of the county, which had recently announced it would do a review of “oppressive symbols,” such as street names, statues and historical markers. Doug Moore, spokesperson for the county, says the review came in response to Tower Grove Park removing its statue of Christopher Columbus. A web portal was set up so people could submit symbols for consideration, and Ward was asked to serve on a committee to assess the symbols.But Ward says the committee never met. Ward believes, and Moore confirmed, that it was because the late Hazel Erby — who had been director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the county — was fired in August of 2020. (Erby later sued the county, outlining complaints with County Executive Sam Page and alleging her dismissal violated the state’s whistleblower protection statute.) Moore, the county spokesperson, says Erby’s dismissal and larger concerns about the pandemic meant the county “didn’t focus a lot of attention on how to proceed” with removing the offensive symbols.“This was at a time when people were tearing down monuments and moderates, conservatives and liberals were saying, ‘Well, yes they should be removed, but do it the right way.’ Don’t use vandalism,” Ward recalls. Yet after Ward went through the proper channels, the sign still “sat there for a couple years.”Ward remembers following up from time to time about the marker. Meanwhile, others had submitted complaints through the portal. According to the Post-Dispatch, Page himself brought up Dorsett Road, which is named after Walter H. Dorsett, a farmer who, according to the 1860 census, owned 28 slaves. Another complaint was that Lee and Jackson avenues in Clayton and University City are named for Confederate Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.Then, last November, two years after Ward’s complaint, the parks department quietly removed the marker and put it in storage. Moore says that there was no press around removing the marker because “we just didn’t think that was really a priority.” He adds that county leaders are “happy it was removed.”Still, Ward speculates that the county’s silence around the removal benefited the people in power. If the county had come out and said that the marker was racist, they may have gotten pushback.“Some would attach labels like critical race theory to [taking down the marker],” he says. “There’s an element of whiteness that requires a commitment to evasion and self-deception on matters of race. For many, there’s an inability to acknowledge the problem of structural racism.”Moore says the county isn’t sure what will happen with the sign. “Instead of destroying it, people are wondering if it would make sense to preserve that for some kind of exhibit down the road.”Moore adds that the county is still reviewing oppressive symbols submitted by members of the public, but there weren’t many and the process is internal. The committee Ward was invited to be on has still never met.Moore notes that the county has renamed a shelter in the military cemetery Jefferson Barracks Park that was named after Robert E. Lee. Now, it honors the Buffalo Soldiers.Even so, renaming streets like Dorsett Road is a different matter. “That’s a major street that can run through several municipalities and it can also have several hundred addresses assigned to it,” Moore explains. “So if you had a business or lived on that street, your address would change.”But, Moore continues, “We will continue looking at symbols and hopefully there’s not many others out there.”This is not the first time that the white settlers marker has been in a closet. The question now is whether this time it will stay there. Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

10 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

10 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

10 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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