African Americans in St. Louis do not mourn only victims of police violence, as critics of the Ferguson protest movement frequently claim. In fact, this New Year’s Eve will mark the 23rd annual prayer vigil for victims of violence organized by Families Advocating for Safe Streets.
“It’s for people who lost their lives to violence in the past year,” said St. Louis Alderman Sam Moore, vice president of the organization.
The 23rd annual prayer vigil will be held 4 p.m. New Year Eve’s at William’s Temple Church of God in Christ, 1500 Union Blvd. at Martin Luther King Boulevard.
“We commemorate those who lost their lives,” Moore said. “We light candles, read the names of all the victims and release 149 balloons – hopefully it’s still at 149, but however many.”
When Moore was interviewed on December 18, and still at press time, there were 149 homicides in St. Louis in 2014. Of those 149 people killed in the city, two – Kajieme Powell and VonDerrit Myers Jr. – were killed by police officers.
“It’s a travesty and a shame,” Moore said. “We’re continually trying to bring to the forefront that our problem is not just with police killing people.”
Not that Moore is an apologist for police shooters.
“The shooting of Kajieme Powell needs to be addressed,” Moore said. “VonDerrit Myers needs to be addressed. Even the death of Cary Ball Jr.” – an African-American man shot 25 times and killed by St. Louis police in 2013 – “is under the table.”
But Moore and his organization, which was founded and is still led by Jeanette Culpepper, also work with police to solve homicides in the city.
“We go to the site where a murder occurred and pass out flyers asking people to give information about the murders,” Moore said. “We tell them how to remain anonymous and ask people to come forward.”
It is not easy, Moore said, because many people distrust the police – and fear criminals.
“People don’t want to cooperate because there are repercussions,” Moore said. “Witnesses get hurt and killed. But we hand out flyers telling them they can remain anonymous.”
Moore urged people with information about unsolved murders in St. Louis to call 314-241-COPS or 314-231-1212.
“If anyone lost a loved one, you’d want that same information about your loved one,” Moore said. “We need to come together, come to a consensus and get these people off the street so we can have a safe environment.”
The enemy on the street is formidable, Moore said, as he sees street criminals adapting to police better than the cops sleuth them.
“Criminals in my ward know the police patterns,” Moore said. “They’ve gone wild. The mean streets of St. Louis have not been taken care of.”
One crime story Moore does not buy is the reported racial tensions between blacks and Bosnians following the street murder of a young Bosnian man, allegedly by a group of black and Hispanic teens.
“I am sickened by what happened to the young man, the Bosnian man beat to death with hammers on the South Side,” Moore said. “But to say blacks don’t like Bosnians is a diversionary tactic. How do I know who a Bosnian is? We don’t know who Bosnians are. It was an isolated incident.”
Moore is focused on his North Side 4th Ward, which badly needs redevelopment. There are seven empty lots on the very block where he lives. He offered pop cultural comparisons to describe North City’s underdevelopment.
“We live like Flintstones compared to the Jetsons,” Moore said. “The Jetsons go, ‘Zip!’ and are off into space, while we are still running with our feet on the ground holding up a log.”
But even he was caught up in the excitement that swept the world, starting with protests in Ferguson and St. Louis. He said, “A lot of people never knew that black people in St. Louis had this kind of spirit bottled inside of them.”
