I have lived in St. Louis city my entire life and have enjoyed living in this city. Although life has allowed me to travel to many beautiful places, I have always felt that St. Louis was my home.
I felt a bit disappointed when my adult children left home and vowed to never live in St. Louis ever again. However, I now understand why my children feel the way they feel.
My daughter left St. Louis to find employment. She has always been able to find work since leaving St. Louis. My son-in-law left to seek employment. He is much sought after in his field of work. My two sons left St. Louis and have not looked back. My one son is about to retire from the U.S. Army after noteworthy promotions.
If my black children had all of these qualifications but could not find work in the city they grew up in, then that is a story within itself. They were educated, very qualified young adults but could not find employment here.
North St. Louis is riddled with crime, drugs and death. Natural Bridge Avenue has vacant lots empty buildings and people being run over by cars. Police officers have no problem chasing criminals down residential streets in North St. Louis with seeming disregard for the lives of children or elders in the neighborhood. Alleys that run north and south from Margaretta to Lee Avenue are high-traffic drug areas and the police seem to act as if they don’t exist.
People of color have to live with second rate everything. We pay for trash pickup, and the whites come into our neighborhood and dump their trash into our dumpsters.
There is a young lady who works for the City of St. Louis and has vowed to keep our neighborhood clean. She has personally taken Operation Brightside trash bags and attached them to stop signs. People are actually filling the Operation Brightside trash bags and, when filled, the trash bags are replaced. They do not look the best, but it is so much better than debris scattered all over the streets. Hopefully the city will see fit to put trash cans that cannot be stolen or removed on the corners.
We hear gunshots so often in our neighborhood that it is almost commonplace. I refuse to let that become commonplace, and I tell all of my neighbors to call each and every time they hear a gunshot.
When I watch the youth speaking against gun violence and social injustice, then I say to myself, “The youth shall lead us to change.” St. Louis needs to undergo major change.
