You probably would have never heard about Dan Scott had it not been for a rare and heavy-handed move by Alderman Joe Roddy and the St. Louis courts. The story has gone national as yet another sad example of how this city chooses to deal with race relations.
After Scott’s arrest in May 2012, Judge Michael Stelzer set bail at $10,000 cash, gave Scott a curfew and ordered that he wear an ankle bracelet. Scott was charged with five counts of harassment and two counts of obstructing government operations and faced up to six years of prison.
While waiting for his trial, he was banned from his home, youth programs and rental property – all are located in the Forest Park Southeast (FPSE) neighborhood – for 17 months. This act was designed to kill his spirit, destroy his livelihood and criminalize him.
The crux of Scott’s real crime seems to be his unorthodox youth programs that attract black youth, especially males. A native St. Louisan, Scott move into his current neighborhood some 17 years ago during the height of gangs and the crack cocaine epidemic. With his own meager resources, Scott reached out to youth to teach them marketable skills. His crimes are passing on his skills and talents to misguided youth in a neighborhood that was barren in programs and services for teens.
In addition to being a rehabber, Scott is also a seasoned chess player and boxer. His youth “complex” includes a community garden, a boxing gym, a library and hang-out space.
Scott owns five pieces of property in FPSE and once headed up the neighborhood association. When one of his kids made the Junior Olympics in boxing and didn’t have the funds to travel, area businesses kicked in. Scott has not been able to save all his youth from the violence of the streets, but many have grown up, steered clear of the criminal justice system and graduated from high school; some have even gone onto college.
As the FPSE neighborhood began to gentrify, Scott began to sharply raise issues about how public funds were being used and how long-time residents were being locked out from the progress. He quickly went from hero to villain to a criminal.
The one misdemeanor charge that Scott was convicted of recently was one count of harassment based on an encounter with artist Grace McCammond. McCammond, who is white, received a contract with Washington University to paint fire hydrants in the area. Scott asked if his kids could do the prep work for $5 a hydrant. The encounter in front of Sweetie Pie’s Restaurant made her “frightened and fearful of her safety.” When whites feel threatened, the outcomes for black people are not good.
We must keep a watchful eye on this volatile situation. A year is a long time for someone on probation to avoid manufactured violations. We cannot allow Dan Scott to be isolated, and we must find ways to encourage his positive interaction with a community where he has invested considerable sweat, time and resources. For starters, someone needs to step up to pay for the anklet monitor he was forced to wear for 17 months at $8.50 a day and $30 a month for service fees.
In the long term, this city must learn how to take the high road when faced with situations of race and class and not default to the plantation model that maintains inequality, segregation and discrimination on both the personal and institutional levels.
