St. Louis County – and in particular North County – has changed demographically over the past several decades, as black working- and middle-class flight followed white flight out of the city. Now, the city, with a majority African-American population, has begun what promises to be a genuine resurgence as a revived center, but the county remains diverse – far more diverse than its leadership.
The leadership of two strong, politically seasoned black men, County Executive Charlie A. Dooley and his executive assistant, Mike Jones, at the county level is in no way reflected in many county municipalities. Nowhere is the lack of proportionate representation more egregious than in Jennings (population 15,469 at the 2000 Census). Though the city is more than 85 percent African-American, it has never been led by a black mayor. Worse, none of the city government’s department heads are African-American. The incumbent mayor, Ben Sutphin, explained this away by saying, “We don’t have any at this time, but most of these people have been here 20-plus years.”
One wants to say: exactly. There is a good old boy’s network controlling these towns, and it is not in the habit of letting in any new members – and certainly not ones that don’t resemble the current members.
Former state Rep. Elbert Walton and state Rep. Juanita Head Walton have been helping to groom a new political class in North County. Their Unity PAC has targeted a number of fire districts, school boards, city councils and – perhaps most important, symbolically – the mayoral seat of Jennings, where Councilwoman Yolonda Fountain Henderson has been working tirelessly to end the reign of the good old boys. We strongly urge voters to elect YOLONDA FOUNTAIN HENDERSON AS MAYOR OF JENNINGS.
Head Walton said when she met with Dennis Murray, president of the county firefighter’s union, he told her, “You won’t get anything that you can’t take.” We applaud Murray for his candor. This is a basic fact of political empowerment. Fortunately, the numbers favor black candidates in Jennings and other districts Unity PAC has targeted – particularly the Normandy Fire Protection District Board (where Robert Edwards is the candidate), the Mid-County Fire District (where Unity backs Marvin Cobb and Lisa Marr) and Spanish Lake Fire Protection District (where Dr. Jacquelyn Garrett Bledsoe could become the first black person elected to that board). On the Jennings City Council, Unity PAC is backing Sarita Kalu, Yolanda Austin and Robert Betts.
The American does not have a policy of endorsing every black candidate, and we have not favored every candidate that Walton has groomed. However, we strongly applaud the overall effort to fight for greater African-American representation in these increasingly black areas of the county, and we believe the good old boys deserve a wake-up call. WE URGE VOTERS TO SUPPORT ALL OF UNITY PAC’S CANDIDATES ON THE APRIL 3 BALLOT.
The city ballot for Tuesday’s general election is uneventful, except for one holdover from the BJH lease extension deal, Proposition P. Under the guise of protecting our city parks, this initiative – which was designed to scuttle the BJH lease deal – would disrupt long-standing relationships with community organizations (including Mathews-Dickey Boys & Girls Club and Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club) that lease parts of the city’s parks. Prop P would require a citywide vote by citizens before any such park lease could be entered into by the city. Prop P will do nothing to address the ongoing needs of our parks; it will only make it harder for the city and community organizations to partner in making the best use of our green space. We urge a vote of NO ON PROPOSITION P.