There has been much talk, and for good reason, about the worsening plight of African-American males, and at this particular moment we might respond to that conversation by saying we need more men like Gregory Carter.
Greg was a good man from a good family who worked hard for many years at a good job, raised a strong family of his own and committed his life to public service. For Greg, his public service was oriented around an elected position as Alderman of the 27th Ward in the City of St. Louis. But in a political game where the public has good reason to doubt the good intentions of its elected officials, Greg was a public servant by instinct and a politician only by necessity.
An enduring image of Greg Carter is that of a sleep-deprived man who worked late as a driver for UPS, yet was up with the dawn to drive the alleys of his neighborhood, checking up on former eyesore properties used as dumping sites and asking his constituents how they were doing – fully expecting for them to give him a candid answer that gave him more work to do on their behalf. A previous mayor of New York City garnered international headlines for focusing on quality of life issues when his city was mired in street crime and used this focus on the little things to make big improvements in the life of the city. Greg Carter driving the alleys of the 27th Ward to make sure former dumping sites remain former dumping sites was on top of all that, and without garnering any headlines he quietly improved the life of this city.
How dearly we wish that on the morning of August 2, Greg had driven those familiar alleys in the 27th Ward to look over the former eyesores and greet his constituents, but he was taken from us in a traffic accident while driving a late shift for UPS the night before. We buried him on Saturday in what was indeed a Friendly – though grief-stricken – Temple, and in the absence of this good man we are all, men and women and children, now called to be better.
We think especially of the children, and even more particularly of the black boys, in this city who face difficult decisions. “No matter what I came to him with, Greg gave me total support and positivity,” his nephew Chris Carter, the state representative, told us this week. “And it was not only me. I can name 300 young people in our ward he treated just like me. Greg really believed in community, family – he believed in me.” It is a moving sentiment we have heard from many young people, and many young politicians, since we were shocked to learn we would have to move forward without our friend and public servant Gregory Carter: “Greg believed in me.”
We think of something else that Chris Carter told us, and which we ask our community to consider closely. “It’s going to be rough without him,” Chris said. “But luckily, he taught me to do the same stuff, so I sort of feel like I know what to do.” This community does not always live up to its promise, but we have had many good men and women show and teach us what to do. Luckily, they taught us while they were with us. Let us keep alive the memory of Gregory Carter and the other leaders we have lost, and let’s do as they taught us – let’s get it done without them, as a legacy for them.
