Full disclosure: Wiley “Chip” Price IV is part of The St. Louis American family, as a son of Wiley Price, our colleague and beloved photojournalist who has been with the newspaper longer than anyone on staff, and that includes our publisher and president of this editorial board. After he filed for state representative in the 84th District, we met with his opponent in the August 7 Democratic primary, attorney Brad Bakker, and were impressed with his progressive platform, which starts with cash bail reform, a core concern of ours. Only later did we meet with Price, and at that time our endorsement was something he was going to have to earn. He is well-known to us as a personable young man, but an unknown politically, and we take elected office too seriously to endorse merely on personal affection or family loyalty.
He earned our endorsement, in part, by speaking as a clear voice for young African Americans in our community who are beginning to wake up and commit to social change after the Ferguson unrest, Stockley verdict protests, and resulting conclusion that protest alone will not bring meaningful change. Price, who was active in the Ferguson protests, told us that, as Stockley verdict protests dragged on, achieving little but to bring pain and arrests to protestors, he began to ask, “What are we really out here for?” Then, he said, “I began to look for another change agency. I began to look into legislation.” We believe that is a critical pivot, from protest to politics, and we would endorse this intelligent, committed young man if only to encourage him and others in his generation to engage with politics directly from the inside, not just from the outside – which is not to abandon protest and civil disobedience as needed tactics.
We were further convinced of his candidacy after discussing it with the district’s current representative, state Rep. Karla May (D-St. Louis), who is term-limited as state rep and has endorsed Price. We told her how impressed we were with Bakker’s savvy, knowledge of the law and progressive platform. May assured us that she had seen Price operate in the state House when he visited her and was certain he has the political skills needed to succeed there. As for knowledge of the law, she reminded us, he will have legislative research assistants who know the law cold at his disposal. What Price, as a son of the district, will bring are things that Bakker, a white man who grew up in Kansas, cannot provide. “A representative needs to be someone within the community who is part of the community,” May said. “You have to be real clear and understand how a law will impact the community. You have to know it because you lived it. Wiley knows it because he lived it.” We believe these attributes are truly important and we would have endorsed this candidate had we seen him for the first time for his editorial board interview. We strongly endorse Wiley Price IV for state representative in the 84th District.
