The Action St. Louis office caught fire Dec. 5, severely damaging the building and leaving the office uninhabitable.
Kayla Reed, co-founder and executive director of Action St. Louis, wrote to the public the fire was under investigation. Fire officials confirmed to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch they did not believe the cause of the fire was suspicious.
Reed said the fire comes as the culmination to a year full of “intense harassment because we are effectively shifting the conditions for Black people in this city.”
The office is located in the 1000 block of Vandeventer Avenue.
“This week as our team prepared to head into a retreat, our office caught fire,” Reed tweeted. “Thankfully, no one was injured. So much has happened this year. We are going to rest and continue to reflect, and in 2022 we will find a new home and continue the work of transforming our region.”
Reed said the fire comes as the culmination to a year full of “intense harassment because we are effectively shifting the conditions for Black people in this city.”
She wrote her organization’s members have not only been trolled and doxed online, but Action St. Louis’ funders have been contacted in an attempt to discredit the activists’ work.
People can donate to the organization atwww.actionstl.org/donate.
