Florissant sisters Chloe and Tionee Ellis came to North St. Louis to celebrate Juneteenth, Black America’s observance of the end of slavery, for two reasons. Chloe, 16, wanted to learn about history. Her older sister Tionee, 19, wanted to support the movement for racial justice.
“At first I didn’t know what Juneteenth was,” said Chloe, a sophomore at North Tech High School.
“With everything going on, it’s about support,” said Tionee, a student at New York University.
Both sisters got what they wanted at the June 19 People’s Rally held at St. John’s Church United Church of Christ on North Grand.
About 100 people gathered for the two-hour rally to hear organizers and activists lay the groundwork for action that will honor history by forging a path for future generations.
Organizers and activists said that the 155-year-old Juneteenth tradition holds special meaning this year against the backdrop of a growing health crisis and the movement for racial justice following the recent killing of George Floyd.
“Millions have taken to the streets with a clear and district call to end police violence and to defund police,” said community organizer Montague Simmons. “Combined with COVID-19 and four years of Trumpism, Black communities are demanding justice, accountability, a divestment of policing and investment in healthy sustainable communities.”
The mask-wearing crowd roared in agreement as they waved Black Lives Matters and colorful Juneteenth signs provided by Faith for Justice. The multi-racial gathering included white and Black people, families with children and older folk, and people wearing Kente cloth headwraps, spiked blue hair and rainbow T-shirts.
Kayla Reed of Action St. Louis presented a list of 10 demands for the City of St. Louis. Compiled by a coalition of organizations – including Action St. Louis, Metropolitan Congregation United, Missouri Faith Voices, Close the Workhouse and Campaign for Youth Justice – the demands include: reparations (payment for slavery); close the Workhouse (the city jail); expand Medicare; decriminalize sex work and HIV status; and protect trans rights.
The first demand called to Defund the Police.
“For too long, St. Louis city has chosen to invest millions of dollars into the police department that does not lower crime, does not keep us safe, that perpetuates more harm than trauma, that prevents the services needed in communities from more resources,” Reed said. “It is illogical to continue to invest in a broken system.”
Kristian Blackmon, of Campaign for Youth Justice, said defunding the police also means removing school resource officers from the public-school system. She said having police officers in schools send the wrong message to students.
“Let’s talk about how from the womb in this society, this country, anti-blackness shows up telling our babies they don’t matter, telling our babies that they’re criminals, telling our babies that they won’t succeed and thrive in this life. But I stand up here damning all of that. I stand up here to say that is not what God has for our youth, for our babies,” she said. “We want police of any type out of our schools.”
During an event to commemorate freedom given 155 years ago, Mike Milton of the Bail Project said Black people’s freedom is still at risk today.
“Our goal is to literally free people from cages, every single day,” he said. “There’s a system called pre-trial detention that only locks you up because you cannot afford the bail, not because you have been proven guilty as charged. A half million people in jail, disproportionately Black people, because they cannot afford it (bail).”
Inez Bordeaux, a representative of Close the Workhouse, a campaign to shut down the expensive and under-utilized city jail, urged everyone to contact their Alders to demand the last 95 people still there are freed. The group said that 14 of the 28 city alderpersons have pledged to support the closure.
“Our demands are simple: we want our people,” she said. “And we’re not going away until we get them.”
DeMarco Davidson, of Metropolitan Congregations United, reminded the group of upcoming local and national elections, and the power of the vote.
“We welcome elected officials who represent, listen and act on behalf of the community who elected them,” he said. “All others, we will see you on Tuesday August 4 and November 3.”
Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, who recently stepped down as senior pastor at St. John’s Church United Church of Christ, also urged attendees to vote. He presented a proclamation signed by hundreds of Black clergy to commemorate Juneteenth by strongly denouncing President Donald Trump’s intention to hold a political rally in Tulsa during the Juneteenth weekend. Tulsa is the site of one of the country’s most violent race riots that destroyed the city’s Black Wall Street.
“The Black church will not stand silent in the face of the social, moral and political failure of the 45th administration of this nation,” the proclamation read. “The chief executive of the United States is a racist and a sexist terrorist whose ignorance, gaslighting, dog whistles and outright lies have fueled the flames of anti-black sentiment that is carved into the very foundation of (America).”
Several of the speakers talked about addressing different forms of anti-black sentiment.
“We’re banging for all Black lives,” Blackmon said. “We’re banging for our babies, Black men, Black women, Black children, Black trans, Black queer, Black non-binary, Black gender non-conforming. Whoever. If you are Black, I am banging for you always. I don’t separate it. If you’re not out here doing the liberation work for all Black people, then you’re really not doing the liberation work.”
St. John’s newly-installed senior pastor Rev. Michelle Higgins asked Black people to come together in the center of the group and to remind themselves of their beauty. She led a song about Black empowerment and the need for inclusion and self-reflection.
“I challenge you today: if you have a brain, you have a bias,” she said. “I challenge you today to interact, encounter, engage and confront that bias until it is laid waste like the white supremacy you claim to fight against. Shut it down!”
