JEFFERSON CITY –
Rev. Traci Blackmon, pastor of Christ the King United Church of Christ, made good on a promise to take busloads of protestors to the state capitol. It was a promise Blackmon made back in November during a Mother’s March for Justice protest at the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton.
“If you don’t come to Ferguson, Ferguson is coming to you,” she promised.
Faith leaders, educators and activists from both sides of the state convened in Jefferson City on Wednesday, January 7 with a message for Missouri legislators: They are being watched, and there will be no more business as usual.
Britt Coleman is an organizer with One Struggle KC who traveled with the faith-based Human Dignity and Economic Justice Coalition, based in Kansas City. She said she hopes legislators seriously regard the issues presented before them.
“All we are protesting for is the right to live in a society where everyone can live freely and in a manner that they deserve,” Coleman said. “Everyone has basic human rights.”
They presented a number of issues to legislators, including greater police accountability, Medicaid expansion and an increased minimum wage. Others addressed education reforms and equitable post-secondary access for high school students.
“It’s not our first time going to Jefferson City – and it won’t be our last,” said Laura Winter, project manager for St. Louis Graduates.
One proposal for legislators was an increase in funding for Access Missouri – the state’s primary need-based program, Winter said.
In a news release, Don’t Shoot – a coalition of nearly 50 St. Louis-area organizations formed in response to the police shooting of Michael Brown Jr. – called on lawmakers to address systemic problems surrounding police practices in communities of color.
The coalition outlined three key legislative priorities as first steps at the state level to ensure police accountability. A top priority is an expansion of Missouri’s racial profiling bill and repercussions for police departments that have demonstrated patterns of racial profiling.
As legislators were being sworn in, protestors held a die-in around the rotunda of the state capitol before making their way to the Senate and House galleries.
“The die-in was amazing,” said state Rep. Michael Butler, D-St. Louis. “If it was any inconvenience to anyone, then think about the inconveniences we have suffered in the black community for decades.”
Several members with the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) disrupted the opening ceremony of the Missouri Legislature at noon. Activists dropped banners as a reminder that legislators have failed to address the policing issues raised in the wake of Michael Brown Jr.’s killing by then-Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. Their banners read “You’ve got mail,” “Pledge of allegiance to Black lives” and “Swear to protect the people.”
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder quickly ordered the entire gallery of public seating to be cleared. While Missouri Highway Patrol officers escorted protestors out of the gallery, while those not already inside chanted, “No justice, no peace” and sang, “We shall overcome.”
Waylon McDonald with OBS said each member of the Legislature received copies of OBS’ Quality Policing Initiative. The initiative is a broad policy proposal that organizers demand lawmakers use as a blueprint to transform the state’s policing system.
Afterward, protestors marched the short distance to First Baptist Church for lunch and debriefing. They shared their most powerful experiences from the day’s protest. Christopher Taylor, 11, a fifth grader at Jefferson Elementary School, said this was his chance “to see everybody working together to make more justice for the world.”
Leamon L. Bazl, of St. Louis, spoke of the moment OBS dropped their banners and locking eyes with an unknown man as he was leaving the Senate gallery.
“He eye-balled me for over a minute,” Bazl said. “I looked him dead in his eyes because I wanted him to know that we’re not afraid. We’re not going anywhere.”
Blackmon said additional bus trips to Jefferson City are planned for the 2015 Legislative Session and that appointments have been set up with legislators.
“It’s important that we make it known that the protests that were happening in Ferguson are not just about Ferguson,” she said. “It’s about our entire state.”
Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.
