While Mayor Francis G. Slay might be ignoring the growing racial divide in the city he governs, the New York Times, Boston Globe and Associated Press recently have followed the St. Louis American’s reporting and examined Slay’s indifference to inclusion in a struggling, majority-black city.
In addition, a group of influential business and civic leaders have met to discuss the negative publicity being heaped on St. Louis and what can be done to stem the backlash from Slay’s dismissive attitude toward the concerns of more than 50 percent of the city’s population.
Slay was not invited to this meeting. Indeed, according to the African Americans who attended the meeting, his presence would have precluded theirs.
That meeting, moderated by former mayor Vince Schoemehl, was held at the SM Wilson headquarters in Creve Couer. It included developers Bob Clark and Scott Wilson; Tom Irwin, executive director of Civic Progress; Kathleen Osborn, president and CEO of the Regional Business Council; John Moten Jr., chair of the Black Leadership Roundtable; Jim Buford, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; the Rev. Tommie Pierson, chairman of Metropolitan Congregations United; Eric Vickers, Boycott Committee chair; former comptroller Virvus Jones; state Rep. Jamilah Nasheed; and entrepreneur Reginald Dickson.
Jones said emphatically that the meeting was not an attempt to “bail out Mayor Slay.”
“All blacks at the meeting said these meetings and whatever results emerge can have no link to saving Mayor Slay,” Jones said.
Whether or not Schoemehl is acting on behalf of Slay has been a subject of speculation but is unknown.
The Slay Administration has downplayed a proposed economic boycott and calls from a black clergy group to defeat a sales tax proposal on the Feb. 5 ballot.
Hundreds of people attended a rally against Slay on Dec. 30 in the City Hall rotunda. The Post-Dispatch and mayor’s office ignored the event.
Their attitudes apparently changed when an article in the Jan. 5 edition of the New York Times painted the city as one that proceeds with business as if it were the 1950s.
U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay sat near Slay on Jan. 5 during the MLK Statewide Celebration Kickoff at Harris-Stowe State University, the day the Times article was published.
“I told him that this does not look good for the city,” Clay told the American.
Clay said he opposes the proposed sales tax increase and would campaign against it as Feb. 5 approaches.
‘Slay could not be a part of the process’
The flashpoint of the controversy was Slay’s unwarranted and unprecedented harassment and eventual demotion of former Fire Chief Sherman George.
Slay promoted an unqualified African-American subordinate, Charles Bryson, to director of the Public Safety, to do his dirty work and demote George. Slay then promoted his friend Dennis Jenkerson to the post of fire chief, skipping over the leading black candidate who was more qualified, Deputy Chief Charles Coyle.
In another move the Post has not yet reported, the Department of Personnel amended eligibility requirements to make battalion chiefs eligible for the position of fire chief. Jenkerson was a battalion chief at the time of his appointment and otherwise would not have been eligible for George’s former position.
Jeff Rainford, the mayor’s chief of staff, immediately dismissed the meeting at SM Wilson and said “very few” people were interested in the boycott or Slay’s demotion of Chief George.
“Rainford’s comments are indicative of the head-in-the-sands mentality that exists in the Slay Administration when it comes to dealing with the issue of race in this city,” Jones said.
“His comments were dismissive of the general and deep feelings of disaffection – that are felt, not by ‘a few’ people in this community, but by an overwhelming majority of the black citizens of this community, toward the administration of Francis Slay.
“I don’t think anything can happen productive in this area until Jeff Rainford’s role in the decision-making process in Room 200 is diminished.”
Jones said the Post’s reporting begged the question of why neither Slay nor Rainford was in the room for this meeting and one that preceded it.
“The mayor wasn’t in this room because some of the people in that room wouldn’t meet with mayor,” Jones said.
“He wasn’t in the room because it was clear from the comments of all the African Americans who participated in the session that Francis Slay could not be a part of that process of healing.”
The economic boycott was first discussed in a press conference more than six weeks ago. The Post-Dispatch did not report it.
The National Society of Black Engineers board chair and president met with media members more than a month ago and later that day told Slay that he must take action to improve the racial atmosphere in St. Louis or risk losing its convention.
The American first mentioned NSBE’s possible boycott in a Dec. 6, 2007 front-page report. The Post finally reported these ongoing stories in its Jan. 15, 2008 edition.
That decision came more than a week after the Times article, which Clark reportedly said “set the city of St. Louis back 10 years” during Saturday’s meeting.
“It wasn’t the Times article that set the city back more than a decade, it was Mayor Slay,” said Jones.
Vickers told the American that the meetings with Schoemehl and others resulted from correspondence sent to Civic Progress, RCGA and the Regional Business Council, which sought “to have the city’s business and civic community address the boycott alert and the racial tension and issues stemming from the ousting of Chief George.”
Parham: rescind Slay invites
Slay is scheduled to offer greetings at 10 a.m. Monday at the Old Courthouse for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration.
Sherman George is the 2008 March of Celebration grand marshal.
The Rev. Douglas Parham, chair of Concerned Clergy for the Betterment of St. Louis, is advising fellow ministers to rescind invitations to Slay.
“As men and women of respect and influence, I, along with a significant number of others, implore you to rescind any invitations extended to Mayor Slay to speak, participate in, or attend events at your church or organization,” he writes.
“We must act as one and send the message that the St. Louis black community deserves and demands respect and justice. He has rejected and disrespected all of us, including our finest leaders. We must now reject him! We want Francis Slay, Charles Bryson and their cohorts to recognize that the African-American community will no longer be subject to the mayor’s prejudicial whims. We want the business community to know that Francis Slay is an agent for racial division in St. Louis. Furthermore we want them to know that Francis Slay is bad for race relations, and bad for business in St. Louis.”
