In an amazing twist of fate, St. Louis activist Brother Anthony Shahid stood his ground, face to face – actually, elbow to elbow – against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of the Republic of Turkey, and he did so at the memorial service for Muhammad Ali on Friday, June 10 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Shahid, who had known Ali personally starting in 1975, arrived early to secure a good view. As a fellow Muslim, he knew the casket would be facing east when it arrived, so he knew where to stand. He had staked out his spot for a good four hours before a small entourage encircling the Turkish president attempted to move into his space and usurp his vantage point. Reportedly, Erdoğan arrived expecting to speak at the service, but was not included on the program and therefore not in a good mood by the time he encountered Shahid.
The elected president of a nation of nearly 80 million people – and his steely-eyed security force – might be expected to shoulder aside one brother from St. Louis and his small traveling party. But Brother Shahid does not stand down from any man.
“In Islam there is no big ‘I’ and little ‘you,’” Shahid told The American. He wasn’t about to be shouldered aside. Indeed, photographs and camera footage broadcast all over the world portray Shahid holding his own with Erdoğan in an elbow skirmish. A security guard behind and between the two men glared at Shahid, but Shahid kept his cool, stood his ground and honored his dead friend.
“We stood there and did our prayers together,” Shahid said of his adversary for elbow room, the president of the Republic of Turkey.
Two things must be said about this incident.
Erdoğan is founder of the conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is the target of Turkish protestors very close in spirit to Shahid. The Gezi Park protests against AKP policies that kicked off on May 28, 2013, should be grouped in history books along with the Ferguson protest movement that erupted on August 9, 2014, with Shahid a key early Ferguson protest leader (before the younger leaders, now better-known in national media and on the national speaking circuit, emerged on Twitter and the street).
A core of Gezi Park protest organizers have strong St. Louis ties through the local community-based arts collective Poetry Scores. They followed Ferguson protests closely from Istanbul and recognized the same spirit among protestors and similar enemies on the street. For the leader of AKP and a Ferguson protest leader to end up standing next to each other for an hour of prayer – and elbow skirmishes – in Kentucky must be counted as yet another magical act by Muhammad Ali.
Also, the image of Shahid standing proudly next to the president of the Republic of Turkey, as if he belonged there as much (or even more) than the politically more powerful man, calls to mind an early scene from Ferguson.
Dorian Johnson, Michael Brown Jr.’s friend and considered an eyewitness to his killing by then-Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, had been reported dead in the alley behind a pizzeria, another victim of police violence. This was one of the first bogus rumors (but far from the last) to circulate throughout Ferguson protests and falsely agitate people. But before anyone knew that Johnson was still alive, Shahid took charge. He went into the Ferguson Police Department – the belly of the beast to a Ferguson protestor – and more or less dragged Police Chief Thomas Jackson outside to address the crowd.
This was one way press conferences happened when Ferguson was hot.
Shahid put Chief Jackson up on a flatbed truck with himself and fellow veteran community activists Zaki Baruti and James Clark, and he got an angry protest throng to quiet down and listen to Chief Jackson, who told them Johnson was still alive. At the same time, a reconnaissance group of protestors returned from behind the pizzeria to report no corpse and no blood. Dorian was, in fact, alive.
This was one of several riots that were averted in Ferguson, and not by the police.
Speaking of the police, the strong police presence at Ali’s memorial service did not sit well with Shahid. “They had those police in there thick,” Shahid said. “If there were 100 police, there were maybe only three that were black. They should have had some brothers out there – Nation of Islam or just brothers, period – not all those police with their guns.”
Treasurer budget skirmish
There was a tussle over a budget matter at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen’s Ways and Means Committee hearing on Monday, June 6. It was either the first skirmish in a probable mayoral battle between aldermanic President Lewis Reed and Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones – or just some aldermen doing due diligence and trying to make an independent office with a hefty reserve fund pay for its own programs without tapping general revenue.
“Aldermen took aim at treasurer Tishaura Jones’ budget for more than $340,000 in reductions, mostly targeting her Office of Financial Empowerment and a college savings program she started last year,” St. Louis Public Radio reported.
“Those who supported those changes said, if the office was important, Jones could find the money in her budget to cover its costs. Many, including Alderman Antonio French, D-21st Ward, raised questions about how much money Jones has in reserve, especially after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Jones had offered to use $2 million from the parking division to fund a conceptual design study for a north-south MetroLink line.
Jones told The American that Reed and French both supported the Office of Financial Empowerment and its College Kids Savings Program, which provides all kindergarten students in a St. Louis public or charter school with a $50 savings account for college. But, she claimed, they moved to defund these programs for political reasons.
Jones alleged payback for her overt support of Alderwoman Megan Green after Reed laughed along at misogynistic comments made about her on The Grim Reaper of Radio’s show. Also, Jones’ father (and former campaign manager), former comptroller Virvus Jones, was critical of new stadium proponents hosting a fundraiser for Reed two days before the stadium financing vote took place. She claimed Reed threatened to cut the treasurer’s office budget shortly after.
All of this, she acknowledged, is playing out in a political climate where, for the first time in recent memory, an incumbent St. Louis mayor is not seeking reelection. Reed is Mayor Francis G. Slay’s most recent opponent and said he will run again next year. Jones is on everyone’s short list to run as well. When Jones partners with Slay – say, on funding a study for a north-south MetroLink expansion – she falls open to the accusation of pandering to Slay voters who will need someplace else to go next March (and most likely are not going with Reed).
Reed responded via Tom Shepard, his chief of staff (and a certified public accountant).
“The money going into the children savings accounts was not cut at all. Alderman Stephen Conway’s amendment to make the treasurer’s budget more reasonable and add money for recreation center programs throughout the city passed the committee by a margin of 7 to 1. Those seven included both supporters and detractors of the stadium, as well as supporters and detractors of Mayor Slay. All of them support the concept of a north-south Metrolink expansion, and this had nothing to do with a football stadium or Treasurer Jones’ close relationship with Mayor Slay,” Shepard said.
“This was not politics, just plain old fiscal management 101. The treasurer’s budget request was adjusted to better reflect sound financial principals and the fact that the treasurer has a reserve fund of $18 million which can more than accommodate any additional salary expenses the treasurer wants to add.”
