“You are saving lives with your activism,” Cori Bush said in front of the Justice Center at Tucker and Market Monday night.
“Because of all of you out here, the next time a cop says, ‘I’m going to kill this mother f-er [abbreviation of the f-word expletive],’ they will think about what might happen in this city if they pull the trigger,” she continued.
Hundreds cheered, seemingly oblivious to the rain until it became torrential. Different people took turns addressing them and initiating chants. It was the second direct action of the day – the fourth straight day of protests in response Judge Timothy Wilson’s ruling that acquitted former St. Louis Police officer Jason Stockley on first-degree murder charges for the 2011 fatal shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith.
Early Monday morning a couple hundred participated in a silent march down Market with a brief program in front of City Hall. As they were in the midst of marching, Students demonstrated at Kirkwood, University City and Webster Groves High Schools.
In the evening, a crowd at least four times the size of the early morning marchers stood across the street from City Hall at the Justice Center – where they shouted all the chants they had refrained from during the morning demonstration.
They originally met in the Delmar Loop, the site of their Saturday evening demonstrations, but redirected themselves back downtown – where more than 100 were arrested the evening before.
“The people, united, will never be divided,” the wet crowd shouted along with the voices from the megaphones.
“We know that it’s dark and rainy tonight said.,” the woman said as the sprinkles became a steady stream. “But that’s exactly what happens in people’s lives – they become dark and rainy – when their loved ones are taken away like this.”
A group of more than fifty stood before the crowd to address them, many with megaphones. A huge banner that said “Disobey” was held up at the steps of the Justice Center, which became a stage for the organizers. The massive group bled into the middle of Tucker. Smith’s mother was standing with the leaders of the action.
“Anthony’s mother wants you to know that what led to her son’s death was not a mistake,” another of the organizers said from the top of the steps. “Her son was set up.”
After a moment of silence, the crowd was directed to say his name.
“Anthony Lamar Smith,” the crowd repeated, growing louder each time his name was chanted.
They stood in front of the Justice Center demanding to “free our people,” referring to those detained there because of a mass arrest the night before.
According to St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, a total of 123 arrests were made.
Livestream footage from last night’s mass arrest was projected on the side of the building. The video showed the group being cornered by police and sprayed before they were detained.
They took up a collection, and asked that people visit a website where donations could be made that would be applied to bail money.
“We want our people free,” another woman said. “Free our people,” the crowd responded.
