In solidarity actions nationwide, thousands of people hit the streets on Saturday, December 13 declaring in a unified voice that “Black Lives Matter.” Locally, Systematic Freedom – activists calling for an end to mass incarceration and police brutality – led a march from Hickey Park in Baden to St. Louis city’s Medium Security Institution, also known as the Workhouse.
Behind a pair of police escorts, a diverse group of roughly 100 protestors, including two women dressed in orange jumpsuits, made their way down Hall Street. Police, who had already blocked off a large portion of the street, observed the protest from a distance.
Several inmates observing the scene banged on their jail cell window in support.
“We love y’all. Keep up the movement!” one inmate yelled.
Organizers were demanding an end to inhumane conditions in St. Louis city jails, where they said protestors are being held. They were arrested during protests in the Shaw neighborhood after a St. Louis County grand jury did not indict now former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown Jr.
Protestors chanted, “Let them go!”
The action was meant to underscore the problem of mass incarceration.
“Mass incarceration is a racial caste system that creates a permanent underclass by branding citizens as criminals,” said Sunny Ford, event co-organizer. “It pulls people into a system that allows for legal, socially-acceptable discrimination and disenfranchisement.”
With a bullhorn, event co-organizer Juliette Lacovino read a list of local and statewide demands to be implemented immediately. They included a full-scale, independent investigation into alleged abuses in St. Louis city jails, a ban on racial profiling and discriminatory judicial practices, and a restoration of human rights for current and former inmates.
In front of the place where he spent two months of his life, Darrick Smith shared his experience of being locked up at the Workhouse. Smith was only 17 when he was arrested for the first time and sent to the jail. Now 25, the pain of the ordeal seemed fresh in his memory.
Stumbling over his words, Smith said, “The experiences that I went through in there is still with me to this day.”
He said inmates at the Workhouse are “dehumanized” regardless of race. He spoke of civil lawsuits against the jail, poor living conditions, and inmates on the brink of starvation willing to fight for food. Two years ago, The St. Louis American reported on a federal class-action lawsuit filed by seven inmates alleging that guards forced them to engage in gladiator-style combat for entertainment and punishment. It was a fate he wouldn’t wish on anyone, he said.
“They turn people into animals. But, I didn’t let that happen to me,” he said.
Since his initial arrest, he said, he’s had additional run-ins with the police and is currently serving out the last few months of his probation. Yet, he has learned to turn a negative experience into a positive one. Inspired by recent protests and the solidarity it created, he became a member of the Organization of Black Struggle. He hopes to help others, particularly youth, avoid the same cycle.
“I believe I can educate more youth because they’re in the dark right now,” he said. “They need to come into the light.”
Follow this reporter: @BridjesONeil.
