The Protest to Policy Panel at Harris-Stowe State University began as a relatively calm discussion, but it soon became apparent that the event’s audience was not going to sit by and be silent. As the panel continued, audience response became louder and more frequent, with many observers booing Mayor Lyda Krewson and depending more specific answers from her.
By the end of the event, the moderator had yielded her microphone to the audience for unplanned direct questioning.
The audience included several of the protesters who have committed to continual protest since the not guilty verdict of Jason Stockley on September 15. Attending the panel was a part of their latest direct action.
Many of the audience members were unified in their concern over one issue: the continued employment of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) interim chief of police, Lawrence O’Toole.
When the question of what St. Louis should look for in a new police chief was raised, members of the panel, which consisted of Krewson, State Representative Bruce Franks, Ethical Society of Police president Heather Taylor and organizer David Dwight, listed various traits they would want to see in a police chief, including a community focus and a good disciplinary track record. Franks also said he believed the first order of business should be hiring a permanent Director of Public Safety, the position which directly supervises the police chief.
“If we don’t have the police chief’s boss, it’s kind of hard to hold anybody accountable,” Franks said.
As moderator Elisse Miller Hoffman of the Young Democrats tried to move on to a new question about the root causes of inequality in St. Louis, the audience was not willing to let Krewson off easily. They wanted to know why O’Toole, who famously said police “owned the night” during the first days of the Stockley protests, was still employed.
“We need more early childhood education,” Krewson said. “We need more after-school programs for kids. We need more summer jobs… We need things on the prevention side of this equation just as much…”
The mayor, though, was hardly audible over the audience response, including frequent calls of, “Fire O’Toole!”
Krewson wanted to talk about the breakdown of social systems in St. Louis and a new program available through the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment. But Dwight, communications and strategy catalyst at Forward Through Ferguson, pointed out that most of the suggestions for economic justice in that organization’s report had not been implemented, to applause from the audience.
Franks, meanwhile, suggested keeping resources in the black community.
“We can show the government that we don’t need them,” he said. “We can show all these other entities that we don’t need them.”
Franks also gave voice to the crowd’s audible frustration on the topic of politicians and protesters working together.
“You don’t need a list of demands from us,” Franks said. “We know what the demands are, we know what the issues are. We know what the problems are, but at the end of the day, there’s no list of demands or tangible legislation that you could put forward to make you understand why we’re out here in the first place. We’re having this very panel discussion because of a verdict that came down, because of a police-involved shooting, period. So at the end of the day, when we say that our only demand is for you to stop killing us, you have to feel that first before we can talk about anything else.”
He was met with uproarious applause and a few calls of “Bruce for Mayor!”
When Krewson told Franks she would be happy to work with him on the issue, the representative had more to say.
“We’re at a point now where we have report after report, we have disparity study after disparity study after disparity study, and nothing — nothing — has been implemented,” Franks said.
Franks also called on Krewson to fire O’Toole, citing his rhetoric and handling of the protests as well as the uptick in officer-involved shooting during his tenure. His message clearly resonated with a crowd that appeared to want straight answers and direct action for Krewson more than anything.
Krewson pointed out that this was the first time St. Louis had conducted an open search for a police chief, but from that point forward, the mayor could not speak uninterrupted. The crowd shouted their displeasure and booed loudly when she referred to the O’Toole issue as a “personnel matter”.
The environment of a protest was beginning to take over the auditorium, with chants of “If we don’t get it, shut it down” and even drum beats. “Thank you all for your enthusiasm,” Krewson said, and an audience member yelled back, “Don’t patronize us!”
Hoffman offered the panel the chance to ask questions of each other, but this too was quickly interrupted. As Krewson began speaking, one of the many audience voices called, “Resign!”
By the time Franks yielded his question time to the audience, it was clear that the moderator was no longer in control of the panel. While the other panelists got largely positive responses, Krewson could barely finish a sentence, and several times asked the questioners if they wanted to hear her answer at all.
“It is very important to give Mayor Krewson a chance to answer questions,” one audience member stepping up to the microphone said, and, when the crowd response had died down, she added, “So we can catch her in lies later.”
Jessica Karins is an editorial intern for the St. Louis American from Webster University.
