On midday May 16, an EF3 tornado
slammed the city of St. Louis. One of the
neighborhoods that suffered an unprecedented
hit was the North Side. This area is home to
Black working-class families and businesses.
Years of disinvestment made it even more
vulnerable to the 160-mile per hour winds. The
devastation was staggering.
There were many emotional
moments. There were five fatalities, dozens of
injuries, and thousands traumatized. Some
people lost everything as houses were reduced
to rubble. Volunteers were overwhelmed by the
enormity of the disaster relief. My moment
came a few days later as I walked the ruins of
the ravaged North Side.
It wasn’t just the utter
devastation. I’ve witnessed firsthand my fair
share of man-made disasters - the Great Flood
of ’93 in St. Louis, Hurricane Katrina in New
Orleans, etc. It was the thought of the real
possibility that no help was coming from the
government. The catastrophic event came at a
time when DOGE cut funding to FEMA. The same
time that the Pentagon approved trump’s yacht
in the sky. The same time as the crypto gala.
The same time that House Republicans passed
trump’s big, ugly bill. St. Louis has yet to
be declared a disaster area by trump because
he’s too busy wheelin’ and dealin’ with his
billionaire buddies.
Economists are calling the ugly
bill the greatest transfer [theft] of wealth
between classes in U.S. history. It means
lavish tax breaks for the wealthy while
cutting the safety nets for the working poor,
like Medicaid and food stamps. MAGA land will
be dancing to the bank while people are dying.
There ought to be a law against
this kind of abuse. Oh wait, the lawmakers who
should be making such laws are part of the
racketeering posse! Calls to your U.S.
senators to stop the bill is imperative.
To add salt to the poor folks’
wounds, trump’s net worth has doubled to $5.4
billion in his first 100 days in the White
House. He hauled $2.5 billion in his first
presidency and has publicly vowed he won’t be
so stupid as not to exploit his position to
enrich his personal bank accounts to the hilt.
The family business empire
dealings have become intentionally
indistinguishable from trump’s dealings in
commerce and trade as U.S. president. All this
is happening in plain sight while political
observers scratch their heads in bewilderment
as to what can be done with the rogue
president.
While trump, his family and his
super rich cronies loot the public coffers,
poor and working people are facing economic
hardships for years to come. And there will be
no life jackets for those who are also victims
of environmental catastrophes. Because of
global warming, these events are expected to
be more frequent and more violent than ever.
I know that many judges who
understand constitutional law have struck down
some of trump’s draconian actions. He is
blatantly in contempt of some rulings, and the
courts seem powerless to stop him. The
legislative branch refuses to launch Amendment
25 that would bring this corrupt and crazy man
to task.
Musk has found out that
attempting to destroy a democracy is not as
easy as it looks and it comes with
consequences. He is leaving the oligarchy to
salvage his brand. Tesla profits dipped 20% in
the first quarter of 2025. Four of his
Starship launches have exploded and crashed, a
metaphor for Musk’s performance as the DOGE
dude.
We in St. Louis are up to our
eyeballs in the relief and recovery process.
While we are dealing with this disaster, we
hope that other defenders of democracy will
continue the struggle while we are taking care
of each other. It is difficult to see a vision
of rebirth and prosperity in the face of an
unfolding tsunami of suffering. Yet, I know
there’s no greater time than now to fight for
a Phoenix plan to build a powerful and
thriving community.
