MAGA in the Show-Me State

Missouri was a slave state, so most

enlightened people consider it to be more

Southern than Midwestern. Then there’s

the infamous Dred Scott case in St.

Louis. Scott had petitioned the courts

several times for him and his wife’s

freedom before the big legal

sledgehammer was dropped by the U.S.

Supreme Court. Supreme Court Justice

Roger B. Taney was emphatic, Blacks had

“no rights which the white man was

bound to respect.” The ghost of Taney

has been colliding ever since with the

attempts of Black folks to be free.

The Taney opinion was so powerful that it

still permeates every crack and crevice of

the city’s bricks and culture. It hovers

like an invisible cloud and disseminates

toxic vapors when necessary that affect

people’s behaviors and decisions. It

seems to be more and more necessary,

but the dates of May 16, 2023,

November 5, 2024 and April 5, 2025 are

memorable ones for woke people in St.

Louis.

Those are the dates that prosecutor Kim

Gardner was forced to resign, and when

Congresswoman Cori Bush and Mayor

Tishaura Jones were forced out of office.

Comptroller Darlene Green was

considered collateral damage. All were

Black women who were the first to hold

their respective offices. They all shared a

common reform agenda, and all shared a

defiant attribute that made them targets

of the white patriarchal system. Their

demise was rejoiced on social media by

former Missouri Attorney General and

now U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt. He

declared that one by one, they were all

gone now. “Poof…like magic,” he gloated.

It was not magic. It was a methodical

and calculated plan that began with

character assassination, disinformation,

amplification of their missteps and bad

decisions, then engaging other

opportunists and misguided Black folks

to fan the flames.

Making St. Louis white again gathered

speed after the election of trump.

Missouri Republicans already had a

trifecta in the state. They control the

House, the Senate and the Governor’s

seat. The trump victory emboldened their

quest for white power. After knocking

Cori Bush out the box, they saw the

chance to change the color of the city’s

three-person leadership structure. St.

Louis has an archaic body called the

Board of Estimate and Apportionment

(E&A). It consists of the Mayor,

Comptroller and President of the Board

of Aldermen. The Board of E&A is

considered the city’s executive branch of

government. It has the authority over

city real estate purchases, appropriations

and the city’s annual operating budget.

They who control E&A control the city

coffers.

For the first time since 1988, the Board

of E & A is all white. The April 5 General

Election saw the stunning defeat of

Mayor Jones and Comptroller Green. The

blame game is being played and there’s

plenty of blame to go around from a lack

of unified progressive forces to a

disengaged Black electorate to

accentuated spotlights on mishandled

issues. I strongly believe in summation,

but let’s not let the real culprit off the

hook.

The trump oligarchy is proving that it has

power and will abuse that power. It has

shared that playbook with its power-

hungry minions on the state and local

levels. In St. Louis, we are getting sucka

punched. In addition to taking out the

Black mayor and Black comptroller, the

MAGA forces have seized the St. Louis

Police Department from the citizens and

put it in the hands of the governor.

Getting local control of the police was a

20-year People’s Victory. Voters also said

they wanted abortion rights, an increase

in the state minimum wage and earned

sick leave. The GOP, drunk with power, is

trying to take it all back.

This is a cautionary tale to let you know

that Blue seats, districts or offices are

not exempt from the Red pestilence.

Don’t be fooled by party affiliations.

Democrats can be very undemocratic;

they can even join forces with

Republicans. That means the rest of us

will have to fight doubly hard to stand

our ground, defend our wins and

advance a strategy to defeat the right.

This means those who believe in

democracy will have to accelerate our

efforts because the longer it takes us to

build a formidable, united front against

fascism, the more ground we lose. And

losing is not an option.