www.mycnews.com • Community News – St. Louis County • October 14, 2015
Around Town
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Inside the Ferguson Commission Report
Looking forward as one Addressing the issue of racial equity seen as key for the region By Sara Hardin Editor’s Note: This is the second in a fourpart series looking deeper into the Ferguson Commission Report and how area leaders are responding to these challenges. This section will focus on the issue of racial equity. In its report, fittingly titled “Forward through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity,” the Ferguson Commission assigns the issue of racial equity as its “overarching theme,” listing calls to action with the intention to bring attention to and “build infrastructure and connective tissue for racial equity for work in the St. Louis region.” Adolphus Pruitt, president of the St. Louis City chapter of the NAACP, stated in response to the establishment of the Ferguson Commission and its intentions that “any ‘thorough, wide-ranging and unflinching study’ of the social and economic conditions of African Americans in the St. Louis region must also ascertain whether the state has systematically engaged in policies and practices that established and perpetuated a racially segregated system that continually fosters the social and economic conditions impeding progress and equality for people of color.” The Commission agrees with this mentality, stating that in order to effectively assess and strengthen the state of racial equity in the St. Louis region that those accountable must “intentionally apply a racial equity framework to existing and new regional policies, initiatives, programs and projects in order to address and eliminate existing disparities for racial and ethnic populations” when considering new policy moving ahead. The battle against income inequality is also one against discrimination and segregation in the St. Louis region. As the Commission’s report disturbingly points out, St. Louis currently sits as the sixth most segregated metropolitan area in the country, a fact which severely restricts upward economic mobility in the area. “We will not be the best if we do not close the economic opportunity gaps in our community,” wrote Joe Reagan, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber in the chamber’s response to the report. “To underscore this fact and focus our accountability, we have added ‘economic mobility’ to the other seven macroeconomic performance indicators we use to define regional prosperity. We seek prosperity for people in every neighborhood throughout our entire region.” The Commission’s report calls for a 25-year managed fund for racial equity infrastructure to provide funding for “racial equity capacity, needs and training assessment, analysis, implementation, impact, sustained strategies and accountability,” a concept which, as stated in the Regional Chamber’s response, is said to be in need of discussion with the other accountable bodies identified by the report, including the Missouri Humanities Council, United Way, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership
Community News’ four-part coverage of the Ferguson Commission Report Opportunity to Thrive
Racial Equity Justice for All Youth at the Center (SLEDP) and the Arts & Education Council, among others. Other projects to be tackled by the chamber and the relevant accountable bodies include funding transit in an effort to combat opportunity issues due to segregation in the region, expanding Medicaid eligibility and implementing a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit. It is perhaps the very establishment of the Commission itself which has paved the most recognizable steps toward racial equity in the St. Louis region, with its members being comprised of a mix of individuals including community leaders, educators, attorneys and law enforcement officials. These individuals have had the task of interviewing community members from a wide range of backgrounds, all of whom have had some input on the report’s material and the issues it addresses. “The Commission created a protected space, a ‘kitchen table’, where all members of the community could air their concerns openly,” said Governor Jay Nixon, during the Ferguson Commission meeting at St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley on Sept. 14. “Some experiences that had only been spoken about privately were shared publicly for the first time. People quickly learned three things - first, that they were not alone, second, that their voices would be heard, and third, that their concerns would be taken seriously. That is the power of bearing witness.” On April 28, Nixon announced a $5 million grant to provide employment and training opportunities for low-income and minority North St. Louis City and County residents. “My administration and its partners will continue to work to ensure that North St. Louis and the entire region have more resources, more opportunities and more jobs, so that this community can continue to move forward in a positive direction,” said Nixon. The importance of closing financial gaps lies not only in the economic improvements that would accompany a more cohesive income distribution, but also in the necessity of erasing encompassing biases that restrict opportunities to individuals who are entirely willing and capable of contributing to our society. Through segregation, discrimination and the limitation of options for a large portion of those who made up the fabric of our communities, we limit ourselves and our potential to grow both socially and economically. “We are engaged in nothing less than the unfinished work of perfecting our democracy to comport with the principles on which it was founded,” said Nixon.
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