It’s been 20 years since I last visited St. Louis, things have declined until now, they are experiencing the same turmoil that shook Cincinnati in 2001. Both episodes were driven by long neglect, over policing of “certain” neighborhoods until everything came together for a social implosion. After happening so many times, why the surprise, the denials, and in ten years or less another repeat in another city. Coping, self-delusion, and … are what we are good at – that and hoping that things will change without having to work at it.
Darren Wilson will never be on trial. Black St. Louis always was.
For 108 days, there were protests in St. Louis. The vast majority of the protests were non-violent. Looting and arson, limited to the initial August days, became media memes that bore little resemblance to life on the ground. St. Louis is an insular city, and its agony was internal, felt rather than seen. Comparatively few participated in the protests, but everyone shared the dread of the impending decision. Residents woke every day to new emergency procedures, to strategic leaks, to media rumors and lies. When asked why it was taking over 100 days to deliberate over events that allegedly took 90 seconds, officials replied that the road to justice was long. They gave St. Louis a waiting game and let the protesters pretend they were players.
In November, when rumors circulated that a…
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Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News 