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NAACP SUPPORTS LOCAL VOTERS RIGHT TO CHOOSE THEIR GOVERNMENT

Nimrod Chapel, Jr. • Apr 24, 2024

The Missouri legislature is taking away the rights of the voters in St. Louis to run their own local government.

This isn't a new tactic. Since the Civil War, the State of Missouri has tried to remove self-governance from our two metropolitan areas — the two areas of our state with large black populations. The statute that gave control to the State Board of Police Commissioners in the first place was passed by Claiborne Fox Jackson, a pro-slavery Missouri governor who didn’t want St. Louis, which supported the Union, to have control of its own ammunition arsenal. St. Louis finally regained control of their police department a decade ago.

The same racist thought process that led Confederate sympathizers to take control away is in play today. It is impossible to ignore the clear racist motivations behind the move to block accountability of the St. Louis Police Departments to the people they serve.

Springfield has a very similar crime rate to Kansas City and it is still rising, but no one is talking about needing to take over their law enforcement agency. This isn't about crime prevention. Simply put, the state legislature doesn’t want a city with different political leanings and racial makeup than the Governor to be able to make decisions about how they govern.

State Control of Local Police blocks real accountability to the people the police are sworn to protect. In every city in the country except Kansas City, the voters elect a local government that hires and oversees the local police force. This would take away any ability for the local elected officials to do the job they were elected to do — run the local government. The Mayor and Board of Aldermen would no longer be able to control the budget and policies or even choose the head of the local police department. All of these functions will be under a statewide board of unelected people appointed by the Governor. The ability of the local voters to make their voices heard will be diluted by the statewide vote for governor. We have already seen this happen in Kansas City.

The NAACP believes all our rights flow from the right to elect our government. Without this crucial voice, we are not a government of the people. The crime rate in St. Louis City is dropping and Chief Tracy is working hard to improve working conditions for officers. We need to trust the people of St. Louis City to choose the government that works for them. Anything else will serve only to further erode trust between the community and the police. The NAACP is asking the Missouri legislature to trust the exact same people who voted them into office to choose what's best on the local level.

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