I went to my first Cardinals baseball game (or at least the first game I can remember) when I was 10 years old in 1996 at Busch Memorial. And, as I was standing in the hotdog line by myself, a drunk white man snarled at me "Shouldn't you be at the back of the line?" Once I was back at my seat I told my mother and she said, "Damn cracker."
I tell this story because every October, when the Cardinals are the playoffs, St. Louis rallies around the team and for fleeting moments it seems as if the city is united. But of course it's not. Nothing, outside of Sunday morning church services, exemplifies how racist and segregated St. Louis can be.
DeadSpin has video of Cardinals fans (who arrogantly label themselves the best in the country) harassing and spewing racist insults at Mike Brown protestors. "Crackheads", "Africa, Africa, Africa", and "Let's go Darren [Wilson]" were just a few of the sophisticated slurs thrown around. But the comment that stuck with me came from a white woman in the video who shrieked "We're the ones who gave all y'all the freedoms that you have!" There you have it. White Americans want to take the credit for giving black folk "freedom", but they want none of the blame for the country's racist past, present and future. "My ancestors didn't own slaves", they cry. "I wasn't around during Jim Crown", others lament. That's why the white board of education member can say America deserves credit for voluntarily ending slavery. While that marbled mouth moron in Florida arguesthat no country has ever fought a war to end slavery, thus black people should be thanking white America for all they have given us. Many white Americans want to claim all the glory of American history, but none of its shame.
Anyone with a cursory reading of American history knows that black Americans don't owe white people anything. The minimal freedom and liberty we possess is not because of this fantastical idea of white oblige, but because many black people gave their blood, sweat and tears for the cause. Moreover, I sincerely doubt some putrid, nasty white racist in St. Louis has done anything to advance the cause of racial justice.
I was not the least bit surprised to watch the video above (Did you see the white woman's face at Powell?). If you watch the Cardinals-Dodgers game tonight make sure to scope out the tableau of vanilla face in the crowd. Working class and poor folk, who are disproportionately black in St. Louis, can't afford those tickets; the only reason I was able to attend that game in elementary school was because I received the tickets as an award for making the honor roll.
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay penned a recent article in the Wall Street Journal under the headline: "St. Louis to America: Don't Be Jealous". Yeah, right. I sincerely doubt the country is jealous of city that is rebuilding and transforming the south side, while ignoring the needs of those who live on the poor west and north sides. The country isn't jealous of a city that continues to that slowly bleed residents. The city also ranks fourth in black to white unemployment rates and 18th in high school diploma attainment. This isn't to mention an unemployment rate above the national average and a shameful public school system.
So, instead of writing stupid columns for the WSJ, Slay should be focused on rebuilding all of St. Louis, not just the sections that benefit white, racist Cardinals fans.