YUIR St. Louis in a Youth Political Empowerment workshop in April 2019. Joshua Saleem / AFSC
In late April, members of Youth Undoing Institutional Racism (YUIR) St. Louis participated in a Youth Political Empowerment workshop featuring elected officials and community leaders. They were there to brief the young people on regional issues including the cash bail system, municipal fragmentation, and educational funding inequity.
The day started off with a rousing and honest keynote by Missouri State Board of Education member Mike Jones, who acknowledged the reality that so-called "broken" systems are functioning exactly as they were intended. This “analysis,” as he called it, is consistent with the anti-racism analysis we offer at Freedom School.
YUIR members had an opportunity to ask questions directly of Wesley Bell, the new St. Louis County Prosecutor (who ousted longtime prosecutor Bob McCulloch last summer). Their questions ranged from personal struggles to their thoughts on the success of the Better Together Plan (an undemocratic city/county merger plan backed by a St. Louis billionaire that would dilute black political leadership).
The goal of YUIR’s attendance at the event was to build relationships. Also present were State Rep. Cora Faith Walker, State Senator Brian Williams, and St. Louis County Council member Hazel Irby. Their presence demonstrated an openness to work with us as YUIR moves its policy agenda forward. We will look to holding these decision makers accountable. Onward!
