Commentary

By Percy Green II

Ii'
Slavery by Lack of Voting
As a battle-tested civil & human rights activist, I want to commend Lewis Reed, president of the St. Louis Board of Alderman, for becoming a candidate for mayor. It was a courageous attempt to rescue the City of St. Louis from the incompetent and racist grip of Francis G. Slay. That was a noble cause. It was achievable, but! The large black North St. Louis voter turn out last August 7, 2012, has proven to be a FLUKE. Many of us--- including myself--- were hoping that the voter turnout was the beginning of a black voter consciousness that St. Louis hasn't seen and that it would be consistent. Instead, it appears that this particular St. Louis voter pattern will continue to function in a schizophrenic mode, one that is unpredictable. I said in an earlier St. Louis American Commentary that Reed deserved the same passionate voter turnout on March 5, 2013 as had Congressman Lacy Clay last August. I added "If the upcoming voter turnout is a good or better than last August, it will prove that the progressive ground game was no fluke and Reed will become the new mayor of St. Louis. " It must be noted here that the twelve (12) original black lead wards did vote
Slay out of office by 1,567 votes in comparison to the 12 white lead wards that had similar

small voter turnout (See Attached Data Sheet). Although about half of the black alderpersons, personally, were encouraged to support Slay, either because of intimidation or money, their fair-minded constituents still voted for Reed. However, Reed's victory in these wards was NOT large enough to over come the strong white Republican-like voter turnout in four wards, which was the 12 th , 13 t , 16 th and 23 rd . These wards turned out an averaged of 30.6% of their registered voters. The voters in one white lead ward, the 20 th Ward, supported Reed although its alderperson supported Slay. No white alderpersons supported Reed. The number of black lead wards was reduced from twelve (12) to eleven (11). This decrease was a result of the 6 th Ward's vacancy now filled by a white person. Of 28 alderpersons, only 11 are African American, in a city that has a majority black population. This, too, has to be changed. A voter turn-out of at least 50% of the African-Americans registered voters along with our white progressive ssive voters in St. Louis would go a long way in solving most of the problems in St. Louis. Had this mandate been in place prior to March 5 th, Reed would be mayor today. He would be about the business of developing all 27 wards as he had done for his 6th Ward, as an alderman. Or Irene Smith would have been reelected for her second or third term. Either way, St. Louis would be alive and growing. Reed not only has the vision but

Pg. 2) Slavery has the energy and know-how in getting things done as been exemplified by his performance in the 6 th Ward. Although close, he didn't win his ward. St. Louisans would be fooling themselves if they think race doesn't matter. Slay and his Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford have always played the race card because racism has been very profitable for them. They have managed to stay in office for 12 years by intimidating fairminded white politicians from supporting black candidates. With a sizeable campaign chest and Rex Sinquefield and Paul McKee, two available wealthy republican supporters, Slay is in a position to buy personal favors from unscrupulous black political and religious leaders. Slay only supported Lacy Clay against Russ Carnahan during the last congressional primary as a way to put him in a racist political trick bag. Now Clay is forced into a position to have to do a "Stepin Fetchit" or "Cooning," via Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained as payback to Slay. Another good example of how Slay uses the race card is Charles Bryson, a black assistant of his. He promotes Bryson to a position for the sole purpose of terminating Fire Chief Sherman George, the first black fire chief in St. Louis . Then he instructs Bryson to promote a white battalion chief to replace George as chief, by passing over a well-qualified black Deputy Fire Chief Charles Coyle. Coyle filed and won his law suit of race discrimination but he did not get the chiefs position. Obviously these acts of racism conducted by Slay against the St. Louis community and particularly the black community DID NOT matter enough to Congressman Lacy Clay. Throughout the campaign Clay said "Slay is a good man," In essence, Clay viewed Slay's endorsement of him having more value than the black voter's concerns from North St. Louis. They wanted Reed in and Slay out Clay wanted Slay in and to hell with what the black voters wanted! If African-Americans are not careful, we will either vote ourselves back into slavery out of ignorance or by misinformation from sell-out leaders. Or, this will happen by allowing others to do it--- by us NOT voting our capacity. It is not a matter of blacks not voting their interest. The problem is LOW voter turnout. After such a long struggle for blacks to gain the rights to vote, you would think it would be in our DNA to vote religiously. We should be the one group of all others who were denied the right to vote to actually vote with conviction 75% of our registration or capacity. Further, one would think that parents, teaching their children to exercise this precious right to vote, would be as common as teaching them to say their prayers at night before going to bed. After 12 years of documented sins that Slay has committed against the black community how could Congressman Lacy Clay, a black man, be justified in saying "Slay is a good man." This is sinful and requires serious attention!

Prepared by Percy Green II... April, 2013

Pg. 3) Slavery/Data Sheet

March 5t'' 2013 Voter Turnout Reed vs. Slay (22% Voter Turnout Predicted): 44,399 voted of 201,050 City Registered Voters White Lead Wards Voter Turnout: 7"'Ward...19.1% 8"' Ward...22.5% 9"' Ward... 18.3% 10"'Ward.. .21.6 % 11"'Ward...20.3% * 12"' Ward... 31.7% * *13th Ward... 24.8% * 14"'Ward...21.8% 15"'Ward...22.6% *16"' Ward... 35.0% * 17"' Ward... 17.7% 20"' Ward... 13.4% *23 `d Ward... 30.5% * 24"' Ward...20.2% 25"' Ward... 16.3% 28"' Ward...23.2% 237% /12Wards =19.75% Avg. Voter Turnout or 11,225 votes for Slay (*Not Part of 12 Ward Calculations) Black Lead Wards Voter Turnout: 1 St Ward.. .22.5% 2" d Ward...21.9% 3 rd Ward... 21.4% 4t`' Ward... 17.7% 5"' Ward... 20.5% 6"' Ward...27.2% 18 t`' Ward.. .20.7% 19"' Ward... 14.7% 2l s` Ward...23.9% 22' Ward... 17.3% 26 t`' Ward...21.0% 27"' Ward.. .20.6% 249.4% /12 Wards =20.78% Avg. Voter Turnout or 12,792 votes for Reed * 12 th Ward.. .3 1.74%...Reed/ 474... Slay/ 1981 *13th Ward... 24.94%...Reed/ 383... Slay/ 1268 * 16 th Ward...3 5.09%...Reed/ 423... Slay/ 2471 *23 `d Ward... 30.79%...Reed/ 404... Slay/ 2154 For a Total of Reed11,684... Slay/7,874 122.5 6% / 4 Wards (Large Voter Response) =30.64% Avg. Voter Turnout *** Slay spent $3,308, 191.55 dollars/23,968 votes received = $138.00 per vote Reed spent $640, 810.73 dollars/19,496 votes received = $33.00 per vote Slay bought this mayoral election mainly with the today's conservation Republican funds.