Notes from a politically-charged MLK Day
As you can tell by today’s paper, yesterday’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in the city was packed with political intensity.
A few notes that didn’t make it into the paper:
•It looks like attorney general candidate Chris Koster is making a strong pitch for the African-American vote. Earlier, we reported that Koster made the rounds at City Hall, escorted by, among others, Freeman Bosley Jr., the first black mayor of St. Louis. On Monday, Koster was near the front of the line at the annual King Day march from the Old Courthouse to Powell Hall.
It’s an interesting play for Koster, the Republican expatriate from the Kansas City area. Sure, Democratic rival Margaret Donnelly lives much closer to the city’s African-American neighborhoods. But will the difference between Richmond Heights and Harrisonville matter to voters in the Ville, Baden or Walnut Park?
Koster also has the support of Rodney Hubard, who knows how to bring out his base on Election Day.
•Secretary of State Robin Carnahan passed on an opportunity to throw her support behind fellow Democrat Mayor Francis Slay after his speech was drowned out by boos. It’s probably just that she doesn’t want to wade into somebody’s else’s political mess – that’s Politics 101, after all – but the pair do have some history.
Carnahan raised the ire of Slay in 2004, when she ran an ad in rural Missouri criticizing then-opponent Catherine Hanaway for supporting funding for the new Cardinals stadium. Allies defended the ad as typical regional politics, but that did not assuage Slay, whose administration fought hard for the ballpark.
•The man pictured wearing a KKK hat at the Old Courthouse ceremony was veteran activist Anthony Shahid. He has worn the Klan get-up several times at recent protests and news conferences.
•Jay Nixon was scheduled to be at the morning ceremony, but instead was on stage for the afternoon service at Powell Hall. The switch allowed him to take part in the observances while bypassing the Slay imbroglio. (Of course, there is no indication that was the reason for it.)
•Supporters for only one presidential candidate were visible at Monday’s event. I’ll give you a hint: His name rhymes with llama.
I agree with Slay very infrequently. However, he was put between a rock and a hard place on the whole MLK celebration. Does he attend and get booed? Or, does he decline to attend and put off a vibe of not caring about the African-American community?
A real no-win situation.
Suzyjax: I don’t disagree… but
To #@!&*! bad for him!
‘live by the sword, die by the sword’ ‘ reap what you sow’ ‘what goes around comes around’
Pick your favorite saying… the man got what was coming to him. That he ran off, tells you what kind of man he is.
Slay wanted a war, well now he’s got one.
This was absolutely the wrong venue to be booing Mayor Slay at. Frankly Martin Luther King would have been ashamed, as this was particular the type of thing hw would NOT want to see. I understand the point of being critical of Mayor Slay, but don’t dampen what is suppose to be a positive day and make it negative to further your own agenda. I by no means support Slay, but I think it was a sad day overall for the city.
Shouting down Slay was a tactical blunder. It turned off whites who had grown tired of Slay (e.g., some supporters of former aldermanic prez Jim Shrewsbury who resented Slay’s perceived behind the scenes maneuvering for Lewis Reed) and who might have voted for recall (if enough signatures are collected, which is doubtful) and voted for a 2009 challenger to Slay. Occurring as it did in the context of the spiraling racial tensions between Clinton and Obama camps, the shoutdown of Slay by a predominantly (perhaps unanimously) black crowd drove a new wedge between city blacks and the erstwhile sympathetic whites that they need to succeed. Advantage: Slay.
I agree, Oracle. Starting another race war might feel good, but bringing white “swing voters” into the fold is a much more effective path to victory.
It’s not a purely racial issue. White progressives have been working on the recall campaign from the start and were part of yesterday’s protest. I was in front of the Courthouse working on a different campaign and would say 75% of the white folks going inside were people I knew and probably in favor of the recall campaign. Of course, that won’t stop all of the other people who would never bother to take part in the march in the first place from being oh-so-terribly offended.
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Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts…..