In local town hall forums, it’s not easy being a St. Louis Green
Maxine Johnson yells at the man who grabbed her sign
Though police activity at the town hall forums hosted by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan differed in severity, they share at least one thing in common: A member of the St. Louis Green Party was at the center of the action.
On Tuesday in Hillsboro, Maxine Johnson – a good hour from her home in the city’s Third Ward — was involved in a fracas over a sign she brought to the event. The sign — which was actually a Rosa Parks poster — was grabbed by a Cedar Hill man who was later arrested on suspicion of assault.
While Johnson was also hauled out of the forum by police, she was not charged.
Johnson, 52, has been politically active since at least 2005, when her home was included in an eminent domain proposal in the Hyde Park neighborhood. In April, Johnson managed to get about 38 percent of the vote running as a Green Party candidate for alderman against City Hall stalwart Freeman Bosley Sr.
Tuesday’s incident has been played — and replayed — on national news, as the networks sought to recast footage of what they — and others — thought was Johnson’s arrest.
But while Johnson was not taken into custody, the same cannot be said for the, um, standard bearer of the St. Louis Green Party, the Rev. Elston McCowan.
McCowan, a pastor and labor organizer, was part of the Service Employees International Union’s presence at Carnahan’s Aug. 6 event in Mehlville.
Earlier this year, McCowan was the Green Party’s candidate for mayor, losing to Democrat Francis Slay by a wide margin. Now, McCowan is at the center of a much dissected — and much disputed — dust-up involving conservative activist Kenneth Gladney.
McCowan was booked on misdemeanor assault charges. The SEIU had planned a press conference today to “to set the record straight” on the scuffle, but the event was canceled.
The record is straight… union thugs beat up a Black conservative.
The thugs were sent to do just that… in a vain effort to keep people away from other meeting… so Russy doesn’t look stupid not answering questions from the voters in his district
Is this nation a Representative Republic or a thugoligy?
I heard both the protester on McGraw and McGowan on Jaco the last couple days. Hard to know whom to believe. Is there a middle ground here? Some fights escalate with no clear instigator? Both were struck? Both seem to have injuries. Both are telling the truth but not the whole truth? I cant tell from video exactly what happened, and no one else can either?
Is Kenneth Gladney the same guy who used to be a cop?
Well I’ll be….
I actually came here this morning knowing this, looking for this, and NOT thinking I would find this. I wanted to see if the only “major” newspaper in town, would uncover the potential ‘coincidence’, that two nationally covered “incidents” with regard to town hall meetings, and both with racial overtones, had a very strong link with regard to the principle players.
On March 19, 2009 I was at an “Action Day Against Corporate Execs” that was sponsored by the S.E.I.U. It had been featured on the early morning news three times between 7:00 and 8:00 A.M. So, I went. I took a sign along, about Auditing the Federal Reserve. And while the speeches there were about nationalizing the banks, and making the executives work “for a piece of it, like WE do now” (Tim Kaminski), I could not garner eye contact, nor verbal support, for reform over the largest aspect of the economic malfeasance, the Federal Reserve, and ironically I had walked right past it, to get to the protest.
This was the first exposure I had to how strong the socialist movement is in St. Louis. And the Gateway Greens were represented. There were McCowan for Mayor buttons, on the featured speakers.
The mayotral race was looming, and so I did my research, and I went to the debates, and I watched Elston McCowan in person… I didn’t vote for him. Actually I didn’t vote for any of them..I couldn’t in good conscious… all anybody wanted at the time, was as much “Stimulus” as possible, “It’s ours…”
But I came away knowing how strong the connection is between Gateway Greens, and the S.E.I.U., and both groups concerned me. There is a page of this Polical Fix blog, before the elections, where the bios of Elston McCowan and Maxine Johnson, both Greens, are one atop the other. And now we have the coincidence of the perception of racism in two town hall meetings in as many days.
I have the benefit of having BEEN at both of these town hall events. I saw Elston McCowan with the one I call “brutus” inside, and I wonder, why did “brutus” not wear his SEIU shirt inside, but don it for the altercation later?
And Maxine Johnson, as an elected official knew, that by walking in late, four women with unfurled posters was going to make a statement. It has not been accurately reported, that the room was interupted as they entered, and it has not been cleared up as to how four empty chairs in a row, were available, at an almost capacity event.
I am reminded of the cafeteria scene in the film “Wag the Dog”, where DeNiro with a wink, admonishes the rookie Secret service agent intent of proving the ‘war’ false…DeNiro says…
“Cause that is the war of the future, and if you’re not gearing up, to fight that war, eventually the axe will fall. And you’re gonna be out in the street. And you can call this a “drill,” or you can call it “job security,” or you can call it anything you like. But I got one for you: you said, “Go to war to protect your Way of Life,” well, Chuck, this is your way of life. Isn’t it? And if there ain’t no war, then you, my friend, can go home and prematurely take up golf. Because there ain’t no war but ours.”
I was born and raised in the City of St. Louis. I will not say we don’t have problems here, but much of the racism in the press is being manufactured…as manufactured as the accounts of gun toting redneck baby eating miscreants, that the left would have SHUT UP.
We can do better…
Thanks for making the connection. I hope today is uneventful…