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WU faculty, activists hopeful for change after Tishaura Jones inaugurated St. Louis mayor
Following Tishaura Jones’ inauguration as mayor of the city of St. Louis, April 20, Washington University professors and activists are hopeful for a new era of racial equity and progress in the region.
After serving in the Missouri House of Representatives for two terms and as St. Louis treasurer for three terms, Jones narrowly defeated Alderman Cara Spencer in the mayoral run-off election with 52% of the vote. Jones is the first Black woman, and second woman, to serve as mayor of St. Louis.
“I am standing on stone that was not built for me,” Jones said in her inaugural address. “I am speaking in a rotunda that never envisioned my ascent to mayor. I am going to walk into an office that my ancestors could never have imagined me working in. But, I’m here.”
Brown School student Helmi Henkin, the allies and outreach chair of the Washington University Graduate and Undergraduate Workers Union (WUGWU), worked on Jones’ campaign and attended the inauguration.
“The whole mood and atmosphere of City Hall was full of so much joy and hope,” Henkin said. “Every single speaker talked about how historic this was and how meaningful it was to them as Black people.”
Throughout her campaign, Jones had emphasized the importance of partnering with the municipal neighbors of St. Louis, and the attendees at the inauguration reflected this goal, Henkin said. Several mayors from regional cities such as East St. Louis and Kansas City stood with Jones, as well as leaders from Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities.
In the week since her inauguration, Jones has already taken steps toward criminal justice reform. On her second day in office, April 21, Jones released a budget proposal for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1, that includes no funding for the Medium Security Institution, commonly known as “the Workhouse.” On Saturday, Jones, U.S. Representative Cori Bush and other elected officials toured the Workhouse and harshly criticized the living conditions there.
Jones’ move to defund the Workhouse stands in solidarity with the several-year long Close the Workhouse campaign, which has partnered with Action St. Louis, ArchCity Defenders and Bail Project St. Louis to urge the city government to shut down the jail and “dismantle a racist system that has destroyed lives.”
Jones predicted that closing the Workhouse would save the city $7.8 million. She proposed reallocating approximately $4 million to balance the city’s budget, $2 million to medical services and meals for detainees and the remaining $1.8 million to several of her priorities; this includes funds for social workers in the Division of Supportive Reentry as well as funds to increase the capacity of the Civilian Oversight Board, which investigates misconduct in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
“Her entire platform can basically be summed up in one sentence: Look at St. Louis City’s budget, see areas where social services are not supported enough, and find ways to fund to support those social services and schools,” Henkin said.
Jack Kirkland, associate professor at the Brown School of Social Work, while supporting the closure of the Workhouse, emphasized that it is not enough to address deeper institutionalized racism.
“If you don’t take a holistic approach to all of this, you’re just dealing with the manifestation,” Kirkland said. “You’re not dealing with causality.”
Kirkland said a holistic approach requires addressing the issue from all angles: closing the economic gap, increasing business opportunities in the city, increasing the housing stock, fixing highways, improving relationships with the police and reforming education. Kirkland said he believes that Jones understands the importance of fostering an environment where children of color are raised to thrive.
In her inauguration speech, Jones framed her desire to make St. Louis a safe place for children to grow up as a unifying mission for the region.
“Most Saint Louisans share the same core desires, and as a single mom, I know these core desires well myself: I want to raise my son in a safe neighborhood, I want him to receive a quality education and I want him to be able to envision himself safely raising a family in St. Louis one day as well,” Jones said.
Reflecting her community-based sentiments in her inauguration speech, Jones emphasized the importance of receiving feedback from St. Louisans themselves.
“There’s already this pattern of transparency and community input that is pretty refreshing,” Henkin said.
Clarissa Hayward, professor of political science, philosophy and urban studies, noted that Jones’ views on policing reflect those of criminal justice activists who argue that “public safety isn’t about policing,” and that sometimes, armed officers “actually undermine safety and racial equity.”
Hayward, along with Shanti Parikh, professor of Sociocultural Anthropology and of African and African-American Studies, anticipates that Jones will commit to reframing addiction as a health issue as well as working with communities to decrease incarceration.
Parikh specifically describes Jones’ approach as “deterrence policing.”
“[It] means giving people hope and opportunities, whether it’s job training, or drug and addiction programs, ending cash-bail,” Parikh said. “I also like her ideas about how we can reconsider and reimagine public safety, where it is actually working towards public safety as opposed to criminalizing poverty, criminalizing young Black men.”
Another way faculty members noted that Jones will help Black communities is through representation. Kirkland said that representation is especially valuable given the trauma that people of color endure in this nation. When people of color watch what happens to individuals such as Michael Brown and Ma’Khia Bryant, they “internalize” their own inferiority and question their ability to prosper as adults, Kirkland said.
Hayward agreed, stating that as a single Black mother, Jones is a “role model” who can show young people that “they, too, can lead a city one day.”
As Jones embarks on her mayoral term, WUGWU member Kelsey Wulfkuhle, who was also involved in Jones’ mayoral campaign, believes that University students have an obligation to engage in activism.
“As Wash. U. students, it is our civic duty and responsibility to change our community and get involved in whatever cause matters to you,” Wufkuhle said. “If you’re going to change your voter registration to vote here in St. Louis, you need to educate yourself around what’s happening. The impact of our votes in these four years will continue to impact the long term residents here in the city.”
In the long-term, Kirkland predicts a more equitable St. Louis under Jones’ leadership.
“She was a very successful politician, but I also know that she’s going to be a successful person because she has a sensitivity, a special awareness of what the issues are in the city,” Kirkland said. “She knows that it’s a difficult road ahead. And she knows that people are going to watch very carefully to see what is being done.”
More Student Life coverage of how Washington University fits into Missouri politics:
What a Missouri state senate bill’s proposed protest restrictions mean for WU students