EVEN HERE IN WEBSTER GROVES

I live in what is sometimes called a leafy suburb, Webster Groves. Just two miles outside the city limits of St. Louis proper, it is green, comfortable and convenient, a mix of working class to upper middle class but leaning toward the prosperous. And old, by local standards, meaning that it was established in the late 19th Century. 

There have been rallies and marches throughout the metro area in the last week. (Remember that Ferguson is also a suburb of STL.) One was organized in a Webster park by young people who grew up here and went through the school system. Most of them were black but there was also a young Jewish man, the son of immigrants, who described himself as "one of about 2 1/2 Jews in Webster High."  Over and over, they told horrifying stories that most white people don't know, repeatedly asking what we are going to do. Therein lies individual responsibility.         

IT'S GOING TO TAKE MORE THAN THAT

This is an unhappy time for many Americans. People are becoming terribly ill and dying from an invisible scourge. Millions are falling into poverty and bankruptcy. The smoldering underground fire of racism and economic inequality has erupted into the streets. Meanwhile, our president hides in the White House, babbling nonsense on Twitter. 

We can wash our hands free of virus but not of responsibility.

Tomorrow's post has a great change of tone. I understand the irony.
           

Dark Jurisprudence

Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857).  Homer Plessy v. John Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). Two of the worst decisions in the history of the United States Supreme Court. (There are those of us who think they are not through trying.) The first one ruled that people of African descent, whether slave or free, could not be citizens and therefore could not file suit in federal court. The second established the notorious "separate but equal" principle, legalizing institutional discrimination against black people, until it was repudiated by the Court in 1954. The details are too complex for this blog but you can read an excellent summary of the Scott case here and Plessy here. Together, they mark the worst of legalized racism in this country.

At Laumeier Sculpture Park, Scott and Plessy, depicted by identical style busts and pedestals, gaze at one another. Canadian (!) sculptor Ken Lum created The Space Between Scott and Plessy. Click the link to see for yourself.