After reclaiming their title of Meth Capital USA several months ago Missouri is once again looking to add to it’s resume. This time the Show Me State is trotting out St. Louis to be in the running for The Most Racist City in America. Gawker.com runs down a pretty comprehensive list of St. Louis’ racist qualities including:
Missouri: The Show Me Racism State
- The famous Dred Scott case was first filed in St. Louis. The United States Supreme Court eventually rejected Scott’s bid for freedom and declared that African Americans could not claim citizenship in the US.
- Former slave William Wells Brown: “Though slavery is thought, by some, to be mild in Missouri, when compared with the cotton, sugar and rice growing states, yet no part of our slave-holding country is more noted for the barbarity of its inhabitants than St. Louis.”
- The East St. Louis race riots of 1917, in which “white mobs formed and rampaged through downtown, beating all African Americans who were found. The mobs also stopped trolleys and streetcars, pulling black passengers out and beating them on the streets and sidewalks.”
- The Manhattan Institute has deemed St. Louis one of the most segregated cities in America.
- Not to mention all the police brutality.
While these events point out the city’s racist past, the comments section of the article paints a more descriptive tale of St. Louis’ racist present.
St. Louis is the obvious crown jewel in Missouri’s racist crown, but don’t discount the rest of the state including Columbia which is steeped in racist tradition from Quantrill’s raid’s of town’s that didn’t support slavery to their current campus shenanigans:
- Segregated Homecoming
- Racial slur graffiti
- Cotton balls scattered on lawn of Black Culture Center during Black History Month
- Racist fliers posted during Black History Month
- Mizzou students proudly wearing black face
Mizzou football fans in black face.
For more on the subject of Missouri racism check out the following articles:
Missouri National Guard Investigates Another Soldier’s Alleged Racist Ties
What’s the most racist city in Missouri?
Missouri Half Way To Being Annoying Obviously Racist State Who Pretends Not To Be
