Double-Taxation without Representation in St.Louis County

In Florissant Mo., this past December the police pulled me over. Despite showing my insurance card, I was ticketed over $600 for non-insurance of a vehicle I was driving that belonged to a friend. I came back to STL at the appointed time for business and to go to court.  As I pulled into the parking lot,  I was surprised by the amount of people there to pay tickets for low level crimes and traffic violations. Even more surprising was a sprawling line of mostly black folk waiting to get inside, on what was a freezing night. I ended up snapping a view pics, and taking some video on my phone.  They may not be so clear but I hope you get the point.

One Florissant resident Cornell Albert said  he was pulled over for an unbuckled seat-belt. What seemed familiar was what he said next. ‘Since I was in a parking lot he could see others -whites without seat belts- being paid no attention to by police. This is racial profiling’ he and other described how they missed work to be at this court proceeding.  Many who seek to deny these experiences say that Cornell should've been wearing his seat-belt.  Fine, but if you seen someone break a rule and you are punished while others are not, you might be outraged.

Sadly, It was unsurprising but jarring to see a mostly black people as defendants,  while all the police, attorneys  and judges were white.  This 'legal' proceeding, where people were to plead guilty or come to another court date, was held in the JFK community Center of Florissant.  The lack of courtesy while being fleeced was maddening.  I wasn’t allowed to use the restroom, unless I wanted to go back outside and through the long lines again. 

While in court, I ran into a long time family friend who told me she was pulled over after leaving the dealership parking lot, despite having temporary tags.  “ He gave me the ticket out of spite”. 
I shouldn't have to say what this is reminiscent of but, in an age where our attention must be on how the courts and police target blacks and people of color, there seems to be little progress.  Missouri Governor Jay Nixon recently passed legislation to limit how much revenue can be earned in local municipalities, but as their seemed to be mostly Black people in court that day and the whites who were there seemed to be lower socioeconomic status (many most-likely earning minimum wage), I firmly believe the poverty and racial tax driven police have not changed.  We do know that many of the speed traps and the litter of  reasons for stopping people have to do with maintaining segregation.  

The population of Florissant, according to suburbanstats.org, is over fifty thousand.   When Blacks represent only fourteen thousand, which is a bit less than a quarter of the population, and the majority of people stopped are Black, this an issue racist white supremacy that has yet to be challenged.  While mainstream media, politicians like Trump, Christie and many other conservatives would have you believe crime or violations of the law is racial or suggests a moral flaw.  Most crime is economic, rooted in a deeply competitive system that rewards people based on unearned privilege, like birth, social class and race.
  The Washington Post describes Nicole Bolden's accident as she was headed to work.  While the accident wasn't her fault, she was still arrested because of warrants, which she could not afford to pay.

When police focus on black people for traffic violations they reinforce the myth of criminality and lay the groundwork for violence, or the assumption that blackness is equated to violence.   The economic ramifications are outrageous, for many who make minimum wage or just above, how can rent, groceries or even savings take place. The tax for being black in STL county and Florissant particularly is constant harassment  by an all or mostly white police force.  This is essentially a double tax on the poor!

While  my charges were dropped as I provided documentation,  I’m sickened by this state of affairs, which we see in cities around the country. While we have to elect officials who can represent the population of given communities, the whole system is guilty as hell.  We have to dismantle these governments, police forces, and as a friend and Ferguson activists Rev. Renita suggests 'the entire systems of municipalities with their different rules and outcomes create injustice'.   Our justice system is based on a set of relations that initially only viewed Blacks as property, still slow to treat us equally.  This inherited system continues to incarcerate, tax and kill Blacks and people of color despite commissions, task forces and political rhetoric.  We can’t continue to build on a faulty structure that still privilege Whites in terms of employment, as the all white staff in Florissant reinforces. But even if we have Black employees or cops in a racist system we will see the same results. The whole damn system is guilty as hell.  I propose creating a system based on restorative justice that values persons and their lives over arbitrary rules, reeducates all citizens on nonviolence,  human dignity and the true history of this violent, sexist, racist, homophobic country. This has to be done so student know what they are up against and can work to change it in their life times.  Racism exists because white people allow and benefit from its existence.  Stop being racist, give up your privilege- don't just let me sit in your interview chair for a few minutes, change your attitudes and policies and society, including policing will change.  In the meantime, don't be act outraged by the next hashtag if you are not standing up, challenging the hire everyone is comfortable with on the job or facing down your racist family members and friends.