STL Anti-Racism Study Group

This is the beginning of a curriculum/syllabus for the St. Louis Anti-Racism study group. Currently it's just an uncurrated list of ideas.

Specific to St. Louis

• Missouri Compromise of 1820
• Indian Removal policies
• Dred Scott (1857)
• Civil War
• 1904 World's Fair exhibit of Africans
• East St. Louis Massacre (1917)
  • W.E. Du Bois wrote: "it was a more important question — whether or not [the White man] should lose his front-room and Victrola and even the dream of a Ford car."
  • /The Broken Heart of America/
• Desegregation
• Pruitt-Igoe
  • Wikipedia
• Statues - why were they erected?
• Delmar Divide
  • Wikipedia
• Sundown towns in the area
• Driving west through county municipalities
• White flight from North County to St. Charles County
  • Movie: /Spanish Lake/
• Redlining
  • "In 1916, St. Louisans voted on a “reform” ordinance that would prevent anyone from buying a home in a neighborhood more than 75 percent occupied by another race."
    • https://www.stlmag.com/news/the-color-line-race-in-st.-louis/
      • Lots of other good local stuff
  • FHA ratings of Black neighborhoods
• Covenants
  • Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)
    • House is at 4600 Labadie
    • Wikipedia
    • https://mohistory.org/blog/deeds-of-mistrust/
• Fairgrounds Park riot (1949)
  • First day Black people could swim in the pool
• Jefferson Bank protest (1963)
• Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Company (1968 Supreme Court case, prohibits all discrimination against blacks in the sale and rental of property, including governmental and private discrimination)
  • Based on the Civil Rights Act of 1866
  • Wikipedia
• Veiled Prophet fair
• 2 police unions

General

• /How to Be An Anti-Racist/
• /Color of Law/
  • Redlining
• White privilege
• Sundown towns
• Segregation
• Founding fathers and slavery
• America's "original sins" (as described by Cornell West)
• The "justice" system, "law and order"
• Driving while Black
• Black Wall Street
• Highway construction
• Urban planning/renewal
• Gentrification
• Civil War
• Reconstruction
• Jim Crow
  • /Slavery By Another Name/
• Civil Rights movements
  • Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X
• Environmental racism
  • Lead poisoning
  • Air pollution, asthma
  • Housing - mold
• Racist systems
• The cost of being poor
  • Quality of goods
  • Check cashing, "unbanked"
  • Short-term jobs
  • Energy prices
  • Food desserts
• Fear of Black men
  • Physically imposing
  • Raping White women

FAQ

• Why do some people capitalize the words "Black" and "White"?
  • Because similar terms of racial identity are capitalized
    • Asian, Asian-American
    • African-American
    • European
  • It better reveals the intent of the concept of whiteness
    • Which is to be a way to socially categorize people into the "haves" and the "have-nots"
    • By defining who counted as "white", they got to decide whether they needed as many people to serve as the "boogie man" to keep down
• Is it OK to refer to someone as "that Black person"?
  • Probably, assuming you would have used "that White person" in the same context
  • Probably not, if there is some other characteristic that would better describe the person
    • Like if "that guy in the red hat" would be sufficient to distinguish them within a group
• What about the poor treatment of the Irish?
  • The Irish are now considered White, with the privileges that entails
    • Most Black people still haven't gotten those privileges
  • You've probably been to a parade celebrating Irish heritage (St. Patrick's Day)
  • Have you been to a parade celebrating African-American heritage (Juneteenth?)