Hands Up United

Yo @lyft @AskLyft we know you are familiar with the tornado that have caused immense damage in Stl. We have children that cannot get to school because the school system doesn’t have a way to provide transportation for them. Some have finals, etc. You’ve provided rides in the past for voting free of charge. Can we count on you to help get our future generations to school for the next week so they can finish strong?

I think it’s kinda crazy that @evolutionfest_ would come to St. Louis 2 weeks after @MATIstl forcing folks to choose which festival they want to go to when MATI supports the community of St. Louis and Evolution fest don’t even got the respect to put a single St. Louis artist on the bill. We have to stop allowing things like this to thrive in our city. Nah it’s not good.

Cara Spencer’s Election Is a Wake Up Call for St. Louis A small percentage of St. Louis citizens have just elected a mayor who has demonstrated through both policy and personal behavior that she is not here to serve all of us, particularly non-Black residents. @CaraSpencerSTL rise to power is not just a disappointment. It is a serious threat, one that we must prepare to organize against for the next four years if we are to protect our communities, our voices, and our futures. In 2023, I was asked by a group of aldermen to testify against a bill authored by Spencer that sought to ban open carry in the city. While some saw this as a bold stance on gun violence, the reality is it was politically hollow and legally weak. Missouri state law allows open carry. Her bill would not have changed that. What it would have done is provide another tool for the criminalization of Black people, especially those already over-policed and underserved in this city. I was one of the only non-elected speakers on the town hall given free rein to speak. I laid out how her bill ignored constitutional law and did nothing to address the root causes of violence. What happened next was telling. Spencer, angered by being publicly challenged, contacted the police claiming she “felt threatened” by me. There was no threat, no aggression, just inconvenient truth. Hours later, my car was surrounded by officers and I was arrested alongside a colleague. We were released three hours later, but not before I missed a scheduled performance at the art museum with DJ Trackstar and Tef Poe where she again walked through the crowd with police in search of me. This was not an isolated incident. This past week when Poe dropped a diss track critiquing her policies, a time-honored Hip-Hop tradition, Spencer repeated the pattern. Again, she claimed to feel threatened and contacted law enforcement. This time, our legal team intervened before they could repeat what happened to me. This behavior is not just troubling but dangerous. It mirrors a long, violent history in America where white women have weaponized false fear against Black men, from Carolyn Bryant’s lie that led to Emmett Till’s murder to countless modern-day lynchings where police are called on Black people simply for existing or speaking out. Spencer’s actions fit into this lineage, whether she is aware of it or not. And now, that behavior sits at the head of city government. What should we expect? But the problem does not begin or end with Cara Spencer. Her campaign, and now her administration, are propped up by a quiet machinery of collusion. Some of our own Black elders, under the illusion of influence, have long aligned themselves with white power structures in exchange for favors and visibility. They smile for photos, endorse candidates like Spencer, and remain silent as harmful policies unfold, as long as they keep their seat at the table. And then there are the so-called Black “allies,” who parade their proximity to power while chasing their own ambitions. They champion candidates like Spencer not because of shared values, but because they see opportunity in her ascent. These individuals are not working toward liberation. They are working toward access. Meanwhile, Spencer has no meaningful plan to address the real issues harming our city. Her record offers no solutions to mass incarceration, no real investment in housing equity, no blueprint for community-based violence intervention, and no effort to build power in the neighborhoods most devastated by decades of neglect. Her idea of progress is thinly veiled gentrification, the expansion of systems that punish rather than repair, and a pretty downtown. This election was not a win for St. Louis….it was a warning. But this is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of the next chapter in our resistance. We must organize harder, speak louder, and build deeper.

To all supporters yall know im always doing something for the community, especially kids. I wish I didn’t care like others but can’t see to get away from it. I stepped in to help with an elementary school’s basketball team. The teachers are paid to coach lol but I ended up taking over free of charge. They’ve been having to play in shirts versus actual uniforms because the district won’t cover the uniforms. I want to make sure they never have that problem again. If you can support, please do. gofundme.com/f/uniforms-for…

Not enough ppl talking about this. Is it because it’s not the pretty situation? Not trending enough? 16 year old teen Daryl Ross murdered by St. Louis city detectives in 2022. As you see in the video he ran and never once positioned himself to be of harm to the cops. He was armed yes, but he simply ran and was executed and shot over 15 times while on the ground. The city is offering his family hush money and they don’t want it. Share this and say his name. #DarylRoss #ftp