Newly Elected Black Mayor Locked Out Of City Hall By Police - UPDATED

[Archae]

Source: Crooks and Liars

Earlier this week, news surfaced that the election of an African-American mayor had had prompted police officers in Parma, Missouri to resign in protest.

Today's news from Kinloch, Missouri is much, much more disturbing.

http://fox2now.com/2015/04/23/new-kinloch-mayor-blocked-by-police-from-entering-city-hall/


Read more: http://crooksandliars.com/2015/04/newly-elected-black-mayor-locked-out-city

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Racism at it's worst!

[bravenak]

16. Me too.

[7962]

20. Please, Bravenak, read the article. The city power are ALL black people.

I think a post further down has it: the current admin is afraid of corruption being uncovered.

[bravenak]

23. I had assumed corruption and sexism.

The headline was wrong, I know. I think there is something sick about needing all those cops for the few people living there. It scary. A police state for real.

[7962]

24. 1 cop per 15 people!!!!!

[bravenak]

26. Right!?!?

That is scary ass hell. If that's the future, we have no chance. Our children will be slaves to the system. I wanna know wtf those cops do all day? Write tickets? The DOJ need to go there too.

[Backwoodsrider]

42. yep that was my first thought

they got something to hide. bring in the national guard

[marym625]

29. I'm so mad

And I am so very, very sad

[philosslayer]

30. Because of a tiny little corrupt town...

Where a mayor won an election with less than 100 total votes cast, and the old regime is desperately trying to keep her out to cover up their wrongdoings? Out of a country of 320+ MILLION people? This is amusing more than anything else. And it will get sorted out.

[marym625]

32. It was just the last straw.

Since I am upsetting people I will delete the post. But as humorous as it may be, it is just another f-u to women and people of color

[philosslayer]

34. Maybe to women, but not to people of color

Since its other people of color who are keeping her out....

[marym625]

37. They're just modern day overseers.

[philosslayer]

39. Not really

More like criminals who don't want the gravy train to stop. I don't see anything racial about all of this.

[marym625]

50. Though they may be trying to hide their grift

This is part of the police state and that is deeply embedded in racism

[bravenak]

31. The police state is real.

Girl, we knew it, but this is just crazy.

[marym625]

33. yep.

What's next? The Senate?

[bravenak]

35. Hell, maybe.

If she were a man...
Notice they had no problem with the black male corrupt ass mayor...
She was about to investigate them.

[marym625]

38. yep

Exactly.

[mimi85]

17. This upsets me to no end, but

hating our country is a bit much. Some hyperbole there? I love this country which is the main reason I joined DU. It's Friday night, maybe you should consider a nice class of wine...or two?

[marym625]

28. You are right. I am extremely upset

But this is not the country I once knew and loved. Women being imprisoned for termination of pregnancy. One poor woman for 41 years. Black men and boys being shot by cops on an almost hourly basis. Cops getting away with murder. LGBT people being killed on a nearly daily basis. Corporations writing and negotiating trade agreements we are not allowed to see. Constant spying without warrant or reason on US citizens. Imprisoning people, mostly people of color, at a rate that has Amnesty International calling on the us out for human rights violations. The UN calling us out for torture of our own. Illegal wars that kill possibly a million people going unpunished. Seizure of property at the whim of the militarized police. Teachers being jailed.

There is more. This is not a country I recognize. I am beyond angry

[Backwoodsrider]

43. welcome to reality

We are offered and usually gladly accept this nice pretty view of people and our society. Fact is society is one rough sucker and it has a dark side just like we do but I still love it with all its hate and bigotry and greed. Life can be dark sometimes but its still the best show going!

[heaven05]

51. "best show going"

for you.

[Backwoodsrider]

55. only other show in town is death

If you feel deaths better and I believe it is for some, go for it. Oh or you can continue to suffer and hope their is a good afterlife as promised by the Church. Or we can look at life and TRY to not look away when it gets painful

[heaven05]

56. ?????

right.....

[marym625]

54. I'm glad you can see the positive

But it's a reality that is not acceptable and I hate it

[heaven05]

53. why is it always

hyperbole? Whenever the hate, racism and ignorance of a huge portion of the privileged class of the citizenry of this society is pointed out, it's hyperbole, yet when denial of these facts by another segment of this society is pointed out, ohhh all type of insult is inferred and outrage commences. I DO NOT love the continuing and my growing understanding of the hypocrisy that this country truly represents, it makes me want to CRY!!!!!! It definitely makes me ill....

[chillfactor]

2. These racists must love.....

having their racist faces plastered all over the Internet.....what a bunch of slimballs they are..

[philosslayer]

27. what racists are those?

Did you bother to read the story?

[MADem]

3. I think they need to get the federal government down there in a hurry....

I don't know if I'd trust the state (and perhaps the State PD) to maintain order in the interim, but this is starting to stink like some serious civil rights violations.

[davidpdx]

5. Very true about state government considering how poorly Nixon dealt with the

situation in Ferguson. That asshole isn't fit to be governor.

[davidpdx]

4. Fire them all for interfering with the duties of an elected official, derelict of duty....

and just being assholes.

The Crooks & Liars story describes where Kinloch is located. And why shouldn't we be surprised it's near....you guessed it...Ferguson! The town has literally disappeared, which is sad.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kinloch is a small suburb between Ferguson and the St. Louis airport. It once had as many as 10,000 residents, but now it's dwindled down to the hundreds. McCray was elected with 38 votes to incumbent mayor Darren Small's 18.

[7962]

6. How is it racism? The mayor she defeated is also black.

Looks more like a power struggle. And 1 cop for every 15 residents? Ridiculous

[AuntPatsy]

8. Was he a he?

[7962]

11. Seems so; Darren Smalls. Its corruption for sure.

[AuntPatsy]

7. No racism in this day and age, nope nothing to worry about here...

[7962]

18. Please read the article. Both mayors are black; as is the city atty.

[rurallib]

9. I have a strange feeling the old mayor and police chief

have something majorly illegal to hide and they appear to be willing to do almost anything to keep the new mayor out. I doubt they care how racist they look, they got something to hide.

And as I said in another thread, I doubt they will get away with it. The new mayor won and I would think any court would say she gets to serve. In a mayor/council form the mayor is usually the elected head of the police. Therefore her first act should be to fire the chief and her second act should be to audit all books etc.

I may be wrong but I am betting there's going to be some missing money someplace and a sweet setup to keep it coming.

[7962]

14. I think you've hit it. 20 cops for 300 people? City govt is a slush fund I bet. nt

[elehhhhna]

45. 1 cop per every 15 people? sounds like a prison, not a town!

[blueridge3210]

52. 20 cops.

Figure 1 chief and 1 Asst. Chief or equivalent. Leaves 18 sworn officers over 3 shifts. 6 per shift; allow 2 days off per officer; if no one is sick, on vacation, in training etc that's 3.X on duty on any given shift. Sounds a lot different when you actually run the numbers.

[PotatoChip]

58. Sounds ridiculous to me, no matter how you run the numbers. (nt)

[blueridge3210]

59. Well, okay then. That added nothing. (nt)

[XemaSab]

60. So it's only one cop per hundred people at any given time?!?!?!?

We have 130 people working for the police department in Redding, California, for a city of 91,000.

To make life easy, let's assume that all 130 people are cops. Doing the math, there's about 31 cops per shift, or roughly one cop per 2,900 people.

WTF is going on in that town that you "need" one cop per hundred people?

[blueridge3210]

61. Economies of scale.

If the population of this town were to increase, the number of officers would not be likely to increase in proportion. Eventually you get to the ratio in your town. The only thing I'm pointing out is that the numbers come down to 3 or so officers on shift at any given time. I'm sure that the work involved in policing a small town is not limited to the actual population; many transients can place a demand on services.

[XemaSab]

66. Alpine County has 10 cops for 1,150 people

The math there leaves fewer than 3 cops on duty at any given time.

That's one cop per 380 people. (It's also one cop per 248 square miles.)

Mill Valley, California, has 21 cops for 14,300 people, or roughly 5 cops on duty at any given time.

That's one cop per 2,860 people.

Selma, Alabama, has 30 cops for 20,000 people. That's about 7 cops on duty at any given time.

That's one cop per 2,857 people.

1 cop per 100 people is a fascist police state.

[druidity33]

62. my town has about 1200 people

we have 1 full time officer (Sheriff), and 2 part time officers. There isn't a 24 hour presence, though they are always on call. They all live in town or in the town "next door". There is no major road that passes through town that we can use for "ticketing revenue". 3 officers on duty 24/7 for a town of 600 really sounds excessive to me.

[blueridge3210]

64. And it may be.

The initial reaction to "20 cops for the town" made is sound like all 20 were on duty at the same time. I was just doing a break-down of what the numbers meant. IIRC this "town" is a suburb of St. Louis and likely has a lot of "pass through" traffic that could place demands on LEO resources out of proportion to the population of the town.

[sharp_stick]

10. All parties here are African American

the headline is very misleading.

[7962]

12. Seems the first several posts didnt care to READ the article nt

[d06204]

13. People, People!

Kinloch is a black community...a historically black community. This is a power struggle, not racism. Deep breath everyone...

[Archae]

19. Doesn't matter, what race they are.

This is a corrupt bunch.

[cstanleytech]

25. Yup thus as I pointed out it sounds like a possible case of cronyism

when I first read about the resignation of those officers and this could be related to that.
After all if you have such a large amount of going on with the city government and by extension the cities varies departments such as the police then your going to have alot of people not liking it when there is change that could potentially cost them their a job especially if its a cushy well paid job that they suck at doing.

[RGinNJ]

15. What the flying fuck!

Under who's authority does these assholes think they can get away with this shit.

[cstanleytech]

21. Its like they are begging the feds to come in and investigate them for their actions. nt

[struggle4progress]

22. Life in Kinlock seems interesting

Kinloch is a town of less than 500 people that sits in the shadow of Lambert St. Louis International Airport.

... most residents of Kinloch ... had been forced to relocate after a buyout program bought up most of the land to expand the adjacent airport. Many of those from Kinloch were forced to move to other nearby municipalities such as Florissant, Berkeley and Ferguson, where historic laws had long forbidden black citizens from owning land ... Once a vibrant, self-sustaining, middle-class community of thousands in north St. Louis County — and also the first incorporated black community in the state — Kinloch was effectively reduced to a collection of overgrown vacant lots, decaying streets and abandoned buildings. It’s illegally used as a dumping ground for trash, old furniture and even bodies ... In 1980, more than 4,000 people lived in Kinloch. Today ... the entire municipality has been reduced to less than one square mile of land, drained of most of its tax base. What used to be streets lined with houses, churches and corner stores now resembles an undeveloped plot of land, sprinkled with decaying buildings and cracked, empty streets. Much of the land belongs to the City of St. Louis. Nearly the entire town was torn down to accommodate a runway that, in the end, was never built. The ground shakes when landing planes pass over, an ironic homage to the fact that the city’s first airstrip was in Kinloch, a point of pride for many of its former residents ...

From February 2013: Robert Hill’s auto salvage yard sits just a few yards away from City Hall ... Hill opened his salvage yard in March 2011, becoming a neighbor to City Hall. Then, a few months later, he bought City Hall itself. He purchased the building, along with the land occupied by his business, for $50,000, according to St. Louis County real estate records ... Hill says he bought much of the land to establish a business district. But city officials now say the land deals, brokered by a prior administration, raise red flags. There is a dispute about who actually owns City Hall. And, city officials say, they can’t locate all of the money Hill was supposed to have paid ... The land deals follow a litany of scandals in this small north St. Louis County community, including the former mayor’s conviction for spending thousands of dollars in city money on personal expenses ... The power was shut off at City Hall after Kinloch fell nearly $15,000 behind on its electric bill.

From January 2015: A former city leader in the small North County municipality of Kinloch claims police there arrested and physically assaulted her after she called to report a burglary in her apartment complex. Kinloch police cited Theda Wilson with a summons for resisting arrest and because she "fought with three police officers." Kinloch police chief K. Williams says his department is investigating the incident and offered no other details. He told Daily RFT he wasn't even sure the incident had occurred because officers involved were not back on duty and therefore unavailable. When officers arrived, Wilson thought police would check out the vacant building for a possible suspicious person. To her surprise, officers said they were going to take her into custody. That’s when Wilson asked police to read her rights. Police were recorded on camera refusing to read Wilson her rights.

From yesterday: Betty McCray, Kinloch’s newly elected Mayor, arrived at City Hall on Thursday morning with an entourage and the intention to fire multiple city employees. But before she could enter the building, McCray was told she was the one who was out of job. In the parking lot, McCray was met by a half-dozen police officers and City Attorney James Robinson, who held a manila envelope under his arm containing articles of impeachment ... On April 7, McCray defeated Mayor Darren Small with 38 votes to his 18. Another candidate, Theda Wilson, received two votes. Petty ran unopposed. After the Board of Aldermen declined to swear them in, the two were sworn in by a St. Louis County circuit court clerk on Tuesday ... The city also filed a lawsuit in March against McCray, alleging that she fraudulently obtained a house from the city in 2008 ... McCray said that the homes were advertised to everyone and that she paid $9,000 for the four-bedroom, two-bath home. But the suit alleges that previous mayor Keith Conway — who served time in prison on charges of wire fraud, theft from a federal program and witness tampering — gave McCray the house for free.

[blogslut]

46. I wish I could kick your post.

Whoa.

[NJCher]

67. nice research job, struggle4

The additional stories add much to the discussion and understanding of what's going on there.

In a way, this story is the opposite of a racism story. After all, what is it this say about money? It knows no color?

Cher

[Doctor_J]

40. should probably read "blocked out by black police"

Or just leave the race out altogether. Fewer clicks but more honesty

[iandhr]

41. It almost like they are trying to prove they are a bunch of racist assholes.

[PatSeg]

48. This story appears to be about corruption

not racism. The officers in the video clips are African American, as is the man with the envelope that supposedly contains articles of impeachment.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

69. I agree, do some research on late history of this town.

[Little Tich]

44. I smell corruption. n/t

[davidpdx]

47. Wish there were someone either there or close by blogging on this

If anyone sees anything like that please post away.

[heaven05]

49. state of affairs

in amerikkka's heartland, westland, southland, eastland and northland. How sad it is that ignorance, hate and stupidity is embedded so deeply in the culture and more importantly minds of americans. Sad indeed. So much for democracy in that town. ON EDIT: Well given the direction amerikkka's society is moving it is EASY to surmise, without reading the article that this was yet another attempt by the privileged class to deny americans of color their rights. BUT not so in this case. Some kind of power struggle of which the details are probably sordid. No racism to be seen in this case does not take away from the FACT that this culture, IF it wasn't something that would destroy the illusion of freedom and democracy in the eyes of this world's population, would pull this every time a POC got elected into some office of 'power'.

Just look at how jack shit crazy racist the RWers got and have been with the POTUS the last 6 plus years.

So yeah, all the ones on here so gleefully pointing out the power struggle between POC in this town, so what. This country is still embedded with a racism that this culture's PTB created and use as a tool against all who are not in the 'club'. If the RW gains power in the next general election, this will become reality for all who are not in the 'privileged class' of this racist and classist society.

[OilemFirchen]

68. A fail sandwich!

Jesus.

Why not just delete the post?

[heaven05]

71. just because you say so

doesn't make it true. IF someone that I know and converse with on a regular basis suggests what you have, I will consider it. Period. You can spout all you will, won't sway my opinion as stated in my post. Yes, the original OP had nothing to do with the racist nature of this culture. I know that, yet I WILL NOT delete a word of what I wrote, just because you think I should. That would be me failing my self and beliefs. Have a good day.

[Corey_Baker08]

57. The Federal Govt Needs To Get Involved Now & Send The National Guard To Face Down The Corrupt Cops..

Why has this story not national news? WTF This is exactly like the case in which a black student was enrolled into an all white college & he was blocked by Police & Governor until President Kennedy sent in the national guard.

[madville]

63. How is this racism? The community is 94% African-American

I bet 90% of the people in this thread didn't watch the video attached to the news story or look up the demographics of that town, all the players involved are black.

A black former mayor, a black police force and a newly elected black mayor. This some kind of power struggle, but not racist at all.

[OnlinePoker]

65. Because when many people on DU see "Black" they automatically think the story is about racism.

Unfortunately, there's been so much racist history it has become the go-to reaction when something happens.

[VScott]

70. Sounds like this isn't the first time they've had problems with corruption

Decline and revitalization efforts

In the 1980s, the City of St. Louis began to buy out property in Kinloch as part of the expansion of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Eventually, the airport took the vast majority of private homes in Kinloch. Between 1990 and 2000, Kinloch lost more than 75 percent of its population. The social and economic effects of this buyout were disastrous for the community. The bottom line to the tragedy is nothing ever replaced the areas where the neat, tidy homes had been. All that is left is the driveways.[citation needed]

Kinloch became an increasingly violent and dangerous place to live, infested with drugs and crime. The police department faced numerous investigations, and over a 20-year period a number of officers were arrested on corruption charges. In September 2002, St. Louis County police chief Ron Battelle directed his department to take control of law enforcement in Kinloch. The city's population had dwindled to 449, and there was talk of disincorporation, which was renewed in 2011, when Mayor Keith Conway faced federal charges for using city funds to pay for personal expenses, including a vacation home in Florida.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinloch,_Missouri#Decline_and_revitalization_efforts

Edit to add... just looked on Google maps and it's right next door to Ferguson.