Today, we attended a BLM demonstration with former alderman, Al Gerber

St. Louis is home to the Ferguson protests that erupted after the murder of Michael Brown in 2014. These protests, alongside the murder of Eric Garner in New York, catapulted the BLM movement into the national spotlight.

Today, we spent time with Al Gerber—a longtime St. Louis resident who has regularly participated in BLM demonstrations ever since the Ferguson protests first began back in 2014—at the weekly vigil he attends. While BLM-affirming honks flooded the air this morning as we demonstrated at the intersection of Clarkson and Clayton in West County, Al testified that just two years ago, the landscape was dramatically different; rather than just a handful of spiteful epithets hurled from the windows of callous passersby, dozens of (White) people would express their vehement disapproval at every single demonstration. Supportive honks were also much less common a year or two ago, and far more people simply ignored the demonstrations Al participated in altogether. Since the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, however, Al has noticed a significant uptick in support, with us waving almost nonstop to honkers every time the lights changed and a major glut of traffic passed us by.

While mountains of work remain to be done in the fight for racial justice, this morning was a small lesson in our power to effect change through consistent, impassioned efforts to combat injustice. We have the power to change the prevailing narratives embraced by our society, and we have the power to ultimately transform the institutions that oppress marginalized communities. White folk further have a duty to fight for the oppressed until “justice for all” is no longer just a slogan, but a lived reality for every last person, human and otherwise.