Meeting Rapper Killer Mike’s $100 Challenge In St. Louis

I first learned about rapper Killer Mike during the 2016 presidential primary, see At a Bernie Sanders rally, an Atlanta rapper makes his political debut and How Killer Mike Became Rap’s Most Influential Political Leader. So it was no surprise he was part of an MTV/BET town hall last month. He suggested to everyone there and watching, to invest in black-owned banks — and many have responded:

Citizens Trust Bank — anchored in metro Atlanta, Columbus, Ga., Birmingham, Ala., and Eutaw, Ala. — said it has received about 8,000 new applications for depositors in recent days.

One of the catalysts: Rapper Killer Mike called in to a town hall meeting on MTV and BET on July 8 to implore the black community to deploy “a portion” of its financial resources to make a difference.

He wants 1 million people to deposit $100 apiece in small black-owned banks or credit unions, believing that those financial institutions will be more likely than other banks to make loans to black citizens and businesses — and more likely to treat them fairly in general. (USA Today: Black-owned banks get rush of new depositors)

The above linked to a VH1 story:

During the event, radio personality Charlamagne spoke with rapper Killer Mike on economic solutions for the Black community. “We can’t go out in the street and start bombing, shooting, and killing, Mike preaches. “I encourage none of us to engage in acts of violence. I encourage to take our warfare to financial institutions.”

The rapper proposes that we all should take a portion of our money and “put it into a small black bank or credit union” and watch it accumulate over the next few years. His proposal: for 1 million people to start a $100 account with any Black-owned bank. The result: it gives these small banks the ability to give out small home and business loans for areas that are being gentrified, so Black families don’t get pushed out and their businesses can thrive. (VH1: This Major Star Agrees with Killer Mike’s Economic Solution)

This made perfect sense to me, so I thought I’d see about opening an account at a black-owned bank in St. Louis. The VH1 article provide a link to make it easy to support such a bank, which led me to:

There are 22 African American owned banks (AAOBs) with assets totaling approximately $4.6 billion in assets or approximately 0.43 percent of African America’s $1.1 trillion in buying power. (HBCU Money’s 2016 African American Owned Bank Directory)

Their criteria is based on 51% ownership, here are their key findings:

• “AAOBs are in 17 states and territories. Key states absent are Florida, Mississippi, New York, and Ohio.
• Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, and Wisconsin each have two AAOBs.2016 Median AAOBs Aseets: $107 551 000 ($113 470 000)*
  2016
• Average AAOBs Assets: $210 292 000 ($233 583 000)*
• African American bank assets saw a 1.2 percent decrease or net loss of approximately $57 million in assets in 2015.
• AAOBs control 0.03 percent of America’s $15.7 trillion Bank Owned Assets.
• AAOBs control 2.3 percent of FDIC designated Minority-Owned Bank Assets, which is down from 2.6 percent in 2015.
• There has not been an AAOB started in 16 years.
• Only 8 of 2016’s 22 AAOBs saw increases in assets.
• For comparison, Asian American Owned Banks have approximately $46.1 billion in assets spread over 68 institutions. They control 6.0 percent of Asian America’s buying power.
  *Previous year in parentheses”

What about in St. Louis? Nada. the nearest are two options in Chicago: ISF Bank/Illinois Service Federal Savings & Loan Association and Seaway Bank & Trust, founded in 1934 & 1965, respectively.

The USA Today article linked to the Federal Reserve’s Minority-Owned Depository Institutions:

Total number of institutions 156
Total assets (thousands $) $131,324,491
Total deposits (thousands $) $107,712,933

Number of institutions by minority code (Min Cd)
1 Black or African American 23
5 Caucasian Women 6
10 Hispanic American 29
20 Asian or Pacific Islander American 61
30 Native American or Alaskan Native American 18
31 Multi-Racial American 1
32 Min Board & Serving African American Community 1
33 Min Board & Serving Hispanic Community 4
34 Min Board & Serving Asian or Pacific Islander Community 9
35 Min Board & Serving Native Am or Alaskan Native Am Community 0
36 Min Board & Serving Multi-Racial Community 2
39 Low Income Credit Union 2
Total 156

With 156 institutions one must be located in St. Louis, right? Nope.

In the entire state of Missouri here are the Minority institutions:

• Liberty Bank & Trust: 2 locations in Kansas City
• Central Bank of Kansas City: 2 locations in Kansas City
• Peoples Bank: Seneca & Joplin, MO

St. Louis did have a local black-owned bank for 44 years, from 1965-2009:

“Over the years, Gateway took local deposits and made loans in a neighborhood where few other banks focused,” said Adolphus Pruitt, president of the NAACP St. Louis City.

In 2009, the bank failed under the recession, was taken over by the FDIC, and was sold to Central Bank of Kansas City. For the past three years, Central Bank was managing the bank’s $12 million in deposits and about $13 million in assets. Yet earlier this year, Central Bank received permission from the FDIC to permanently close the location in October 2012, arguing that they couldn’t find a buyer to keep the bank open.
(St. Louis American: Gateway Bank Saved)

Gateway Bank was formed after the 1963 Jefferson Bank Protest.  I used to pass Gateway Bank while riding my bike to work further North on Union Blvd in the late 90s — I was unaware of its history.

However, this isn’t the end of the story.

In 2012, St. Louis Community Credit Union announced plans to save Gateway Bank by purchasing the existing land. The building was demolished in 2015. With the help of additional funding from a Community Development Block Grant, as well as support from the City of St. Louis, Stifel Bank & Trust, the St. Louis City NAACP, TIAA Direct
and others, St. Louis Community Credit Union built a new state-of-the art facility on the original site, while still preserving the great heritage of Gateway Bank.
Many of Gateway’s traditions continue in the new financial institution. It opened in March 2016. (gatewayslccu.com)

Will I be going here to open a new account? No, because I’ve already been a member of St. Louis Community Credit Union since 2010. We got our car loan there in 2014 and will get another in late 2017/early 2018.

Last week I took the #04 MetroBus to see the new Gateway branch.

The following hour plus video was produced in 2015 to look back at the history of Gateway, here is a list of the people interviewed:

• Russel Little, Sr., former Gateway shareholder
• Barbara Harness, Gateway SVP of operations
• Mike McMillan. Urban League
• Thomas L. Mines, Gateway employee 1968-1975
• Dr. John A Wright, Educator/Historian/Author
• Delores Jones, former Gateway employee, now a St. Louis Community Credit Union employee
• Letrissa Bennet, former Gateway employee, now a St. Louis Community Credit Union employee
• Lisa Gates, daughter of Gateway xo-founder CW Gates and former employee

I listened to the entire video, very interesting. If your among the many who are unbanked in St. Louis or your money is elsewhere, please talk to St. Louis Community Credit Union.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Who Do You NOT Want To Be Elected St. Louis Mayor in 2017?

With the Missouri primary out of the way I want to turn your attention to the Spring 2017 mayoral race. Francis Slay isn’t seeking a fifth term, so an open seat means lot of hats in the ring.

For today’s poll I’ve complied a list of eleven (11) possible candidates — several have already formally announced. I want you to pick up to three that you don’t want to be elected. In case I’ve left off a name, you can add one in the “other” field at the bottom.  The eleven names are presented in a different random order to everyone.

The poll will close at 8pm.

Unless something unexpected happens, the winner of the March Democratic primary will win the April general election and become the next mayor.

Share your thoughts below.

— Steve Patterson

Presidential Debates Need To Be Opened Up

A comment on the recent Sunday Poll sums up the current problem with American 2-party politics:

I see zero point in giving a stage to those who have absolutely no mathematical chance of winning the election. In addition to that, over two sides isn’t a debate it’s a series of “gotcha” statements with no real meaningful discourse.

And why don’t they have any chance of winning? Because 3rd/4th parties are largely unknown to voters.

But the Democrats & Republicans like the current system, because it keeps  out new ideas:

The presidential debates — the single most important election events — should provide voters with multiple opportunities to see popular candidates discussing important issues in an unscripted manner. Unfortunately, the presidential debates often fail to do so, largely because the major party candidates exert excessive control over them.

Presidential debates were run by the civic-minded League of Women Voters until 1988, when the national Republican and Democratic parties seized control of the debates by establishing the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Posing as a nonpartisan institution, the CPD has often run the debates in the interests of the national Republican and Democratic parties, not the American people.

Since 1988, negotiators for the Republican and Democratic nominees have secretly drafted debate contracts that dictate how the presidential debates will be structured. The CPD, which is co-chaired by leading figures in the Republican and Democratic parties, has consistently implemented and concealed those contracts.

CPD control of the presidential debates has harmed us. Fewer debates are held than necessary to educate voters. Candidates that voters want to see are often excluded. Restrictive formats allow participants to recite memorized soundbites and avoid actual debate. Walter Cronkite even called CPD-sponsored debates an “unconscionable fraud.” (OpenDebates2016)

The League of Women Voters withdrew in 1988, here’s their October 3, 1988 press release in full:

LEAGUE REFUSES TO “HELP PERPETRATE A FRAUD” 

WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FROM FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

WASHINGTON, DC —”The League of Women Voters is withdrawing its sponsorship of the presidential debate scheduled for mid-October because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter,” League President Nancy M. Neuman said today.

“It has become clear to us that the candidates’ organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and honest answers to tough questions,” Neuman said. “The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.”

Neuman said that the campaigns presented the League with their debate agreement on
September 28, two weeks before the scheduled debate. The campaigns’ agreement was negotiated “behind closed doors” and vas presented to the League as “a done deal,” she said, its 16 pages of conditions not subject to negotiation.

Most objectionable to the League, Neuman said, were conditions in the agreement that gave the campaigns unprecedented control over the proceedings. Neuman called “outrageous” the campaigns’ demands that they control the selection of questioners, the composition of the audience, hall access for the press and other issues.

“The campaigns’ agreement is a closed-door masterpiece,” Neuman said. “Never in the history of the League of Women Voters have two candidates’ organizations come to us with such stringent, unyielding and self-serving demands.”

Neuman said she and the League regretted that the American people have had no real opportunities to judge the presidential nominees outside of campaign-controlled environments.

“On the threshold of a new millenium, this country remains the brightest hope for all who cherish free speech and open debate,” Neuman said. “Americans deserve to see and hear the men who would be president face each other in a debate on the hard and complex issues critical to our progress into the next century.” 

Neuman issued a final challenge to both Vice President Bush and Governor Dukakis to “rise above your handlers and agree to join us in presenting the fair and full discussion the American public expects of a League of Women Voters debate.”

The charade continues, with the DNC & RNC acting as gate keepers.

More than half who responded the non-scientific poll feel it should be easier for more than the two major parties to be part of the conversation every four years.

Q: The polling threshold for participation in presidential debates should be…

• Lowered to 5% 10 [38.46%]
• Lowered to 10% 4 [15.38%]
• Kept at 15% 7 [26.92%]
• Raised to 20% 3 [11.54%]
• Raised to 25% 0 [0%]
• Unsure/No Answer 2 [7.69%]

I’m now thinking the debates should be taken back from the major party-controlled Commission on Presidential Debates. Washington University in St. Louis will host a presidential debate on Sunday October 9, 2016 — see details here.

— Steve Patterson

Please Vote Today!

Today is primary election day in the Show-Me state, with lots of hotly contested races.

Prior posts:

• June 21st: Absentee Voting Begins Today for August 2nd Primary
• July 26th: Missouri Primary One Week Away

If you haven’t done so already, please go vote.

— Steve Patterson

Remembering Peter Fischer, Improving Citygarden

Peter Fischer, the reserved head of the Gateway Foundation, died a year ago Saturday 7/23. His best known work is Citygarden, which opened June 30, 2009:

Citygarden started with his Gateway Foundation, a group dedicated to promoting art and urban design. His affinity for unpretentious art is reflected throughout the park. Park patrons can climb on the sculptures, dart around the water plumes and swim in the fountains.

A frequent visitor to the park, Mr. Fischer especially loved watching kids splash in the water features. When safety concerns arose, he proposed to continue to allow swimming but hired lifeguards to keep watch.

The world soon took note of the park. A New York Times piece praised the park, and numerous awards were given. In 2011, Citygarden won its biggest award, the ULI Amanda Burden Urban Open Space award. (Post-Dispatch)

I was there for the ribbon cutting , I think he was too. But he wasn’t on the stage giving a speech, he always proffered to remain in the background.

One of the few times he and I talked was shortly after Citygarden opened, I saw him sitting and observing people. I rolled over and chatted briefly. I got an email from him once — just before a public Gateway Mall Advisory Board meeting — he didn’t want me taking/posting pictures of the model we’d be shown for Kiener Plaza.

I love Citygarden, visiting often. However, it’s not perfect.

As I’ve stated before, I’d like to see the block to the West joined via the Hallway walkway with a public restroom.

I chose not too pursue the opening of 9th Street while Peter Fischer was still alive — I knew better. But now, more than a year after his death, I think the subject deserves attention. But it’s not as simple as just moving the barricades out of the way. There’s no way to communicate to pedestrians that Northbound vehicles on 9th Street have a green light.

One way streets function only in pairs — one each direction. Eighth and 10th streets are both one-way Southbound.

— Steve Patterson