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.

Somebody that used to work at Spotify just told me some crazy ass shit. He told me they don’t even show all the streams from indie artists. Especially ones that have made themselves an enemy to government and big industry. Make them seem small he said. 🤯