Green Party Candidates Back Board Bill 16

For immediate release: March 20, 2003.

If Green Party candidates win in the April 8, 2003 Aldermanic elections, there may be enough votes to pass legislation for a bill mandating strong civilian oversight of the police. Greens see the issue as strongly linked to war in Iraq.

For several months the deadlock over Bill 16 in the St. Louis Board of Aldermen has reflected racial tension in the City. Supporters and opponents of Alderman Kennedy's bill are divided by strict racial lines. All African-American Alderpersons support the bill and all whites oppose it.

Both Green Party candidates are white; but both support Board Bill 16. Bud Deraps, candidate for Alderperson from Ward 24, says, "It makes little sense for any group to regulate itself. Board Bill 16 breaks new ground by creating an independent agency which will handle complaints about the police. We need independent investigations to guarantee that the community has confidence that the police are being held accountable."

Don DeVivo is the Green Party challenger to the current President of the Board of Aldermen. DeVivo believes that, with both St. Louis Mayor Slay and Police Chief Mokwa publicly stating support of civilian oversight as a concept, more progress should have been made. He fears that both the mayor and chief may be working behind the scenes to water down the bill. DeVivo insists that subpoeno power must be granted to any Oversight Board. DeVivo states, "I endorse currently proposed state legislation to insure subpoena power as an essential part of civilian oversight. No investigation can succeed without the ability to back up its requests for witnesses and documentation."

Though generally thought to represent white environmentalists, the Green Party ran African-Americans for both the Missouri Governor (Zaki Baruti) and US Senator (Evaline Taylor) in the 2000 elections. Those campaigns left the Missouri Green Party with a strong concern with police violence. The Missouri Green Party feels that America has had a long history of unequal application of the law and tolerance of violence against people of color.

This is a deeply important to Bud Deraps, who has spent years opposing US policy on Iraq. According to Deraps, "Racism and cultural bigotry guides policy at home and abroad. Accepting violence against Iraqi civilians is no different from looking the other way when people of color are beaten and killed in our own cities. Cowboy presidents and rogue police should not be allowed to terrorize anyone. A war on terror needs to begin at home."

If elected, Deraps and DeVivo would move towards breaking the racial standoff which grips St. Louis. Deraps and DeVivo would provide the fourteenth and tie-breaking votes for Board Bill 16. DeVivo believes that "this would move the City substantially toward greater and more equal justice."