St. Louis had been regressing way before the Michael Brown & Ferguson unrest (Washington: crime, hotel)

[PacificWest]

St. Louis had been regressing way before the Michael Brown & Ferguson unrest.

For as the Michael Brown case based on the evidence, felt he was a thug that lived a criminal mindset. He made a stupid choice that cost him his life & don't feel officer Darren Wilson is a racist, with the objective upon leaving his house that day, to kill a young black man.

Aside from that, however, what the Ferguson unrest did do was allow the St. Louis metro area ugliness tradition, be exposed to the world.

Ugliness for as racism, there's racism no matter where you live but some places are worse than others & Missouri is one of them, especially the St. Louis metro.

The racists don't understand their holding St. Louis back, it will never fully grow. Maybe they do & just don't care. Trying to hold back a certain group of people that's trying to succeed, only holds back the city as a whole.

And its just not racism, that's only one part of the ugliness. The metro area has other problems & serious issues. Like crime, even before Michael Brown death, St. Louis for the the past 5 years or more has been in the top 10 Most Dangerous Cities in America.

St. Louis is a city that had already been shrinking, prior to the Ferguson unrest, the population had been declining for decades like that of Detroit. No real meaningful growth.

Through my eyes I see things & people for what it is, a whole, just not Black or White.

Many Blacks & Whites born & raised in the metro area that haven't really travel much outside of the area, seem to think the relationship between the two & the way things are is the norm.

Both sides conform a mentality that's just how it is & maybe that's how it should be. The high level of ignorance is also part of the ugliness. Many people there intellect is very, very low. After the Grand Jury verdict not to indict the 2 white officers in Ferguson & New York area (Eric Garner case) the outcome was complete opposite.

Ferguson you had burning, rioting & looting happening. Even before the verdict the same was going on in Ferguson. However, in the New York area, for the most part it was calm with no chaos.

Sometimes it takes outsiders to come in, shed some light on this area & say "Hey guys this is not right, you shouldn't be doing it this way."

Even parts of the deep south are more progressive than the St. Louis metro.

Some will come behind this thread, of course, strongly disagree with my opinion or is it facts?

I've notice natives are hell bent on challenging & disapproving anyone that they feel is attacking the St. Louis metro, even if what's being pointed out could really help them.

And that brings me to another part of the ugliness, St Louis is like a old person, stuck in its ways of doing things. If another person try to point out something that could really aid them, their too stubborn to listen. The city love to relish in its old past glory days, not to quick to embrace any type of new change.

If St. Louis was to take one step forward, you can almost bet it's going to take 2 or 3 steps backward. St. Louis has very ugly ways, I don’t see it doing anything in the future to really help beautify itself.

Most intelligent, educated, open-minded young person will not gravitate toward St. Louis, if so, they will have moved in less than 5 years. The people of the city & metro give off negative energy. You have a climate of hate & hostility in that area.

First impressions are lasting impressions. The heart of any city is its downtown. Outside of a Cardinals baseball game going on, St. Louis downtown is dead.
It's like the people there are afraid to take pleasure in their own downtown & have it thriving.

The locals will tell you the beat is going on in the suburbs or county, doesn't make much sense to me.
Many are just delusional to what's happening outside of Missouri.

St. Louisans likes to feel & argue, it's in the same league with other certain major cities, but in reality it's not.

[Caesarstl]

While some of your points are correct/partially correct, based on the wording of your somewhat poorly written thesis, you don't seem like you want an honest discussion. Do you, or are you just here to troll St. Louis?


Signed,
A very well traveled individual whose lived in several different cities and countries who is very familiar with St. Louis.

[marigolds6]

First thing to realize is that it is more isolation than racism that drives the "ugliness" in St Louis. A massive history of redlining and other segregation practices mean that people of different races rarely live near each other, which limits day to day interaction, and that simple fear and mischaracterization of people you never meet is what leads to the prejudice that happens.

But also realize that Ferguson become a destination for anarchists and police-fighters. You did not see burning and looting because of locals; you saw it because of people from around the country who traveled to St Louis to wait for the grand jury decision just so they could attack the city and attack police officers. Just look at the arrests from that night and how many of those arrested (especially the arsonists) lived nowhere near Ferguson and had nothing to do with the protests.

And your picture of crime and population decline have flaws, again stemming from the segregated structure of government. St Louis is a tiny city in area. It is not the sprawling megatropolis of Los Angeles or Phoenix. The city comprises only the urban core and not the inner ring and even outer suburbs that many other metro cities do. When you examine the entire metro of St Louis of ~3M people, there is no population problem and there certainly is no crime problem. The core itself is changing rather than declining. It has lost families, but those families are being replaced with young professionals and emerging new business sectors. Nothing is definite there yet, but St Louis' role in tech and biotech has become exciting and nationally prominent. "intelligent, educated, open-minded young" people are moving into St Louis, not away from it. You live in 63101, you should see the way tech businesses are radiating down Washington Ave and Olive. It is just that young entrepreneurs don't have lots of kids; and the looming question of whether they will move out of the city once they do have kids.

[mjtinmemphis]

I love St. Louis and will probably be here the rest of my life. I don't think it is the end all be all of the nation but there are many good things with this city that I like.

There is racism everywhere in different forms. Its a matter of getting use to the city and the culture to identify the type of racism that is there.

What happened in Ferguson happened for a reason. There have been too many shootings throughout the country of unarmed Black men by White police officers who never face any charges. Unfortunately the one here was the straw that broke the camels back and attracted a lot of people from other places who took away from the real issues that need to be dealt with.

I cant deny the problem with crime in the city. But there again to overlook the unique situation St. Louis is in with its small city limits, much wealth being centered on the wrong side of the city limits and many other things that have been discussed.

You've got to understand the facts before you form your opinion about a situation. Much of the rioting in Ferguson was done by outsiders not the people of Ferguson. OP's comment represent a very narrow way of looking at the picture. New York City did learn from St. Louis protesters and their campaign has probably been the best in the nation at this point. New Yorkers understood the real situation and coordinated everything according. Yes St. Louis county showed their behinds but that is ok because change is coming.

St. Louis doesn't feel like a city on decline but it isn't a boom town. I think the area needs a shot in the arm of steady growth to help the cities image.

[BioMechanical]

I'm from The Lou and I'm proud! Honestly, I would hate to go through life as one of these "glass is half empty people". How bad would that suck? Yeah, we have our problems just like every other place in the world. There are a lot of GREAT things about St. Louis though, and if you don't see that? That's fine. Move on.

[Dawn10am]

Originally Posted by PacificWest

Ferguson you had burning, rioting & looting happening. Even before the verdict the same was going on in Ferguson. However, in the New York area, for the most part it was calm with no chaos.

I daresay recent events in NYC have blown a hole in this argument.

[KazChasey]

"Racist" is PC-speak for "White". It's a divisive term used to keep the black population riled up and agitated so that they'll continue to vote for liberal hucksters.

These ghettos are breeding grounds for hate. Not from whites, but from blacks frustrated at their own failures, looking for someone to blame for their shortcomings. What killed Michael Brown wasn't hatred from a white cop, it was his own hatred and false pride.

Of course, the black community will never look at themselves critically. The liberal media would never allow that. They have to keep seeing themselves as victims of the big bad white man so that the libs can stay in power.

The libs promise the blacks equality, compassion, and a helping hand. That's the PC facade. In reality they're just cattle used to farm votes, kept on the government dole from generation to generation, fed and housed just enough to keep them alive, submissive, and ready to act out when need be.

Slavery never ended. Only difference is now they put the yoke around their necks willingly.

Until blacks get a clue and realize that the very hucksters who are pretending to have their best interest at heart are the modern day slaveowners keeping them in chains, there is no hope for the black community.

[Curmudgeon]

Admittedly, my wife and I have only been to St. Louis once. We stayed at a wonderful hotel in the East End by Barnes-Jewish Hospital, ate in great restaurants, had a marvelous meal on The Hill, thoroughly enjoyed the Botanical Gardens and Forest Park, marveled at the Basilica, etc. Now I understand that this might be a "rarified" and tourist's St. Louis experience but it was real to us and something to be repeated in the future with additional adventures.

Despite the naysayers, St. Louis still has a lot to offer. We wish it and its people the best of luck.

[MORebelWoman]

St. Louis would be just fine if the ******* whiners and uber progressives would just get the hell out of the area and move to NY or Chicago or LA. They are what are causing the problems. Michael Brown attacked police officer and went for his gun and then charged him. It was self defense and the racists and race baiters need to just shut the hell up because they want problems.

Then, last night the idiots started attacking the cops after one shot an ARMED black. When you point a gun at a cop you will be shot and anybody with a brain stem knows that fact. Just another damn thug dead.

[Caesarstl]

Originally Posted by MORebelWoman

St. Louis would be just fine if the ******* whiners and uber progressives would just get the hell out of the area and move to NY or Chicago or LA. They are what are causing the problems. Michael Brown attacked police officer and went for his gun and then charged him. It was self defense and the racists and race baiters need to just shut the hell up because they want problems.

Then, last night the idiots started attacking the cops after one shot an ARMED black. When you point a gun at a cop you will be shot and anybody with a brain stem knows that fact. Just another damn thug dead.

Deep thoughts here... So, you think those people are "******* whiners and uber progressives" huh? Way to be part of the problem.