Fannie Lou Hamer Coalition of St. Louis County

Annual Hazel Erby Day

Shonte Harmon-Young

Here are the FLH endorsed candidates thus far. They are in contested races and need your help. Additional endorsements will be added in coming days

US Senate – Lucas Kunce - Lucas Kunce
US House of Representatives – Cori Bush - Cori Bush
St. Louis County Executive – Jane Dueker - Jane Eilermann Dueker
St. Louis County Council, District 1 – Rita Days - RitaDays
MO House District 67 – Chantelle Nickson-Clark - Chantelle Nickson-Clark
MO House District 68 – Pamela Paul -
MO House District 85 – Yonnee Fortson - Elect Yonnee Fortson

ENDORSEMENTS | Fannie Lou Hamer Co After hours of interviews and discussion, we are pleased to endorse the following candidates for the August 2, 2022 Primary election. All the below candidates have contested primaries and their district would consist of large parts or all of North County. NOTE: We will be adding additional endorseme...

$40 Million North County Rec Center APPROVED. This is what can happen when you stick to your guns. We're on it Hazel Erby Councilwoman Hazel Erby The Hazel Erby Foundation

Thank you Chairwoman RitaDays

St. Louis County approves millions for convention and rec centers by: Elliott Davis, Posted: Apr 19, 2022 VIEW SEGMENT VIDEO HERE

Congratulations to our Chairwoman, Mayor Michele DeShay on being elected Vice President of the Missouri Municipal League! Isn't that something.

Food insecurity among our youth in St. Louis is an issue we all have to deal with as elected officials.

MoveWorth has partnered with Blue Ridge Consulting for a public virtual dialogue in partnership with the UN Food Systems Summit 2021 in St. Louis. The event aims to engage meaningful and collective community voices to help shape change for sustainable food systems. Learn more & join us virtually: tinyurl.com/stlfoodsystems
The UN Secretary-General has called for a Food Systems Summit to deliver progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given the interconnected economic, social, and environmental dimensions of food systems, food is a common thread linking all 17.

Good to see some cooperation in County government.

The St. Louis County Executive signed Councilpersons Days’ and Webb’s bill which required all St. Louis County employees to either get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing. “This landmark legislation is just another tool that we will use in our effort to combat this virus. We are glad that the County Executive joined us by supporting and signing our legislation to protect our citizens and the employees of St. Louis County”, said Chairperson Days. Both Councilpersons have introduced additional, more comprehensive legislation pending that will continue the effort to stop this horrible infection but also address those conditions which led to COVID’s disparaging impact on the residents of North County.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/st-louis-county-council-approves-vaccine-requirement-for-county-employees/article_9361cceb-a55d-5b93-a545-47bc4eff07fe.html

Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway needs to recalibrate how she talks about black leaders. During last week's County Council meeting, there was an extended discussion regarding the mask mandate put forth by the County Executive's office. Chairwoman Rita Days and Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, both representing the two largest majority-minority districts in the county, voted not to support a mask mandate. While there is always room to disagree with another elected official's vote, we take serious issue with the sentiment shared by Dunaway during a June 28th interview with Ray Hartmann. In this interview Dunaway said that she doesn't consider her colleagues Democrats anymore, referring to Days and Webb. She went on to say if they're going to walk like Republicans and talk like Republicans they are not Democrats. She makes this proclamation as if it’s fact.

If she wants to talk about facts, let's talk about these facts. Dunaway and her white progressive counterpart have repeatedly tried to undermine and discredit duly elected black leadership, going against democratic norms to suit their own ends. She voted against our dearly departed Councilwoman Hazel Erby for appointment to the County Executive’s office even though Erby was the most senior member of the entire council, she voted to strip Councilwoman Shalonda Webb of her right to cast her vote for the 2021 Council Chairmanship, and even voted to sue members of her own council in a losing effort to maintain the power structure she deemed more favorable. These are undemocratic actions, against members of her own party no less.

Once again, we are taken aback by the level of disrespect and hypocrisy that we deal with from white elected officials. Too many people with elected authority like Dunaway, seem to believe they have the right to tell black elected leaders, how to be black, how to be democrats and how to be leaders. Somehow Dunaway thinks she knows what’s best for black people. Somehow black elected officials can’t be trusted to make intelligent, independent decisions, and the only right decision is the one they approve of. We beg to differ.

Chairwoman Days and Councilwoman Webb both support public masking, just not a “mandate.” The City has no mask mandate, they are recommending masks in all public places. Last week's council meeting discussion with Dr. Khan revealed that there is no way to enforce a mandate. Elected bodies expose themselves to extensive legal liability by passing unenforceable laws and mandates. There's a way to put the highest level of authority behind a government action. This is not it. Since independent black leaders may not exist in her world of unicorns and Dr. Suess, she would be better served to set aside the personal attacks and limit her public discourse to the issues.

# # #

Funeral services for Fannie Lou Hamer Coalition Chairwoman and Councilwoman Hazel Erby have been finalized. Please keep the Erby family in your prayers.

We're watching...

State education leaders vow to take action on Normandy schools leadership Community concerns center around Superintendent Marcus Robinson, who lacks state credentials.

FLH ✊🏽