Black prosecutors back Gardner in race lawsuit
ONE DAY after St Louis’ top prosecutor filed a federal lawsuit alleging a concerted and racist conspiracy to push her out of office, other black female prosecutors from across the US defended Kim Gardner, saying they’ve faced the same resistance in their own communities.
Six prosecutors, already in St Louis for a university’s panel discussion, joined a rally on Tuesday at a down-town courthouse to show support for Gardner.
The St Louis circuit attorney on Monday filed what she called an unprecedented federal civil rights lawsuit accusing “entrenched interests” including the city, the police union and others of intentionally impeding her efforts to reform racist practices, in part by seeking her ouster.
Gardner became St Louis’ first black circuit attorney when she took office in January 2017. She is among several “progressive” prosecutors elected in recent years who have increasingly focused on issues such as reducing mass incarceration, providing drug and mental health treatment and holding police accountable.
Her methods have rankled some in St Louis’ criminal justice community. Other black female prosecutors said they, too, have received push back.
Gardner’s lawsuit names the city government for which she works.
Jacob Long, spokesperson for mayor Lyda Krewson, who like Gardner is a Democrat, called the lawsuit “meritless”.
Jeff Roorda, the business manager of the St Louis Police Officers Association who is named in the suit along with the union, said push back against Gardner is because she is “the worst prosecutor in the US”, not because of her race or gender. He said her policies have contributed to St Louis’ worst-inthe-nation per capita homicide rate.
He was particularly perturbed by Gardner citing the Ku Klux Klan Act, enacted during Reconstruction largely to help protect freed slaves from violence.
The lawsuit says the act “was adopted to address precisely this scenario: a racially motivated conspiracy to deny the civil rights of racial minorities by obstructing a government official’s efforts to ensure equal justice under law for all”.
The lawsuit cites a litany of racial problems involving St Louis police, including a watchdog group’s report last year that identified several officers accused of posting racist, violent or prejudiced messages on Facebook.
It cites how a black officer was allegedly attacked by four white colleagues who mistook him for a protester in a 2017 demonstration, and how the police union provided lawyers after the officers were federally indicted. |