THE
alestle
CI-495 introduces mindfulness to the classroom
SIUE offers several summer camps
PAGE 2
PAGE 5
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
the student voice since 1960
Edwardsville tennis tournament decides main entries PAGE 8
Wednesday, July 13, 2022 Vol. 75 No. 34
Local activists call for reparations for 1917 massacre in East St. Louis GABRIEL BRADY managing editor
On a rainy Saturday in East St. Louis, protestors took to the streets, calling for reparations to be paid for the damages done 151 year ago throughout the city.
LABOR VIOLENCE, RACISM COMES TO A HEAD IN 1917 EAST ST. LOUIS
In the early 1910s the city of East St. Louis’ Black population nearly doubled from around 6,000 to 12,000, according to Smithsonian Magazine. This was part of what many historians call The Great Migration. From the early 1900s until the ‘70s, approximately 6 million Black Americans in the South moved states further north or west in an attempt to find a better life for themselves and their families. In many cases, however, the Black Americans were met with very similar circumstances from which they had fled. East St. Louis in 1917 was an example of this. Smithsonian Magazine reports that in late 1916 and early 1917, hundreds of white workers in East St. Louis went on strike to protest for higher wages. However, since a large population of Black Americans in East St. Louis who had recently moved in, the owners of the factories fired almost all of the white workers on strike. Those positions were then filled by Black workers who were paid less than their white counterparts. At a city council meeting on May 28, 1917, white workers registered formal complaints against the Black population of East St. Louis. Later in June, a mob attacked the Black neighborhoods of East St. Louis, pulling Black people off of streetcars and trolleys. The National Guard were called, though they were impartial to the violence at first. After the initial violence subsided, a group of white men drove their black Model-T Ford through a predominantly Black neighborhood and shot out of the car into homes on July 1. The Black people in that
neighborhood organized themselves to prepare for another attack. Later that day, another black Ford drove down the same street, prompting the Black citizens to fire their own guns at it, thinking it was the previous car. Two police officers were driving that car, and both of them died. The next day, an even larger mob descended on the Black neighborhoods of East St. Louis. Black homes were burned down, children were killed and there was even an organized effort in the city of St. Louis for Black refugees to cross the Eads Bridge and escape into the city. Some refugees, however, had to swim across the Mississippi River to escape. The official reported death toll, after full days of riots in East St. Louis, was 39 Black Americans and nine white. However, many believe the correct total of Black deaths was in the hundreds.
“REPARATIONS NOW!”: LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS FIGHT FOR REMEMBRANCE AND REIMBURSEMENT
Julian Johnson, co-founder of local activist group Empire 13, was present at the march on July 2, exactly 151 years after the riots. Empire 13 was one of the groups that helped organize the protest. “Years later, today, we are marching for reparations and calling for back pay for what we need, what we are owed,” Johnson said. “If it weren’t for the horrible events of that day, so much would be different here. Land would be owned by different people, different businesses could have been built up and could maybe have even still been here now. A lot of legacies were basically cut short.” Larita Rice-Barnes, executive director of the Metro East Organizing Coalition, said the only criminal trial that ever came to pass regarding the East St. Louis riots was the trial of Leroy Bundy. Although many white men were sent to trial and imprisoned for the riot, Bundy, a Black man, was found by an all-white jury to be the instigator of the riot. “Leroy Bundy was prosecuted, and
his home and all of it was destroyed right today is to pay the millions of dollars back here on the grounds of East St. Louis,” that Black Americans are owed,” Dixon Rice-Barnes said. “That could have been said. “The tragedy that happened here in a home for his grandkids and great-grand- 1917 is one thing, but we also deserve pay kids to have today, but our city is still suf- for the unpaid labor of our ancestors for fering with dilapidated buildings, vacant four hundred years.” Eastern said the purpose of the prolots from those buildings that were detest is not a complex one and should be stroyed and so we brought to more just want to make attention. sure that the peo“People say, ple, the children ‘What exactly that are here, are are you fighting able to benefit If it weren’t for the for?’ We’re fightoff of what their horrible events of that ing for freedom, ancestries and freedom to live ancestors did and day, so much would be our lives as they what they went different here. Land would should be if that through.” awful day didn’t East St. Loube owned by different happen,” Eastern is Mayor Robert said. “What else is Eastern III spoke people, different there to even say? to the crowd afbusinesses could have We can’t go back ter the march. and change what He said this was been built up and could happened, but we the second year can change the they had held this maybe have even still future. I can’t do protest, and the been here now. A lot of that all by myself, community will nobody can, but continue to hold legacies were basically that’s what we’re this protest annuall out here for.” ally until reparacut short.” R ice-Barnes tions are paid. Julian Johnson, co-founder of local activist group said protests and “We always Empire 13 marches like this need a lot of are important to people, we always any community need a lot of voices,” Eastern said. “So don’t be deterred in the U.S. or even the world, but the real by the rain, or the sun. Last year, it was so importance and power comes from local hot. This year, it’s rain. It’s probably going activists organizing themselves together. “The importance [of a group like to snow next year. But we’re going to keep pushing until we get our reparations, no MEOC] is we raise attention to issues that affect those who are marginalized, and matter what.” Both before and after the march, letting them know that they are not alone. JD Dixon, co-founder of Empire 13, ad- We stand in solidarity with them,” Ricedressed his fellow marchers about the im- Barnes said. “We need to be on-the-ground portance of local activist groups and pro- with them and be with them as a voice tests like this one. Dixon specifically cited for justice and peace and righteousness.” For more information, visit the the work of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “[King] knew. He saw the only way to Facebook pages of Empire 13 and of eliminate poverty in the Black community the MEOC.
“
Pumpkin toadlets trend on Twitter thanks to SIUE-based research LIV KRAUS reporter
Pumpkin toadlets, tiny frogs no bigger than a dime, have been gaining lots of attention on Twitter thanks to a research paper examining their inability to jump. Rick Essner, professor of biological sciences, said it started back in 2014 when he gave a presentation at the St. Louis Ecology and Evolution Conference (SLEEC). The presentation focused on research he had done on frogs from the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand that branched off from other frogs around 200 million years ago. Essner said someone in the audience tweeted about the presentation, gaining the attention of Marcio Pie, a professor from the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil (UFPR). “He was looking for somebody who was interested in studying jumping loco-
follow the alestle
motion in these tiny frogs to try and figure out how small body size might affect jumping and so when he saw I did that work, he reached out,” Essner said. Essner said what made the pumpkin toadlets interesting was their inability to land after jumping. He said most frogs fold their hindlimbs in mid-air while the pumpkin toadlets left them extended. Essner said he was on sabbatical at the time and was able to take a trip to Brazil to research the pumpkin toadlets. André Confetti, a graduate student from UFPR, said Essner is the first person outside of his research group that he has worked with. He said it was a nice opportunity to learn more about frogs and practice his English. “When Rick came to Brazil, we went to collect the frogs and it was a very nice experience, particularly for me as a master’s student,” Confetti said. “My first international collaboration was really nice
@alestlelive
@TheAlestle
and this is my best work now and I’m really happy with the results.” Confetti said that because the pumpkin toadlets are so small, ranging from only about one to two centimeters, they were difficult to spot in the forest. He said they were able to find these frogs by listening to their call. “We collect the frogs, put the frogs in coolers and bring them to the lab to record the frogs jumping and then extract some material for genetics and other stuff,” Confetti said. Essner said the frogs are related to a group of frogs that are advanced
@Online Editor Alestle
@thealestle
jumpers, which didn’t make sense as to why they struggled with landing. He said it occurred to him that
see TOADLETS on page 3
See you on the Internet!