☕ Morning fam,
Noticed something the past coupla weeks, the honeymoon been over for progressives, now the same is true for progressive leaning Mayor Jones. Not just with black folks who saw her election as ‘change’ only to see the powers that be use her as a black face pushing the same old agenda. Not just with progressives/activist/protesters disappointed with her neoliberal stances and support of Joe Biden/the establishment Dem Party here and beyond. And not just with the black community that put their hopes of the last 50+ years in black girl magic only to see the black women they elected to be change be change for the worse. Mayor Jones can survive all that, she has for past 2 years with the help of national media pushing false narratives, like they did with Kim Gardner, memba the whole vast right wing conspiracy? Local media seemed split, the mayor has her critics and supporters. The Post more times critical than not with columnist Tony Messenger seemingly doubling as the mayor’s inside man, you could always count on Tony to deflect, divert and/or remix whatever issue in the mayor’s favor which is why I was somewhat surprised to see him join the Post in making Mayor Jones the face of secrecy, lack of transparency and resistance to Missouri’s Sunshine law considering the mayor’s stance is no different than the mayors that came before her or even that of County Exec Sam Page.
Messenger speaking out against Mayor Jones is huge fam. He is the 2nd white male progressive in the media to call out the mayor, Ray Hartman, editor of the progressive leaning Riverfront Times was the first taking to his paper to tell Tishaura what the city (meaning she should) do with the Ram’s settlement money, the 2nd of 2 editorials in a row calling out the mayor. The American, the local black weekly which is generally in the mayor’s corner, just doesn’t have the punch or reach it had just a few years ago, losing its younger black readership to Real STL News, VOPSTLNews and yours truly. It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out in the media… and whether this marks a turning point with the power brokers pulling strings behind the scene.
Grab your popcorn.
