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Each Black Mayor Has Inherited
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Rev. John H. Rouse talks with the children of his church. |
Rev. John Rouse is pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church at 2235 Bond Ave., with 2,600 members on its rolls, including the mission at 425 N. 88th St. It probably is the biggest church in East St. Louis. As pastor, Rev. Rouse sees an obligation to care for the welfare of his flock - or his constituency if he is being political at the moment - and be concerned about the physical well being as well as the spiritual well being of the people of the community, and that includes the service of their government.
Rev. Rouse was a member of the Task Force on Municipally Distressed cities that wrote the Distressed Cities Act, known popularly as the East St. Louis bailout plan, and also chairman of the Governor's East St. Louis Financial Advisory Board. Both organizations ended their responsibility with the passage of the new act and its approval by Gov. Jim Thompson. Rev. Rouse said some people are surprised at what the committee found -and didn't find.
"The first thing we found was that no money had been stolen. Many people had thought that was the reason the city was in debt. It was found each of the black mayors simply inherited the problem from the other and when Williams (the first black mayor was James Williams) became mayor, be inherited the problem from Alvin Fields. We don't have records back that far, so we don't know what the situation was under his administration.
"Each mayor took over with a large deficit; and we were able to show where they had spent money illegally, so to speak. They received money for one thing and they used it for another. For example, HUD money was used instead of fixing streets to pay policemen. So the monies were not stolen; the priorities kind of dictated where the money went. That was one of the things we found.
That was the biggest problem. It surprised a lot of folk that nobody was stealing the money. You've always got some petty theft. Y'know you have a couple of situations where people in departments were getting away with money from demolition and so forth. But overall, from the general fund, money was not being stolen.
"I think we did a pretty good job. We put together a program that I feel can help other municipally distressed cities in this area and can even be a model for cities in the nation."
But the act does not provide for a revenue stream to repay the loans.
"No, it does not," Rev. Rouse concurred. "The city is required to put together a program that will enable them to repay, if bonds are floated, they have to pay off the bonds; if the city receives that $4.5 million loan, the city will be responsible for repaying that. It is hoped the city will be able to generate the revenue through the riverfront; we have the riverboat gambling bill that they are hoping will provide enough funds to retire the indebtedness."
"What would Frank 'Buster' Wortman think about the city being financed with gambling?" we asked.
"I think he's probably turning over in his grave wishing he was here," Rev. Rouse said, laughing. "I remember him when I was a youngster.
"As a minister I cannot say that I support that (riverboat gambling)," Rev. Rouse said. "However, it is something I know is about to happen and if it does not happen on the east side of the river, it's going to happen on the west side. And I'm like this, if I have to be poisoned, at least let me handle my own poison. This is why I would prefer that this community rather than St. Louis would have it, because it's just as easy to cross that river to gamble as it is to stay on this side, and if we are going to pour arsenic in the water on the west side, we're eventually going to get it over here. Let's just handle it over here."
"Are you among those that think there is a white conspiracy to discredit East St. Louis to take it over again from the blacks?" I asked.
"Yes, I definitely believe that, and it is more than just a belief. I have had some friends of mine, in Belleville, in Collinsville, a couple of people from outside the area, who said that if enough pressure was brought to bear, East St. Louis was going to cave in and there are folks just waiting to move in. The riverfront is the big thing. I'm not saying they want to take over the city government; they just want that riverfront, because that's a billion dollar gold mine."
"What is so wrong with, say, St. Louis money developing the riverfront? What's the problem?" I asked.
"There's nothing wrong with it. I have no problem with that. If the mayor would say to certain entities, 'OK we will develop this riverfront together,' with some of the powers that be, politically and businesses, we would not have the problem that we are having now. But the mayor has determined 'that riverfront will be controlled totally by East St. Louis, that is the problem. He's not sharing power, he's not sharing wealth. Consequently the outside forces are stopping him from developing that wealth. If he could put a marina there, if he could develop export-import facilities there, if he can get the gambling, if he can develop some of the businesses and the hotels, and the city and the local blacks are controlling ... then you see where I am coming from. (Some people think) There's too much money for a black community to be in total control of. I've been told that."
"You can use somebody else's money and still maintain control," I suggested.
"That's what they are concerned with, that control factor. I'm not too sure the mayor hasn't over-reacted to a certain extent. There are people who would like to invest and not have control. But you do have some people who want to control, they don't want to lease, they want to buy and they want to own. If they have the right people in office, they think they can get this."
"Are you supporting anybody in particular for office?" I asked.
"In order to maintain my ability to move amongst whoever is elected and try to do things for the city, I am staying somewhat independent," he responded. The minute I back one man and he loses, or I back one man for mayor and the township is against him and he wins, then there are certain offices I am going to have trouble getting into. I think my being able to talk to people regardless of who is in offices is important, especially when I look at my congregation. These are the people that I represent. I have a constituency just like a politician, and when problems are there, if I need to go see the mayor, I don't need the mayor refusing to answer my phone calls or refusing to let me in to see him because I didn't support certain people or him for election. I need for him to say 'OK Reverend, I know where you stand, I know why you are here, what can I do?...
But Rev. Rouse strongly urges his church members to be politically active, and arranges for them to register to vote at the church.
Recognizing Rev. Rouse's concern with the total lives of his church members, we asked him to rank the problems of that "constituency."
"Right now, believe it or not, ranking with economics, underemployment and no employment, I think one of the major problems I am having to confront even in my church is the drug situation, crack cocaine. The number of drug addicts I have in my church is almost unbelievable, and they're not all from the poor community either."
They talk to him about it. "Yes, most of them want help, you know. I don't know too many that are satisfied with being a drug addict. They want help and they come to me under the cloak of confidentiality. I try to make them aware that you have to acknowledge that you are a drug addict, to go out and really get the help you need. You've got to have a support base, and the support groups...
"We are organizing one now. We have been relying on community-based organizations to provide that kind of service. We're finding a need because of the proliferation of addicts to try to develop additional support groups. We want to establish one in the church as well as establish a couple of others in the community. The problem is one meeting a week many times will not do what has to be done. If we can get five or six different programs so you have one on Monday and one on Tuesday, whenever that person has a problem like alcoholic's anonymous ... it's rough on a man to have to wait for meeting time to get some help."
The church feeds the hungry every day, an average of 60, sometimes it drops to 35-40, sometimes it will jump up to 80 or 85. There also is a grocery pantry that serves 325 families per month.
Rev. Rouse agrees that the true unemployment rate in East St. Louis could be as high as one-third. "It could be 33 per cent. You can't depend on Employment Service because you have so many people in East St. Louis looking for jobs, so they are no longer registered with the employment office."
A great many black leaders say they believe there is a conspiracy of white people to discredit East St. Louis, as expressed by East St. Louis Chief of Detectives Lester Anderson, in order to facilitate a white takeover. Rev. Rouse is among them.
"I feel that attitude does prevail. I talk to a lot of people in Belleville and I get the feeling that 'We'll let the drugs proliferate in East St. Louis.' You can go to a pawn shop outside East St. Louis and buy a gun real easy if you live in East St. Louis, and I've heard people say 'Well, the fact is if you all kill each other off we don't have to worry about you.' I believe that he's (Anderson's) right there. It may not be an overt action, but I believe that thinking is there. Every time something goes down in East St. Louis it either becomes a joke, you'll find them laughing about it, or they just don't care. I feel this is basically the attitude of the judicial system in Belleville toward East St. Louis."
Whether there is a legally-defined conspiracy, no one seems to contradict that such attitudes do exist and that the black flight from East St. Louis and continued mismanagement could have the same result as a conspiracy.
"I think you have to believe it and they (white leaders) don't want to be caught up in it. I think ultimately it will happen. I have seen master plans for East St. Louis. I have heard people talk about what it ultimately will be. And when they talk about these things, the blacks are not included. The blacks are looked at as more of a labor force that will be available. But in terms of ownership, entrepreneurship, they are not considered."
Rev. Rouse questioned whether the state Department of Community Affairs and regional planners are doing all they should to develop East St. Louis. "Can you conceive or perceive of a city as strategically located as East St. Louis that cannot get any businesses to locate there? It either means that the state government through economic development commissions for the region, for the county... somebody is not really working to pull things into East St. Louis. Why is that?"
Rev. Rouse said his commission found many little things the state could do to help the city. "The taxes we pay help buy the state police cars. The state could say 'Here's 20 cars we have pulled off the road, take them.' That's cheaper than putting the state police in the town, but they won't do it ... My concern is that they are looking at one man, Carl Officer, and they're letting him blind them to the needs of the general population.
"My concern is for East St. Louis," Rev. Rouse continued. "I am here because I want to be, and not because I have to be. Sometimes East St. Louis does discourage me, but I bounce back. Sometimes the situation can almost send you into a state of depression. But I can see good people here. I can't conceive of walking away from them. I am saying that same thing to the political powers. We've got some good people that deserve better than they are getting."
All you read about the city is critical, he said. "We are still turning out some strong students, some of the best athletes in the country, have one of the best music departments, and all of the kids that go out of East St. Louis to colleges and universities, they don't flunk out. But nobody really makes a noise about that. I think that's pathetic.
"I'm afraid some people in East St. Louis are letting other folks paint a dark picture, and when you do that, self esteem drops. You find you have people ashamed to say 'I'm from East St. Louis.' And that's bad. If we are going to rise above the situation, we've got to believe that we are capable. Too often the media content is negative. They do very little to highlight the good things that come out of a bad situation, but that doesn't sell papers."
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