About five years ago, I got in the habit of taking myself on extended driving tours of St. Louis. It was, at the time, an antidote to my pandemic cabin fever. But I soon discovered these drives offered their own independent pleasures beyond the relief from Covid containment. They were a way of getting a more global orientation to the city, carving a maze from north to south, east to west, and back again. I was born and raised in St. Louis and have been a city resident since I moved back in 2015, so it’s not as if I was exploring new terrain. But it’s a different experience when you travel in a single sitting from one edge of the city to the other, taking in the aesthetic transitions as you go.
We see a multigenerational ruling-class assault on Black existence in our city, with hollowed-out neighborhoods and familial inheritances lost forever. We see a politics of greed and neglect disguising itself in the language of “progress,” “growth,” and “basic services.” We see the redemption of a political coalition built around an unabashed faith in police force and corporate power. And we wonder why so many others cannot see this, or, worse, do not care.
I took another of these vehicular treks recently amidst all the dueling post-election takes. Whether by car, bus, or bike, I highly recommend it. It will deepen your appreciation for the multilayered richness and beauty of St. Louis. And it will remind you of the indescribable divergence between life in one corner of the city and another…