Flora Amos moved to St. Louis from a small town in Tennessee more than 80 years ago. She eventually settled into the town of Kinloch, a suburb of St. Louis City. One day, while at home listening to the radio, she heard a public service announcement stating a critical need for foster parents in the St. Louis. As she explained it, "I called the number from the radio and said, I'll take one of those babies." The baby she got was my mother. Born to an illiterate, unemployed teenager, my mother was given up for adoption. After two years, Flora Amos took my mother home and raised her as her own. My mother was the first of over 30 children my grandmother, Flora Amos, would raise as a foster parent.
Mama Amos, as she was known in Kinloch, was a neighborhood mother. She kept order and peace in the neighborhood and at the schools, where her children attended. She was an asset to the community. Flora Amos established deep roots in Kinloch. Those roots have blessed hundreds of people and inspired more than a few to provide for a home for the abandoned. She lived in or near Kinloch until her passing at the age of 102. She shared with me the stories of a predominately Black city that was self-sufficient. From the pharmacist to the school Principal, everybody knew each other and took care of each other. It is somewhat inconceivable that over 100 years ago, Black people owned their homes, ran their schools, started businesses, and lived in peace in this little town called Kinloch.
The formation of this city was not a haphazardly one. This was a coordinated agreement among a group of community minded adults who had their children's future in mind. The builders of Kinloch understood that their children would need a sturdy foundation to compete and live in this country. They did not expect for anyone else to create that foundation for them. They saw it as their own responsibility to prepare their children for success. Therefore, they took the little they had and built on it. For decades, Kinloch has stood as an example of development and self-reliance.
Unfortunately, the City of Kinloch and many other cities like it throughout the country, have fallen victim to the second hand effects of integration: "the grass is greener syndrome." With the passing of Civil Rights laws in 1967 and 1968, Blacks were given freedoms they had never experienced before. They could go to white movie theatres. They could eat at white restaurants and shop at white department stores. Blacks could, for the first time, live in white communities. And that is exactly what they did. They moved out of Kinloch and abandoned the work of their parents and grandparents. The second hand effect was the fast deterioration of black businesses and eventually the black community.
I am an advocate of diversity and a beneficiary of expanded opportunities. However, before I spend the night at a hotel, I make sure the mortgage is paid. In other words, we must never forget where and what home is. Home is a place where we have belonging. It is a place that we take care of and it takes care of us. It is that place where we can return after we have grown tired of running and wearing "the mask." It is a place where we can stop, think and be ourselves. It is a place where we can experience a since of belonging that goes far beyond ourselves, because before us there was a group of people that labored for our right to belong. That is home.
For me, St. Louis is that place. I believe that I have an opportunity , to make my city better by investing in the well-being of my child and the children in my community. I feel compelled to work with my neighbors and map out a vision for what we want for our community and then work to create it on a neighborhood, city and state level. My contributions, like those of Flora Amos', are essential to the development of that vision. That is why I stay in St. Louis. There is work to be finished.
