Community unites with the blueprint to solve problems, but the City desires to eradicate the Black Power Blueprint and take black-owned property
On the afternoon of May 16, 2025 a devastating EF3 tornado tore through North St. Louis, leaving in its wake unimaginable destruction unexpected by residents. Entire corridors of our city were ravaged – roofs torn off, walls collapsed, massive trees downed onto cars and homes, and power lines toppled. Over 100,000 residents were left without power for over a week. Thousands of people, 70 percent of whom do not have insurance, were displaced with only meager resources from the institutions that ought to serve them.
What is evident from the days following this disaster is that the damage compounds the crisis that has been ongoing since St. Louis was built on the stolen land of the Indigenous people in 1764: the conscious policy of neglect toward North St. Louis – a protracted assault on Black people that, unlike the tornado, is neither an act of nature nor an event that is difficult to forecast.
This is the city where the Supreme Court ruled in 1857 in the Dred Scott case that African people were not U.S. citizens and had no rights that white men had to respect. The city of St. Louis’ response to the tornado brought to light and deepened these wounds. In the days following the storm, it was revealed that city officials failed to activate emergency sirens, a negligence that vindicates the distrust this community has toward a government that has consistently failed to meet their needs.
People died, many were injured, 5,000 properties suffered severe damage
This failure cost our community seven lives: Rena Scott-Lyles, Delois Holmes, Patricia Penelton, Juan Baltazar, Larry Patrick, Jerome Robinson and Catherine Brown. These are not just names; they were loved ones, neighbors and members of this community.
While the city stalled in its response, the community itself has mobilized with astounding speed, enthusiasm and valor. The residents of North St. Louis were the first responders in this crisis. Neighbors came together within minutes of the storm’s passing – cleaning debris, blocking off live wires, sharing food, providing water and critical information.
The Black Power Blueprint (BPB), with its framework of initiatives that affirm and build Black working-class self-determination, joined and amplified these people-led efforts. Immediately after the tornado, BPB teams were on the ground walking door to door, assessing damage, and checking on elders and families. They established a free community charging station and began distributing essential supplies, including hot meals prepared by Uhuru Foods. Volunteers from the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement also staffed donation centers, provided logistical support and helped direct families to immediate aid.
Volunteers support African self-determination
BPB also led cleanup workdays on May 18, 20, 22 and 24, mobilizing scores of volunteers with tools, gloves, buckets and hand tools to help remove trees and debris from homes. These collective acts of solidarity underscore the power and dignity of an organized community taking care of its own — in sharp contrast with the confusion and chaos demonstrated by the government.
Indeed, the actions of the city government speak to a longstanding policy of abandonment of North St. Louis. Decades of underinvestment and overexploitation in infrastructure, housing and public services made North St. Louis the epicenter of this disaster. The now-infamous Team Four plan, a 1970s city planning memorandum that de facto guided city development policy to let the north side “rot” as a “depletion area,” suggesting that this area, home to thousands, was too far gone to merit investment.
The City brought no help to our community! Only a lockdown
The effects of what some defend as “triage” of resources have exacerbated the colonial hierarchy that produced the conditions we see today. Mayor Cara Spencer’s administration brought no resources to help our community, no food, no water, no help with clean up from the City — only a lockdown! She immediately set up a 9pm curfew just for our community, brought in the national guard and sent out code enforcement agents to slap red stickers of “unfit for occupancy” on homes based on a cursory exterior viewing. She gave families just ten days to vacate, then shut off their electricity with no recourse or plan to restore power!
displacement of Black residents from their homes in North St.
Louis. p PHOTO: PAUL SABLEMAN, CC BY 2.0 , VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Many residents of these homes are still reeling from the trauma of losing their entire lives within one hour with little to no warning. The mayor’s public apology acknowledged the emotional distress caused by this, but so far, she has only added to this distress, with no concrete commitment to protect residents from displacement has been enacted.
The systemic nature of this problem has chilling parallels to the responses seen in previous crises, with Hurricane Katrina as an example magnified in scale but made of the same components. The abandonment of this community gives residents the right to be wary. As a long-time neighborhood resident put it, the “criminal treatment of [the] community” warrants justice for its residents.
This emergency has also revealed how unprepared the city was to address it in the first place. Despite repeated warnings, the Office of Emergency Management has been underfunded, understaffed and under-resourced for years — receiving only 0.2 percent of the public safety budget compared to 1.5 to 2 percent in cities like Chicago and Kansas City. The failure to sound tornado sirens cannot be dismissed as a technical error.
As the dust settles, there is clarity. If North St. Louis is to recover, it must do so by doing what has had demonstrable success: engaging, mobilizing and leading the community on its own terms. BPB insists that this is not charity, but Black self-determination consistent with its mission. For years, BPB has worked to build power in the African community through projects that unite and aim to grow its resources through economic development, including businesses and markets — all of which have in the past faced resistance from the city. The tornado revealed what BPB has always been a bulwark against: a system that invests in policing and not development, containment and not empowerment, and control rather than community.
We were the first responders, but we need skilled volunteers now!
Currently, North St. Louis urgently needs skilled labor and legal defense. Although the community has bravely assisted in clean-up efforts mobilized by solidarity rather than experience, dedicated professional work is more necessary than ever. Roofers, carpenters, electricians and glass repair experts are needed to help families repair and rebuild safer homes.
Community health professionals should also be placed on high alert to address the inevitable fallout from the disaster — as physical and psychological trauma, respiratory illness and exposure to toxic materials are bound to place an additional strain on this crisis. Legal volunteers and experts are also needed to protect residents from unjust displacement and predatory actions that often follow major catastrophes. This is the time to truly focus and provide long-term solutions to finally rebuild a stronger North St. Louis.
Outside supporters, individuals and institutions must understand the conditions and stakes present. What is happening in North St. Louis is not a natural disaster alone; it is a consequence of the political and economic system that we all find ourselves under, one which has written off Black neighborhoods as disposable. The $290 million Rams settlement, the $498 million in ARPA funds, and other city surpluses must be directed toward this recovery, not funneled into real estate development for gains that the vast majority and those most affected will never see.
The way forward is African freedom and self-determination! This is a moment of truth for St. Louis as a whole. Will it continue to ignore its most neglected neighborhoods? Or will it finally acknowledge and invest in the people who have demonstrated power through community and steadfast resilience?
The people of North St. Louis did not wait for permission. They cleaned their streets, fed their neighbors and protected their homes, but still need further mobilization to recover what has been lost. With support from organizations like BPB, they are organizing not just for immediate survival, but for long-term self-determination.
