Historical September 1980 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Since December of 1977, Gwen B. Giles has represented the Skinker-DeBaliviere community in the Missouri Senate.
She was elected to that post to succeed Franklin Payne, who was appointed a United States Marshall by President Carter.
Although her tenure in the Senate has been relatively brief, her roots and commitment to the West End have been nurtured for more than two decades.
Gwen first developed an interest in politics some twenty years ago when she moved to this neighborhood and found the West End Community Conference.
“It was a lot closer to the kind of relationship to policy makers than I had been before.
The organization was very busy at the time with a lot of interest in various concerns like education, streets, trash pickup and code enforcement.” She developed her political interests by working within this organization in an advisory position as the conference interacted with the City Administration and the Board of Education.
According to Gwen, “The real aim of a politician or of government was in fact working here.” She became interested in politics not as an elected person, “but as a citizen and voter interacting with the governmental entity.
That grew, of course, to the time when I was interested in really working with individual politicians.” What individual or individuals had the most impact on the development of her political philosophy and attitudes?
“There were so many people, elected people and non-elected people. I suppose my earliest personal relationship to a campaign that had to do with changing public policy was NAACP’s Youth Group.
This was in the fifties when we were still attempting to impose a Fair Public- Accommodations Policy, allowing free access to public places for black people.
“And I suppose following that,” she continued, “there were many people. Fred Weathers was probably the person I really stood in some awe of as a man who was articulate and who, I thought, was totally intelligent on every subject he opened his mouth on. I was impressed, too, with Bill Clay, whom I had gone to school with.
He had the gall to think he could overturn an incumbent who had been in the (party) committeeship for so many years in what was still basically an integrated, if not a predominantly white, community. Of course, everybody who knew him and had gone to school with him felt, well, if he really has got that much stuff about him, we’ll go out and give him a hand.” That was Gwen’s first involvement in an individual political campaign. Bill Clay has been the Democratic Committeeman in the 26th Ward since 1964 and has been the Congressman for the 1st Congressional District since 1968.
On the national level, Gwen feels that John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King had the greatest impact on her political perception. Both men, she feels, “articulated a moral tone for this nation . . .” Gwen refers to Kennedy as the “prince of the Democratic Party.” At the neighborhood level, several women had a profound impact on Gwen’s developing political attitudes. One was Patsy Bassett “who was probably one of the most dynamic people that I have ever known.
She was so totally involved with making government work for the people and not the reverse. And she did it in such a fashion and with such conviction and without rancor that she just commanded a kind of respect from all of the agencies we dealt with.
She was a true inspiration.” Another was Ruth Porter.
“Ruth came to this city from Chicago and almost immediately became involved in housing and in politics and inspired individuals to seek public office who had never even thought about it before . . . Ruth was probably the one person who gave more people the feeling that it was possible to get into a traditional power system that had kept women, especially black women, in low level positions.” Gwen describes her political philosophy as “pragmatically liberal …Government is designed to help people who cannot do for themselves.” She believes that government must do all that it can do for those on the lowest rungs of society’s ladder before it concentrates on other priorities.
Gwen berates conservatives, especially the conservative philosophy espoused by Senator A. Clifford Jones of Ladue.
“He says that in the golden ghetto everybody can take care of themselves and so he is there to check on liberals who are running away with all the ‘goodies’ that his people provide in terms of taxes.” However, Gwen does not feel that government operates in a manner that Jones describes.
“The Senate leadership has from time to time, almost incessantly, moved, inch by inch, to put the needs of the people who have no needs for government — in terms of services — above those real needs are for the government’s services … I think that it is incumbent upon me and the rest of us who don’t represent wealthy people to be sure that the government does, in fact, first serve the needy .. . and I suppose that the hardest part of that position is in the actual working out of the kink of relationships that allow my interests for the people I represent to be placed at the disposition of others whom I know are not as concerned.” What have been her most outstanding political accomplishments?
“I’d have to begin,” says Gwen, “with the effort made by the community organization . . . in stopping the segregation of children who were bussed in the middle sixties from this neighborhood to schools outside. Also, we approached the newspapers to cease the black/white listings of property in the city and county. I thought that was rather important.” “When I was director of civil rights,” she continued, “I was proudest, I guess, of updating the Civil Rights Ordinance. Taking it from the conciliatory St. Louis Council of Human Relations to the true enforcement agency that it is now by ordinance.” In the Senate, Gwen is proudest of her work in committee — work that is not always visible to the public.
“Issues that have been aimed to crush poor people and sick people, submitted by very wellmeaning folks who felt sincerely that legislation ought to be passed to curtail funding for people who were poor and unable … to help themselves, that kind of legislation I have been proud to have been able to kill in committee.” “I am, of course, pleased — even though we didn’t take the vote on the Equal Rights Amendment to the floor — with the discussion and debate in committee.
It was an unending kind of airing even though we only had one day of committee hearings. I think everyone was given ample opportunity to voice their feelings and I was pleased that that opportunity was made available to people and that people took it. I think only with open debate can any resolution come of any particular point of view.
“There have been many specific pieces of legislation that I have been very proud to have either helped to pass or defeat. I suppose, as David Doctorian said last month in his race for the U.S. Senate nomination, that part of what he’s done most effectively was to support those who fought against things. Now, I’ve been proud to support those who were for things, especially for the kinds of things that people in the 4th District want and need.” What have been Gwen’s greatest disappointments?
“The earliest real heartbreaking failure in the area of public policy was the defeat of Ruther Porter in her effort to gain a House seat.
That was the first time I really understood that people are not always elected because they are capable or competent and that some people will go to any and all lengths to defeat one candidate and elect someone else. Also, I suppose that was a time when Ruth Porter stood for the kind of progress that black women simply had not been exposed to or encouraged to strive for.
“The defeat of Bruce Watkins earlier this year for the office of Mayor in Kansas City was a terrible disappointment as was the defeat of John Bass for Comptroller and Tink Bradley’s defeat just recently. Frankly, I think we must be candid about what happens when St. Louisans are given a choice of two candidates, one of whom is black and equally matched in terms of competence with a candidate who is white. I think we have to understand that we still have a very healthy over-system of racism working in our town. I think it does not help for us to hide it. It’s only possible to cure this illness when we take it out and look at it, dissect it, and say this is where it is. Now what do we do with it?
“I suppose that the most important point of social interaction with government and policy determination is door to door, block to block, neighborhood organization. There are no problems that we deal with in the Legislature that are not first either generated in something akin to a community organization or supported or opposed by someone at the neighborhood level. I think that the most important place for people who care to impact on policy, to influence policy, is by working actively with a community organization. I have over twenty years of public experience which has taught me that the problems are solved by people who stay involved.”
Originally published in The Paper, September 1980.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1980_09.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
