St. Louis Citizens Celebrate American Values While Elected Officials Denounce Them

VOC-STL leadership celebrate Loyalty Day with a large crowd of supporters and volunteers.

At an Aldermanic meeting on Friday, April 30, a small group of elected city officials listened to powerful and patriotic testimonies from a Venezuelan doctor whose partner was stabbed in a hospital, and a journalist who grew up oppressed in the Soviet Union. And then the officials dismissed them.

Twenty-eight Alderpersons comprise the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, the city’s legislative body, and Friday’s meeting was oddly historic. After hearing a courtesy resolution to support Loyalty Day – a national holiday recognized by each U.S. President since 1958 and celebrating the democratic ideals woven into our Constitution – a small group of Alderpersons refused to recognize the holiday and the sponsor’s sixteen invited guests. Courtesy resolutions are rarely contested, as they are designed to recognize a special event, holiday, organization or individual public servants, but during the meeting it became clear that a small group of Alderpersons, instead of voting in favor of Loyalty Day, chose to create a separate and retaliatory resolution supporting International Workers Day. Often referred to as May Day, this date was chosen for political reasons by the Marxist International Socialist Congress and is offensive to city residents like Ms. Lena Fish, who grew up in the former Soviet Union and shared her testimony during the April 30 meeting.

Ms. Fish explained that in the Soviet Union, May Day was a mandatory celebration of worker solidarity with the goal of uniting worldwide workers for a socialist revolution. People were forced to gather and praise the party leaders. “On May 1 we were celebrating the workers solidarity day,” she said. Ms. Fish explained that for her, Loyalty Day is one of the most important American holidays. Following her testimony, however, one of the Alderpersons called it “a waste of time.”

As another invited guest and volunteer director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation – St. Louis Commission (VOC-STL), I was not surprised by this comment or by the vote. Many of these Alderpersons have spoken ill about my organization, my fellow leaders, and our supporters. But I was surprised to see that only a handful of Alderpersons came to the defense of the invited guests and of their peer who introduced a courtesy resolution; and I was surprised to see the local media disregard these residents as well.

VOC-STL hosted a successful Loyalty Day celebration on May 1 with nearly 130 people in attendance. As we did this, a Maoist revolutionary group of nine individuals, dressed in red and waving red flags, came to disrupt our peaceful celebration in favor of International Workers Day. Our event included guest speakers such as Colonel Jack Jackson, a retired Marine and decorated veteran, VOC-STL leadership, and local residents who have suffered under socialism and communism and never want to endure it again. At this event, our Loyalty Day speakers were heckled, harassed, and told to “drop dead.” These same speakers – including those from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Russia, and China – respected the protesters’ right to be there and even invited them to join as event attendees.

On April 30, President Joe Biden issued a Proclamation in support of Loyalty Day, which he explained “does not mean fealty to any one leader or political party, nor does it mean unthinking praise or willful ignorance of our shortcomings — it means loyalty to our common ideals, and to one another. It means standing united as one people, even as we cherish our differences and respect dissent.”

President Biden recognized May 1 as a time to celebrate the democratic principles enshrined in our Constitution; and at the same time, St. Louis’ Board of Aldermen, representatives of the entire city, voted to turn their back on the very ideas that give freedom and liberty to all Americans.

Kim McGrath is a St. Louis resident and the Victims of Communism – St. Louis Commission Director.

Originally published in Il Pensiero.