ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – A day meant for acknowledging Saint Louis University’s founders enslaving African American people ended in a fallout with the slaves’ descendants.
Wednesday, the university canceled a prayer service where it planned to give a formal apology for quote “its historical participation in the grave sin of slavery”.
The university invited people who are descendants of enslaved people who built the school to participate in the service. The relatives are known as Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved (DSLUE).
Members tell First Alert 4 they have been working with SLU since 2019 building a 10-point plan helping the school right its past wrongs.
“[It] consisted of curriculum changes, a research center to house the research, scholarships, cash payments,” said DSLUE’s founder Robin Proudie.
Proudie said DSLUE did not know the agenda for Wednesday’s service until late Tuesday night. She said it did not include points discussed in the 10-point plan.
“This was just an opportunity to state what they were going to do and not really about the apology,” she said. “We don’t want to be a photo op.”
DSLUE pulled out of the service scheduled at St. Francis Xavier College Church on SLU’s campus. Hours before the service, SLU cancelled the event.
Signs posted on church doors read in part “it became clear that we need to continue the work of building relationships with descendants before we are ready to proceed with a formal event.”
Eric Proudie, another descendant, flew in from West Palm Beach to attend the service but stands by DSLUE’s actions.
“I did not want to show them that we are in agreement with the path they’re choosing to go down,” he said.
“This is about our ancestors and our descendants and we really feel this institution is ours too,” Robin Proudie said.
SLU did not mention any specific action the university will take before rescheduling the public apology but did state postponing the event does not signal an end to their efforts towards reconciliation.
