December 27th, 2012 edition

2012 Year in Review

Special Section

The overlooked plight of black males

An urgent action item for Obama’s second term

By Michael Gerson

Washington

Post

Apresident’s first term is a fresh track in the snow. His second term moves on a set of rutted paths. The shiny cause has become a vast machine, its wheels spinning on internal impulses unrelated to presidential priorities or pressing needs.

As President Obama moves toward his fourth State of the Union address, he will be looking for

policies that appeal to the country, but he will also try to rekindle the purpose of his administration. Inertia and intellectual exhaustion are fought with presidential initiatives.

BUSTINGUNIONMYTHS

Author, organizer Bill Fletcher speaks in STL

By Jamala Rogers Of The St.Louis American

According to Bill Fletcher, the genesis of his latest book, They’re Bankrupting Us! – And Twenty Other Myths about Unions, began while he was on a flight reading a book about global unionism. The book got the attention of the young women sitting next to him, who asked, “What is a union?” The state of the union movement is dire, but Fletcher believes that sparks of resistance like those of WalMart workers or the beat-back of leg-

“If you lose the moment, you won’t lose it for a few months, or even for a year;more likely it’s decades – it’s gone.” – Bill Fletcher

islation by Ohio workers for bargaining rights are optimistic signs.

Speaking recently in St. Louis at Painter’s District Council 2, Fletcher was adamant that a significant course change for the labor movement is necessary, now.

“If you lose the moment, you won’t lose it for a few months, or

More than 50 percent of young black men in inner cities are now dropping out of school – making high school graduation the exception to this dismal new rule.

even for a year; more likely it’s decades – it’s gone,” Fletcher cautioned. “This is not something to play around with.” One of the myths he takes on is “Workers are forced to join unions, right?” This claim is the scare tactic

Bob Archibald resigns

By Chris King Of The St.Louis American

Last week Bob Archibald, the veteran president of the Missouri History Museum known for his idealistic and aggressive crusading spirit in confronting issues of race, announced that he is resigning from his position, effective December 31.

“I’ve been here 25 years and suddenly had my reputation dragged through the mud.It’s taken a toll.” – Bob Archibald

Archibald, 64, told The American his decision was due both to political pressure and personal concerns.

“Very serious threats were made to eliminate tax support for the institution, and I think if I get out of the way and fall on the sword, that makes it more possible to undo that or have other kinds of conversations about it that are not about me,” Archibald told The American

The museum receives approximately $10 million from the tax-supported Zoo-Museum District.

The current “conversations” about Archibald have been held relentlessly in the pages of the Post-Dispatch and at Zoo-Museum District meetings.

The Post has based months of news and opinion coverage on Archibald’s approval of an over-valued price for a parcel of land on Delmar Boulevard that was sold to the museum by former Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. and Bosley’s business partner. One of Mayor Francis G. Slay’s appointees to the museum district, Gloria Wessels, has been equally relentless in leading opposition to Archibald at public meetings. The land deal with Bosley and his partner

Author, organizer and activist Bill Fletcher discussed his new book

“They’re Bankrupting Us! – And Twenty Other Myths about Unions”in St.Louis recently at Painter’s District Council 2.

Grammy Award-winning vocal group Take 6 fronted the St.Louis Symphony Orchestra and its IN UNISON Choir at the chorus’ annual sold-out Holiday Concert staged last week at Powell Hall.

Photo by Wiley Price

See ARCHIBALD, A6

Photo by Wiley Price

Ne-Yo paternity drama

may cost him in court

Ne-Yo used to have a relationship with a woman named Jesseca White. During their time together, White had a baby which Ne-Yo thought was his. It was later determined he was not the father.

The couple reached a settlement agreement in 2009 in which Ne-Yo reportedly coughed up $575,000 to White, who in turn officially said the child wasn’t his.

As part of the deal, both sides agreed to a confidentiality clause, promising to never go public with the info. But in September, Ne-Yo did an interview with VH1’s “Behind the Music” and opened up about the whole ordeal.

Now attorney Gloria Allred has fired off a letter to Ne-Yo accusing him of breaking the agreement. Allred claims that because Ne-Yo falsely painted White as a harlot who lied, broke his heart and then vanished.

According to the letter, White has been unable to work, was forced to file for state aid, suffers from mental anguish and is “beset by nausea, vomiting and hair loss” thanks to Ne-Yo’s remarks.

White is asking Ne-Yo to settle the matter amicably out of court ... otherwise she’ll be forced to pursue more serious legal options.

Pilar says courts blinded by Deion’s celebrity

Deion has not been held accountable for his failure to abide by the past courts orders pertaining to support payments and the visitation rules and guidelines.” Bowyer continues, “It has become evident at that this point, that there is an absolute prejudice amongst Pilar, and this has become a completely one sided court circus.”

Nas sued for $10M by promoter held in Angola

Last week former football star Deion was awarded temporary custody of his two sons from estranged wife Pilar Sanders in the midst of their messy divorce battle.

Publicist Kali Bowyer told RumorFix that “Pilar has become a victim of Deion’s celebrity status, which has swayed the courts and blinded justice in this matter.”

Pilar says Deion took the boys away from her in October without any repercussions and he has failed to pay $50,000 in child support (which he denies) without penalty.

“At this stage of the game, the current presiding judge has failed to uphold his own orders,” Bowyer said. “To this date,

Nas has been sued by a New Jersey concert promoter, who spent 50 days in custody in Angola, after a botched hip-hop concert that was supposed to feature the rapper. According to Allhiphop.com, Patrick Allocco filed the lawsuit against Nas on December 21 in Manhattan Federal Court.

Nas was supposed to perform at two New Year’s Eve shows in the nation’s capital of Luanda, but allegedly attended an event for LeBron James in Miami.

Nas had received a $300,000 advance from Allocco, who was representing AllGood Entertainment, which was fronted by a promoter in Angola named Henrique “Riquhino” Miguel, who paid $315,000 for an appearance by Nas and Jemiah Jai. Patrick Allocco and his son Patrick Jr. were allegedly “kidnapped” at gunpoint by Riquhino and his associates and were not allowed to leave Angola.

After the State Department intervened, Nas returned the $300,000 advance.

In late February of 2012, Patrick Allocco and his son were finally released from Angola.

Ochocinco sex tape leaked online

Former NFL star Chad Johnson admitted that a sex tape that recently surfaced online is indeed legitimate. He told TMZ that the tape was shot three years ago in a hotel room in Florida with two female friends, but the video wasn’t supposed to get out. Now Johnson is trying to find out what legal actions he can take to get it taken off the Net. And, according to Gossip We Love, WorldstarHiphop posted about 20 seconds of the tape online. Johnson’s now ex-wife Evelyn Lozada addressed the situation via Twitter and put Mediatakeout.com on blast for posting pictures from the video: “@MediaTake_Out Those chicks in the video are not my ‘friends’ & the video is old news over here in my circle – Merry Christmas [expletive].”

Guilty plea in conspiracy to defraud city

Looks like a couple more guys will be headed off to prison to celebrate the New Year as the result of illegal activities in East Boogie.

Stephen L. Carraway, 50, of Cahokia, IL pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to defraud East St. Louis’ Demolition Program and to money laundering, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton.

Carraway’s company, Steve’s Hauling, provided demolition services to the city.

Authorities stated that, as a part of his plea agreement, Carraway admitted that, in 2010, he was told to give a kickback to an ESL official in exchange for being told how much to bid in order to be awarded an emergency demolition contract. Carraway also admitted to submitting a falsified certificate of insurance in his bid proposal.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and IRS in conjunction with the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Carraway faces up to 15 years in prison, 3 years’ supervised release, and a fine of up to $500,000 at his upcoming sentencing on March 20, 2013. And brother Steve isn’t the only one sweating bullets about now. The “ESL official” who abused his position in exchange for a kickback will face some stiff time as well.

Recall that, only a few weeks ago, I wrote that ESL’s Financial Advisory Authority wisely rejected a city attempt to award a $10,000 contract to CJE Construction Services.

The superintendent of that contract would have been none other than George “Little Jack” Edwards, ESL’s former chief of demolition (and a convicted felon) who served time for attempting to extort $150,000 from former Cardinal shortstop Ronnie Belliard.

Interesting coincidence, huh?

But only time will tell who the actual culprit was in facilitating the bid-rigging and kickback scheme for the city of ESL. However, I very seriously doubt that I’ll be surprised at who heads to prison (or back to prison, as the case may be) with Mr. Carraway.

If only the crooked ESL officials had the same tenacity for advancing and enhancing the quality of life of ESL’s citizens as they do for lining their pockets and going to prison, then ESL would be the garden district of the Midwest. Unfortunately that is not the case.

Demolition and money laundering in ESL

James Ingram

Editorial /CommEntary

2012 Person of the Year: Greg Carter

On the global stage, we certainly concur with Time magazine that Barack Obama was the 2012 Person of the Year, surviving bitter and relentless opposition to be re-elected as U.S. President against a rival who promised to return this nation to policies established by President George W. Bush that sent our economy and standing in the world into near ruin. But with our local perspective, we choose to recognize a man we lost this year in a senseless highway death, but whose example is an apt symbol of this past year and what it meant for our community: longtime 27th Ward Alderman Gregory J. Carter.

Greg – Uncle Greg, to many North City youth – was killed in a traffic accident on August 1 when St. Louis Democrats were locked in bitter struggles over the August 7 primary. Due to redistricting following the 2010 Census, districts at every level of government had newly competitive races. As a result, African Americans in St. Louis faced an election where, if all their candidates lost, they could have been left with no black representation in the state Senate or the U.S. Congress. Blacks also could have lost a key citywide seat

(Treasurer) and many seats in the state House. Greg Carter died avidly organizing his community in an effort to win these key, contested elections and maintain proportionate representation for African Americans.

Greg was taken from us, but his loyalty to principle, willingness to take a stand and organizing efforts succeeded. Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay and Tishaura O. Jones, who won the Treasurer primary, were two of many candidates celebrating victories on August 7 who offered a high five in heaven to their colleague, friend and uncle, Greg Carter. In a rancorous year, when Republicans sought to vilify President Obama and Russ Carnahan waged an ugly campaign against his former friend Lacy Clay, Greg Carter also reminds us that it doesn’t have to be that way. He was known in political circles as a constituent-oriented politician who reliably kept his word and made few enemies. There was no more widely liked and respected politician in St. Louis than Greg Carter. This affection and respect extended to his constituents. “He loved his people,” said Chris Carter, Greg’s nephew who would stand down from the state

House to succeed his uncle as alderman of the 27th Ward. “He would work late night driving a truck, then come back in the early morning to drive alleys and talk to neighborhood folks.”

At the same time, Greg symbolizes a moment in St. Louis history that started changing in 2012, when voters agreed to downsize the number of wards and alderman following the 2020 Census, from 28 to 14. Greg emerged from a political family led by his mother, the pioneering state Representative Paula J. Carter, that is based in the 27th Ward and fiercely loyal to that ward. In 10 years, that ward will be redrawn along with every ward in the city, and the shapes of the neighborhoods whose alleys Greg Carter drove will be changed forever.

As Mayor Slay said, the city will become less parochial, and that change started at the ballot box in 2012. We vow to enter this changing future in the spirit of Greg Carter: with love for our community, a strong commitment to proportionate representation and the belief that it is possible, indeed necessary, to unite our citizenry, even when so many seek to divide us.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Parent trigger is not the answer

It is disappointing that Senator-Elect Jamilah Nasheed wants to bring the parent trigger law to Missouri. It is interesting that she did not explain what parent trigger does. Parent trigger laws are the fad du jour of right wing enemies of public education. It is another scheme for expanding the tentacles of charter schools in our community.

On the surface it sounds good. What could be wrong with giving parents more control and another mechanism to fix the problems in their schools? But parent trigger is being used around the country to remove low-performing schools from the governance of school districts and transform them into charter schools. Have we have forgotten how many charter schools have closed over the last 10 years? Not to mention that six Imagine charters which were the lowestperforming schools in St. Louis that were closed last spring? Many Imagine parents loved those low-performing schools and did not understand why they were being closed. There is no guarantee that parent trigger will provide improved schools.

With the closing of those six schools the school choice advocates, and Nasheed is one, must be desperate to quickly replace their failing schools with more of the same. How can parent trigger work when parents are given inadequate information consisting of

relentless marketing and propaganda about which schools are best for their children? Parent trigger is just a distraction, a means to muddy the landscape, rather than a tool to achieve better schools.

The wealthy, powerful people, who control so much of what happens nationally, do not intend for all of our children to get the quality education they need to succeed. So, they will do whatever it takes to make it harder for schools to succeed by limiting resources and using the media outlets they own to alienate parents from their children’s schools and teachers. Charter schools, voucher programs and now parent trigger laws are their creation, pushed by organizations they fund, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, to confuse parents and dilute the constituency for public education.

If people only care about their one little school, they will not have the political power to fight for more resources for their school in our woefully educationally underfunded state. Likewise, as more families are convinced to remove their children from public school districts, the districts’ ability to muster political support for greater resources shrinks. As a result all of our children suffer the consequences of being educated in institutions which are unable to garner enough political support to motivate the legislature to adequately fund public education.

Nasheed touts the idea of parent trigger laws increasing accountability. But what does it mean? It means closing schools. And that is what the

On guns, take action now

We are not helpless to stop the massacre of innocent children. We must begin –today, right now, this minute – taking guns out of the hands of madmen, and the first step should be a ban on military-style assault weapons such as the rifle used to turn a Connecticut school into a slaughterhouse. That won’t be enough to end all the carnage, but it will save some lives. It is admirable that President Obama, members of Congress and other elected officials are deeply horrified and saddened by what happened in Newtown. But the moment calls for action, not words, and politicians who are too craven or stupid or ideologically rigid to finally move forward on gun control will have the blood of future victims on their hands.

We must begin with the guns. Yes, there are other factors that play their roles in these mass shootings. We need to talk about mental health issues. We need to explore why the assassin is always a troubled young man whose alienation was noticed by others but not adequately addressed. We need to examine the impact of hyper-violent video games on impressionable minds. We need to remember that horrors such as Columbine, Blacksburg, Aurora, Tucson

and Newtown are statistically insignificant compared to the everyday bloodshed on our streets and in our homes. But we have to start somewhere. Tough, effective, nationwide gun control is the most effective single initiative we could undertake, and shame on us if we wait another month, another week, another day. There is no reason an everyday citizen needs to possess a Bushmaster AR-15style semiautomatic rifle – the gun used not only in Newtown but in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shootings and as recently as last week in a deadly shooting at a shopping mall near Portland, Ore. At the very least, these high-powered weapons developed for use by soldiers, not hunters, should be outlawed – and surrendered to authorities for destruction.

Adam Lanza’s mother had several other guns in her arsenal, and because of the Second Amendment, it is hard to imagine legislation that could have eliminated all of them. But she knew her 20-year-old son had profound psychological problems. She should at least have been required to keep her weapons under lock and key.

If you buy a gun for “protection,” it probably will never be fired in anger. There is almost no chance you will ever use it to defend yourself against an intruder. Much more likely than the home-invasion scenario is that you will use the weapon on yourself or someone you know – or that someone

Letters to the editor

Why target Social Security?

Concerning the discussion of the fiscal cliff, Republicans say number one is to cut entitlements. Both sides demand the other offer specific cuts. Republicans have made specific suggestions for only one program – Social Security. They never get around to saying how much will be saved. The answer is easy – not one penny! Social Security is a separate account with $2.7 trillion surplus. Why is this their primary goal in this deficit crisis? Let’s reduce the deficit rather than Social Security.

school choice advocates want, the closure of low-performing schools. They are happy when charter schools close and ask why low-performing district public schools don’t close as well.

Several charter schools have already closed and been replaced by “new” schools in the same building, with nearly the same students, staff and principals. So we have revolving-door schools which close and reopen under new management without ever addressing the fundamental problems of low academic achievement.

Children living lives marred by poverty have enough challenges without being subjected to continuously closing schools, without their parents plagued by the burden of searching for yet another school. They need stable, wellresourced schools. School choice will not guarantee them.

To a certain extent, highly mobile low-income families victimized by substandard housing and the economic insecurity posed by our lowwage economy, are constantly moving their children from school to school as is. The detrimental effect of mobility on academic achievement has also been well documented. How are children helped by schools which are expected to close?

Ensuring that all children receive the education they need and deserve is the imperative of our time. There are forces galvanized to prevent the children from receiving the excellent education they deserve. Parent trigger laws distract parents from the real battle that must be fought.

Martin Walsh MO Alliance for Retired Americans Glendale, MO

We all share this loss

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut the greatest fear of all educators. Innocent children died on the school’s watch. There was little that could be done to stop an armed intruder with automatic weapons, but the principal and several teachers gave their lives trying to stop him.

The thoughts and prayers of East St. Louis School District 189 are with the precious, innocent victims and their families. This unimaginable tragedy proves that horror can strike anywhere at anytime. In East St. Louis 189 we have locked school doors, metal detectors and guards at all secondary schools, but there is no guarantee that these precautions can always prevent such a tragedy.

Our prevailing fear, however, is not the lone intruder forcing his way into our schools. Our nightmares live with us daily as many of our children walk through unsafe neighborhoods to get home from school or get caught in the crossire of gang violence or drug deals.

We understand the horror of losing students to senseless violence, including an honor student shot to death this year. Yet, our educators continue to work tirelessly to prepare our children for a future with hope. Most of our community lives below the poverty level,

else in the household will use it, perhaps on himself or herself, perhaps on you. That some right-wing lawmakers and commentators have responded to Newtown by calling for teachers, principals and campus security guards to be armed is beyond obscene –and beneath contempt. More guns, with amateurs firing every which way, surely would have meant more dead children and more grieving families. “We can’t tolerate this anymore,” Obama said at the Newtown memorial service, the fourth such sad ceremony he has attended during his four years in office. “These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this.” We can and we must. We should begin with a strict assault weapons ban. Here are 20 reasons why: Charlotte

yet churches and benevolent organizations provide uniforms and coats for our children. Although East St. Louis School District 189 and Sandy Hook Elementary School might appear to be very different, we are much more alike. We both have dreams for our children, we want them to have the best education possible, and we pledge to keep them safe and secure. Sandy Hook teachers and staff were required to make the ultimate sacriice. As educators, we salute the brave principal, teachers and staff members who gave their lives defending children. We all share this loss.

Arthur Culver Superintendent, East St. Louis School District 189

Meaningful change

It is difficult to know how to respond to the mass killing of innocent souls and impossible to find words to comfort the survivors. Unfortunately, we have had far too many times like this.

Each time a gunman enters a school, or a theater, or a mall and begins randomly killing people, our nation grieves and struggles to understand how such tragedies occur. We debate the effectiveness of our mental health programs, we argue over gun control measures, we vow it will never happen again, and then it does. The fact most of the latest victims are young children shocks our conscience, but will it motivate us to consider meaningful change?

Perhaps the answer lies not with our leaders in Washington, D.C. but with ourselves, in our communities. As a member of the University City School Board, I have requested a full review of our school district’s safety policies and procedures. I intend to file meaningful legislation in the Missouri Senate addressing the plague of gun violence in our schools. Education is among my top priorities as a legislator, but children cannot learn if they do not feel safe. I do not pretend to have the answers, but I do intend to begin asking serious questions in search of serious solutions.

At this time, we grieve with the parents, the grandparents

and the brothers and sisters of those lost in this latest episode of senseless violence. Going forward, our solemn duty must be to ensure it does not happen again.

State Sen. Maria ChappelleNadal University City

Guest Columnist Susan Turk

Bacon, 6. Daniel Barden, 7. Olivia Engel, 6. Josephine Gay, 7. Dylan Hockley, 6. Madeleine Hsu, 6. Catherine Hubbard, 6. Chase Kowalski, 7. Jesse Lewis, 6. Anna Marquez-Greene, 6. James Mattioli, 6. Grace McDonnell, 7. Emilie Parker, 6. Jack Pinto, 6. Noah Pozner, 6. Caroline Previdi, 6. Jessica Rekos, 6. Avielle Richman, 6. Benjamin Wheeler, 6. Allison Wyatt, 6.

Columnist Eugene Robinson

Facing up to race History Museum under Archibald addressed issues relentlessly

By Rebecca S.Rivas Of The St.Louis American

When Bob Archibald announced his resignation from the Missouri History Museum last week, The American was preparing this report on the museum’s coverage of race. We let the reporting stand as a statement on Archibald’s leadership of the museum, which ends December 31.

On any given Twilight Tuesday, it has been impossible not to see the AfricanAmerican community’s roaring support for the Missouri History Museum. Black families spread out their picnics throughout the lawn, relax and listen to the music on a summer night. The black community, however, also steps indoors throughout the year and participates in the museum’s numerous exhibits, especially those targeted to the AfricanAmerican community.

On February 23 through June 30, the museum will host a traveling exhibit, Question Bridge: Black Males. The “transmedia” art project facilitates a dialogue between black men from diverse backgrounds and creates a platform for them to represent and redefine black male identity in America.

“Our president, Robert Archibald, is interested in facilitating community conversations,” said MK Stallings, assistant director for community education and events. “He has written about museums becoming the new town squares. So it’s only right that the issue of the day be expressed in the new town square. These exhibits we have, and have had, start the

conversation.”

More than any public St. Louis institution, the history museum has kept a keen focus on not only African-American history but also pushing forward the conversation about what it means – and what it’s like – to be black. Archibald has led that charge.

In 2011, the museum brought in America I Am, an exhibition celebrating 400 years of African-American contributions to the nation. In a June 30, 2011 article, Archibald told The American that the exhibit documented ways that African Americans have persisted and achieved and made huge contributions, despite all the obstacles placed in their way.

“The message of the exhibit is these are really strong people who learned to be strong and had to be strong and who represent in many ways the best of what humans are,” Archibald said.

“For people of African descent, we are looking at something really empowering that underscores all the things we know to be true. For people who are not of African descent, this is an opportunity to stand in the shoes of African Americans and view the world from their extraordinary perspective.”

Breaking down barriers

Under Archibald, the museum has maintained its commitment to bringing cutting-edge and interactive exhibits that explore race.

In 2010, the museum hosted the RACE: Are We So Different, the first national exhibition to tell the stories of race from the biological, cultural and historical points of

view. It also offered a platform for non-judgmental discussions on race.

The exhibit opened two days before the MLK holiday, and plenty of families opted to spend the day named in his honor to work towards understanding each other and building King’s “beloved community.”

The traveling multi-media exhibit used video, audio, photos, books and interactive activities to break down the racial walls that separate us from each other.

St. Louis American reporter Kenya Vaughn wrote:

Upon entry, there are voices – of blacks, whites and others – bouncing around the room in every direction from television screens and speakers. It sounds as if the conversation has already begun.

“’Cause it’s Martin Luther King’s birthday,” seven-yearold Chasen Richardson said with authority as she offered her reason for coming to the exhibit.

“I learned about white and black people and how they had to be separated,” she continued. “Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to make them come together, but they didn’t allow them to do that.”

Her adult brother Randall brought her to the exhibit.

“Alot of times visuals help bring things together. You learn a lot of things yourself, but this gives you a chance to see things visually,” Randall said.

“It’s not really focused on one race – it’s about race in general and how certain differences came about and putting everybody in the same pot and seeing what we have done as human beings to manipulate certain things.”

The exhibit also featured a seven-minute 2005 documentary called AGirl Like Me that explored black girls’racial preference of dolls. Still in 2005, when the director asked 21 children their preference between a white and black doll, 15 children preferred the

Outgoing Missouri History Museum

President Bob Archibald and museum staffer Melanie Adams, who as a consultant led a project in 2006 to expand the museum north to a new cultural center on Delmar Boulevard.

white doll.

“The doll test – that’s not unique to New York. That’s in St. Louis too,” said Jacquelyn Lewis-Harris, director of The Centers for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity housed at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

“People in their 20s and 30s say they don’t see race,” Lewis-Harris said. “People think it’s all over. It’s not. People are afraid they are not being politically correct. For some people, being politically correct is not talking about race at all.”

Both the RACE and American I Am exhibits dealt with race, but not in an accusatory manner, Archibald said.

“We are not accusing anyone of racism,” he said in a 2011 interview. “We are trying to overcome the barriers and boundaries and distinctions between people based on race.”

Dealing with difficult topics

Archibald said people expect the museum to be a neutral forum for these debates and exhibits.

“If we don’t get some reaction, then what we’re doing is not very important,” he said. “It’s important to deal with difficult topics but never to push people away, because in doing so you lose audience, and when you lose audience you lose effectiveness.”

ARCHIBALD

Continued from A1

in 2006 was intended for a new cultural center north of Delmar – the city’s notorious barrier between white and black St. Louis – that fell through with the economic downturn in 2007.

Public attacks on Archibald by the Post and Wessels soon spread from his approval of the land deal to his compensation and use of vacation time.

Months of relentless pressure in the press and at public meetings have taken their toll on Archibald.

“It’s been a really, really uncomfortable period of time,” Archibald said. “I’ve been here 25 years and suddenly had my reputation dragged through the mud. It’s taken a toll, emotionally and physically, on my wife and me. It’s time to bring an end to it.”

Archibald first came to St. Louis to lead the museum in 1988. He introduced decades of ambitious, diverse programming, often directly addressing issues of race seldom confronted by public institutions in St. Louis (see “Facing up to race,” page A6).

He also made the museum dramatically more welcoming of African Americans.

“I was telling my wife, I don’t think I ever went to the History Museum in the old days,” Ron Jackson, who served with Archibald on the St. Louis Public Schools board, told the Post. “It wasn’t that welcoming to African Americans before Bob got there.”

Iconic St. Louis attorney Frankie Muse Freeman questioned the Post’s attacks on Archibald in a letter to The American published Nov. 8.

The museum continually brings the conversation of race during workshops for both adults and children.

The museum has also highlighted several local AfricanAmerican legends and groundbreaking institutions. The Katherine Dunham exhibit not only covered her legacy as a dancer, but her work as an activist, teacher and one of the first African-American women anthropologists. The exhibit included over 50 performance costumes and 400 boxes of archival and photographic materials related to her life and career.

In 2001 the museum staged a landmark exhibition on Miles Davis and American Culture under Archibald’s leadership, lending scholarly and archival scrutiny to the legendary East St. Louis composer and bandleader. “You see history here through the eyes of an African American man battling against stereotypes of how an AfricanAmerican was allowed to engage an audience,” Archibald told The Riverfront Times The museum has collections of George Winston Cloyd, a former St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge, Herman H. Dreer, a former local educator and author, Izetta Reddick, a female African-American chiropodist, and others. It also features collections of Gateway National Bank of St. Louis, the first AfricanAmerican-owned bank in Missouri, and Homer G. Phillips Hospital.

With the upcoming Question Bridge exhibit, attendants will witness several “rap sessions” that black men have on a regular basis – conservations you might hear in the living room or in a parking lot, said MK Stallings. “We are bringing those conversations into the public sphere of a museum so now more than just black men can witness them,” Stallings said. “These people are individuals who have seen a lot of things and who are wise. You’ll get a sense of the wisdom that these men possess and be reminded of the wisdom that’s around us everyday.”

“The local commercial media have been making a lot of accusations about the Missouri History Museum’s purchase of land on Delmar Boulevard six years ago. Why is no one talking about the commitment the museum was making?” Freeman wrote.

“It was a plan to build a $12 million community asset in a place where big money doesn’t usually go, and where decline and decay are common if not expected. The new museum location was to be a place that everyday middleclass people would be able to see as theirs. The recession killed the project, but the allegations swirling around could be even more destructive to the Missouri History Museum, which is nationally recognized as a cultural institution that serves not just tourists and big donors, but everyone.” The Post’s own report on Archibald’s resignation states that “museum leaders must repair an image so damaged that they expect millions of dollars less in donations next year.”

Archibald said his family plans to sell their house in St. Louis and move to the upper peninsula of Michigan. Archibald is from Ishpeming, Michigan, on the upper peninsula. He plans to research and publish some manuscripts by author John Voelker (pen name: Robert Traver), who also was from Ishpeming. “I want to create an intergenerational dialogue with this author that is about change, comparing his perspective from 50 years ago with mine,” Archibald said.

Archibald also is contemplating a work of fiction and a critical book about “the function of history and history museums in the 21st century.”

Photo by Wiley Price

BLACKS

Continued from A1

One issue in particular cries out for attention while receiving almost none. Our politics moves from budget showdown to cultural conflict to trivial controversy while carefully avoiding the greatest single threat to the unity of America: the vast, increasing segregation of young, African-American men and boys from the promise of their country.

America is in the process of managing, accommodating and containing a crisis that should be intolerable. More than 50 percent of young black men in inner cities are now dropping out of school – making high school graduation the exception to this dismal new rule. They consequently lag behind other groups in college attendance and graduation. Their rates of incarceration are disproportionately high and rates of workforce participation disproportionately low.

“For virtually each outcome considered,”Harry Holzer of Georgetown Universityhas written, “young black men now lag behind every other race and gender group” in the United States. The problem has gotten worse for decades, in good economic times and bad. Others benefited from the tight labor markets of the 1990s. African-American men did not. By 2004, more than half of all black men in their 20s were unemployed. And the size of this problem gets consistently underestimated, since employment figures exclude the incarcerated. Aproblem that seems insoluble is thus rendered invisible. Social scientists debate

FLETCHER

Continued from A1 for corporations that don’t want unionized workplaces. It is the argument Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the GOPused when they recently fast-tracked their “Right to Work” legislation. Snyder proclaimed that now workers had freedom to choose to join a union.

Fletcher points out that by law, unions with a contract have to represent all workers in the workplace whether they pay dues or not. He cited his own union, American Federation of Government Employees, as a prime example. There about 600,000 federal employees, but only onethird are dues-paying members. AFGE looks out for the other two-thirds just as passionately, he said.

When speaking, Fletcher masterfully weaves labor and civil rights history, popular culture (he’s a Trekkie, so expect a Star Trek analogy), poignant critiques and his own organizing experiences, tying them together with wit and wisdom. He is skillful at keep-

which are the greatest causes of these problems, but they generally agree on the list. Declining blue-collar employment opportunities. Failing schools. Lingering racism. Absent parents (just 37?percent of black children are raised in two-parent families). The growth of an “oppositional culture” that undermines achievement. Child-support policies that unintentionally penalize honest work (up to half of black males are involved in the child-support system). An incarceration boom that has made ex-offenders less employable. Some of these trends gather a disturbing momentum. More than 50 percent of prison inmates are parents with minor children – and those children are significantly more likely to be suspended or expelled from school. Issues of economics and values are often impossible to disentangle. “As relative rewards to mainstream legal work of less-educated young black men have declined,” argues Holzer, “so have their own attachment to the mainstream worlds of school and work and to mainstream behaviors and values more broadly.”

Who in America devotes sustained, practical attention to young African-American males? “Perversely enough,” Hugh Price of the National Urban Leaguehas observed, “the only potent lobby that looks after their food, clothing and shelter is the prison-industrial complex, which thrives on incarcerating them.”

This general lack of national urgency is an indictment of people on the whole ideological spectrum, including liberals. Once upon a time, liberalism was about something more than the marginal tax rates and

ing a listener or reader rapt in the moment, while pushing them to explore bold and creative ways to build a truly democratic people’s movement for the future.

Most of Fletcher’s audience in St. Louis were folks associated with organized labor, so it was a missed opportunity for those outside the choir to hear an insider’s perspective of worker organizations.

Fletcher is known for his sharp analysis of the national and global economic systems. He is just as thorough in his critique of the labor movement where his roots run deep and wide.

Fletcher is a longtime labor, racial justice and international activist. Born in New York City,he got his start in the labor movement as a rank and file member of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America; he has been combining labor and community work ever since.

His is a storied background. He is the past president of TransAfrica Forum, a founding member of the Black Radical Congress and has served as a high-level staffer at several

by

Standing

the interests of the middle class. Leaders such as Hubert Humphrey, Robert F. Kennedy and Daniel Patrick Moynihan focused national sympathy on marginalized groups. Moynihan gave sophisticated attention to African-American males in his 1965 report on

international unions. He has never veered far from his goal of working to make unions more democratic and inclusive and to ensure they are a vital part of the broader social jus-

black families in America.

If the reelection of President Obama is to mark a new era of liberal governance, let’s at least have some causes worthy of the liberal moral impulse. The one advantage of a social challenge on this scale is that it offers broad opportu-

tice agenda. Fletcher is a prolific writer. In addition to numerous articles published in a variety of publications and on websites, he co-authored Solidarity

nities for creative policy: promoting early childhood education and parenting skills; encouraging youth development and mentoring; expanding technical education and apprenticeships; fostering college enrollment and completion; offering greater opportu-

nities for national service; extending wage subsidies to low-income, noncustodial fathers; reforming sentencing and easing prisoner reentry. When there is a canyon to fill, just about everyone can usefully take a shovel.

Divided, which analyzed the crisis in organized labor in the U.S. His visit to St. Louis included a signing of his latest book, They’re Bankrupting Us! – And Twenty Other Myths about Unions They’re Bankrupting Us! was a sell-out at the event but Left BankBooks has ordered more books thatare available for sale in their stores now.

The St.Louis Symphony Orchestra’s IN UNISON Choir performed its annual sold-out Holiday Concert last week at Powell Hall.

room only

Photo

Wiley Price

Eta Boule celebrates Centennial

John Jacob is guest speaker, Howard Hewitt is featured singer

American staff

On Saturday, December 1, 2012, 100 years and one day after its establishment as a Boule on November 30, 1912, Eta Boule (St. Louis) held its Centennial Celebration at the Hilton at the Ballpark hotel in downtown St. Louis.

The Centennial event commemorated the establishment of Eta Boule on November 30, 1912 at the urging of Archon Frederick L. McGhee of Beta Boule in Chicago, Illinois. At the time, this was the most westward expansion of the Fraternity. Eta became the seventh Boule in Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.

The Centennial celebration was attended by the following Fraternity officers: Grand Sire James M. Payne, Delta Zeta Boule, Grand Grammateus Samuel Bacote III , Kappa Boule, Grand Grapter Khephra Burns, Alpha Sigma Boule, Western Region Sire Archon, Leodis Davis, Theta Boule,

Western Region Sire Archon Elect

Averell H. Sutton, Gamma Phi Boule, Western Region Grammateus Gregory J. Vincent, Gamma Gamma Boule, and Western Region Thesauristes Charles A. Steward Jr. Eta Boule.

Approximately 260 Archons, Archonsai, Grand and Western Region officers and guests enjoyed a celebratory program featuring dinner, guest speaker John Jacob (Eta Boule) and nationally known singer Howard Hewitt.

Archon Jacob, who resides in Florida, gaves an inspirational and uplifting account of the struggle of young Black men in the 1900s and their audacity to start a fraternity of professional college educated men who wanted to know the best of one another. He further called for Eta and all Archons to continue the challenge to actively engage , mentor and assist youth in their respective communities.

Archon Jacob continued with an admonishment that unless Eta,

Eta Officers, Grand and Regional Officers and new Archons in attendance. Front row: Sire Archon Larry L. Deskins, Eta Boulé; Western Regional Thesauristes Charles A. Steward, Jr., Eta Boulé Thesauristes; Western Regional Sire Archon Elect Averell H. Sutton, Gamma Phi Boulé; Grand Grammateus Samuel W. Bacote, III, Kappa Boulé; Grand Sire Archon James E. Payne, Delta Zeta Boulé; Grand Grapter Kephra K. Burns, Alpha Sigma Boulé; Western Regional Sire Archon Leodis Davis, Theta Boulé; Western Regional Grammateus Gregory J. Vincent, Gamma Gamma Boulé; Rhetoricos Archon Nathaniel H. Murdock, Eta Boulé. Back Row: Sire Archon Elect Harry K Ratliff, Eta Boulé; Archon Clayton M. Evans, New Eta Boulé Archon; Grammateus Richard B. White, Eta Boulé; Archon Kelvin J. Taylor, New Eta Boulé Archon; Archon Michael P. McMillin, New Eta Boulé Archon; Grapter Leo H. Ming, Jr., Eta Boulé; Archon Starsky D. Wilson, New Eta Boulé Archon; Archon James E. Williams, Jr., New Eta Boulé Archon; Archon Johnny L. Furr, Jr., Eta Boulé Membership Council Chair; Archon Jimme M. Edwards, New Eta Boulé Archon; Agogos Archon Cornell C. Thomas, Eta Boulé

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and other organizations join in the effort to mentor youth beginning in the third, fourth or fifth grades, Black youth will not be relevant in the 21st century. The evening continued with the heartfelt, melodic R&B singing of

Howard Hewett. He wowed the audience, especially the ladies, with renditions of favorite hit songs, such as “I’m For Real,” “Stay,” “A Night to Remember” and “Say Amen.” As lead singer for the group Shalamar during the ‘70’s and ‘80s, Howard’s soulful warm voice was well received by the celebratory audience. The evening concluded with dancing for the young at heart Archons and their Archousai and guests. Overall, a perfect ending to a Centennial weekend of celebration coupled with the induction of eight new Archons.

Left to right: Archon C. Savoy Brummer, Archousa Dena L. Brummer, Archon Richard B. White, Grammateus, Eta Boulé, Grand Sire Archon James E. Payne. Archousa Dena Brummer designed the stamp for the occasion.

Centennial featured entertainment national recording artist Howard Hewitt and Sigma Pi Phi Grand Grapter Kephra K. Burns.

The Archons in attendance at the Saturday evening event.

Obituaries

Yvonne Turner Sharpe

Yvonne Evelyn Turner was born on April 16, 1930 in St. Louis, MO. She was the second child born to Clyde Sylvester and Myrtle Francis Turner. Clyde Sylvester Jr and Clinton James were the first and third children. Clinton died in 1988.

Yvonne Sharpe

Yvonne was educated in St. Louis Public Schools and graduated from Sumner High School. She went on to graduate from Stowe Teacher’s College and the Homer G. Phillips Hospital School of Medical Records and Library Science. He was a medical record librarian while working for the Human Development Corporation. She loved her profession and worked in her field for several decades.

Yvonne married DePalma Thurman and to that union three children were born: Paula Marie, Carlyn Wanda and Mark Edward Thurman. “Momma”, as she was called by al, spoiled and loved her children sincerely. She gave unconditionally to her grandchildren, along with many other children she helped raise. She had so much patience and heartfelt consideration for youth, and best believe, the neighborhood kids flocked to her.

Yvonne was a member of Antioch Baptist Church from birth, though the cradle and adulthood. She joined Union Memorial U.M. Church in the 1990s, where she was a member of the Theressa Hoover Group of the United Methodist Women. A humble and serene nature, Yvonne had many friends who enjoyed her company and were always eager to do anything for her. She was a gourmet cook, collector of

cookbooks and a connoisseur of fine foods.

Yvonne peacefully departed to her heavenly home on November 29, 2012. She had no worries and no pain and children, family and close friends comforted her and made her feel truly loved.

Cherishing the memory of “Momma’s” sweet, peaceful soul are her two surviving children: Paula Marie and Mark Edward (Freda)Thurman; her brother, Clyde Sylvester Jr. (Mary); one first cousin, Auburn Mae Jones; 9 grandchildren, Shayla, Danielle, Tanera, Tanisha, Grayling, “Lil” Mark, Christopher, Mia and Ryan; several great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and a host of friends, cousins, dear relatives and close friends.

Leola Marie (Clark) Ray

May 30, 1925—

November 22, 2012

Leola Ray

Leola was the youngest of three children born to the union of Harvey and Ella Clark. Leola was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, Harvey Lee and James (Duck) and her husband, Clifton. Leola grew up in the Ville neighborhood and attended St. Louis Public Schools, graduating from Simmons Grade School and Sumner High School. Leola was united in Holy Matrimony to Clinton Ray Jr. This union was blessed with one son, Clifton Ray III. Leola remained in the Ville area during the 1950s-60s and worked at the popular restaurant “Billy Birks” which was

across the street from Sumner High School. Leola later worked for the St. Louis Board of Education for 30 years, where she retired in 1995.

Leola was rehabbing at the Pillars of North County Health and Rehabilitation Center when she departed this life on Thanksgiving, Nov. 22, 2012. Leola leaves to cherish her memories: one son, Clifton (Brenda) Ray; one granddaughter, Chawn Sanders of California; two grandsons, Byron (Maxie) Ray and Derwin (Rachelle) Ray of St. Louis; nine great-grandchildren; one niece, one nephew, two greatnephews, two great-nieces, one great-great niece, 6 great-greatnephews, 4 step-grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great-grandchildren. Leola also had a host of cousins and friends.

Deacon Prentiss Ogden Hopkins

Sunrise: October 12, 1913

Sunset: December 9, 2012

Deacon Prentiss Ogden

Hopkins passed on December 9, 2012 at the age of 99. He was a former resident of Robertson, Missouri.

Deacon Hopkins and his wife (who preceded him in death) raised a family of 4 children: John, Maryer, Shirley and Dorris.

Deacon Hopkins retired from McDonnell Douglas aircraft in 1973 and received his 60 year Gold Veteran’s Badge from the Grand Lodge of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers for loyalty and service.

Prentiss Hopkins

Attention St. Louis American Readers

As a service to the community, we list obituaries in the St. Louis American Newspaper, on a space-available basis and online at stlamerican.com. AT NO CHARGE. Please send all obituary notices to kdaniel@stlamerican.com.

By Melanie Adams

History’s Year in Review

A poetic survey of the Missouri History Museum in 2012

As the year comes to a close And January is almost here, Let’s take the time to reflect On another great History Museum year.

From the MLK celebration

To the history of Watch Night

The History Museum’s programs Were both educational and a delight.

With the use of music, poetry, and video

January’s MLK remembrance was a blast. It brought the community together

To recognize our mutual past.

February brought a thoughtprovoking documentary

By a young filmmaker named Shukree

Asking the question about Black History Month And why it still needed to be.

In March, things got heated When Professor Cobb came to town

Lecturing about the myth of Willie Lynch And how that story somehow got around.

Teens took center stage in April

Bringing their energy and talent to the mic Battling in the VerbQuake Poetry Grand Slam For the ultimate bragging right.

The warm weather brought in May And the start of the music season.

Lawn chairs and beverages by the fountain:

Twilight Tuesday must be the

reason.

A new exhibit opened in June Showing the gender politics of the day With women’s silhouette as the focus, Presenting women’s undergarments for work and play. July started with bursts of fireworks That lit up the night sky, Perfect backdrop for the Frederick Douglass speech On the meaning of the 4th of July.

The summer flew by quickly, The hallmark of a culturally active town, Another opportunity for food, folks, and fun With a tribute to Whitney Houston by wonderful Cheryl Brown.

Tackling tough issues such as hunger Was September’s lofty goal, Actor Wendell Piece’s story of community resilience And how he played a role.

To heighten community knowledge

Women of color did more than talk; Over ten thousand women participated

In Sister Strut, the breast cancer awareness walk.

November was all about live theater

As the Black Rep produced an engaging play, A story about free blacks and the Underground Railroad, The decision and the price they would ultimately pay.

The year ended as it started History present at every turn With a look at the tradition of Watch Night And from it what we could learn

Though the year is over And these programs are no more, The History Museum is grateful To everyone who came through our door.

As we make plans for next year Eagerness fills the halls. From exciting exhibits to inspiring programs We plan to do it all!

Slay’s record on minority inclusion

Doing the numbers on the mayor’s own staffing

By Percy Green II For The St. Louis American

In order to paint a truer picture of Mayor Francis G. Slay’s real practice in regards to workforce diverse participation, I decided to do some research into his own hiring practices. I was able to determine that the Mayor of the City of St. Louis has the power, through ordinance and/or city charter, to appoint 17 positions (not including some judges). These positions are all department heads. The Mayor also has three positions in his own office with a prescribed annual salary of $100,000 or more. That is a total of 20 positions of prominence that the Mayor has the opportunity to appoint. However, I was not surprised to find that of those 20 positions, only four were staffed by African Americans.

In other words, Mayor Slay has not reached the 25 percent minimum goal of hiring blacks within his own appointments, even though he’s the mayor of a plurality African-American city. Further, and more disappointing, were the statistics relating to the salaries of these individuals. The four African-American appointees have an average annual salary of $67,288. The 16 white appointees have an average annual salary of $118,772. Of the four African-American appointees, the highest salary is $81,016. There are a total of 14 positions that pay over $100,000 that the Mayor has the authority to appoint. All 14 of those appointees are white. None of them are African-American. The total annual salary paid to these 20 individuals totals $2,169,000. African Americans amount to $269,000 of that total, for a percentage of 12.4 percent. Again, Slay fails at reaching the goals of his executive order. Does this sound like an individual who seriously cares about fair hiring practices?

The statistics say no, and so do I. The other issue I see is the timing of this new leaf Slay has turned. He has been mayor for almost 12 years, and has never done anything to enforce workforce inclusion or minority concerns, as is evidenced by the statistics mentioned.

However, Slay currently has a fair-minded AfricanAmerican opponent for mayor, in Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed. Many noted St. Louisans say Reed has a very good chance to be elected mayor. Slay is so concerned that he is now making promises to the community that he does not intend to keep. The December 13 American’s article states that Slay said he hopes the city’s expansion of diversity workforce goals provides “an example.” It turns out to be “an example” that he doesn’t follow himself. Therefore, Executive Order 46 is a political ploy by Slay to fool the St. Louis community into thinking he really cares about real inclusion. The evidence bears out that he does not. I said, “How misleading!” after I read the December 13 article regarding the Mayor’s Executive Order extending the city’s workforce inclusion goals to all TIF projects in the city valued at $1 million or more. I think the readership of The American newspaper needs to question Slay’s motive and the timing of his news release. To reiterate, there is good reason to believe that Slay’s promise is a sham. It only reflects what I and the St. Louis community have witnessed in Slay as mayor over the last 12 years: ineffective and poor job performance.

Sister Strut

The Delmar Divide documentary screening and discussion

Percy Green II

BUSINESS

‘Committed to total diversity’

License Collector McMillan lauded by Minority Supplier Development Council

By Bridjes O’Neil

Of The St.Louis American

Michael McMillan, License Collector for the City of St. Louis, won the 2012 St. Louis Minority Supplier Development Council’s Chairman’s Award.

McMillan received the award for his outstanding and consistent leadership in innovative ways to serve minority-owned and womenowned business enterprises through supplier development, industry briefings and by organizing annual Licensing and Business Resource Fairs.

“He is committed to total diversity in the

Report: wealth disparity largest on record

Black families lose 66 percent of net worth, 2005-2009

By Charlene Crowell Center for Responsible Lending

According to findings from the Center for Responsible Lending’s newest report, The State of Lending in America and Its Impact on US Households (State of Lending), the typical household has just $100 left each month after paying for basic expenses and debt payments. After controlling for inflation, the typical household had less annual income at the end of 2010 than it did at the beginning of the decade, 2000. Moreover, as worker productivity increased, the workplace has seldom rewarded them with higher pay.

“We have a very diverse management group, with about 50 percent female managers in our office, which is a first since I got here.”

– Michael McMillan

community and absolutely supports minority business inclusion,” said James Webb, president and CEO of the St. Louis Minority Supplier Development Council.

“The recipients of the awards on the corpo-

ST.

rate side are selected by minority businesses who say these companies have really supported them.”

Minority and women vendors currently represent 82 percent of the License Collector’s Office’s procurement budget. These vendors include the TAB Company, Rapid Fill and Charles Stewart, CPAServices.

McMillan humbly emphasized that he can’t take all the credit.

“The rising tide lifts all boats, so it’s really not about us specifically in terms of what we have generated,” McMillan said. “It’s what the

See McMILLAN, B2

LOUIS COUNTY’S NEW JIM CROWLAW

County law favoring unions amounts to discrimination against blacks

By Adolphus M.Pruitt For The St.Louis American

During the Reconstruction period of 1865–1877, federal law provided civil rights protection in the U.S. South for freedmen – the African Americans who had formerly been slaves. In the 1870s, White Democrats gradually regained political power in every Southern state. Subsequently these conservative white Democratic Redeemer Governments passed Jim Crow laws, segregating black people from the white population.

class of construction contractors from participating in St. Louis County-sponsored construction projects. If you are a contractor and do not belong to a union and do not have active registered apprentices, you cannot bid on St. Louis County construction projects.

Chairman O’Mara and the unions are well aware of the consequences of the language in bill 289 and the impact it will have on minority contractors; the debate with African Americans on this issue is not new.

When black contractors are blocked from County construction projects due to “non-union” affiliation, this subjects them to legalized discrimination.

PEOPLEON THE MOVE

David L. Steward was named to the Board of Directors for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He founded World Wide Technology in July of 1990.With more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, Steward spends the majority of his time developing strategic supplier, customer and employee relationships.He plays a key role in WWT’s pursuit of large contract bids within its industry-specific companies.

Karla May was elected to serve as vice chairman of the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures during the 36th Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. Along with Missouri, the region includes Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas.May is a Democratic staterepresentative from Missouri’s 57th District in St. Louis. The National Black Caucus of State Legislators is a membership association of over 600 African-American state legislators from 45 states.

Charles Troupe was elected to the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery’s Young Professionals Board.Troupe is an account manager and recruiter for Nurses PRN.Established in 1986, Crisis Nursery provides short-term care for children, age birth to 12, whose parents are overwhelmed or experiencing an emergency situation. Services are FREE and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Contact Crisis Nursery’s 24-Hour Helpline at 314.768.3201.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Feds launch portal for nonimmigrant entrepreneurs

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently launched an online resource center for its Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative at the Martin Trust Center for MITEntrepreneurship. The resource center, Entrepreneur Pathways, provides entrepreneurs who seek to start a business in the United States an intuitive way to navigate the immigration process.

Launched earlier this year, the Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative draws on industry expertise to strengthen immigration policies and practices critical to American economic growth. The team comprised startup business experts and federal immigration experts working collaboratively to streamline pathways for existing nonimmigrant visa categories often used by entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.uscis.gov.

Missouri’s third quarter exports up $128M

See DISPARITY, B6 Charlene Crowell

Even in households with two wage-earners, the amount of disposable or discretionary income after paying monthly expenses was less in 2010 than it was in 2000.The combined effect of stagnant

The essence of Jim Crow was the presence of an elaborate system of control that involves disenfranchisement and legalized discrimination and they were able to forestall economic and other reforms for blacks.

Most recently a white Democratic council chairman in St. Louis County introduced and passed a Jim Crow law. Council Chairman Mike O’Mara’s bill 289 restricts a certain

O’Mara and County Executive Charlie A. Dooley (who is black) both professed that minority goals in County contracts won’t be impacted, that’s impossible under the County’s new Jim Crow law.

After the vote, County Executive Dooley acknowledged that bill 289 need fixing. My response is the origin of the phrase “Jim

Through the first three quarters of 2012, Missouri export sales were $128 million above the first three quarters of 2011, Gov. Jay Nixon announced last week. Seven of Missouri’s top 10 export categories showed increases through the first nine months of 2012, led by agricultural products (up 39 percent) and minerals and ores (up 24 percent). This progress is especially significant considering Missouri saw a record $14.1 billion in export sales revenue in 2011. Also, the Missouri Department of Economic Development reported that Missouri’s unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in November, which is the state’s lowest point since October 2008. Missouri’s unemployment rate has now been lower than the national unemployment rate for 39 consecutive months.

Karla May

David L. Steward

Charles Troupe

Adolphus M.Pruitt

Michael McMillan,License Collector for the City of St.Louis, conducts a meeting of his diverse managerial staff.McMillan received the 2012 St.Louis Minority Supplier Development Council’s Chairman’s Award.

Photo by Wiley Price

Resolve to be financially secure in 2013

By Jason Alderman

When it comes to making New Year’s resolutions, getting into good shape financially ranks right up there with losing weight and eating healthier. All three goals require discipline and planning; and, as you’ve no doubt experienced, it’s not unusual to encounter setbacks along the way. Don’t let losing a minor battle here or there convince you to surrender on the bigger war. You’ll probably have more success if you start out taking small steps, learning from your mistakes and gaining momentum as you go. Here are a few suggestions for better managing your personal finances in the New

LAW

Continued from B1

Crow” is best attributed to “Jump Jim Crow,” a song-anddance caricature of blacks performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface, which first surfaced in 1832.

The bill restricts non-union contractors from bidding on County projects, thus prohibiting any minority-owned general or prime contractor from County construction work. The bill restricts contractors who don’t have active apprentices. The strange thing about this is that most unions will profess that they are not accepting apprentices due to the downturn in the economy and have “too many boys sitting on the bench.” And the number of minority apprentices active in their programs is dismal.

Additionally, the bill forbids independent contractors from County construction worksites, specifically those who are selfemployed. Most AfricanAmerican truckers who own their own trucks operate as “independent contractors” and thus are forbidden from working on County worksites.

When a large percentage of black contractors are blocked from County construction projects due to “non-union” affiliation under bill 289, this subjects them to legalized discrimination. And by legal and practical extensions, people around

Year:

The first step on the road to financial health is to create a budget you can live with. If you’re new to budgeting or haven’t been successful in the past, start slowly. For a few months write down every cent you spend: mortgage/rent, utilities, food, gas, medical copayments, credit card interest –the works. You’ll be surprised where you money goes. At the same time, compare money coming in (income) to money going out (expenses). If you’re just breaking even or losing money each month, you need to boost your income and/or aggressively trim spending. Try these strategies: Pay bills on time and send at least the minimum amount

them, such as their workers and family members, are affected by legalized discrimination as well, which puts in this category a huge segment, in a sense the totality of lowincome communities of color.

Such “race-neutral” devices were eliminated through legal and legislative action after the collapse of Jim Crow, but have since resurfaced in the Hazelwood School District and now in St. Louis County government. Locally controlled Democratic governments were the founders of Jim Crow laws, and St. Louis County government has taken a step back to the 1870s.

Under the historical systems of slavery and Jim Crow, it was rare for white persons to be in some way victimized by the racial caste system intended to favor and protect them. But under St. Louis County’s new Jim Crow law, non-union white contractors are simply collateral damage.

McMILLAN

Continued from D1

collective has done together and how we’ve been able to be a piece of that.”

McMillan believes wholeheartedly in community outreach and organizes annual industry briefings. During these industry briefings, different agencies gather to provide

Louis

PERSONAL FINANCE

due. You’ll avoid late fees and related interest rate increases; plus, you’ll improve your credit score. Balance your checking account regularly and use innetwork ATMs to avoid overdrafts and fees. If your employer offers flexible spending accounts, use them to pay health and dependent care expenses with pretax dollars. Raise insurance deductibles and shop around for better rates.

Once you start reducing expenses, use the savings to pay down debts more quickly.

Try making a table of all outstanding credit card and loan balances and their corresponding interest rates. Then, each month pay the minimum amount due on each – except pay as much as possible on the account with the highest interest rate. Once that one’s paid off, move to the next-highest rate account and so on.

Another smart move is to have an emergency fund in case of financial upheaval (layoff, medical emergency, unexpected car repairs, etc.) Ideally you should save enough to cover six months’of expenses, but don’t be discouraged if that

sounds insurmountable: Start slowly by saving a few dollars each week. You won’t miss it and your little nest egg might just save you from needing an expensive short-term loan to cover an unplanned bill. If something terrible happened to you, would your family be protected financially?

Make sure you have a valid will, durable power of attorney, health care proxy and living will. Numerous books, online articles and sample forms are available if you want to draft them yourself, but you should probably review your documents with a financial advisor or attorney to avoid potential legal problems. Also, make sure you have adequate life and disability insurance. It’s debatable how much Social Security will be able to contribute toward your retirement income in coming decades, so if you’re not already participating in your employer’s 401(k) plan or an IRA, make that one of your top financial resolutions. Sticking to resolutions is never easy – if it were, we’d already be doing them. But striving to improve your financial situation now will pay off big-time down the road.

Students serve the Fed on board

Jason Alderman directs Visa’s financial education programs. To Follow Jason Alderman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Practical Money.

information about grants, Tax Increment Financing, microbusiness loans and other resources for those in the business community.

Another initiative his office established that benefits minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises is the

annual Licensing and Business Resource Fair.

“The Licensing and Business Resource Fairs give a moratorium on late tax fees and give small businesses access to financial institutions, other city agencies, community service providers and essential

relevant information from various business experts,” said Charlotte Ottley, director of communications and special initiatives for the License Collector’s Office.

McMillan’s office walls at St. Louis City Hall are adorned with numerous accolades he has amassed throughout his career, including recognition from the White House. He is currently in his second term as a citywide elected official. He was first elected as License Collector in 2007 after previously serving as 19th Ward alderman. As License Collector, he is responsible for collecting almost $60 million in revenue for the City of St. Louis, the St. Louis Public School System, the ZooMuseum District, the Community College District and other government agencies. He understands that diversity and inclusion must begin from within.

“We have a very diverse management group, with about 50 percent female managers in our office, which is a first since I got here,” McMillan said. “We also have a diverse

Members of the Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis Student Board of Directors gathered Dec.11 for a meeting.The students, appointed for a term of one school year,meet every other month to learn about and discuss economics and personal finance.The students are,clockwise from top left: Xavier Bady,Ian Tarr,Andrew Rudolph,Neil Shah,Bryan Hoyt, Nathan Vorel, Chelsea VanDuyne, Janelle Johnson, Stephanie Fei, Tanesha Staples, and Kristen McPike.Not pictured is Savya Hingorani.

staff and a mentoring and internship program, where we try to bring in the next generation of professionals and give them an opportunity.”

The mentoring and internship program is organized through partnerships with Harris-Stowe State University, Ranken Technical College and St. Louis Community College at Forest Park. McMillian proudly said that over a sixyear period there have been over 100 interns and “some are even managers here today.”

This year’s Minority Supplier Development Council Excellence Awards Gala was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown St. Louis on November 30. Additional honors went to McDonald Douglass for Corporation of the Year and BJC HealthCare for Corporate Innovative Program. Last year’s Chairman’s Award went to Alan Kuebler, assistant vice chancellor and executive director for resource management at Washington University. For more information about the St. Louis Minority Supplier Development Council, visit slmbc.org.

PREP BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

With Earl Austin Jr.

‘Tis the tourney season

Boys Basketball Classic, Greater St. Louis Shootout

“We can’t be satisfied. We’ve got to keep going.” – Chris Paul on setting a franchise record for the L.A. Clippers with 13 consecutive wins It was another exciting season of high school football in the the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is now time to officially conclude the season with the 2012 St. Louis “AllAmerican” Football Team for both the large and small schools. Here are the listings for both the large and small school teams as well as our special award winners.

Once the Christmas holiday tournament season ends, there are more high school hoops events on the horizon. Cardinal Ritter College Prep will be hosting its Third Annual Boys Basketball Classic, which will be held on January 4-5.

Incarnate Word Academy has cracked the Top 10 in the initial ESPN Girls Top 25 rankings.

On Friday, January 4, North County Christian will take on Crossroads at 5:30 p.m., followed by Alton Marquette vs. Chicago Hales Fransciscan at 7 p.m. There will be three games on Saturday afternoon, beginning with St. Francis Borgia vs. Chaminade at 1 p.m.; Hales Franciscan vs. Maplewood at 2:30 p.m. and Cardinal Ritter vs. Jefferson City Helias at 4:15 p.m.

On January 31, the Scottrade Center will be the site of the Third Annual Greater St. Louis Shootout, which benefits Coaches vs. Cancer. The Coaches vs. Cancer event will feature seven games with teams from Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky.

The schedule for the Coaches vs. Cancer Shootout is as follows:

Vianney vs. Lindbergh, 10 a.m.

MICDS vs. SLUH, 11:30 a.m. Nashville (Ill.) vs. Quincy Notre Dame (Ill), 1 p.m.

DeSmet vs. Kansas City Rockhurst, 2:30 p.m.

Duchesne vs. Quincy Notre Dame, 5 p.m. Roxana vs. Alton Marquette, 6:30 p.m. CBC vs. Lexington Henry Clay, 8 p.m.

See PREP, B5

Clippers eclipse Lakers

Chris Paul is steering Los Angeles’ stepchild into unchartered waters

Don’t look now, but there’s a new alpha dog in La La Land. No we’re not talking about Dwight Howard, Zack Greinke or Josh Hamilton. Even though the Lakers, Dodgers and Angels are generally the buzz-worthy teams in Tinseltown, this season it seems that the Clippers have become the belle of the Hollywood ball. The Lakers have remained in the headlines after acquiring perennial all-stars Howard and Steve Nash, firing coach Mike Brown after five games, flirting with Phil Jackson and ultimately bringing Mike D’Antoni and his chuck-it-as-

fast-as-you-can offense to Los Angeles. The drastic coaching change coupled with injuries by Nash and Pau Gasol have left the Lakers in disarray. Considering their superstarladen starting lineup (when healthy), nobody expected Kobe Bryant and Co. would be playing .500 ball going into Christmas. Meanwhile, owner Donald Sterling has turned his red-

Owner Donald Sterling has turned his red-headed stepchild squad into a deep, exciting team with serious postseason potential.

headed stepchild squad into a deep, exciting team with serious postseason potential. Chris Paul, aka CP3, is steering the Clippers into uncharted waters. Paul and his team have

The year that was –and almost was

INSIDE SPORTS

St.Louis All-American High School Football Team (Large Schools) Offense

QB: Jordan Bishop (Kirkwood), Sr.

RB: Markell Smith (Vianney), Jr.

RB: Donte Harrell (Francis Howell), Sr.

RB: Marcus Jester (DeSmet), Jr. WR: Aarion Penton (CBC), Sr. WR: Darius Mosley (O’Fallon), Sr.

OL: Roderick Johnson (Hazelwood Central), Jr.

OL: Brian Wallace (CBC), Jr.

OL: Marlon Hampton (Webster Groves),

OL: Demarvious Loving (East St. Louis),

Cortez Spencer (East St. Louis), Jr.

Raymond Wingo (SLUH), Jr.

DL: Jarrett Franklin (Francis Howell), Sr. DL: Donnie White (DeSmet), Sr.

DL: Kellen Ash (Parkway South), Sr.

DL: Antonio Leachman (Kirkwood), Sr.

LB: Jarrod Bishop (Kirkwood), Sr.

LB: Berlin Hollomon (McCluer), Sr.

LB: Kyron Watson (East St. Louis), Jr.

LB: Pierre Gee-Tucker (Belleville West), Sr.

DB: Bert Birdsell (CBC), Sr.

DB: Danny Askew (Ritenour), Sr.

DB: Andre Harris (Kirkwood), Sr.

DB: Craig James (Edwardsville), Jr. (Small Schools) Offense QB: Kahlid Hagens (Maplewood),

Austin Jr.

With Earl Austin Jr.

Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers have amassed a franchise record 14-game winning streak and now own the best record in the league.

Metro's junior guard Taylor Miller (4) makes her way past Visitation Academy's Emma Mitchell (45) during first-round action of the 38th Annual Visitation Academy Christmas Tournament Saturday afternoon.

Photo by Wiley Price

CLAIB’S CALL

With Mike Claiborne

The yearthat was – and almost was

As we wind down the final few days of 2012, it’s time to take a look at a few things and perhaps see what 2013 may have in store.

TheCardinals. We were one game away form another World Series in a season that was a new day with a new manager.

I thought the season would be a good one for one reason. The Hall of Famer is back. Yes, Ozzie Smith, who elected to not be involved with the Cardinals as long as Tony La Russa was around, was part of Cardinal Nation in the way he should have always been, from Spring Training to just being at the ballpark. The Wizard and La Russa saw things differently. I have great respect for both as they have taught us all the game at a level you cannot get everywhere. As for the season, the Redbirds were not far off.

Ahealthy Rafael Furcal would have been a difference-maker in the post-season. This team will not be hurting for a lot in 2013. They have so much young pitching that they can survive an injury or two and still compete.

TheRams. Jeff Fisher should be at the top of the list for Coach of the Year in the NFL. Think about how lousy this team was at this time last

year. Now they go into Seattle this weekend with a chance to finish above .500. The Seahawks have a history of trying to run up the score and embarrass their opponents. It will be a scuffle that may lead to a real fistfight somewhere. Now for the bad news: Stan Kronke. The Rams owner has been silent about his plans for the team. There has been some talks on what next as the city should not go on the hook to fund a new facility. Is there middle ground here to keep the Rams in St. Louis? Yes.

TheBlues. Too bad that local ownership is involved with most embarrassing entity in sports: the National Hockey League. Twice in the last eight years someone thought it was a good idea to lock the players out. The owners broke the players’ union last time out. They won in every category. This most recent deal was supposed to save the league. Now these same idiots want to call a time out and change the rules again?

As for the players, they need to understand that this league and its puny TVdeal do not generate enough revenue to pay guys the same that they are paid in the other sports. I wish David Steward and his group could have waited one more year where the carpetbaggers who owned the

team before them would bleed more. This venture has already started off in the red, and it will take work, luck and prayer to get out of the penalty box.

Mizzou. Please allow me to introduce you to the SEC. Best conference in the country to play in by far. Mizzou football

knows what they have to do now in order to be better.

Frank Haith and the basketball program is poised to make this an interesting first season for the Tigers. I have almost forgotten about Norfolk St. and the tournament earlier this year. I will keep in my mind to remind myself that it can happen to anyone.

St. Louis U. It has been a trying year for the university. The loss of Rick Majerus was difficult although they knew he was not coming back well before the season started.

Interim Head Coach Jim Crewes can coach for me any day of the week. The question is: will he after this season? Crewes was semi-retired when he took the assistant job. Head coaching is a grind. I hope he stays. As for the rest of the uni-

versity, after surviving a coup at the top, one only wonders how the athletic department survives. They passed on hiring the best coach in the area again, and will soon wonder why no difference-making girls will commit to playing in St. Louis.

MyColleagues.

Demetrious Johnson, Earl Austin Jr., Maurice Drummond, Maurice Scott, Rene, Knott, Bernie Miklasz and, yes, the Great Charlie Tuna.These gentlemen have great passion in what they do.

If it’s high school, who better to give you the real scoop than DJ, Earl or Mo Scott? I trust them, unlike those in this market who give you one side or to help their political cause. Bernie has been a friend for years and he gets it with no agenda. He inspired me to

write this column after reading a few of his and understanding that there does not always have to be an ax to grind. As for DJ, I am somewhat surprised that his name is never mentioned for being in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He has done everything one would expect of a Hall of Famer, both on the field when he could ball and in his diligent work in our community. As for Tuna, his shows and involvement are much needed. He has seen it all and yet still shows up.

Mo Drummond and Rene Knot have given credibility to TVsports anchors. They never get outworked and yet are well thought of and respected without going the ESPN route of “Hey, look at me ... Boo ya!”

The Gateway Classic. Yes, it is back this year with a game. The vision and dedication of Rich Gray and his super staff should make us all motivated to get behind this cause and what they are trying to do in our own back yard. This is not just about a football game. This is about a legitimate entity in St. Louis that is helping people. Throw in Demetrious Johnson’s foundation and you you have two of the most worthy and credible organizations to throw in with. 2013 will be big for both.

Finally, You the Readers of this column. Your words, be it kind and in some cases critical, are always appreciated. I have come to appreciate the passion you the readers have when it comes to what is said here. The conversations and emails have been enlightening and thought-provoking. Keep coming, as will I. Have a safe and prosperous New Year.

Mike Claiborne

The Hall of Famer is back –Ozzie Smith, who elected to not be involved with the Cardinals as long as Tony La Russa was around.

Steven Jackson and the St.Louis Rams had their playoff hopes tripped up by the Minnesota Vikings.Still,it was a much-improved season for the Rams who will finish the season over .500 with a victory on Sunday.

Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The St. Louis Rams bounced back from last week’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings with a 28-13 road win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And guess what was the main catalyst in another road win by the Rams? It was again the defense. The Rams defense had five sacks, four interceptions (should’ve been six) and held dynamite rookie running back Doug Martin to just 62 yards and a 3.4 yard average per carry, a stark improvement from the Vikings’loss. Now, the defense did give up over 400 yards; however, they stood tall stopping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice

Cusp of a winning season

on fourth down. The defense got points again from Janoris Jenkins with a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown. It is the third pick six for Jenkins and his fourth touchdown overall this year. James Laurinitas had 12 tackles and an interception. Safety Quintin Mikell had 11 tackles and a sack.

Free-agent-to-be defensive lineman William Hayes had two sacks plus a tipped pass that found its way to the arms of defensive end Eugene Sims for one of the Rams four interceptions. On offense, Lance

RAMS ROUNDUP

Kendricks had a career day with four catches for 119 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown from Sam Bradford to open up the third quarter. Bradford’s numbers were okay as he completed 13 of 27 passes for 196 yards and an interception. But, the best number attached to Bradford was zero sacks. As the late Gary Coleman

would say as he did on Different Strokes “WHATYOU TALKING ‘BOUT, PALMER?” Yes, that’s what I said – zero sacks allowed by the Rams offensive line. And I can’t leave out Steven Jackson who threw some bone-crushing blocks on would-be defenders trying to hit Bradford.

The offensive line play was

very shoddy last week, giving up four sacks and not giving Sam Bradford time in the pocket. In the win against the Bucs, the Rams offensive line not only kept the quarterback upright, but the holes were there for Steven Jackson to run through. Jackson had a good game with 19 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown. The offensive line gave him some gaping lanes to gallop through and when he got the ball he made it happen. Next week, the Rams will try to finish over .500 for the first time since 2003. All the Rams have to do is win on the road in Seattle. Awin against the Seahawks not only would give the Rams a winning season it would also leave them undefeated in the NFC West and can give this young team some momentum to build on this off season. Happy New Year!

WHAT YOU TALKING ‘BOUT, PALMER? Yes, that’s what I said –zero sacks allowed by the Rams offensive line.

St. Louis All-American High School Football Team

Best in preps for 2012

By Earl Austin Jr.

The St.Louis American

It was another exciting season of high school football in the the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is now time to officially conclude the season with the 2012 St. Louis “All-American” Football Team for both the large and small schools. Here are the listings for both the large and small school teams as well as our special award winners.

St. Louis All-American High School Football Team

Large Schools

Offense

QB: Jordan Bishop (Kirkwood), Sr.

RB: Markell Smith (Vianney), Jr.

RB: Donte Harrell (Francis Howell), Sr.

RB: Marcus Jester (DeSmet), Jr.

WR: Aarion Penton (CBC),

CLUTCH

Continued from B3

amassed a franchise record 14game winning streak and now own the best record in the league. Paul’s brilliance at the point guard position has helped Blake Griffin continue to mature into one of the most exciting and dominant players in the league. More importantly, the Clippers are getting contributions everywhere, including their bench, which looks like the best in the league. Jamal Crawford, Eric Bledsoe, Matt Barnes and Lamar Odom could all be

Sr.

WR: Darius Mosley (O’Fallon), Sr.

OL: Roderick Johnson (Hazelwood Central), Jr.

OL: Brian Wallace (CBC), Jr.

OL: Marlon Hampton (Webster Groves), Sr.

OL: Demarvious Loving (East St. Louis), Sr. OL: Cortez Spencer (East St. Louis), Jr. Ath: Raymond Wingo (SLUH), Jr.

Defense

DL: Jarrett Franklin (Francis Howell), Sr.

DL: Donnie White (DeSmet), Sr.

DL: Kellen Ash (Parkway South), Sr.

DL: Antonio Leachman (Kirkwood), Sr.

LB: Jarrod Bishop (Kirkwood), Sr.

LB: Berlin Hollomon (McCluer), Sr.

LB: Kyron Watson (East St. Louis), Jr.

LB: Pierre Gee-Tucker (Belleville West), Sr. DB: Bert Birdsell (CBC), Sr.

DB: Danny Askew (Ritenour), Sr.

DB: Andre Harris (Kirkwood), Sr.

starters on lesser teams. They make a powerful punch as a second unit on the left side of the Staples Center. Of course, that’s all without the services of seasoned vets Chauncey Billups and Grant Hill, both of whom are due to return from injury any day. While adding players to a well-oiled machine might be cringe-worthy in some scenarios (see Amare Stoudamire and the New York Knicks), that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Clips considering that Billups and Hill are two of the smartest and most unselfish players in the league. The two should add much-needed veteran leadership to a young, ath-

Ath: Derrick Mitchell (Vashon), Sr. Defense

RB: Ezekiel Elliott (John Burroughs), Sr.

RB: TylerWalker (Clayton), Sr.

RB: David Carmichael (University City)

WR: Anthony Virdure (Lutheran North), Sr.

WR: Deantrell Prince (Christian-O’Fallon), Jr.

WR: Emmanuel Vaughn (Soldan), Sr.

OL: Aaron Spudich (Maplewood), Sr.

OL: Brett Morrow (Ladue), Jr.

OL: Demon Taylor (Soldan), Jr.

OL: Damien Bell (McCluer South-Berkeley), Sr.

OL: Troy Jones (University City)

DL: AntarThompson (Maplewood), Sr.

DL: Merrick Taylor (Althoff), Sr.

DL: Emmanuel Vaughn (Soldan), Sr.

DL: XavierBledsoe (John Burroughs), Sr.

LB: Gabriel Lloyd (Miller Career Academy), Sr.

LB: Christian Bledsoe (John Burroughs), Sr.

LB: Wes Williams (Maplewood), Sr.

DB: Michael Ball (Gateway Tech), Sr.

DB: Michael Harris (Althoff), Sr.

DB: Foye Oloukon (John Burroughs), Sr.

DB: Deantrell Prince (Christian-O’Fallon), Jr.

DB: Craig James (Edwardsville), Jr.

Small Schools

Offense

QB: Kahlid Hagens (Maplewood), Sr.

RB: Ezekiel Elliott (John Burroughs), Sr.

letic team.

The Clippers seem to be a nearly perfectly-balanced team from top to bottom. CP3 may be the best pure point guard in the NBA. He and Billups are rock solid and make great decisions with the ball. Griffin provides rebounding and is almost unstoppable in getting to the rim. Jordan is an excellent shot deterrent and solid rebounder. Crawford and Caron Butler can be devastating from deep. Odom has lost weight and gained confidence after an abysmal season in Dallas and is an all-around utility man. Finally Bledsoe and Barnes make it tough for opponents to score.

St. Louis American Special Award Winners

Large Schools Offensive

Player of the Year: Jordan Bishop (Kirkwood)

Small Schools Offensive

Player of the Year: Ezekiel Elliott (John Burroughs)

Large Schools Defensive

Player of the Year: Jarrett Franklin (Francis Howell)

Small Schools Defensive

Player of the Year: Emmanuel Vaughn (Soldan), Gabriel

Lloyd (MillerCareer Academy)

Large Schools Lineman of the Year: Roderick Johnson (Hazelwood Central)

Small Schools Lineman of the Year: Merrick Jackson (Althoff)

Large Schools Freshman of the Year: Harry Ballard (McCluerNorth), Kentrail

John Burroughs running back

Ezekiel Elliott

RB: TylerWalker (Clayton), Sr.

RB: David Carmichael (University City)

WR: Anthony Virdure (Lutheran North), Sr.

WR: Deantrell Prince (Christian-O’Fallon), Jr.

WR: Emmanuel Vaughn (Soldan), Sr.

OL: Aaron Spudich (Maplewood), Sr.

Furthermore, fans in L.A. are finally starting to buy in. Clippers games are sold out on the regular. The “other” team in Los Angeles is finally getting some love. Paul’s acquisition has seemingly changed the fortune of the franchise. While the aging Lakers struggle to get it together in time be the strong playoff contender everyone expects, the Clippers are in a strange, new position. Instead of hoping to play spoiler to one of the “real” contenders, the young and hip team hopes to stay healthy and become the new fresh face of L.A., perennial title aspirations and all.

Moran (O’Fallon)

Small Schools Freshman of the Year: Keenan Young (Althoff)

OL: Brett Morrow (Ladue), Jr.

OL: Demon Taylor (Soldan), Jr.

OL: Damien Bell (McCluer

South-Berkeley), Sr.

OL: Troy Jones (University City)

Ath: Derrick Mitchell (Vashon), Sr.

Defense

DL: AntarThompson (Maplewood), Sr.

DL: Merrick Taylor (Althoff), Sr.

DL: Emmanuel Vaughn (Soldan), Sr.

DL: XavierBledsoe (John Burroughs), Sr.

LB: Gabriel Lloyd (Miller Career Academy), Sr.

LB: Christian Bledsoe (John Burroughs), Sr.

LB: Wes Williams (Maplewood), Sr.

DB: Michael Ball (Gateway Tech), Sr.

DB: Michael Harris (Althoff), Sr.

DB: Foye Oloukon (John Burroughs), Sr.

DB: Deantrell Prince (Christian-O’Fallon), Jr.

St. Louis American Special Award Winners

Large Schools Offensive Player of the Year: Jordan Bishop (Kirkwood)

Small Schools Offensive Player of the Year: Ezekiel Elliott (John Burroughs)

Large Schools Defensive Player of the Year: Jarrett Franklin (Francis Howell)

Small Schools Defensive Player of the Year: Emmanuel Vaughn (Soldan), Gabriel Lloyd (Miller Career Academy)

Large Schools Lineman of the Year: Roderick Johnson (Hazelwood Central)

Small Schools Lineman of the Year: Merrick Jackson (Althoff)

Large Schools Freshman of the Year: Harry Ballard (McCluer North), Kentrail Moran (O’Fallon)

Small Schools Freshman of the Year: Keenan Young (Althoff)

Prep Athletes of the Week

Continued from B3

to lead the St. Louis metro area

in scoring. She is also averaging 13 rebounds a game. Junior point guard Nakiah Bell averages 10 points and a teamhigh four assists per game. (You can follow Earl Austin Jr.’s daily basketball reports on his website, www.earlaustinjr.com. You can also follow Earl at twitter.com/earlaustinjr.)

Photo by Wiley Price

With Palmer L.Alexander III Palmer L. Alexander

Of

DISPARITY

Continued from B1

wages along with unemployment and under-employment is forcing families to curb spending and use any available assets to keep financial pace. For families with no savings or assets, new debt was incurred.

“The recession and slow recovery have led to declining net worth for the average U.S. household and a disproportionate decline for AfricanAmerican and Hispanic households,” states the report.

In communities of color, income declines are higher in part due to declines in overrepresentation in two types of employment that historically provided stable and secure jobs: manufacturing and construction. These two industries respectively suffered job losses of 10 and 20 percent.

African-Americans who formerly worked manufacturing and construction jobs lost more than twice the number of jobs between 2007 and 2011 than they previously gained in the pre-recession decade.

These losses in income also caused losses of wealth that are even more severe. In fact, the decline in wealth from 2005-2009 between communities of color and white households is the largest documented wealth gaps since the Census Bureau began publishing wealth estimates in 1984. The net worth for African Americans dropped 53 percent and among Latino families, 66 percent. By comparison, white household wealth declined only 16 percent in the same years. Households headed by persons aged 55-65 saw the largest losses in wealth. People at or nearing retirement lost an average of $90,000 from 2007-2010. As wealth and retirement resources declined, many older workers remained in the labor force longer than retirees in previous decades.

Ameren minority employees help needy

As an increasing number of older workers delay retirements, some younger workers experience higher unemployment and declining labor participation. Aconsequence of their delayed entry in the workplace increases the number of households doubling-up, living with friends or non-family members due to economic hardship. From, 2005-2010,

From 2005-2009, net worth for African Americans dropped by 53 percent, Latino families by 66 percent and white households by 16 percent.

the number of these households grew 50 percent. Center for Responsible Lending further notes that con-

sumer spending accounts for approximately 70 percent of total U.S. economic activity. As large numbers of con-

sumers continue to tighten their fiscal belts, sustainable economic recovery will likely be delayed.

“In order for the U.S. economy to grow again,” states the report, “individual households must find themselves in a position to increase their spending. This will be difficult as long as households continue to face stagnant incomes, increasing expenses, increasing levels of debt, and declining net worth.”

To read more, visit http://www.responsiblelending.org/state-of-lending/. Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at: Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

The Ameren Network of Minority Employees resource group donated nearly $5,000 to the 100 Neediest Cases program. The United Way of Greater St. Louis’Vanessa Wayne, second from the right, accepted the donation from Clay Doze, corrective action specialist, Quality Management Services; Gilda Baldwin, business and community affairs coordinator, Business and Community Relations;Shirley Stennis, senior supervisor of municipal and public accounts, Business and Community Relations; and Brian Leonard, manager, Business and Community Relations.

‘Django’ unwatchable

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

With Django Unchained director Quentin Tarantino will give movie goers exactly what he’s known for – heavy dialogue banter, gratuitous violence, entirely too much movie, offensive language and about as much historical accuracy as one can expect from a man who shamelessly murdered Hitler in a movie theatre for the finale of Inglorious Basterds.

But typically, for every recurring flaw that his fan base has become accustomed to seeing, there are at least two strengths. His latest film is the exception to the rule.

The thrilling plot twists and exchange of experiences from several vantage points that keep viewers equally

engaged and on edge are all but absent in Tarantino’s first take on the spaghetti Western genre through the experiences of a slave named Django.

For a film about a slave liberated

from a chain gang and subsequently emancipated to become the perceived sidekick/showpiece of his great white hope rescuer, Django flirts dangerously with being formulaic. Although it

begins on a thrillingly gruesome high note, Django plays out more like a well-made Tarantino knock off than an original.

Other than what feels like hundreds of N-words slung around faster than any six shooter Tarantino plays it safe in comparison to his other films.

Django and his rescuer-turned-mentor travel through the South in search of Django’s wife Broomhilda, who was sold down the river to one of the most inhumane plantations Mississippi has to offer. Aside from a few cringe-worthy scenes, in their journey the horrors of slavery are more assumed and insinuated that actually illustrated. The film labors – and for 30 more minutes than necessary – as the two plot

See DJANGO, C4

Jeanne Roberts Johnson recently launched a chic jewelry line and we (St. Louisans) are fortunate to be the first to view and model. General Counsel (Roberts Companies), wife and mother, Jeanne is very excited to finally share her passion with family and friends. Jeanne’s entrée to the world of jewelry design was quite simply, personal stress relief after a long day. She started donning her striking earrings, necklaces and bracelets and friends and family began to ask for custom designs. Those same designs evolved and GiGi by Jeanne was born. Jeanne is now ready to let St. Louis know that she is building this business and taking her designs to local boutiques, stores and online (www. GiGibyJeanne.com). On December 12 a select group was treated to a preview and preholiday shopping spree. Jeanne and her team including twin brother Mike’s bride Stephanie Roberts and April Amos Powell hosted a stylish event at Jeanne and Jay’s beautiful home. Guests were thrilled to view splendid designs such as Green Jade Bling, Cosmopolitan Connection Pearly Pave Stiletto, City Life and Golden Night Personal favorites are the Rockstar and Glamour Girl earrings. Rumor has it that Mary Jane’s Boutique in the CWE has optioned the line beginning this month. So excited for GiGi by Jeanne and proud of our St. Louis home-girl. Bravo!

The Amelians, Inc. hosted their annual Holiday Brunch at the St. Louis Marriott-West- Maryville on December 16. The group founded in 1958 boasts friendships that date back to high school and college. Member Zora Ward opened the afternoon with the invocation. A moment of silence was held to honor deceased member Savannah Miller Young. Delicious food, fantastic music and friends catching up set the agenda for this high spirited holiday celebration. Current Amelians members are: Ernestine Betts, Mary Shivers, Earciel Canaan, Mary Alyce Lynum, Billie Wilson, Lucille Quinones, Jean Turner, Darlene Young, Conseula Washington,

Velma Coleman, Zora Ward and Cynthia Young. Dr. Pam Jackson just returned from Los Angeles. While there she attended the cd release party for native songbird Lynne Fiddmont. Lynne’s Christmas cd, Spirit of Christmas is climbing the jazz charts from east to west Her lively tunes are top drawer and receiving rave reviews from jazz aficionados. A collection of contemporary jazz and smooth soul, this holiday collection features greats such as Kevin Whalum, Everette Harp and Russell Ferrante. Order your copy now from cdbaby @ www.cdbaby.com. Highly recommended!

I hope everyone had a Merry Merry Christmas! Blessings, Dana Grace: dgrandolph@live.com.

Latest Lee joint tells coming-of-age story in Brooklyn projects

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American Religion, faith, failed redemption and reverse migration mark filmmaker Spike Lee’s latest Brooklyn tale – as seen through the eyes of a teenage boy by way of Red Hook Summer, which was released on DVD last Tuesday. “We’re both Brooklyn guys,” Lee said of himself and co-writer James McBride. “He’s from Red Hook, I’m from Fort Greene and we just wanted to do a coming-of-age story, so we came

The U.S. Courts and The Judicial Learning Center will host the national traveling exhibition “Freedom Riders,” which looks at

December 26 and will be on display to January 24, is a companion to the PBS American Experience film Freedom Riders, directed by Stanley Nelson. The exhibit will be displayed on the 3rd Floor of the Thomas F.

to 5:30 p.m.

Red Hook Summer, directed by Spike Lee, stars Nate Parker, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Clarke Peters and introduces audiences to Jules Brown as Flik and Toni Lysaith as Chazz Morningstar.

See SPIKE, C4

G. Randolph

This iconic photo of a group of Freedom Riders is on display through January 24 on the 3rd Floor of the Thomas F.

Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino and featuring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson, opened in theatres nationwide on Christmas.

Jeanne Roberts Johnson exhibiting her jewelry designs Photo by April Amos Powell

WITH DANA G. RANDOLPH

How to place a calendar listing

1.Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican.com

OR 2.Visit the calendar section on stlamerican.com and place your listing

Calendar listings are free of charge, are edited for space and run on a space-available basis.

holiday haps

Fri., Dec. 28, 12 p.m., Missouri Botanical Gardens presents Kwanzaa: Festival of the First Fruits. Ceremony highlights a day of storytelling, craft and jewelry displays and authentic African drumming and musical performances. 4344 Shaw Blvd., 63110. For more information, call (314) 577-5100.

Fri., Dec. 28, 6 p.m., 14th Street Artist Community hosts Desserts First: Connections Party. The driving energy of the events is to connect businesses, community and people together to locally spend and support each other in our community with live entertainment, music, vendors, businesses, and more. 2701 14th St., 63106. For more information, call (310) 927-0591.

Sat., Dec. 29, 5 p.m., The Afrikan Village and Cultural Center presents AKwanzaa Experience. 3520 N. Newstead Ave., 63115. For more information, call (636) 448-2992.

Mon., Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Symphony presents New Year’s Eve Celebration Music director David Robertson will lead the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and a selection of surprise guests in a “dance card” of music. 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, call (314) 534-1700.

Through Dec. 31, 43rd Annual Way of Lights Christmas Display. Adrive through scenic fantasy of over one million lights that wind past electro-art sculptures, lifesize figures and displays that depict the Christmas Story. Tree & wreaths displays, an interactive children’s village, camel rides and an indoor laser show add to the festivities. 442 S. Demazenod Dr., Belleville, IL. 62223. For more information, call (618) 397-6700.

Mon., Dec. 31, 6 p.m., Grand CenterArts & Entertainment hosts First Night Saint Louis. Awinter celebration featuring visual and performing arts, musicians, storytellers, dancers, magicians, actors, puppeteers and visual and media artists. Children’s fireworks at 9:00 p.m. and Grand Finale Fireworks at midnight. 3526 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 289-8121.

Mon., Dec. 31, 6:30 p.m., New Year’s Eve Family & Friends. Three-course meal, champagnetoast at midnight, live D.J., and photographer. Crowne Plaza Hotel-Airport, 11228 Lone Eagle Dr., 63044. For more information, call (314) 239-0263 or (618) 5304800.

Mon., Dec. 31, 7 p.m., New Year’s Eve at Orlando’s Event Center. Buffet menu, DJ entertainment, and a champagne toast at midnight. 8352 Watson Rd., 63119. For more information, call (314) 8423316.

Mon., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., The Master’s Touch New Year’s Eve Extravaganza. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, call (314) 869-9090.

Mon., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., All-N1 Entertainment & Soundproof Mobile DJs present New Year’s Eve Party. Come bring in the New Year withfriends & family. Event includeslive band & dj, champagne toast at midnight, and photos. Comfort Inn, 9600 Natural Bridge Rd., 63134. For more information, call (314) 497-9396 or (314) 276-7619.

Mon., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., Jive & Wail New Year’s Eve 2012. The best piano players in the country will be jamming all night with percussion, to provide the best live entertainment option in all of the Lou for NYE! Let us take care of you on the biggest party night of

CALENDAR

the year. Constant live music with a countdown and champagne toast at midnight will be unforgettable. 1227 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 781-7000.

Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., Puttin on the Ritz: Celebrate New Year’s Eve in Style. Ring in the New Year in style and dance the night away to live entertainment. The RitzCarlton Lobby Lounge, 100 Ritz Carlton Dr., 63105. For more information, call (314) 863-6300.

Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., Mad Art Gallery presents Carnevale: NYE 2013. Mask Up this New Year’s Eve for a dramatic Venetian Carnival themed party. 2727 S. 12th St., 63118. For more information, call (314) 771-8230.

Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., Hard Rock Café’s Rockin’New Year’s Eve Celebration featuring The Dirty Muggs. 1820 Market St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 6217625.

Mon. Dec. 31, 9 p.m. The Fountain on Locust presents New Year’s Eve Speakeasy Spectacular. AProhibition Bootleggers Ball! We’re gonna party like it’s 1929. 1920’s attire admired but not required. 3037 Locust St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 535-7800 or visit www.fountainonlocust.com.

Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., New Year’s Eve Celebration and Inauguration forTishaura O. Jones, At Midnight she will also be sworn in as the New Treasurer for the City of St. Louis .City Hall Rotunda.

Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., The Beggar’s Carnivale presents The 2nd Annual Beggar’s New Year’s Ball. Casa Loma Ballroom, 3354 Iowa Ave.,

63118. For more information, call (314) 865-0819.

Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., New Year’s Eve at Three Sixty. Ring in 2013 at Three Sixty with an over the top New Year’s Eve celebration complete with a DJ and an extravagant laser light show. One S. Broadway, 63169. For more information, call (314) 6418842.

Mon., Dec. 31, 9 p.m., The Beggar’s Carnivale presents The 2nd Annual Beggar’s New Year’s Ball. Anon-stop frenzy of all-encompassing, sensory-overloading, interactive event featuring some of our most beloved acts, wild routines, and an overwhelming circus of mayhem. Casa Loma Ballroom, 3354 Iowa Ave., 63118. For more information, call (314) 865-0819.

Through Jan. 1, 27th Annual WinterWonderland. Slowly meander one mile through over a million twinkling holiday lights fashioned into over 30 display areas of favorite characters and festive scenes as well as a canopy of lights glistening through out 75 acres of forest. Horse-drawn carriage rides are available every night and Saturday nights are reserved for carriage rides only. Tilles County Park, 9551 Litzsinger Rd., 63124. For more information, call (314) 615-7275.

concerts

Thurs., Dec. 27, 7:30 p.m. & 9 p.m., Marcus Baylor, a St. Louis native and former drummerof the 2-time Grammy Award-winning jazz quartet, The Yellowjackets presents The Sons of St. Louis Reunion. The band will feature another St. Louis native keyboardist Shedrick Mitchell (member of

The Coliseum Music Lounge welcomes Method Man.See CONCERTS for details.

Whitney Houston’s last band, Stevie Wonder, and Maxwell), and guest songstress Jean Baylor (formally member of Zhane, Marcus Miller, & Yellow Jackets). Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Avenue. Tickets are available at www.metrotix.com or (314) 534-1111 by phone 9am-9pm (In person Fox Box Office Mon-Fri 10am to 6pm, Sat.10am to 2pm.

Mon., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., The Master’s Touch New Year’s Eve Extravaganza. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, call (314) 869-9090.

Jan. 5, 8:30 p.m., Method Man with BURNTmd, DJ WHO & DJ CHULO, Coliseum Music Lounge, 2619 Washington. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com or call (314) 534-1111.

Fri., Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., Jazz at the Bistro presents JavierMendoza’s Latin Jazz Experiment. For the first and last time in 2013. 3536 Washington Blvd., 63101. For more information, call (314) 531-1012 or visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., Jan. 19, 8 p.m., MAJIC 100.3’s inauguration celebration starring Charlie Wilson with special guest Mint Condition, The Fox Theatre. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com or call (314) 534-1111.

Fri., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., New Jack Swing Valentine Jam featuring Dru Hill, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Guy, SWV, and Al B Sure, Chaifetz Arena. Tickets available at MetroTix.com, by phone at 314-534-1111 and at the Chaifetz Arena Box Office.

local gigs

Thur., Dec. 27, 8 p.m., Made Monarchs presents The Paxtons & Black Spade with DJ Needles. Blank Space, 2847 Cherokee St., 63118. Dec. 28 – 29, Jazz at the Bistro presents Good 4 the Soul. This explosive four-piece outfit draws upon jazz, funk, fusion, gospel and R&B repertoires to deliver a powerful and unapologetic sound that excites and thrills. 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 534-1111.

Sat., Jan. 5, 7 p.m., Saxophonist Fred Walker Saxy Jazz Music Show. Van Goghz Martini Bar & Bistro, 3200 Shenandoah Ave., 63104. For more information, call 9314) 865-3345.

special events

Thur., Dec. 27, 11 a.m., The Saint Louis Zoo presents Raja’s 20th Birthday. Celebrate Raja the bull Asian elephant as he turns 20. 1 Government Dr., 63110. For more information, call (314) 781-0900.

Fri., Dec. 28, 7 p.m.,

Comedysoul TV presents The Last Laugh feat. Matt Collins, Jovan Bibbs, Jaylee Thomas, STLSlymm. Cicero’s, 6691 Delmar Blvd., 63130. For more information, call (314) 862-0009.

Sat., Dec. 29, 9 p.m., Firebird hosts Comedy in the Lou Celebration of the comedic talents residing and working in St. Louis. From sketch to stand-up, improv and everything in between and out-ofthe box you’ll walk out of the show knowing where and when you can find what makes you laugh in the Lou. 2706 Olive St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 5350353.

Sat., Dec. 29, All Day, FundraiserforBESTDance & Talent CenterRaging Storm Dance Team. Pizza Hut in Bridgeton, 3510 McKelvey Rd., 63044. For more information, call (314) 739-2378.

Tues., Jan. 1, 10 a.m., Life Time Fitness presents Commitment Day. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will kick off the New Year by participating in a simultaneous 5K-run/walk event spanning 35 cities. Participants receive a Limited Edition Commitment Day T-shirt and a 2013 Commemorative Commitment Journal. 3058 Clarkson Rd., 63017. For more information, call (636) 227-0200.

Fri., Jan. 4, 5:30 p.m., WestminsterChristian Academy hosts Hoop it Up. Fifth and sixth grade students are invited to play games in the gymnasium, watch a girls varsity basketball game, get to know the coaches and players, and learn about our state-ofthe-art sports facilities while enjoying pizza. 10900 Ladue Rd., 63141. For more information, call (314) 997-2900.

Fri., Jan. 4, 7 p.m., Scottrade Center presents TheHarlem Globetrotters You Write the Rules World Tour. 1401 Clark Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 622-5435.

Sat., Jan. 5, 12 p.m., The National Park Service hosts 1773 Twelfth Afternoon Ball. Come seehow early French residents ended the holiday season in 1773 with music & dance instruction, and a historic holiday food demo. Historic Old Courthouse, 11 N. Fourth St., 63102. For more information, call (314) 6551614.

Jan. 5 – 6, 11 a.m., America’s Center hosts The Wedding Show. In just one afternoon visit with over 200 wedding exhibitors, see bridal fashions and enjoy wedding musicians as they perform throughout the day. 701 Convention Plaza, 63101. For more information, visit www.stlbrideandgroom.com.

Sat., Jan. 6, Soulard Mardi Gras – Twelfth Night. The traditional beginning of Mardi Gras, twelve nights after Christmas. Hear the reading of the proclamation followed by a musical procession ending at the corner of 7th & Soulard where the Soulard Mardi Gras flag will rise and fireworks signal the official start of the Mardi Gras season in Soulard. Johnny’s, 1017 Russell Blvd., 63104. For more information, call (314) 771-5110.

Sun., Jan. 6, 9 a.m., 3 Monkey Productions presents Sports Collectibles Show with special guest Jon Jay. Show featuring various vendors selling collectibles, memorabilia and autographs. Jon Jay and Brad Thompson will also be on hand signing autographs for fans. Heart of St. Charles Banquet Center, 1410 S. Fifth St., 63302. For more information, call (314) 301-9443.

Wed., Jan. 9, 6 p.m., COCAbiz presents bizTHINK Networking Evening: Relevance Redefined Participants will learn how to maintain truth and authenticity while shaping relevant communications for various audiences. The evening will focus on the methods theatre professionals use to update classic texts for contemporary audiences. Participants will work with a piece of Shakespearian

text and select imagery to create a relevant setting for the play. Includes cocktails and appetizers. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

Mon., Jan. 21, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. St. Louis Metropolitan Area Chapters and Veterans forPeace present MLK, JR. Day of Service Program. Foundations of Money Management at 12:30 p.m., register at www.mlkjrmoneymgmt.eventbrite.com.

MLK, Jr. Day of Service Program with keynote speaker Minister Terrance G. Clark of Shalom Church City of Peace, register at www.akamlkjr.eventbrite.com.

Centenary Church, 1610 Olive St., 63103. For more information, email event@aka-omicroneatomega.org.

Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Lexus Len’s Happy Hour, Live Band featuring: Cheryl Brown, Jeremiah Allen, Jeff Taylor& Gerald Warren, 2 for 1 Drinks, Free Food, No Cover Charge, Mature Atmosphere, The Loft, 3112 Olive.

Sensational Sundays, 6:30 p.m. (6 p.m. doors) Jazz @ Eventide, featuring Black and White Trio. Sip N Savor, 286 DeBaliviere, 1/2 block north of the Forest park Metro link. For more information, call (314)361-2116.

Steppin & Boppin, 6 p.m.

Wednesdays, Legacy Café, 5249 Delmar. Lessons available.

Jazz on Broadway presents Tim Cunningham. Fridays only in February, March, and April at 8 p.m. 554 E. Broadway, Alton, IL, 62002. For more information, call (618) 465-5299.

literary

Sat., Dec. 29, 1 p.m., Big Sleep Books presents Jo A. Hiestand Book Signing author of False Step. 239 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 6777214.

Wed., Jan. 9, 7 p.m., Poetry

Talk by author and artist Glendon McFarlane author of Musical Lyrics in Art and Poetry. Expressive Poetry with musical rhythm and cultural lyrics and language. Glendon McFarlane changes the mood from humor to faith and culture. From lovely colorful landscapes, portraits and still life in a variety of media, to poetry with a variety of taste and styles. Jamestown Bluffs Branch St. Louis County Library, 4153 N. Highway 67, 63034. For more information, call (314) 498-3085.

Mon., Jan. 14, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books CWE presents author Lori Rotskoff, author of When We Were Free to Be “Free to Be… You and Me” captured the spirit of the growing women’s movement and inspired girls and boys to challenge stereotypes, value cooperation, and respect diversity. Former St. Louis resident and cultural historian Lori Rotskoff will discuss the creation, social impact, and legacy of this popular children’s classic. 399 Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call 9314) 3676731.

Wed., Jan. 30, 7 p.m., Friends of the University City Public Library hosts an evening with authorTerry BakerMulligan who will read from herbook, Sugar Hill: Where the sun rose over Harlem: Amemoir. Ms. Mulligan was born and raised on Sugar Hill in Harlem. She lives in St. Louis and in May 2012 won an Independent Publishers Award for adult multicultural nonfiction for her memoir. Copies of Ms. Mulligan’s book will be available for purchase and signing after the event. Refreshments will be served. For further information: Patrick Wall, 7273150, pjwall@ucpl.lib.mo.us.

arts

Sat., Dec. 29, 11 a.m., Notations: Contemporary Drawing as Idea and Process. Uninhibited by the obligation to create a finished and inde-

pendent object, as is traditionally associated with painting and sculpture, drawing as a medium lends itself readily to the theoretical and the experimental. Come and see over sixty works by thirtynine artists from the postwar decade to today. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, call (314) 935-4523.

Fri., Jan. 25, 6 p.m., Memories of the Future Gallery Opening. This exhibition highlights the powerful artwork of a mother and daughter pair and explores the symbiotic relationship between artistic creation and the healing process. By incorporating both visual and written elements, mother and daughter share their stories of strength and resilience. Free and open to the public through March 3, 2013. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 7256555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

theatre

Through Dec. 30, Bissell Mansion Restaurant and DinnerTheatre presents MurderMystery Dinner Theatre: AChristmas Sleigh-ing. Help Fred Scrooge and Granny track down the killer in this interactive comedy/murder mystery served with a 4-course meal to DIE for. 4426 Randall Place, 63107. For more information, call (314) 533-9830.

Through Dec. 31, The Lemp Mansion Restaurant & Inn presents MurderMystery DinnerTheatre: The Christmas Killer. 3322 DeMenil Place, 63118. For more information, call (314) 664-8024.

Jan. 5 – 6, COCAFamily Theatre Series presents In the Loop. Dance concert showcasing the talents of COCAdance and the COCA Hip-Hop Crew. Fast-paced and wildly entertaining show featuring contemporary dance and commercial hip-hop, choreographed by internationally-known visiting choreographers and COCAfaculty members. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 725-6555.

Through Jan. 6, Fox Theatre presents Wicked 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, call (314) 534-1678 or visit www.metrotix.com

Jan 8 – 13, Peabody Opera House presents Flashdance The Musical. Story of Alex Owens, a working-class girl from Pittsburgh striving to make her dreams of becoming a professional dancer a reality. She works by day at a steel mill, where she catches the eye of her boss Nick Hurley. By night she works as a “flashdancer” at a local bar, but longs to become a student at the prestigious Shipley Dance Academy. 1400 market St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 499-7600.

Jan. 11 – 13, The Fabulous Fox Theatre presents STOMP. The eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments – matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps – filling the stage with magnificent rhythms. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, call (314) 534-1111 or visit www.fabulousfox.com.

Jan. 11 – 20, Kirkwood Theatre Guild presents The Last Romance. Robert G. Reim Theater, 111 S. Geyer Rd., 63122. For more information, call (314) 821-9956.

Jan. 12 – 27, Metro Theater Company presents Jackie and Me. An exciting play that illuminates Jackie Robinson’s courage and dignity in the face of cruel racial prejudice, Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Blvd., 63105. For more information, call (314) 935-6543.

Jan. 18 – 19, COCA Theatre Company presents James and the Giant Peach

524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

lectures

Wed., Jan. 2, 10 a.m. & 6:30 p.m., Purcell & Amen LLC presents Estate Planning Myths – Why Most Estate Plans Fail, and What to Do About It. 10805 Sunset Office Dr., Suite 100, 63127. For more information, call (314) 966-8077.

Tues., Jan. 8, 10:45 a.m., 2013 International Relations Lecture Series. Dr. Sudarsan Kant will talk about India, An Emerging Superpower. Ethical Society of St. Louis, 90011 Clayton Rd., 63117. For more information, call (314) 9910955.

Sat., Jan. 12, 10 a.m., Left Banks Books Downtown presents Writing Workshop with Wade Rouse: Facing YourFearFinding Your Voice. Wade will lead participants through an in-depth discussion on fear, how it is intertwined with writing, and how it nearly stopped him. 321 N. Tenth St., 63101. For more information, call (314) 4363049.

Tues., Jan. 8, 5:30 p.m., U.S. Green Building Council-MO Gateway Chapter hosts State of the ChapterDiscussion and Free Social. Come and learn about the design, construction and operation of ecofriendly buildings. Leaders will review 2012 and present 2013 ways to assure more green buildings. Alberici Headquarters, 8800 Page Ave., 63114. For more information, call 9314) 577-0225.

St. Louis County Library’s lab trainers can help computerusers solve a variety of problems and learn new skills in free Book-a-Trainer sessions. The session can utilize one of the library’s computers or the student’s laptop; it can take place at any of St. Louis County Library’s 20 branches. Scheduling a Booka-Trainer session can be done online at www.slcl.org/book-atrainer or by calling the library at 314-994-3300. Registration is required.

health

Fri., Dec. 28, 6 p.m., Yoga St. Louis presents Free Introductory IyengarYoga Class. 3305 Jamieson Ave., 63139. For more information, call (314) 645-9785.

Tues., Jan. 1, 10 a.m., Life Time Fitness presents Commitment Day. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will kick off the New Year by participating in a simultaneous 5K-run/walk event spanning 35 cities. Participants receive a Limited Edition Commitment Day T-shirt and a 2013 Commemorative Commitment

Journal. 3058 Clarkson Rd., 63017. For more information, call (636) 227-0200.

Sat., Jan. 5, 10 a.m., Down Syndrome Association of GreaterSt. Louis and Ranken Jordan present Music Mania - Music therapy forindividuals with Down syndrome. Free program for individuals with Down syndrome age 4-16 that uses music to improve health through emotional development, cognitive stimulation, motor skills and social skills. Ranken Jordan, 11365 Dorsett. Rd., 63043. For more information, call (314) 872-6400.

Tues., Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m.,

Mercy Heart and Vascular Hospital presents Freedom From Smoking. This free seven-week class was developed by the American Lung Association, to help participants learn how to quit, establish a quit day and develop the skills to remain smoke free. This class is taught by registered nurses and respiratory therapists. Along with group classes, one-on-one sessions are available free of charge. 625 S. New Ballas Rd., 63141. For more information, call (314) 251-3965.

Tues., Jan. 8, 7 p.m., Crohn’s & Colitis Support Group Patients living with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis and

their family members are invited to participate in this support group. Main Hospital Entrance, Missouri Baptist Medical Center, 3015 N. Ballas Rd., 63141. For more information, call (314) 8634747.

Thur., Jan. 10, 5:30 p.m., St. Anthony’s CancerCare Center sponsors Pink Hope Support Group forWomen with Breast Cancer. Charli Prather will speak about Mindful Eating as an approach to weight management after cancer treatment. Prather, a cancer survivor, teaches Mindful Eating practices that are based on the AM I HUNGRY?®Mindful Eating model. 10010 Kennerly Rd., 63128. For more information, call (314) 268-4669.

spiritual

Mon., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., Southern Mission Baptist Church hosts New Years’Eve Service. Please join us as we bring in the new year praising & celebrating God. 8171 Wesley Ave., 63140. For more information, call (314) 5213951.

Jan. 12, 6:30 p.m., The Worship CenterChristian Church Bible Trivia, How well do you know your bible? Well put your knowledge to the test or come to sharpen your skills. Join us us for a relaxed evening of fellowship. 11339 St. Charles-Rock Rd. at the corner of Fee Fee (diagonal from Walgreen’s).

January 16-18 , 7:30 p.m. New Bible Days Church (Bishop Bobby Jones, Pastor) Hosts a Women’s Conference, 8390 Page , Vinita Park, Mo 63030.

film

Dec. 25, Django Unchained starring Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington opens in theatres nationwide.

MAJIC 100.3’s inauguration celebration starring Charlie Wilson with special guest Mint Condition.See CONCERTS for more information.

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This engagement is free and open to the public, and group visits are available.

The “Freedom Riders” exhibition combines powerful photography and news coverage of the 1961 Freedom Rides and examines the movement from many perspectives – that of the Riders, the Kennedy administration and the international community.

The Freedom Riders had a simple but daring plan: to board buses in small

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together and did it.”

It’s an atypical Brooklyn coming-of-age story. The young man audiences see transform over the summer in the projects of Red Hook is not even from New York. Flik is in for a culture shock from the moment he is dropped off at his grandfather’s small public housing apartment. He’s used to all of the trappings of technology and affluence that have been his experience growing up in Atlanta’s black middle class.

“I’m kind of sad because the population is declining in New York City,” Lee said. “It’s so expensive. So black folks are like, ‘Look, I’m going back to where my parents are from or where my grandparents are from, where I could have some land, have a fence, have some grass and the living is easier.’”

The easy living of the New South is a far different reality from what led Southern blacks to Northern cities like New York for a better life. That is all Flik knows until he is baptized by fire in the

interracial groups to test and challenge segregated facilities in the South. The Freedom Riders endured savage beatings, humiliation, and imprisonment, but ultimately, their brave actions and commitment to nonviolence changed American forever.

“Freedom Riders” explores this little-known chapter in civil rights history, and explains how the selfless actions of the Freedom Riders laid the groundwork for some of the most important civil rights legislation in our nation’s history.

The exhibition, created by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and PBS’s flagship history series American Experience, is

projects of Brooklyn. He must adhere to the unspoken street codes and is introduced to an experience that was once intertwined with black life in the South: church.

Although born and bred in one of the Southern Baptist capitals, Flik has no concept of the black church experience until he spends time with his grandfather, “Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse.”

Strong-armed into spending his days at Little Piece of Heaven Baptist Church, Flik sees the hope and hypocrisy of the church.

“We wanted to make a film about how religion played a part in people’s lives today,” Lee said of himself and co-writer James McBride. “I did not grow up in the church. He did. In fact, the church you see in the movie, James’ parents founded that church.” Flik is a stranger to all of the experiences that would have made a young man who he is a generation before – the overwhelming presence of faith and identifying with his mother’s side of the family.

“For the past 16 years, her father had been trying to have a reconciliation with her and her son,” Lee said of Flik’s mother. “And she came to a

funded through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information about the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, visit www.gilderlehrman.org.

The Judicial Learning Center, which is dedicated to promoting public understanding of the importance of an independent judiciary and the rule of law in American society, is sponsoring a public lecture in connection with the exhibition on Friday, January 18 at the Eagleton Courthouse. Visit www. JudicialLearningCenter. org for more information or email Rachel_Marshall@ca8. uscourts.gov.

point where she felt it was necessary that her son know who his grandfather is. They had never met. And also Flik is at an age where he’s starting to act up. All of those factors contributed to her doing that.”

With the help of Red Hook neighborhood girl (and Little Piece of Heaven member) Chazz, Flik is able to navigate his own personal hell.

With a cast of mostly unknowns and supporting character actors, Red Hook Summer stars Nate Parker, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Clarke Peters and introduces audiences to Jules Brown as Flik and Toni Lysaith as Chazz Morningstar. Lee was eager to present a new chapter for the film if Red Hook Summer were revisited for a sequel.

“Him and Chazz get together and have a relationship,” Lee said. “He goes back to the Red Hook community and she comes back with him to Atlanta for a summer or spring break. Or what we could also do is he could end up going to Morehouse and she could go to Spelman.”

Red Hook Summer is Rated R and now available on DVD.

Florissant police partner with public schools

Florissant Mayor Thomas P. Schneider with some of the Command Staff and Police Chief William Karabas attended DARE graduations held recently at St. Rose- Philippine Duchesne, Halls Ferry and McCurdy elementary schools. Officer Lessie Summers is assigned to the schools to administered the DARE program to all 5th graders. DARE is a cooperative program between the schools and the police department that allows a police officer to come into schools and teach kids about the harmful effects of drugs and violence. The DARE Officer talks about how to be in charge in certain situations, peer pressure, tobacco, alcohol, drug addiction, and choosing good friends.

DJANDGO

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and execute her rescue.

It is the arrival at the Candieland plantation where Django comes to life – and should actually end. But it carries on, even does a double back before it ultimately winds down.

The upside of the film is found mostly in the performances – two in particular. While Christoph Waltz is serviceable and effective as Django’s saving grace Dr. Schultz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson are responsible for just about every ounce of flavor within the film. The duo leaves a lasting impression as the heartless plantation owner Calvin Candie and his most endeared servant Stephen.

Even though the shallow script fails to deliver the chops for him to fully do so, DiCaprio

comes close to the caliber of villains that make Tarantino one of the most unpredictable filmmakers.

His portrayal is so heartless and horrible that it alone stands as one of the few authentic references to the time of slavery.

And as the epitome of an “Uncle Tom” stereotype, Jackson justifies his position as Tarantino’s muse with his wickedly offensive and razor -sharp delivery as the chief house slave.

Although expectations are probably in the stratosphere, Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of the title character leaves much to be desired. It appears as if the burden of the controversy that has come with the role seemed to put him in a place of extreme insecurity as he attempts to create a presence for Django. The understated confidence and assurance that he brought with him in his Oscar-winning performance in Ray and his critically acclaimed supporting role in Collateral must have

been a distant memory as he attempted to peel back the layers and present Django.

And Kerry Washington is little more than a pretty face with a few convincing screams in the role of the driving force behind the climax of Django. Her limited speaking opportunities leave little room for developing a presence, but her detached performance make it all but impossible for fans to identify her as an integral element of the film.

Even as one of the more imperfect entries in Tarantino’s body of work, movie audiences will find Django entertaining on some level – especially if they don’t settle into their seat expecting a transcending masterpiece that details the woes of America’s darkest hour through the eyes of a man destined to leave an impression on history.

Django Unchained opened in theatres nationwide on Christmas. The film is rated R with a running time of 165 minutes.

Be a Tourist in Your Own Town

St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission

A gift to St. Louis

St. Louis’ refurbished Central Library re-opens

While most Americans were wrapping up their Christmas shopping last week, local officials were unwrapping a great gift to St. Louis.

After a $70 million renovation St. Louis’ Central Library re-opened recently with a ceremony attended by 4,000 people despite threatening skies and the flurry of holiday activities vying for attention.

The re-opening of the 100-year-old Beaux Arts library that covers an entire city block adds another “must-see” attraction to St. Louis’ already bursting line-up. A library, you ask. A tourist destination? Yes! This one certainly is. Whether you’re a history buff, architect aficionado, genealogy researcher or someone just looking for a respite to catch up on your reading or tap into free WiFi, Central Library has something for you.

The building itself is a masterpiece. Designed by noted American architect Cass Gilbert who also designed the elegant Saint Louis Art Museum and the stately U. S. Supreme Court Building on the National Mall in Washington, D. C., Central Library opened in 1912 with a three-hour ceremony.

The years took their toll on the grand building with an accumulation of grit and grim from the days when smoking was allowed and earlier “renovations” when some of the building’s original design elements were covered up.

The current project was not only a renovation–offices and the seven-story “stacks” were removed adding 40,000 square feet of space for public use–but a restoration that included uncovering a 100-year-old skylight now on view in the Carnegie Room. The designers did a masterful job of blending the old with the new.

“When you walk into the Great Hall on the main floor, the way it looks is now is like it looked in 1912 but then you step over into the atrium, it looks like you just stepped 20 years into the future,” says Gerald Brooks, director marketing and public relations for the St. Louis Public Library.

Here’s the Cliff Notes version of what you’ll see at the library:

The Grand Foyer with its majestic archways and beaux arts painted ceilings.

The stunningly beautiful stained glass windows in the Grand Staircase.

The awe-inspiring Great Hall. Don’t miss the alabaster and marble lamps and the library’s original reading tables.

A new, expansive, bright and

Stained glass windows have been cleaned and repaired at the main branch of the St. Louis Library as workers prepare the building to reopen its doors in St. Louis on December 5, 2012. After being closed for two years and following a $70-million rehabilitation, the 100 year old facility reopens to the public on December 9, 2012.

UPI/Bill Greenblatt

airy atrium. An inviting 244-seat auditorium where the building’s coal bin was once located.

A Teen Lounge where kids can hang out and even a cut their own CDs in a state-of-the art audio lab (coming soon)

The vibrant, colorful Kids’ Room guarded by three Mauro Perchhetti Jelly Baby sculptures.

The Fine Arts Room with its ceiling that’s a replica of the church of LaBadia in Florence, Italy.

Center for the Reader with its inspiring quotes sculpted into the ceiling.

Then there are the books: some of the oldest Bibles in the county, an extensive collection of miniature books and illuminated manuscripts and an entire floor dedicated to history.

“If you’re into history and genealogy, this is the place for you,” Brooks says. “Our whole third floor is now history and genealogy, special collections, rare books, St. Louis history.”

And that’s just the beginning. The library has a fabulous line-up of programs and exhibits coming up:

Piwacket Theatre will open the library’s Family Theater

Series in the stunning new auditorium at 3 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 15 with “Snowman’s Revenge.”

The Not So Quiet! Concert Series to be held at 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday night of each month beginning Dec. 18 with Acoustik Element, an instrumental Latin-inspired ensemble.

Home for the Holidays, a karaoke sing-along in the Teen Lounge Dec. 19.

An impressive lineup of author/speakers including Anita Hill, an attorney and professor at Brandeis University who in 1991 brought national focus to workplace sexual harassment, for Black History Month in February.

An exhibit on the Wizard of Oz on display May through August.

Whatever your interest, no doubt you will find something to inspire and excite you at Central Library.

And for a real jaw-dropping experience, be sure to get a look at the building lit up at night, something Brooks highly recommends. “I keep telling everybody I think they can see it from space now,” he says.

Happy New Year everyone!

African Drumming, Dance, and Visual Art Celebration Saturday December 29th

The Saint Louis Art Museum invites you to join us for a free Kwanzaa Musical Extravaganza on Saturday, December 29 at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Road, located just west of the St. Louis Galleria. This year’s program will include African drumming by Ngoma in Motion, storytelling by multi-talented musician and spoken word artist Kunama Mtendaji and dance by LIVITY with Anneliese Hubbard.

The Kwanzaa Celebration will continue its celebration on Sunday, December 30 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at Art Museum. Families and individuals of all ages can learn the seven principles of Kwanzaa by exploring Museum galleries with our Treasures of Kwanzaa Seek & Find Gallery Tour Following the tour, we invite you to make your own special zawadi (gift) shekere using an authentic gourd, beads and cowry shells.

Visitors are also invited to tour our newly re-installed African galleries. The works on view highlight many treasures donated by Saint Louis collectors over the last seven decades. The expansive range of works are organized thematically, with objects of Africa’s ancient past placed adjacent to headdresses, masks, and objects used to signify leadership, protection, and rites of passage.

The Art Museum’s annual Kwanzaa Celebration, presented in collaboration with the St. Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is designed to enhance cultural awareness of history and heritage through art. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., an international organization of more than 200,000 collegiate and professional women, is a public service organization that embodies an Arts and Letters Commission to promote interest in African and African-American history and culture through the arts.

For more information about the Saint Louis Art Museum Kwanzaa Celebrations being held Saturday, December 29 at the Ethical Society and Sunday, December 30 at the Art Museum, please call 314.655.5444 or email renee.franklin@slam.org.

more information and a complete listing of programs at the Saint Louis Art Museum, please visit

Photo:

Religion

Steward to speak at Governor’s Prayer Breakfast

Author of Doing Business by the Good Book invited by Gov. Nixon

American staff

David L. Steward, the founder of an international technology company based in St. Louis and the author of a book on faith and values in business, will be the featured speaker at the Missouri Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, on Thursday, Jan. 10 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Convention Center in Jefferson City. The Prayer Breakfast is an annual inter-faith event for all leaders and citizens of Missouri; its purpose is to seek God’s guidance for the state’s political leaders as they begin the legislative session.

Steward is the chairman and founder of World Wide Technology, a market-leading systems integrator and supply chain solutions provider.

Started in 1990 with a handful of employees and a 4,000 square-foot office, the company now has more than 2,000 employees and two millionplus square feet of facilities contributing to generate more than $4 billion in annual revenue. In 2011, World Wide Technology was ranked #50 on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

Steward is well-known for applying his strong faith to business. He is the author of a book on the importance of faith and values in business, Doing

Business by the Good Book: Fifty-Two Lessons on Success Straight from the Bible, with the foreword written by former President George H.W. Bush. His company, World Wide Technology, believes that a critical component of the strength of a community is the commitment that its resident businesses show toward that community. That belief is the foundation of WWT’s proactive involvement in the community. The company has invested in several community service organizations, primarily those that serve families and children, such as United Way, Ronald McDonald House, the Minority Scholarship Foundation, and the American Red Cross. Steward is both Chairman of the Greater St. Louis Area Council and President of the Central Region of the Boy Scouts of America, as well

as Chairman Emeritus of Variety the Children’s Charity of St. Louis. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the United Way and is Chair of their Planned Giving Committee, in addition to serving on the board of several other civic, academic and charitable organizations.

Steward was appointed by Gov. Nixon to serve on the University of Missouri Board of Curators, which oversees the operation of the fourcampus University of Missouri system. He also served on the executive advisory board of Gov. Nixon’s Strategic Initiative for Economic Growth, a process to set goals and plans to transform Missouri’s economy over the next five years.

David Steward grew up in Clinton, Mo., and is a graduate of Central Missouri State

University (now the University of Central Missouri). He and his wife Thelma, a registered nurse, have been married for 36 years. Their family includes son David II, and his wife, Mary; and daughter Kimberly.

In addition to the keynote speaker, the breakfast will also feature prayers, scripture verses and special music. The theme of the annual breakfast is from Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Proceeds from the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast support the Governor’s Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values. The forum brings together select Missouri college students for a three-day study of faith and leadership. Participants explore the role faith has played in the lives of business executives, sports figures and government officials.

The Missouri Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, established in the 1950s, is an annual observance welcoming participants from around Missouri at the beginning of the General Assembly’s legislative session. It was established as an extension of the National Prayer Breakfast, which was first held in 1953.

Tickets for the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast are $30 per seat or $300 per table, and may be purchased online at www. missourigpb.com. Questions about the breakfast or about ordering by mail may be sent to breakfast@missourigpb.com; the event also has a Facebook page. Seating of guests the morning of the event will start at 7:10 a.m., with the breakfast beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 9 a.m.

InspIratIonal Message

A minister recently reminded me of something I trust you will also find beneficial in understanding your walk in faith. The pastor reminded us that being a Christian is part of an evolutionary process.

There is purpose behind our struggle of faith. God is still in control and at every stage of our lives the test or the temptation is there to give us a chance to confirm and clarify our status with the Almighty.

What do you consider your duty in this life? Why are you here?

What’s the point of existence? To a man or woman of God, these are not hard questions. Life is a manifestation of knowledge that allows you to know God. Our purpose is to recognize who we are in relation to God and then act accordingly.

Now God does give us assistance in the process. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8. If this be the case, then it bears the question, “Where are we in this process?”

The one place we must be, though, is in it. In-theprocess means just that, in it. That means some part of our consciousness, some part of who we are actively (not passively) participates in the

work of the Lord. Faith is a verb, and in order to participate in any process you must do something. In this case you must do something in the name of God, period. It must be conscious. It must be deliberate. It must be inclusive of some understanding that Jesus would approve.

Maybe you remember something about the learning process in your youth. To be successful, study was required. Learning did not happen by osmosis.

Isn’t it amazing that the more you know about the Lord, the more there is to know?

The more you serve, the more you want to serve. How you serve is a byproduct of the gifts already given you by Him.

As the minister pointed out, there will be problems that arise along the way. These problems are understood and handled when you remember your purpose for participating in the first place. When you are fully engaged in the process of being a Christian, there is power to be had and shared when you realize you’re having success. And success has already been defined as understanding the war is already won. Christ did that. Just remember in these classes failure is possible but dropping out is not an option.

The American is accepting Inspirational Messages from the community. Send your column (no more than 400 words) as a Word document and pasted text to cking@stlamerican.

James A. Washington

Business leader and author on faith and values David

L. Steward will be the featured speaker at the 2013 Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Jefferson City on January 10.

Celebrity Swagger Snap of the Week

So long 2012. Well, it’s about that time. As we say farewell to another club season filled with highs, lows and more than one “girl, no” I thought it would only be right to reflect on my 2012 in these streets. Feel free to point out anything or anybody that you feel I’ve missed, but wait until after next week when I make a space for the things I blatantly forgot. Just kidding but not really

The year of the opening acts. Was it me, or when it mattered most a couple of the “featured performers” came through and snatched every sip of shine from the main attractions? The most shocking was Master P’s “bout it bout it” performance at Super Jam 2012. He pulled together a rag tag group of rapper stranger dangers and ripped the Verizon Wireless stage to pieces! He tore down so tough that I couldn’t even remember who the actual headliner was until I had moved on to scrolling through the last minute holiday sale ads and heard “Jeezy” whispering from my inner conscious. The first time I heard the annunciation wrong and thought I was literally caught up in the rapture…that’s what I get for buying into that whole Mayan calendar bit. But anyway, Miguel took note from the sidelines at Super Jam and when he got his next time to shine, he showed Trey Songz up so badly that I wouldn’t be surprised if he was put on probation from the Chapter V tour. And Mark Curry came from out of his comedy crypt to serve the fans with a funny that they hadn’t seen from him ever before. So much so that I forgot that it was supposed to be Sommore’s show.

Almost funny. Since I’m already on the topic of comedy, I might as well admit that I was almost going to say that 2012 was a bit underwhelming– until a homeboy reminded me that no one can do it better than the Lou. I was quietly saddened by the mailed in performance by Mike Epps. And even though Sommore gave me more life than I ever thought possible from her, whoever the rest of the folks on the latest lineup of the “Black People of Black Comedy” tour that makes its way to the Chaifetz every year had me on snooze. Steve Harvey gave me some life, but the Lumiere was the bright spot for me as I looked back on the year in laughter. First, Eddie Griffin had me cackling – even if I did have the number of an interventionist on standby– with his raw and real show that blasted Lil Wayne out the box for his “girl, you so different” zebra jeggings and had a Tiny Lister Jr.-looking man ready to pounce on him for calling out his warm vanilla sugar love thang. But it would be a true comedy heavyweight (sorry for the pun, but it works) to show the big time dudes how we do in the Lou. LaVell Crawford’s show was two months ago and I am still chuckling at his glorious set. As a matter of fact, a Metro bus came dangerously close to grazing my cleavage and I said “That Bi-state bus can hit me if it want to…cuz I’m ‘bout to get paid” like I had written the joke myself.

Where the party at? As I thought about my favorite parties over the past year I realized how they couldn’t have been more different from each other. Folks still remember how hot they were at the Super Jam afterparty at the City, where folks came to get a live sip of Miguel and Wale. And it was obvious YET AGAIN at their annual all class reunion picnic that U. City will stand together and get down like nobody’s business. And that grand opening party at the Paragon was indeed about that life. The Day Party Series was one hit after another and the lovely Tiffany Foxx had the crowd on lock both for her mixtape release party featuring Trina and her b-day party at the Coliseum.

Celeb features and fails. Oprah Winfrey came to town and just about every woman between the ages of 24-65 fell out at just the thought of getting up close and personal with “Lady O.” She was everything the media has cracked her up to be as she hugged folks, shook hands and kissed babies during her stop at Sweetie Pie’s and had folks ready to reinvent themselves thanks to her LifeClass event at the Peabody Operahouse (or Oprahhouse, as some folks were calling it). Kevin Hart gave a cute taste of face time to fans on the eve of his show at a special screening of “Think Like a Man.” And Spinderella gave the folks something to talk about as she hung back with guests of the Salute To Excellence in Education Budweiser Platinum Party. Meanwhile, there were a few folks who, in my opinion, should have stayed home. I wish Evelyn Lozada had waited until after Iyanla fixed her life to come to town, because the cold shoulder she dished out at the Missouri Black Expo was just.... Morris Chestnut is obviously still living in 1997 by the way that he cut up about the type of accommodations and the guests who came to see him at the Ambassador. Boy bye.

Top of the concert crop. Folks are probably going to call me crazy because out of all the super-sized mega budget shows, most of my favorites were on the small scale side of things. The folks at Lola were after my own heart after they presented Zo! And Sy Smith and Avery Sunshine – who had me saying hallelujah and getting my second alto game together for days after she tore it. And the 20th Anniversary Tour of Arrested Development brought some unfamiliar faces by way of their new supporting lineup, but the energy was absolutely the same at 2720 Cherokee! On the larger scale New Edition absolutely served! You wouldn’t have known it wasn’t 1985 if it weren’t for their browlines and a pot belly or two R. Kelly was in classic form as well, even if his show felt sped through.

Crowning moment. If I were going to give an overall top experience of 2012, it would have to be….wait for it…Nelly and The St. Lunatic’s show at The Soldier’s Memorial. I mean, seeing folks from the North Side and U. City unite 40,000 folks from all walks of life downtown and have them singing “I’m from the Lou…and I’m proud”…I just can’t see how it gets any better than that. But I also want to give an honorable mention shout out to the Coffee, Cupcakes and Curls event featuring Miss Jessie’s founders and say another congrats to Shorty Da Prince for landing a spot as one of the new faces of BET’s 106 and Park.

Mr. No Limit himself Master P with Jami after he set the stage on fire in June @ Hot 104.1FM’s SJ2012 @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

Members of Sygu got a bird’s eye view of the packed house @ The Pageant on for their 5th annual Teese Party Memorial Day Weekend

Angie and Tendai of Cafe Soul with R&B Crooner Eric Benet @ The Pageant in July following his featured performance @ Ledisi’s BGTY tour

Mike Epps surprised rap star T.I. on stage @ JB presents concert series @ The Ambassador in

Comedian Eddie griffin with Peggy and Tammy backstage before his performance @ The Lumiere Theater back in June

Tony Rock and Nina Jackson of Strawberry Divas backstage after his set during The Royal Comedy Tour at The Chaifetz arena in May

Keenan with Jay-Z’s DJ Young Guru @ SOHO as he moved the crowd with Jay-Z hits in November

Roy Jones Jr. and James Clark take in the Devon Alexander fight in February

Spinderella teamed up with Rockis Rob, DJ Phil, DJ Bird and DJ Boss to rock the party @ the 25th Annual Salute to Excellence in Education

Camille of Creations by Camille with Young Jeezy after the concert @ The Ambassador in January

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

Year in Review 2012 • 2

JANUARY

1st – The Special Administrative Board approves mandatory Tobacco–Free policy for St. Louis Public School (SLPS) District.

7th – Jay–Z and Beyonce welcome their first child, Blue Ivy Carter, at New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital.

12th – The cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground and partially sinks after hitting a reef off off Isola del Giglio, an island near the coast of Tuscany, Italy, killing 30 passengers and crew and injuring 64 others.

14th – Former Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher becomes the eighth head coach of the St. Louis Rams.

16th – Coalition of Black Trade Unionists honors St. Louis American photojournalist Wiley Price at 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Awards Banquet.

17th – St. Louis Cardinals celebrate their 2011 World Series win at the White House with President Barack and Michelle Obama on the First Lady’s 48th birthday.

19th – Vatterott College Ex’treme Institute by Nelly launches “Seviin @ 7,” a web–based TV Show featuring music celebrities, hosted by Seviin Li and Murphy Lee of the St. Lunatics.

20th – Red Tails opens nationwide in theatres, a story about famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.

25th – St. Louis Public Library earns

Second–Place ranking in the Library Category of the 2011 American’s Most Literate Cities study conducted by Central Connecticut State University.

28th – Thousands of St. Louisans attend “Welcome Home Heroes Parade,” the nation’s first celebration to honor Iraq veterans.

FEBRUARY

10th – Judge George Draper III is sworn onto the Missouri Supreme Court. Judge

Draper is the second African American judge to be appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court.

11th – Mathews–Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club celebrates 52nd anniversary at star–studded Alumni Celebration & Awards Showcase.

11th – International singing sensation, actress, producer and model Whitney Houston drowns in a bathtub before a birthday party in honor of Clive Davis. 16th –The National Archives in North St. Louis County hosts Emancipation Proclamation 150 years: Pre and Post event featuring a panel of scholars discussing historical moments that lead up to its passage.

17th – A team of lawyers for the Innocence Project submit an amended petition to the Cole County Circuit Court that states critical evidence was withheld in the 1982 murder and rape conviction case of George Allen.

17th – STL native Lyah Beth LeFlore wins first NAACP Image Award with co–author Shirley Strawberry for: The Strawberry Letter: Real Talk, Real Advice Because Bitterness Isn’t Sexy.

25th – A national television audience watches as STL native Devon “The Great” Alexander wins a 10–round welterweight boxing match against Marcos Maidana at the Scottrade Center.

26th – Activist and author Angela Davis discusses black women in American history and culture during an event organized by the St. Louis Public Library at Christ Church Cathedral.

Feb. 26th –In Sanford, Fla., unarmed Trayvon Martin, 17, is fatally shot by George Zimmerman, 28. The tragedy sparks national protests for the repeal of the state’s “Stand your Ground Law.”

v – In Sanford, Fla., unarmed Trayvon Martin, 17, is fatally shot by George Zimmerman, 28. The tragedy sparks national protests for the repeal of the state’s “Stand your Ground Law.”

MARCH

1st – St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation announces it will not host annual football game to focus on its scholarship program and prepare for next year’s 20th anniversary game.

5th – First Lady Michelle Obama campaigns in St. Louis for President Barack Obama’s re–election at a fundraiser held at the Peabody Opera House.

8th – St. Louis Community College

Chancellor Myrtle E.B. Dorsey oversees the grand opening of the new $5.5 million Corporate College in Bridgeton.

15th – In a major government shakeup of China’s leadership, Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai was removed due to a growing corruption scandal.

23rd – Approximately 700 Justice for Trayvon supporters marched in downtown St. Louis and convened at Tower Grove Park for a public prayer vigil.

25th – Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King dine at Sweetie Pie’s, the St. Louis soul food restaurant Oprah made famous by making it the focus of a reality TV show .

26th – Oprah Winfrey tapes live show of Oprah Lifeclass: The Tour – Live with Purpose at the Peabody Opera House with

10th – Judge George Draper III is sworn onto the Missouri Supreme Court.

Jan. 17th – St. Louis Cardinals celebrate their 2011 World Series win at the White House with President Barack and Michelle Obama on the First Lady’s 48th birthday.

Bishop T.D. Jakes and Iyanla Vanzant. St. Louis is one of three cities chosen for the live tour.

31st – Hit STL reality show Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s debuts second season on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

APRIL

2nd – Express Scripts Inc. acquires Medco Health Solutions Inc. for $29.1 billion. Express Scripts becomes the largest national employer in the St. Louis region and the largest pharmacy benefits manager nationwide.

4th – United Way begins recruiting 2,000 volunteers for its new Education Express initiative to provide tutoring and mentoring for elementary, high school and college students.

6th – Rev. Larry Rice of New Life Evangelistic Center organizes a march to protest the death of Anna Brown, a homeless woman who died while in police custody.

6th – STL native and former TV journalist Sheila Banks hosts a book launch party to celebrate the publication of Bittersweet at City Hall.

15th – Late rapper Tupac Shakur returns from the dead in the form of a virtual hologram to perform with former Death Row label mate Snoop Dogg during the 2012 Coachella Music Festival.

17th – Former Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club officially changes its name to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater St. Louis to create a more defined association with the national Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

17th – In Jefferson City, the Missouri Board of Education unanimously votes to shut down the Imagine Charter Schools in St. Louis by the end of the current school year, affecting nearly 4,000 students.

20th – Think like a Man based on the best–selling book Act Like a Lady, Think Like A Man by Steve Harvey hits theatres nationwide. Comedian Kevin Hart promoted the film during a special movie screening at the Esquire Theatre in St. Louis.

23rd – Pilar Sanders, estranged wife of former NFL defensive back Deion Sanders, is arrested in Dallas, TX for assaulting her husband.

MAY

5th – Dr. Alison Nash receives the 2012 Stellar Performer Award at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon held at the Frontenac Hilton.

9th – The American remembers the late Paul Reiter, former American circulation manager, who was shot and killed one year earlier.

9th – David Steward, founder and chairman of World Wide Technology, Inc., becomes the first black co–owner of the St. Louis Blues.

9th – Civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman accepts the 2011 Citizen of the Year Award at Harris–Stowe State University.

9th – President Barack Obama announces he supports same sex marriage.

11th – JPMorgan Chase admits it lost at least $3 billion in bad trades. Its CEO, Jamie Dimon had to testify before the Senate Banking Committee. Other estimates put the losses as high as $9 billion.

11th – Robert Powell debuts Dark Girls exhibit at the Portfolio Gallery which explores biases and attitudes toward skin color both outside of and within the African–American community.

14th – In Jefferson City, Mo. House speaker Steve Tilley secretly inducts controversial right–wing radio commentator Rush Limbaugh into the Hall of Famous Missourians.

18th – American publisher and executive

editor Donald M. Suggs receives an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at Washington University.

18th – Facebook goes public with the largest IPO ever for a tech company, selling at $38 per share.

24th – President Obama invites 10 St. Louis business and civic leaders to participate in a sit–down meeting at the White House to discuss economic competitiveness, innovation and job creation in Missouri.

31st –U.S. unemployment hits 8.2 percent at the end of May.

JUNE

1st – The Convention and Visitors Commission rejects the St. Louis Rams’ proposal to upgrade the Edward Jones Dome. Without upgrades, the team could get out of its lease and leave town at the end of the 2014 season.

2nd – Breast cancer survivor Ebony Steele, co–host of the syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show, is a featured speaker at the “Circle of Promise: A Special Breast Cancer Awareness Event and Wellness Fair” held at Harris–Stowe State University.

2nd – Urban League hosts Stop the Violence Summit at North County Recreational Complex.

8th – Spain accepts a European bailout for its ailing banks as part of the economic crisis in the eurozone.

8th – A life–sized statue of Dred and Harriet Scott is unveiled to the public in front of the historic Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis where the Scotts petitioned in 1846 for their freedom from slavery.

14th – Judges dissolved Egypt’s parliament, ruling its election was unconstitutional.

16th – Egyptians go to the poll during the weekend of June 16 and elect Islamist Mohammed Morsi as president.

25th – The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down most of Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

28th – U.S. Supreme Court upholds disputed key components of the Affordable Health Care and Protection Act – dubbed by opponents as Obama Care.

29th – In a New Jersey, Lauryn Hill pleads guilty to failing to file federal tax returns in 2005, 2006, and 2007, a federal crime. She owes $1.8M in unpaid taxes and faces three years in prison.

May 9th – Civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman accepts the 2011 Citizen of the Year Award at Harris–Stowe State University.

March 25th – Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King dine at Sweetie Pie’s, the St. Louis soul food restaurant Oprah made famous by making it the focus of a TV show.

April 20th – Think like a Man based on the best–selling book Act Like a Lady, Think Like A Man by Steve Harvey hits theatres nationwide.

Obituaries

JANUARY

17th - Johnny Otis, who produced the original version of “Hound Dog” for Big Mama Thornton, dies at 90.

20th –Etta James, legendary soul singer of classic hits ‘At Last’ and ‘Sunday Kind of Love,’ dies of leukemia at 73.

22nd – Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno dies at age 85 of lung cancer two months after being fired for his knowledge of a child sex abuse scandal involving his assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky.

FEBRUARY

1st – ‘Soul Train’ creator and long-time host Don Cornelius dies from a selfinflicted gunshot wound. He was 75.

11th – Music icon Whitney Houston dies of accidental drowning and effects of heart disease and cocaine use. She was found in a bathtub in her Beverly Hilton Hotel room one day shy of the 54th Grammy Awards. She was 48.

26th – In Sanford, Fla., unarmed Trayvon Martin, 17, is fatally shot by George Zimmerman, 28. The tragedy sparks national protests for the repeal of the state’s “Stand your Ground Law.”

MARCH

3rd - University of Missouri sports pioneer Norris Stevenson dies of colon cancer. Stevenson became Mizzou’s first African-American scholarship

football player in 1958. He was also a Hall of Fame track and field coach and inducted into the University of Missouri Football Hall of Fame in 2002. He was 72.

8th - Jimmy Ellis, vocalist for famed Philadelphia disco band the Trammps best known for their hit “Disco Inferno,” dies of complications from Alzheimers. He was 74.

APRIL

18th – Dick Clark, a TV personality known for the shows American Bandstand and TV’s Bloopers, dies of a heart attack a day after undergoing prostate surgery. He was 82.

MAY

1st - Charles “Skip” Pitts, soul guitarist

best known for his iconic guitar riff for the “Theme from Shaft,” dies of cancer. He was 65.

2nd - Junior Seau, ex-NFL linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, shoots himself in the chest at his home. He was 43.

16th – Chuck Brown was a singer and guitarist best known as the “Godfather of Go-Go” dies of multiple organ failure at 75. Brown’s hit songs include “I Need Some Money” and “Bustin’ Loose.”

17th – Donna Summer (LaDonna Adrian Gaines), was a singer-songwriter who became the “Queen of Disco” in the 1970s with such hits as “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love” and “Last Dance.” She died of lung cancer not related to smoking. She was 63.

JUNE

14th - Yvette Wilson, best known for

Don Cornelius

Johnny Otis

Yvette Wilson

Joe Paterno

Whitney Houston

Etta James

Rodney King

Donna Summer

Dick Clark

Charles “Skip” Pitts

Junior Seau

Chuck Brown Sherman Hemsley

starring in the ‘90s UPN sitcom Moesha dies of cervical cancer. She was 48.

17th – Rodney King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers set off one of the most destructive race riots in the nation’s history, dies after being pulled from the bottom of his swimming pool. He was 47.

JULY

3rd - Andy Griffith, creator of Mayberry, dies at 86.

10th - Maria Hawkins Cole, widow of jazz crooner Nat “King” Cole and mother of singer Natalie Cole, dies in Boca Raton, Fla. after a short battle with cancer. She was 89.

14th – Corporal John Tilghman, of St. Peters, Mo., served during World War II and was the first black allowed into the United States Marine Corps. He received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor that Congress bestows upon a civilian. He was 90.

17th - William Raspberry, pulitzer Prizewinning columnist for The Washington Post, was one of the first black journalists to gain a wide following in the mainstream press. He dies of prostate cancer at 76.

18th – Rapper Miss Melodie, whose real name was Ramona Scott, dies at age of

43. She was once married to rapper KRSOne.

24th – Sherman Hemsley dies of lung cancer at 74. He starred as George Jefferson alongside Isabel Sanford in The Jefferson’s which ran for 10 years.

26th - John Gadson, longtime on-air reporter for KTVI Fox 2 news, dies today after battling Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 59.

AUGUST

1st- 27th Ward Alderman Gregory J. Carter dies a in a multi-vehicle crash in St. Charles County. He was 54.

9th - Actor Al Freeman Jr., best known for his portrayal of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in Spike Lee’s 1992 film “Malcolm X,” dies at 78.

19th - George Hickman, one of the few surviving Tuskegee Airmen, dies at 88.

25th –Neil Armstrong, an astronaut who made history on July 20, 1969 by becoming the first man to walk on the moon, dies. He was 82.

SEPTEMBER

3rd – Michael Clarke Duncan made his big-screen debut in the comedy film Friday. Duncan’s role in 1999’s

The Green Mile earned him an Oscar nomination. He dies of complications from a heart attack. He was 54.

18th - Steve Sabol, co-founder of NFL Films, dies of brain cancer. He was 69.

OCTOBER

4th – Helen Elizabeth Nash, M.D., a pediatrician who has served three generations of children over a 45 year time period, dies at her home in St. Louis. In 1949, Dr. Nash became the first African-American woman to join the attending staff at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and in 1977 she became the first to become president of the medical staff. She was 91.

5th – Donald M. Suggs Jr., son of St. Louis American publisher and executive editor Donald M. Suggs, dies of heart complications in New York City. He was a senior editor at The Village Voice, a former associate director at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and a former program director at Harlem United Community AIDS Center. He was 51.

27th - Natina Reed, was an actress and singer with the R&B group Blaque, is hit by a car and dies in Atlanta. She was 32.

29th – Betty A. McCaskill, mother of U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, dies of natural causes a week before her

daughter’s re-election. She was at 84.

NOVEMBER

9th - Major Harris, R&B singer who helped pioneer the musical genre known as Philadelphia soul in the ‘70s and a member of the Delfonics, dies at 65.

24th - Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho, former Puerto Rican welterweight boxing champion passes away at age 50 after being shot in Puerto Rico.

DECEMBER

1st - Longtime men’s college basketball coach Rick Majerus, who led Utah to the NCAA final in 1998 and ex-Saint Louis University (SLU) coach, dies at 64 of heart problems. He was a coach at SLU for five years.

1st - Jovan Belcher, ex-NFL linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, took his own life after murdering his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins. Perkins was the mother of his three-month-old daughter and the couple reportedly had a long-history of domestic problems. He was 25. She was 22.

9th - Jenni Rivera, a U.S.-born MexicanAmerican singer, dies in a plane crash in northern Mexico. She was 43.

14th – Adam Lanza shoots and kills his mother, Nancy, plus 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in a mass shooting. Lanza, 20, also took his own life.

Hector “Macho” Camacho

Andy Griffith Major Harris

Michael Clarke Duncan

Rick Majerus

Neil Armstrong

Jenni Rivera

Donald M. Suggs Jr.

Betty McCaskill

Natina Reed

Gregory J Carter

Diversity Leadership Summit at the Edward Jones Global Headquarters.

3rd – President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed announces his intention to run for mayor next March against incumbent Mayor Francis G. Slay.

6th – Approximately 8,000 supporters participate in the 3rd annual 3k Sista Strut Breast Cancer Walk at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.

9th – Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, receives a 30 to 60 year sentence after he was found guilty in June of 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

11th – Police arrest Nelly’s bodyguard Brian Keith Jones after finding large amounts of drugs and a gun during a search of Nelly’s tour bus in Sierra Blanca, Tx. Jones later pleads not guilty to felony charges.

14th – Felix Baumgartner breaks multiple records when he skydives from space 24 miles above the earth. He becomes the first skydiver to break the sound barrier, complete the highest–altitude skydive in history, the longest free fall without a parachute, and the fastest speed ever achieved during a skydive.

16th – The Missouri State Board of Education votes to unanimously award the St. Louis Public School District with provisional accreditation.

16th – State Rep. Chris Carter was selected during a special election to succeed his late uncle Gregory J. Carter as 27th Ward Alderman in St. Louis.

18th – American photojournalist Wiley Price is inducted into the Missouri Photojournalist Hall of Fame. Price has captured important historical moments for the American since 1982.

22nd – The U.S Anti–Doping Agency announced that it will strip seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong of his titles, as well as other honors he received from 1999 to 2005, and banned from cycling for life, concluding that Armstrong had used banned performanceenhancing substances during those years.

29th – Superstorm Sandy strikes the US Atlantic coast leaving 181 people dead from the Caribbean to Canada. Damage estimates put the cost of the storm around $50 billion, the second costliest storm in history, behind Hurricane Katrina.

NOVEMBER

5th – Church of God in Christ holds its 105th Holy Convocation in St. Louis.

6th – President Barack Obama is

heterosexual sex is 15 times as high as that of white women, and more than 3 times as high as that of Latino women; and an alarming 48 percent increase in new HIV infections from 2006 to 2009 among young, black men who have sex with men, aged 13 to 29 years.

9th – Nelson Mandela hospitalized.

11th – Mayor Slay signs Executive Order 46, expanding workforce diversity goals that apply to city projects to also apply to projects in the city that benefit from a TIF valued at $1 million or more.

19th – President Barack Obama appoints vice president Joe Biden to spearhead recommendations for gun control legislation in the U.S.

19th – Robert Bork, the conservative judge and scholar whose 1987 nomination by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Supreme Court sparked an epic battle which has defined Senate judicial politics ever since, dies at age 85.

re-elected to a second term against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the general election after securing 332 electoral votes.

6th – In local elections, incumbents Gov. Jay Nixon, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, Attorney General Chris Koster and State Treasurer Clint Zweifel win reelections. It will be Nixon’s final term in office.

6th – University of Missouri Chancellor Dr. Brady Deaton announces that the school has accepted a bid to join the South Eastern Athletic Conference (SEC) in Columbia, MO. Missouri will leave the Big 12 to join the 78–year–old conference.

7th – Gay marriage has been legalized Washington, D.C. and in nine states (ME, MD, MA, CT, IA, VT, NH, NY, and WA). Thirty-one states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and laws in six states ban gay marriage.

9th – CIA Director and retired general David Petraeus submits his resignation to President Barack Obama at the White House after it is revealed he had an extra–marital affair.

12th – Puppeteer Kevin Clash, voice of Sesame Street’s Elmo, takes a leave of absence from the show after allegations surface that he had an inappropriate relationship with a 16–year–old boy, who is now 23. The young man later recants his story.

14th – In Jefferson City, Mo., George Allen Jr., 56, walks out of prison a free man after being imprisoned for 30 years for a rape and murder that new and previously undisclosed evidence shows he didn’t commit. Attorney General Chris Koster appeals, but Allen remains free.

16th – Hostess Brands announces it is shutting down business in all of its plants, including St. Louis, due to a dispute with striking union workers, resulting in a loss of 18,500 jobs.

19th – President Barack Obama attends the East Asia Summit at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia becoming the first U.S. president ever to visit the country.

29th – Gov. Jay Nixon announces that he wants to expand Missouri’s Medicaid program to provide health care coverage to some 220,000 uninsured adults in the state.

DECEMBER

1 – World AIDS Day – Thirty years after the discovery of AIDS and HIV, the CDC estimates 26 percent of new HIV infections occur in youth, between the ages of 13–24; the rate of infection of black women in the U.S. mostly by

19th – The chief of the State Department’s security service, one of his deputies and an official from the agency’s Middle East bureau resign after a damning report that found systematic management failures responsible for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

19th – Miss USA Olivia Culpo is crowned Miss Universe 2012 at the pageant held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

20th – Missouri History Museum’s Bob Archibald announces his resignation after months of hounding by the Post-Dispatch and Gloria Wessels, a Slay appointee to the Zoo-Museum District.

21st – President Obama nominates former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts for secretary of state, after first nominee Susan Rice withdraws.

December 11th – Mayor Slay signs Executive Order 46, expanding workforce diversity goals to also apply to projects in the city that benefit from a TIF valued at $1

or

October 18th – American photojournalist Wiley Price is inducted into the Missouri Photojournalist Hall of Fame.

million

more.

October 29th – Superstorm Sandy strikes the US Atlantic coast leaving 181 people dead from the Caribbean to Canada.

Christian is Respected

Our emergency department is ranked in the top 5% nationally.

Christian Hospital’s Emergency Department treated over 100,000 people last year – the most in the entire area – and the recent expansion of our Northwest HealthCare emergency department further increases our capacity to serve patients while radically reducing their wait times.

This commitment to our community has gotten noticed, too. Our ER is ranked in the top 5% nationally for patient outcomes and in the top 10% nationally for patient satisfaction.

And Christian is not only one of the top performing hospitals in the BJC HealthCare organization, we’re also ranked among the top hospitals in the entire St. Louis region by U.S. News & World Report.

See for yourself what we’re talking about. Take a virtual tour of our expanded Northwest HealthCare emergency department by visiting ChristianCares.org today.

Christian Hospital is a U.S. News high performer in four specialty areas: Geriatrics, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Pulmonology and Urology.