February 14th, 2019 Edition

Show me black lives matter by electing black leadership

By Bruce Franks Jr.

For The St. Louis American

You don’t have to be blood to be considered family. And you’re not going to always agree with family. But you will fight for them and love them unconditionally.

Many have questioned my support for state Senator Jamilah Nasheed in her race for president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, so I felt like giving an in-depth explanation of why I love and support my sister Jamilah Nasheed. We didn’t start off as friends. A good Why I am supporting Jamilah Nasheed wholeheartedly

n I felt like giving an in-depth explanation of why I love and support my sister Jamilah Nasheed.

friend of mine named Dylan ran against her in 2016 when I first ran for state representative. After being on the opposite sides of a couple of races and a very heated argument about the mayor’s race when I was not yet supporting Tishaura O. Jones and she was, she called me up to her office

for a sit-down. We talked about moving forward and apologized to each other.

Let’s stick a pin right there: someone who arguably had the most name recognition and the money to run for mayor didn’t see a path to victory, so Nasheed bowed out gracefully and began to support Tishaura. The one thing that we asked just one of the ego-driven men in the race to do, and she did it. She put her money where her mouth was.

Let’s also talk about Rex Sinquefield. When you are a legislator, there are folks

Jennings, Ferguson-Florissant score

‘Accredited with Distinction’

Tasia Towns, Shemiah Green, Maxwell Morgan, second grade students at Columbia Elementary School in the St. Louis Public School District (SLPS), learned subtraction on Tuesday, January 8. SLPS scored in the full accreditation range on the state’s most recent Annual Performance Report.

must resist’

STL native Rep. Maxine Waters praises Dr. King and defies Donald Trump

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Days after she made history in Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) stood before a St. Louis crowd at Harris-Stowe State University and let them know that there is no place like home. On February 1, she became the first woman and the first African American in the nation’s 243-year history to chair the powerful House Financial Services Committee. Waters, a Kinloch native, told the hometown audience that she learned about the U.S.

Constitution in the very halls where she delivered the keynote address for the 33rd ‘We

n “Stand up for what is right. Stand up for the democracy that is supposed to hold out promise for all of us.”

– U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters

State gave public schools four different standardized tests in past five years

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

n “We have made history in Jennings.”

– Jennings Superintendent Art McCoy

Rep.

Report cards for school districts statewide came out on February 1, and the majority of districts in the St. Louis area scored well above the range for full accreditation. However, state education officials explained that school districts cannot measure their growth because the tests have been changing almost

make any judgment about a first-year score. It really does a disservice to the districts to find out how well they are doing relative to the students because you keep moving the goal post.”

Ritenour School District Superintendent Chris Kilbride wrote to district families explaining that the children took completely new assessments in English language arts and math this year.

Invest in education to reduce poverty, crime and violence

By

Photo by Wiley Price

Senator Nasheed knows all too well about gun violence. She lost her father to a drive-by shooting.

Dwaun J. Warmack For the St. Louis American

U.S.

Maxine Waters delivered the keynote address for the 33rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Statewide Celebration Kick Off Program for Missouri on Friday, February 8 at HarrisStowe State University.

Photo by Wiley Price

21 Savage out on bond after ICE detainment

21 Savage has been released on a bond after being arrested by immigration officials. He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Georgia nearly two weeks ago after they alleged that the rapper is a British citizen and has overstayed his United States visa for over a decade.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested unlawfully present United Kingdom national Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph AKA ‘21 Savage’ during a targeted operation with federal and local law enforcement partners early Sunday in metro Atlanta,” ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said.

He has since been released for the time being and has reached out to his fans and supporters on social media via his lawyers.

Awards, he was there in spirit and is grateful for the support from around the world and is more than ever, ready to be with his loved ones and continue making music that brings people together,” His lawyers, Charles H. Kuck, Dina LaPolt and Alex Spiro, said in a statement. “He will not forget this ordeal or any of the other fathers, sons, family members, and faceless people, he was locked up with or that remain unjustly incarcerated across the country. And he asks for your hearts and minds to be with them.”

AJ Calloway suspended from ‘Extra’

“Extra” co-host Calloway has been suspended pending an investigation into several allegations of sexual misconduct.

“21 Savage asked us to send a special message to his fans and supporters - he says that while he wasn’t present at the Grammy

“Upon becoming aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against AJ Calloway, we began an internal review to determine whether there had been any misconduct by Mr.

Calloway on ‘Extra’ and whether any employee of the show had been the victim of any such misconduct,”

producer Warner Bros. Television said in a statement to Variety.com, referring to earlier allegations against Calloway. “To date, we have found nothing to suggest that Mr. Calloway has ever engaged in workplace misconduct.”

Warner Bros. added, “In light of additional allegations brought to our attention, we are expanding our ongoing inquiries, and Mr. Calloway has been suspended pending further review. We take such allegations very seriously and are committed to doing everything we can to ensure a safe and inclusive workplace for all of our employees.”

Nikki Minaj

Nicki Minaj cancels BET over Cardi B related tweet

Nicki Minaj has cancelled her headline appearance at the BET Experience festival after a tweet from the network’s official account said that Minaj was being “dragged by her lacefront” after her former rap

rival Cardi B took home a historic “Rap Album of the Year” at the 2019 Grammy Awards on Sunday.

“Young Money will no longer be a part of the BET Experience or award show,” Minaj tweeted in response.

“Summer Tour dates dropping soon.”

BET issued a lengthy apology in response to the tweet, saying it “should never have been written.”

“The post does not reflect how we feel about Nicki. And further does not reflect our company values,” The statement read. “We deeply apologize for the hurt, disappointment and confusion that this post has caused. We are committed to doing everything we can to address the situation.”

BET said that the organization “conducting an internal audit” over the incident – and said it has apologized privately to both the rapper and her team in response to the since deleted post.

“We understand Nicki’s position and look forward to continuing our dialogue with her,” the statement concluded. “Finally, we apologize to all her fans. This should have never happened.”

Before the apology, Minaj shared messages from fans slamming BET for its joke, and even encouraged one follower to ask for a refund for the festival in June.

Sources: Celebretainment.com, Variety.com, BBC.com, BET.com, Twitter.com.

AJ Calloway

21 Savage

Alumni, community donate 1,200-plus books to Normandy High

Next, Maryville University design students will suggest improvements to library

consortium.

By Bridjes O’Neil Normandy Schools Collaborative

The library bookshelves at Normandy High School have more selections to choose from, thanks to the generosity of Normandy alumni and members of the community.

Karen Green, a member of the Normandy High School Class of 1977, said she came up with the idea to give back to her alma mater as a service project for her co-workers and students at the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management (CGSM ) at Washington University. The Consortium is a nonprofit that works to increase diversity in master’s in business administration programs and corporate America nationwide.

n “The goal is to create a library space that is more inviting and encourages students to get more involved in their education.”

– Linda Mixon

“I’ve done so many fundraisers, I thought I should do something for my former school,” said Green, who serves as the manager for individual giving at CGSM.

Revamping Normandy High School’s library is a community project, Green said. Green created a wish list on AmazonSmile where supporters bought over 200 books, with a small percentage of eligible purchases benefiting the

On Giving Tuesday, the Consortium — in partnership with Sterling Bank, Normandy students, staff, and alumni — delivered, cataloged, stamped, stickered, covered and shelved more than 1,200 books for the high school library. Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday is a widely recognized shopping event like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and kicks off the charitable season. Green collaborated with Normandy’s English department and library media specialist Linda Mixon to compile a list of books based on students’ interests. The goal was to increase the number of current AfricanAmerican authors in the school’s collection like former First Lady Michelle Obama and her book “Becoming,” which was among donated books. To have books donated, Mixon said, saves the school hundreds of dollars which can be repurposed to improve other areas of the library’s collection.

“The goal is to create a library space that is more inviting and encourages students to get more involved

in their education,” she said.

Green credits Jacqueline Buck-Horton, a board member for the Normandy High School Alumni Association, with being a driving force in the project.

“Green and I were connected by another alum who told her that ‘Jacqueline is the person you need to work with on this project,’” Buck-Horton said.

Buck-Horton solicited additional book donations from Sterling Bank, ThriftBooks, LLC, and Half-Price Books in University City. She also secured monetary donations from Sterling Bank and two

alums with one donor providing $5,000.

Buck-Horton, a member of the Normandy High School Class of 1978, said she’s heavily involved with her alma mater and believes it’s important to pay it forward.

“I bleed red and green,” said Buck-Horton, vice president of Community Development at Sterling Bank. “It’s not only the library books that have been important in my life, but the library itself has carried a special meaning for me as it was a place to gather.”

The next two phases of the project will focus on leveraging support for library renovations by partnering with Maryville University’s Darlene Davison, director of the Interior Design Program and associate professor of Interior Design. Davis’ design class will create three design improvement options as part of their coursework this semester.

Mixon’s vision for the library includes relocating the computer lab to a more secluded space.

“The way the facility is currently set up, the computer lab is right at the front door of the library,” Mixon said. “During the spring, I close down the library because we use the computer lab for state testing.”

She is also exploring the idea of adding a makerspace, a collaborative work space to provide students with more hands-on experiments in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math).

“The book drive was just to get us going,” Green said. “The community will help us finish this project, hopefully, by next Giving Tuesday.”

Karen Green, a member of the Normandy High School Class of 1977, said she came up with the idea to give back to her alma mater as a service project for her co-workers and students at the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management at Washington University.

Editorial /CommEntary

St. Louis must invest in young, black males to grow

While St. Louis was preoccupied with Better Together’s recently released proposal for merging St. Louis city and county governments, HomeGrown STL convened its annual summit on February 7 at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University, where it’s based. Its focus was succinctly stated in the title of the policy brief released and discussed at the summit: “Social Mobility: The Necessary Focus of St. Louis Investment in Black Males.”

The brief was researched and written by Sean Joe, associate dean for Faculty & Research and the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School, and Robert Motley, lab manager of the Brown School’s Race and Opportunity Lab. Their thesis is pretty simple: if St. Louis does not make major investments in improving the social mobility of young black males in the region, then it does not much matter what else does get the region’s investment and attention. We can, for example, merge St. Louis city and county governments – as Herculean and unlikely a feat as that may be – and yet we can still expect the St. Louis region to lag far behind its potential for prosperity and peace if we don’t improve the social mobility of our young black males.

Some statistics from their policy brief tell the story almost as starkly as all of the young, black males who end up in the city’s morgue and jails. The unemployment rate for black males aged 18-29 is double the rate for the St. Louis region. Approximately one out every five young black men in the region are employed. In the past 40 years, only one out of every 10 black males in the region received a bachelor’s degree or higher. And, if anything, it’s getting worse.

Since 1980, young black men in the region who are employed have experienced a 178 percent decline in income.

Starsky D. Wilson –president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation and formerly co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, which brought St. Louis’ racial disparities into focus with a series of calls for change – spoke urgently at the HomeGrown STL summit.

“We have to have the courage to name and be explicit about supporting black boys and young men,” Wilson said. To borrow a term he ingrained into the Ferguson Commission’s work, we must be “unflinching” in our focus on this specific demographic – young black males – as the most vulnerable, suffering, underperforming, endangered group of people in our region. Joe echoed him: “We must be unabashed and very direct in our focus on black boys and young men.”

In that spirit, let’s be explicit, unflinching, unabashed and very direct in citing perhaps the most grim statistic in the HomeGrown STL policy brief: 73 percent of firearm homicide victims

in St. Louis were black males, and the majority of them were between the ages of 20 and 34. Gun violence is the single worst crisis that St. Louis faces and arguably its single largest obstacle to growth. It’s difficult to see how, say, merging St. Louis city and county governments would stop young black males in St. Louis from shooting one another. Yet it’s undeniable that improving the health, well-being, education and employability of young black males would lead to more of them making better choices and living safer, more productive lives.

Just take the word, not of Starsky Wilson or Sean Joe, but of Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Missouri appointed by (of all people) President Donald Trump. “No factor impacts bullets more than jobs,” Jensen told The American. “Jobs stop the bullets.” Whether or not we, say, merge St. Louis city and county governments, we must be unabashed and very direct in making major new investments in young black males in the St. Louis region.

By Orv Kimbrough For The St. Louis American

Part of a year-long series, presented by The American and the Brown School at Washington University, about changing the narratives and outcomes of young black males in St. Louis.

Frederick Douglas said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

For months I have been contemplating what I would write for this HomeGrown Black Males article. Over that time I have had just a few professional things going on, like changing jobs from my role as president and CEO of United Way to a completely different leadership position and industry as CEO of Midwest BankCentre. These changes have left me pondering Frederick Douglas’ words and thinking about my journey as I oscillated on topics and felt overwhelming gratitude for the many people who have poured into my life .

To focus my thoughts, I sought the help of friends by asking, “What is needed for us to create the conditions for more black boys and men to be successful?” Across age, gender and race, the answers aligned along similar themes, from supporting two-parent stable families, to bestowing higher esteem and compensation on the best teachers to improve public education, to providing economic opportunities that allow men to be men so that they can take care of their families and build their wealth.

All of these are important and worthy goals, but I also

find the need to stress the importance of communities that instill faith and values that can be the solid ground and guideposts for young boys and men when the world lashes out or emotions run high.

We are not in short supply of the world lashing out or emotions running high. We need only check the evening news for the latest shooting of an unarmed black man.

Recently, I was reminded of the fragile and fleeting nature of life when my fraternity brother Demetrius Stewart, whom I have known and respected for more than 20 years, was senselessly gunned down at a bowling alley on the streets of St. Louis. Demetrius had a wife and two children whose lives have been forever changed.

The news aggravated scar tissue from my teenage years, as I reflected on the shooting of my younger brother, who was paralyzed from the neck down.

work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Demetrius loved the Lord, his wife and his children. Because I know that things seen are temporal and things unseen are eternal, I stand on faith that his family will go to new heights on the shoulder of this extraordinary loss.

And the more I think about and pray for Demetrius’s family, the more I think about and pray for the shooter, asking, “What happened in his upbringing that led him to allow his emotions to go unchecked and settle a dispute with a gun? What happened in his life that led him to be seemingly void of hope and tethered to a nothing-to-lose attitude?”

We can’t bring Demetrius back, but we can build stronger children by giving them a foundation that affords them a better chance of navigating a broken world. We can pray and put our faith in action by mentoring one young brother – either intermittently or permanently – and speaking words of life and healing as so many have done to elevate me to the next level and to this point of reflection.

Orv Kimbrough, a product of the Saint Louis Public Schools and the State of Missouri foster care system, is chief executive officer of Midwest BankCentre and an adjunct professor at Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work.

While both are tragic, the circumstances of each shooting were different. My brother was in a gang and made choices that most would conclude would lead him to prison or an early grave. Demetrius was an innocent bystander, just dating his wife, like many successfully married men do.

Scripture says that all things

Letters to the editor

n We can’t bring Demetrius back, but we can build stronger children by giving them a foundation that affords them a better chance of navigating a broken world. As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Why I care about East St. Louis public schools

By Jessica Fort

St. Louis American

For The

I grew up cleaning these neighborhoods. My mom and my grandmother had me picking up trash off the streets of East St. Louis while, in my head, I was dreaming of living someplace else. I was thinking: if other people don’t care enough about this city to be cleaning after themselves, then why should I care?

That’s how it goes in East St. Louis sometimes. People move up and move out. I could do that, but I’m not. Because, in the end, I do care, and I want to show it. I want my city to be thriving. I grew up in School District 189. I attended every elementary school and a couple of middle schools before heading to a charter school for high school. I liked going to school back then, and I liked my education. But in hindsight I know that everything was getting worse and the education I received lacked in critical areas. It all caught up with me in college when, for my freshman year, I attended the University of Illinois. Going to a predominantly white school, I learned real quickly who I was to them. I’m black and female? I thought, “Wow, y’all really hate us.” I immediately felt inferior, like I couldn’t keep up. It wasn’t just academics that were tripping me up. It was watching all these other kids surviving and functioning, but not having any clue how they did it. Nobody seemed to be asking questions; nobody seemed to struggling like me.

Turns out there was a whole social-cultural piece of school I missed out on. The other students were talking to teaching assistants, taking advantage of tutoring services, connecting with and helping each other—networking in ways I had never been taught. And on top of all that, I’d somehow internalized that I couldn’t compete there. No one validated that I was just as smart, just as deserving as everyone else. I’d never learned that even though I came from a poor, black, urban area, I wasn’t less than anyone else. So of course I wasn’t confident. Of course I didn’t raise my hand even when I thought I knew the answer. I just wanted to fade into the background. I got depressed and wasn’t doing well. I flunked out. I ended up going to a junior college and then finished a degree in criminal justice at McKendree University, but I still have a hard time telling anyone about my freshman year.

Looking at the state of schools in District 189, it’s not hard to see how kids grow up unprepared and feeling inferior. They barely have the materials they need, and the instruction they receive doesn’t acknowledge the reality of their daily lives. They don’t see themselves reflected in anything they read. They don’t receive support for all the

social-emotional challenges they’re facing. No one tells them about all the systemic issues that create the conditions they live in.

We need a school system that meets students’ academic, social, and basic needs.

Students might not have had breakfast. They might be accountable for adult responsibilities like taking care of their younger siblings. They might be dealing with a mentally ill parent or violence in the neighborhood. They show up with the trauma of systematic racism on their shoulders and are just expected to grow in an environment that doesn’t value them as human beings. When I was a kid, I couldn’t see the beauty of my city, but now I do. The beauty is in every kid who is fighting for survival and a sense of selfworth in a society that tells them they are worthless. We have to join together and fight for our students. We have a responsibility to give them the skills and confidence we wish we’d been given. That’s why I’m standing with the Rise 189 campaign.

I welcome you to come to learn more at a teach-in event 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, February 21 at Emerson Park Development Corporation, 1798 Summit Ave, East St Louis. We will provide childcare. RSVP online at bit. ly/rise189.

Jessica Fort is a powerbuilder in WEPOWER’s East St. Louis Education PowerBuilding Academy, a sevenmonth community-based leadership and policy change program.

Kevin Steincross and Dr. King

I write in response to the unfortunate fallout that stemmed from the KTVI reporter Kevin Steincross’ words regarding Dr. King. I believe as a human being he unintentionally uttered a racially charged, offensive word that was misconstrued and perceived as intentional and hurtful.

I get it. I’m black. But some things are just human error and not always racial. While I cannot judge a man’s heart, I can have a discerning impression based on track record and experience with a person. Kevin Steincross, in my opinion, is not deserving of this climate of unnecessary defense.

The real sad part is that few will take initiative and courage to speak on the very things that Dr. King lived for: grace, love, forgiveness, and understanding. This is one of those times. To err is human, to forgive is divine. He that has never misspoken before, let him cast the first stone.

Rodney Jones St. Louis

Better Together?

The City of St. Louis gained local control of its police department September 1, 2013. The change was supposed to result in better police service. Then St. Louis conducted a nation-wide search for a police chief. John Hayden, a St. Louis police commander with many years of service, was anointed as chief.

During five years of local control, Mayor Lyda Krewson, Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards, Chief Hayden and their predecessors have frequently engaged in the Texas Two-Step while explaining to news media and

the public the errant activities of St. Louis’ finest. Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, her predecessor and federal prosecutors have been kept busy with regard to the shenanigans of St. Louis cops. Gardner even maintains a list of officers whose cases she refuses to entertain because of a mix of fraudulent charges, evidence tampering and perjury.

Then there’s officers indicted for assaulting an undercover cop, officers using drugs and alcohol while on-duty, cops shooting cops, cops shooting tavern patrons, an officer killed while allegedly

“Homegrown Black Males” is a partnership between HomeGrown STL at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis and The St. Louis American, edited by Sean Joe, Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor and associate dean at the Brown School, and Chris King, managing editor of The American, in memory of Michael Brown.

and style.

playing Russian Roulette with another officer, and much more. Hayden has expressed frustration with his department, saying in essence that he had no clue why officer behavior was out of control and had no idea how to stop that behavior and gain control of his police force. These events make one wonder: will county and city really be “Better Together” just because a merger would unite police departments and municipal courts?

Michael K. Broughton Green

Park

Guest Columnist Orv Kimbrough

Guest Columnist Jessica Fort

Photo courtesy of Washington University

Starsky D. Wilson (left) and Sean Joe (right) at the HomeGrown STL summit.

Biome School using video games to teach literacy

The Biome School, a public charter school serving grades K-4th located at 4471 Olive Blvd. with some 180 students, recently received a $51,000 grant from the Innovative Technology Education Fund. Biome is using those funds to help students improve literacy by creating video games through the use of Bloxels. Students create storyboards then use the Bloxels gameboard and blocks to make their story come to life. Once their gameboard is complete they snap a photo of it on their iPad or mobile device. Bloxels then has an app that lets students customize their game on their iPad. They can create game maps, animate heroes, and game art. Then they can play it and share it. Pictured: Charmaine Smith, CEO of the Innovative Technology Education Fund, visiting Biome and talking to students about their video games.

April

15

deadline to apply for interest-free student loans

The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis is accepting applications for its interestfree, fee-free student loan program. Postsecondary students of any age can apply for a renewable, interest-free loan of up to $11,000 annually if they are pursuing a first certificate or degree at an accredited, nonprofit college, university, or technical/trade school; demonstrate financial need; have achieved a minimum cumulative 2.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale; and are a permanent resident of the St. Louis metropolitan area for at least two years prior to application.

The Scholarship Foundation also provides free workshops to aid students and families in successfully navigating the financial aid process and understanding college affordability. All workshops are free and open to the public. For more information, call 314-725-7990 or email info@sfstl.org.

To apply for funding, students must complete the online general application and the foundation’s interest-free loan application on the St. Louis Graduates’ Scholarship Central website (myscholarshipcentral.org) by April 15.

Losing your driver’s license to debt

By Charlene Crowell

For The St. Louis American

In 43 states and the District of Columbia, driver’s licenses can be suspended because of unpaid court debt. In most locales, once a driver’s license is suspended, it can retain that designation indefinitely. Only four states currently require an “ability-to-repay” or a “willfulness” determination. Otherwise, nonpayment of driver-related charges can lead to the loss of a driver’s license for years.

That leaves consumers in 39 other states, including Missouri, in a financial quagmire. Whether a license is suspended or revoked, the likelihood is that the driver will incur a range of fees that many consumers find unaffordable. Without a driver’s license to reliably get to a job and its earnings the ability to repay assessed fees becomes nearly impossible.

The fees and fines that lead to the revocation of drivers’ licenses strikes the hardest among consumers of color. In 2017, according to the Federal Reserve, median family incomes by race and ethnicity reveal $215,000 for whites, $35,000 for Latino families, and only $14,400 for black families. Further that same year the Fed found that nearly 1 in 5 black families have zero or negative net worth — twice the rate of white families.

Criminal Justice Policy Program, the North Carolina Justice Center, California’s Back on the Road Coalition, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). In North Carolina, the Second Chance Alliance has developed a change strategy that is largely based on the real-life experiences of people impacted by these injustices. Further, their strategy combines reforms directed to local courts as well as legislative initiatives. On 2017, according to the Alliance, over 1.1 million North Carolinians had their driver’s licenses suspended indefinitely for failure to either appear in court or pay fines.

“At their worst, these practices can lead to a two-tiered system of criminal justice, exposing indigent defendants to especially harsh outcomes,” said Larry Schwartztol executive director of Harvard Law’s Criminal Justice Policy Program.

According to “A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as a Punishment for the Poor” by Alexes Harris, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington, over seven million Americans are either incarcerated, on probation, or on parole. Further, courtordered monetary sanctions that compel criminal defendants to pay fines, fees, restitution or other court-imposed costs, bring more difficulty to those seeking to reenter society.

According to the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia, nearly a million people with a suspended license – 1 in 6 – could not pay their fines. If caught driving on a suspended Virginia license, consumers can be incarcerated for up to a year and also incur a $2,500 fine. Those who are either late or short in paying traffic fines can have their driver’s license suspended. The Commonwealth’s courts and judges can take this action through the assistance of computers – not people, leaving many consumers unaware.

The State of Illinois offers another insightful example.

Nearly 50,000 Illinois licenses are suspended each year because drivers cannot pay their tickets, fines, or fees – including non-moving violations that have nothing to do with driving; and in Cook County, home to Chicago, people arrested for driving on a suspended license spend an average of 14 days incarcerated at a cost to taxpayers of $5.5 million annually.

Fortunately, a growing number of organizations and consumer advocates are now dedicating resources to address this largely unreported trend. These advocates include National Consumer Law Center’s (NCLC) Racial Justice & Economic Opportunity Project, Harvard Law School’s

“Because they cannot be held fully accountable for their offending when they are unable to pay, the poor experience a permanent punishment,” Harris writes. “Nevertheless, non-elected court bureaucrats enforce this system and assess debtors’ remorse for their crimes based on their own ideas about personal responsibility, meritocracy, and accountability.”

This trend of punishing the poor gained additional momentum in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis. With plummeting tax collections, many cities, counties and states sought revenue enhancements to fund governments. The unfortunate result is that the same communities that were targeted for millions of unsustainable mortgages that led to foreclosures are now being financially hit again.

“States and local governments have a critical role to play in reversing these trends and policies that unfairly trap people in debt cycles,” said Lucia Mattox of CRL. “Any entrenchment of racial inequalities denies freedom.”

Charlene Crowell is the Center for Responsible Lending’s Communications deputy director. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@ responsiblelending.org

Charlene Crowell

MINDS

There was recently an independent economic impact study put out by UNCF and University of Georgia. They talk about all of the 100-plus HBCUs and their respective impacts on economic regions. Harris-Stowe State University receives a whopping $9 million from the state to run this institution, but according to the study this institution has a $65 million economic impact yearly on the St. Louis region. If I were an investment banker, that’s the type of return I’d want all day long.

Seventy nine percent of the 2014 graduates are the first in their family to graduate college. Those graduates will earn 71 percent more than they would if they had not earned their degree. This institution is doing transformational work for the least of those.

I say this not as the chair of this MLK commission, and not as the president of this institution. I say this as a young black male who grew up in the projects of Detroit to a single mom on welfare with limited resources. I am fortunate and blessed to be able stand in front of you.

I think about Dr. King and how he lost his life on April 4, 1968, and why he flew to Memphis, Tennessee on April 3 and his purpose for being there – for The Poor People’s Campaign. He was there for the sanitation workers, for the least of these.

St. Louis has a 12 percent

WATERS

Continued from A1

poverty rate. But if you extrapolate that data and look at the African-American community, it’s over 50 percent. Fifty years ago, Dr. King was fighting for the same issues we have here right now

annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Statewide Celebration Kick Off Program for the State of Missouri. Decades ago, it was Vashon High School. But on Friday, February 8, she stood on stage in the Dr. Henry Givens Auditorium of HarrisStowe State University. “I am so delighted to be here in this building, where I spent four years as a Vashonite,” Waters said.

The annual program typically occurs the first or second week in January to usher in the programming across the state in honor of the life and legacy of the

in St. Louis.

Ninety five percent of the African-Americans in St. Louis region don’t have a master’s degree. Eighty five percent don’t have a bachelor’s degree. There’s a direct correlation

civil rights icon leading up the national holiday that commemorates his birth. But the snowstorm that stopped the region in its tracks meant that the 2019 program, entitled “Protect the Dream: The Fierce Urgency of Now,” took place during Black History Month.

In his introduction of Waters, U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis)

between crime, poverty and violence. It’s simple. If you educate them and gainfully employ them, you will eliminate crime violence and poverty.

I have to be a voice for the

said the 14-term Democratic congresswoman, who has been endearingly dubbed “Auntie Maxine,” has solidified her place in history.

“Maxine Waters has been breaking barriers since her earliest days of growing up here in St. Louis,” said Clay. “Welcome home a true drum major for justice – whose fearless courage inspires us all.”

Clay said that he was proud to be working with Waters as the newly installed chair of the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance.

“Be assured that in our nation’s capital we are addressing Dr. King’s ultimate truth – that poverty is the cruelest form of violence,” Clay said. “I know that with Maxine’s strong hand, we will join together to restore the viability of the American Dream of good jobs, fair housing, a fair playing field and an unlimited future for all of our children.”

The price of our freedom

In her remarks, Waters reminded the audience that Dr. King dedicated his life to making sure our democracy was more just.

“We honor the tremendous sacrifices he made to pursue justice and equality and so that we can be free,” Waters said. “Ladies and gentlemen, our freedom came at a price. Dr. King made the ultimate sacrifice. So, we must remember him. We must honor him, and we must always let our young people know who he was, what he did, what he stood for, and the price he paid fighting for our freedom, justice and equality.”

In the just over half-century since the world lost one of its most impassioned freedom fighters, Waters said the nation – and the world – will forever be indebted to Dr. King and other civil rights giants who struggled, sacrificed and literally put their lives on the line to end “demoralizing discrimination, unconscionable violence, and debilitating poverty facing people of color.”

“However, tonight, as we honor Dr. King’s life and legacy, we cannot help but be reminded of how much further we have to go before his dream is fully realized,” Waters said. “Voting rights are being undermined. Millions of Americans are being denied access to quality and affordable healthcare. Fair housing laws are under attack. Black and brown men and women are being targeted and killed with impunity. Every day we are reminded of how much more

n Fifty years ago, Dr. King was fighting for the same issues we have here right now in

what it’s like to feel hopeless and that’s all you know. I am a living witness to what an education can do, what can happen when an institution like Harris-Stowe takes a chance on someone like me.

There are two institutions that are mandated by the state and federal government to serve the African-American population, Harris-Stowe and Lincoln University. They receive a total of three percent of the state appropriations. It’s not rocket science. Invest in those two institutions, and you will see a transformation happen. That’s not from a Harris-Stowe perspective. That’s not from a Lincoln University perspective. It’s clear: if you don’t have the resources, you are going to continue to have the crime, poverty and violence. Dr. King said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If you want to see the transformation, invest in the people that matter.

unvoiced. When I grew up and was shot at 16, I was told I wasn’t college material. My brother is serving a 42-year sentence in the penitentiary, and I have another brother who served five years. I know

work must be done to make our society one that embraces diverse ideas and is truly inclusive.”

The event also recognized individuals, organizations and corporations for their commitment to service to the St. Louis region and work that aligns with Dr. King’s vision for a beloved community.

“This year, the commission chose to honor individuals and/ or organizations whose body of work answers what Dr. King called ‘life’s most persistent and urgent question’ and that question is: what are you doing for others?” said KMOX news anchor Carol Daniel, who served as the program’s mistress of ceremonies.

“Our awardees are everyday heroes,” Daniel said. “They are focused and committed to the ideal of service to others.”

The honorees included Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Distinguished Community Service Award;

n “I will allow no one – including the President of the United States Donald Trump – to undermine the democracy in the way that he’s doing.”

– U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters

Donald M. Suggs and The St. Louis American, Distinguished Drum Major Award; Adolphus Pruitt, Distinguished Social Action Award; Centene Corporation and World Wide Technology, Distinguished Corporate Award; and Rev. Earl E. Nance Jr., Dr. Henry Givens Jr. Legacy Award.

“I’d like to thank all of our honorees – outstanding individuals who give of themselves, who make sacrifices for the community, who work hard despite the fact that they don’t always get recognized,” said Waters.

A warning for Trump

Waters took the liberty of deviating from her prepared remarks – and the tone of the regularly scheduled programming – to speak against President Donald Trump. She has been one of Trump’s harshest critics since before he took office.

“Believing in the Constitution, loving the Constitution and understanding what democracy is supposed to be about and the struggle and the sacrifices that were made in order to strengthen this democracy, I will allow no one – including the President of the United States Donald Trump – to undermine the democracy

Dwaun J. Warmack is president of Harris-Stowe State University.

Edited from remarks given

the

in the way that he’s doing,” Waters said.

“Looking at all of where I came from, all of the experiences I’ve had, Donald Trump can call me whatever he wants to call me. He does not know that I came from St. Louis, Missouri.”

She cited her love for her home city and the Constitution, the Constitution that she discovered while at Vashon High School and James Weldon Johnson Elementary School, as the driving force behind her efforts.

“My Constitution tells me that there is a responsibility of the members of Congress to determine whether or not the president has been involved in anything that undermines or disrespects the democracy,” Waters said. Waters told the crowd to rousing applause that Trump goes beyond disrespecting the office of the president and the democracy he is charged to protect. She declared that Trump is a danger to democracy and called upon the audience to act against him.

“We must resist,” Waters said.

“I want the American people to let their representatives know all over this country that they are not satisfied with this president and that something is terribly wrong with him. In the spirit of St. Louis, in the spirit of what our families have fought for, in the spirit of what our grandmothers and grandfathers and our ancestors have died for, I want us to be in this resistance.”

She urged them to write, email and use social media to express their dissatisfaction.

“Talk about him, and talk about him bad,” Waters said. “Don’t be quiet. We’re from St. Louis. We’re the Show Me State. And so, he’s shown us.” She used the words of another famous St. Louisan to drive home her point.

“Maya Angelou said, ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them,’” Waters said. “I believe him, and I am going to act on those beliefs every day that I am in the Congress of the United States of America. I’ve got a lot of work to do in this committee, but I will stay up 24 hours a day to make sure that I work on him too.” She told the crowd not to be deterred by the tactics being used by Trump and others to divide the nation.

“Stand up for what is right,” Waters said. “Stand up for the democracy that is supposed to hold out promise for all of us. If we do that, we can win. My dear friend Jesse Jackson used to say, ‘If you fight, you can win. But if you don’t fight, you will never know.’”

at

33rd Annual Missouri Statewide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Kickoff hosted by Harris-Stowe State University on February 12.

St. Louis.

Dwaun J. Warmack, president of Harris-Stowe State University, spoke at the 33rd annual Missouri Statewide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Kickoff at Harris-Stowe State University on February 12.

Photo by Wiley Price

SCORES

Continued from A1

“In fact, there have been four different tests in the past five years,” Kilbride wrote. On February 1, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released the scores for all public school districts on the Annual Performance Report (APR). These scores are not only based on the students’ performance on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests, but also on End Of Course (EOC) exams scores, attendance data, graduation rates and college and career readiness preparation. This scoring system is part of the Missouri School Improvement Plan – fifth cycle (MSIP 5).

A district must earn at least 50 percent of available points to qualify for provisional accreditation, at least 70 percent of points to qualify for full accreditation, and at least 90 percent of points to qualify for Accreditation with Distinction.

Several districts and charter schools scored within the top “Accredited with Distinction” category for the first time under MSIP 5, including Gateway Science Academy of St. Louis with 97.6 percent, St. Louis Language Immersion School with 95 percent,

NASHEED

Continued from A1 you agree with sometimes and other times don’t. People talk about Rex and Jamilah as if they are synonymous, yet seem to forget when she fought tooth and nail against his attempt to eliminate the city earnings tax – even spending thousands of her own campaign dollars to fight it. She also has been vocal about not wanting to privatize airport operations. Every candidate has baggage. It’s weird to see so many people who live in glass houses throw stones. I’ve seen misinformation spewed about who Nasheed is and what she stands for. When she called for Governor Parson to announce a state of emergency, she called for resources to address the root cause of crime. She called for mental health and educational resources; she called for jobs and opportunities. It was not about militarizing our neighborhoods or the police. Senator Nasheed knows all too well about gun violence. She lost her father to a driveby shooting. She lost her mother to suicide. She knew poverty growing up in the projects. She went from being on the verge of becoming a statistic in the system to fighting for those same folks with challenges and barriers.

Ferguson-Florissant with 92.1 percent, Grand Center Arts Academy with 90.9 percent, and Jennings with 90.2 percent.

“We have made history in Jennings,” said Jennings Superintendent Art McCoy. Ferguson-Florissant Superintendent Joseph Davis said that the students’ performance shows they are headed in the right direction.

“We are especially excited that 87.5 percent of our seniors graduated in four years,” Davis said. “The hard work of our students, teachers and administrators is reflected in our scores on the APR.” It was the fourth consecutive year that Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) scored in the full accreditation status range, with 75.3 percent. However, the district remains provisionally accredited.

Changing the tests every year not only presents challenges for the students, but also the teachers who have to learn how to prepare for new exams in a relatively short amount of time, some administrators said. The MSIP 5 scoring system also weighs attendance heavily, which disproportionately impacts school districts with large numbers of low-income students.

“Many students in North St. Louis County, and particularly in Riverview Gardens, face a unique set of circumstances

Is she perfect? No, none of us are. But people change every day and learn every day. I am supporting someone who I have been able to work with to bring tangible outcomes back to the community. I am backing the strong black woman who helped me fight to pass HCR 70 to identify youth violence as a public health epidemic. I am standing with the strong black woman who helped me put $9.5 million into the budget for youth jobs across the state. I ride with the strong black woman who fought to fund Harris-Stowe State University. I am standing on the shoulders of a strong black woman who helped defend our minimum wage increase, our right to unionize, a woman’s right to choose and our right to vote. Don’t hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Don’t just wear the shirts and put up the yard signs. Show me that black lives matter by electing effective black leadership.

I won’t talk about Megan Ellyia Green or Lewis Reed, but I will speak in the best way possible about who I support. I am supporting Senator Nasheed wholeheartedly.

State Representative Bruce Franks Jr. (D-St. Louis) represents the 78th District in the Missouri House of Representatives.

The Municipal Primary Election is Tuesday, March 5. Absentee voting is underway.

n “We are especially excited that 87.5 percent of our seniors graduated in four years.”

– Ferguson-Florissant Superintendent Joseph Davis

that can dramatically impact their education,” said Anthony Kiekow, communications director for Riverview Gardens School District.

“For example, in addition to attending school, some of our students hold full-time jobs or serve as caregivers to siblings while their parents work. Also, the majority of them are still dealing with the remnants of the 2014 crisis in Ferguson. The exams do not account for those factors. Our students’ ability to overcome those challenges is all the more reason to celebrate the progress we have made.”

The scores do not mean that districts automatically receive a certain status. That status is decided by the state education board and DESE, who analyze a district’s performance over time.

North Side Community School scores perfect

Five school districts earned a perfect score of 100 percent, including Kirkwood and Valley

Park, as well as three charter schools: Premier Charter School, North Side Community School and Lafayette Preparatory Academy. It was the fourth time in the past five years that North Side Community School, located just north of Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis city, scored 100 percent. The school’s population is considered 100 percent free and reduced lunch by the state, and about 98 percent of the students are African-American.

Other school districts scoring in the “Accredited with Distinction” range include: Mehlville with 99.6 percent, Ladue with 99.1 percent, Lindbergh Schools and Parkway both with 98.9 percent, Clayton with 98.5 percent, Maplewood-Richmond Heights with 98.4 percent, Rockwood with 97.8 percent, Brentwood with 97.3 percent, Webster Groves with 97.2 percent, Affton with 96.8 percent, Hancock Place with 96.7 percent, Pattonville with 96.6 percent, and Bayless with

96.4 percent. These districts scored within the range for full accreditation: Ritenour with 88.3 percent, St. Louis College Prep with 87.5 percent, Hazelwood with 86.8 percent, Lift for Life Academy with 85.6 percent, University City with 85.4 percent, City Garden Montessori and KIPP Schools both with 82.8 percent, Special School District of St. Louis County with 81.3 percent, Saint Louis Public Schools with 78.5 percent, and Confluence Academies with 77.9 percent.

Below the mark for accreditation

Falling below the mark for accreditation were largely charter schools, including Eagle College Prep Endeavor with 69.8 percent, Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls with 63 percent, The Biome School with 60 percent, Carondelet Leadership Academy with 53.7 percent, Preclarus Mastery Academy with 37.7 percent (which closed in June), and LaSalle Middle School with 25.8 percent.

LaSalle Middle School became a charter four years

ago, after previously being a private school located in North St. Louis. It serves 130 middle-school students, a majority being AfricanAmerican.

“We didn’t have to see the scores,” said LaShanda R. Boone, head of school at LaSalle. “We understood where we were, and we took proactive steps in order to ensure that we are changing what we do every day with our students and adding interventions.”

Boone said that more than a year ago they brought in 80 tutors, initiated a Saturday school and expanded afterschool programs and camps. Normandy Schools Collaborative was the only non-charter that scored in this category with 67.5 percent.

“This score keeps us on track to perform in the fully accredited range (70 percent or higher) by the 2020-2021 school year,” said Charles Pearson, superintendent for Normandy Schools Collaborative, in a letter to the district. “We remain committed to achieving that target over the next two years.”

Jamyah Hall, Jakayla Ford and Roshon Bailey, first graders at Columbia Elementary School in the St. Louis Public School District (SLPS), built colorful 3D shapes as part of a lesson on Tuesday, January 8. SLPS scored in the full accreditation range on the state’s most recent Annual Performance Report.

Photo by Wiley Price

Charles Jaco – journalist, author, and activist (on Twitter at @charlesjaco1) – who took down U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s Republican challenger Todd Akin six years ago in a bruising broadcast interview, came out of retirement to write for The American before the November 6 general election and has stuck with it. He penned this guest Political EYE. Forget fentanyl, oxy, and crack. The most powerful drugs damaging St. Louis and America are selfishness and stupidity. And the cut-taxes-at-anycost movement is a CDC-worthy epidemic of both. States like Kansas and Oklahoma both decided to be economic drug labs, cranking out as many tax cuts as possible. What’s happened? Many school districts in Oklahoma are on four-day weeks because there’s not enough cash to operate public schools. In Kansas, the disastrous experiment in tax

n An earnings tax of one percent applied to the proposed Better Together metro city would put the new city on a firm financial footing and allow it to invest in things like mass transit.

cuts slashed money for roads, schools, and agriculture. Job growth tanked. Economic output fell. But at least the rich got richer. But wait, the tax-cut slingers bray, look at Texas – low taxes, and the second biggest state economy in America. Which is true enough, if you don’t let facts get in the way. Over 40 percent of Texas’ economy comes from oil. They could cut taxes because of the geographic accident of squatting atop the world’s eighth largest oil reserves. And a lot of Texans end up paying more in taxes, due to sales and excise taxes that help make up for the lack of an income tax. Those sales and excise taxes, of course, hit the working and middle classes hardest. Now, the low-tax dope peddlers have arrived here, in the form of the Better Together plan to unify St. Louis city and county into one big metro city of 1.3 million people. Uber-libertarian and

INLOVINGMEMORYOF

County Executive

billionaire Rex Sinquefield funded the proposal. And while there’s a lot about it to like, Sinquefield’s years-long jihad against the city’s earning tax is part of the plan’s framework. If unification ever did take place under the Better Together blueprint, the city’s one percent earnings tax would be phased out over a few years. In doing so, Better Together made a

right-wing ideological choice.

Instead of expanding the earnings tax to the entire new metro city, creating millions of new dollars for everything from cops and transit to roads and education, organizers decided instead to eliminate the tax. This is both bad governance and lousy economics.

Sinquefield and his fellow tax-slashers in Missouri have always reacted to the one percent earnings taxes in St. Louis and Kansas City like vampires contemplating a wooden stake and a necklace of garlic bulbs. But their faux horror is just a show for the anti-tax rubes in the cheap seats.

What we call the “earnings tax” the rest of the country calls a “city income tax.” Not only is it an economically sensible way to help run a city, St. Louis’

governments for transit projects is close to zero. It could fund repairs to local infrastructure. It could pay for educational programs. It could make the metro city attractive to outsiders simply because growth (expect in the case of oil-lucky Texas) among younger workers and families isn’t fueled by swim-to-thebottom tax rates. Growing areas are the ones with robust infrastructure, well-funded education programs, and a quality of life based on public investment in public programs. Right-wingers sniff that places like California are hightax hellholes. No, California is the world’s fifth biggest economy, home to a collection of universities among the world’s finest, and headquarters of the digital future for the entire planet. Compare that to the economic and educational hollowing-out of Kansas’ low-tax paradise, and the consequences of being either too selfish or too stupid to link reasonable taxation with economic prosperity are clear. Better Together, though, decided to eliminate the earnings/income tax for what seem to be purely ideological reasons.

I asked Better Together spokesman Dave Leipholz why the group went along with Sinquefield’s opposition to the earnings tax rather than expand it to raise a reliable income stream for the proposed metro city.

“The earnings tax is not just unpopular with one person,” he said. “If you look at it from

LOVING MEMORY OF

Ruth Mason Lewis Ernest L. Barnes

RuthisagraduateofDouglasHighSchool.Sherece abachelor’sdegreefromHarrisStoweTeachersColl andamaster’sdegreeinCounselingfromSt.Louis University.SheservedasaProfessorofCounseling ForestParkCommunityCollegefor30years. Additionally,shewasanentrepreneurandownedand operatedHallmarkGoldCrownStores.Sheissurvive byherhusband,Floyd;sister,Zel RobertMason;andahostofrelativesandfriends.

MARCH 29, 1938 – FEBRUARY 4, 2019 Memorial Service Sunday, February 17, 2019 Salem United Methodist Church 1200 S. Lindbergh | St. Louis, Mo 63131 Visitation and Organizational Presentations: 1:30 pm Service: 3:00 pm Inlieuofflowersorothermemorial contributions,pleasedonatetotheIda GoodwinWoolfolkFoundationofDelta Urban League Ida Goodwin Woolfolk Foundation of Delta Sigma Theta 3701 Grandel Square St. Louis, MO 63108

Ernest was born in St. Louis, MO and attended Sumner High School and Washington University. While serving in the U.S. Airforce, he attended Oxford University.

In 1962, he began work at Sverdrup & Parcel as an Engineer in Structural Design and retired as an Engineer/Draftsman at Xerox in Penfield, NY.

Ernest passed away January 28, 2019. He was predeceased by his parents, Clarence and Mattie Barnes; his wife, Juanita. Ernest is survived by his wife, Ann; 2 children, Michael (Layla) Barnes and Marcus Barnes; 2 step-children, Jeremy (Sarah) Clowe and Kimberly (George) DeVoe; sibling Joan Parham, Ronald (Patricia) Barnes and Thomas (Hazel) Barnes; many grandchildren, nieces, nephews and loving members of Juanita James’s and Ann's families.

Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

St. Louis

Steve Stenger laughed along with St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson during a press conference announcing the plans to merge St. Louis into St. Louis County on January 28.

‘You don’t have anything if you don’t have good health’

SIUE makes fitness the focus of Black Heritage Month Health Awareness Fair

By Patricia Merritt Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

As motivation for African Americans to engage in good health choices, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Goshen Lounge was transformed into an informational and recreational area, complete with yoga, double-dutch and strength training exercises, on Monday, February 11.

“We are also calling it our Health is Wealth Fair,” said Kimberly Pope, graduate assistant for the SIUE Campus Activity Board’s Black Heritage Month committee.

“You don’t have anything if you don’t have good health. We worked with SIUE’s Student Nurse Achievement Program to bring awareness of different diseases that impact the African-American community, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and lupus.”

n “You don’t have anything if you don’t have good health.”

– Kimberly Pope, graduate assistant for the SIUE Campus Activity Board’s Black Heritage Month committee

Trenton Banks, a sophomore majoring in computer management information systems, said his grandmother has diabetes. “I hope I don’t get it,” said Banks. “I play a lot basketball, and I stay active.”

That is a prescription for African Americans as it relates to diabetes.

“More of us should take diabetes more seriously and encourage one another to get and keep active,” Banks said.

Ashley Hawkins, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, wants to spread awareness about lupus.

“I was diagnosed with lupus at age 16,” said the 27-year-old Chicago native, who volunteers with the Lupus Foundation of America, Heartland Chapter. “I started having headaches. I stopped eating, and I couldn’t sit in a lighted room without my head hurting.”

After a number of medical tests, Hawkins received a lupus diagnosis. She was initially given the following instructions: no more sports, no college outside of Chicago, no children.

This is Hawkins’ second time enrolling at SIUE. She is the mother of two children: Kaleb, 6, and Aniah, 8. Both children were born with medical complications that were corrected.

“It’s been a long, hard road,” Hawkins said. “I do have kidney disease, but they told me that I would have major problems with my kidneys when I was 16. But I keep going. I manage my meds, get rest and listen to my body.”

Trenton Banks, a sophomore majoring in computer management information systems at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and Kamaron Williams, a freshman business major, enjoyed strength training at the SIUE Health Awareness Fair on Monday, February 11. “More of us should take diabetes more seriously and encourage one another to get and keep active,” Banks said

Early detection is key, she said.

“It’s important for African Americans to learn more about this disease,” Hawkins said. “Someone could be walking around with lupus and not know it. You do not want to find out about the disease at the last minute. You want to catch it early, like I

did.”

“Lupus will not define me,” added Hawkins. “I expect to live to see my great grandchildren.”

For information on upcoming SIUE Black Heritage Month events, visit https://tinyurl. com/SIUE-BHM.

More than 50K eligible children dropped from Medicaid in MO

By Sandra Jordan

Cumbersome paperwork, state computer systems that don’t communicate with one other, call center troubles and language barriers are causing some children in Missouri to fall through the cracks and get kicked off of Medicaid benefits. MO HealthNet, Missouri’s Medicaid program, helps pay for medical costs for children and certain eligible adults from families with low income. Even more troubling, families may not realize it until they take their sick child for treatment. “Families contact us after they go to the doctor or pharmacy and learn they no longer have coverage,” said Joel Ferber, director of Advocacy for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM).

Data analysis by LSEM points to a number of systems failures that resulted in a 9 percent decline in children enrolled in the Missouri Medicaid program in 2018, which

n “Families contact us after they go to the doctor or pharmacy and learn they no longer have coverage.”

– Joel Ferber, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri

is nine times the national average. LSEM said that affects 56,716 children – and represents an historic drop in child Medicaid and CHIP enrollment.

“We have regular discussions with the state agency, so we talked with them about what was happening,” Ferber said about the huge drop in coverage revealed in annual renewals. “They have dual computer systems. One of the

By Stephen Eisele

For The St. Louis American

n Adding reporting requirements will cost our state more money, add more paperwork for everyone, and take health care away from Missourians.

The real Medicaid work problem is not with low-income Missourians, but with the politicians in Missouri who won’t do their jobs. What could you do with $5,000 in annual income, which is roughly $100 a week? Could you support a family of three? Could you afford your rent or electric bill? Could you pay for health insurance? In the Show Me state, that meager sum currently places you above the income threshold to qualify for Medicaid. For roughly 300,000 Missourians, they earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, and yet not enough to benefit from the Affordable Care Act’s financial assistance to pay for health insurance in the marketplace, leaving them in a coverage gap that is difficult to escape. Instead of joining the growing contingent of states across the nation – 36 and counting – in expanding access to a proven health insurance program, our elected leaders in Jefferson City are attempting to enact barriers to health coverage for our state’s neediest residents. Bills filed and moving in both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly would impose reporting requirements on Medicaid and SNAP beneficiaries. At a time when Missouri is experiencing a significant budget shortfall, our government needs less red tape and bureaucracy, not more. It’s foolish to think that adding reporting requirements will do anything except cost our state more money, add more paperwork for everyone, and take health care away from Missourians. Governor Parson expressed in his State of the State a desire to make Medicaid more efficient to save money and better accommodate our state’s residents – but these

Stephen Eisele

Of The St. Louis American

‘Bullets

are vectors of death’

Missouri gun death rate among highest in the nation, CDC Says

By Shahla Farzan

Of St. Louis Public Radio

Missouri has one of the highest rates of gun-related deaths in the nation.

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rank Missouri sixth in U.S. for gun death rate, including intentional and accidental shootings. The CDC reports 1,307 Missourians died from gunshot wounds in 2017, an increase over the previous year.

Dr. Laurie Punch, a trauma surgeon at Barnes-Jewish

Hospital, said gun violence is a major threat to public health.

“We’re seeing patients who are coming in with injuries to the head, chest, abdomen and to the extremities,” Punch said. “Multiple bullets in one person — and that is some of the hardest stuff for us to deal with.”

The gun death rate in Missouri has been consistently higher than the national average since at least 1999.

Slightly more people in Illinois died from gunshot wounds in 2017 than in Missouri. However, Illinois

ranked 32nd in the U.S. for gun death rate, owing to its much larger population size.

Each year, firearm mortality data are compiled from death certificate information reported to the National Center for Health Statistics. The process — which includes collecting and verifying the data — takes approximately 18 months.

Beyond the numbers, Punch said gun violence is often viewed as a politically divisive issue, which can derail conversations about possible solutions.

“We can sit here and be

divided on the reasons why the bullet got there and not recognize that the bottom line is, bullets are vectors of death and they’re killing people for lots of different reasons at an alarming rate,” Punch said.

The key, she said, is convening a range of experts — including law enforcement, healthcare workers and policymakers — and breaking down an “overwhelming” issue into manageable pieces.

A number of local initiatives are working to reduce gun deaths, including the Counseling on Access

to Lethal Means program at Washington University, which helps patients at risk of suicide temporarily store guns and other dangerous items they may have at home.

In 2016, the non-profit Better Family Life launched several gun violence de-escalation centers in churches across St. Louis and St. Louis County. At each location, staff work with individuals to resolve disputes without violence. The program is being considered as a model for other cities.

Punch also co-founded Stop

the Bleed STL, an organization that trains bystanders how to control severe bleeding in regions with high rates of gun violence.

“There is no way gun violence is going to change,” she said, “unless we see all the myriad of forces that are causing it and approach them one by one with the expertise we all have.”

Follow Shahla on Twitter: @shahlafarzan. Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

Clean diapers keep babies healthier –and moms less stressed

St. Louis Area Diaper Bank partners with SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

An ample supply of diapers ensures that babies stay clean and dryer longer and avoid health issues that can arise from wearing soiled diapers too long. In partnership with the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital will receive a donation of up to 120,000 diapers this year for St. Mary’s families.

Eligible St. Mary’s families include patients at its Maternal Fetal Care Center and the WISH (Women and Infant Substance Help) Center, as well as mothers who participate in St. Mary’s MOMS Support Group or CenteringPregnancy, a specialized prenatal care program for parents.

“Already, parents have shared that receiving diaper assistance makes them feel like they are doing a better job and they feel less alone in parenting,” said Jess Garrett, lead nurse and program coordinator for CenteringPregnancy.

MEDICAID

Continued from A10

St. Mary’s expects to distribute about 9,500 diapers a month to moms through its center and support groups. Jessica Adams, founder and executive director of the St. Louis Area Diaper bank,

told The American that St. Mary’s makes 44 partners in throughout the St. Louis region.

“We are planning to distribute just about 2 million diapers this year through those 44 partner agencies,” Adams

said. “We will serve right around 45,000 children this year alone.”

The diaper bank has served 65,000 children since it was started in 2014.

“The struggle is real to

provide dry, clean diapers,” said Kim Martino-Sexton, a postpartum support coordinator who runs five support groups through the MOMS program.

“Doing something as simple as giving diapers to families

to help keep babies dry and comfortable also helps parents feel more at ease and confident.”

The staff at the diaper bank is thrilled to partner with medical providers.

“We know how critical good prenatal care is to healthy pregnancies, and we know how detrimental stress is to moms during pregnancy – to moms and babies,” Adams said. “And so we are so pleased we can offer diapers, both as a stressreliever for pregnant moms as they are building up this stash of diapers so they know what they have when baby comes, but also to have those diapers used as an incentive for moms to access that highquality prenatal care.” For information about programs at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, call 314-768-8730. For more information on the MOMS Line and support groups, please call 314-768-MOMS (6667).

many problems is, when they were all on the same computer system, if the family renewed for SNAP or food stamps that would automatically extend the Medicaid. Now, families could have just been renewed in SNAP, but the two systems don’t talk to each other, so if they renew Medicaid, it wouldn’t automatically renew SNAP. And they also don’t necessarily record an address change.” Tim McBride, a health economist who heads the Missouri MO HealthNet Oversight Advisory Committee, told The American the system broke down after the state decided to do “redeterminations” of eligibility of mostly women and children – and to do so through the mail, giving recipients only 10 days to respond. He said letters were sent to families who could not be verified through crosschecking federal or state data. “I think the breakdown is when people get these letters, they don’t respond; they don’t know that they need to respond or understand the letters,” McBride said.

EISELE

Continued from A10

will have the opposite effect. If we want to look at the devastating consequences these paperwork penalties have on real people, we need look no further than our neighbor to the south, Arkansas. Since implementing these reporting requirements last June, more than 18,000 Arkansans have lost needed health care coverage – and counting. Health care experts believe the losses are due in large part to the restrictive reporting

“Sometimes they don’t speak English as their first language, and I’m not sure if the letters are written the way they should be.” Additionally, he said there are big problems with the call

requirements and efforts to inform beneficiaries – not a lack of effort by participants. Stripping away one’s health care because of bureaucratic requirements punishes those who are struggling to make ends meet while raising kids and dealing with ongoing health issues.

Due to Missouri’s extremely low eligibility levels – one of the lowest in the country –most participants can’t work more hours without losing their health insurance. If Missouri adds reporting requirements, low-income parents will be in an impossible situation –if they can’t prove they’re

To find out if you or your child is still enrolled in MO HealthNet Medicaid services, contact the MO HealthNet Service Center at 1-855-373-4636 or at www.myDSS.MO.gov.

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri assists families in getting their eligible children back on Medicaid who may have been kicked out of the system in error. Reach LSEM at 314-534-4200, 800-444-0514 or at www.lsem.org. Still enrolled? How to get back on?

center – staffing and work that is outsourced to a private call center.

“We’ve heard stories of people waiting 45 minutes or an hour or more, then getting cut off or their paperwork

working, they’ll lose their coverage; if they work enough to earn more than $100 a week, they’ll lose their coverage.

Gov. Parson, Speaker Elijah Haahr and others have prioritized workforce development. To look for and keep a job, one must be healthy first. Punishing people who have lost a job, work seasonal or irregular hours, or work with changing schedules, should not have their access to medication or medical care put in jeopardy. This would only leave them sicker and less able to work in the future. The real Medicaid work problem is not with low-

getting lost in the system, and so I think that’s a big part of the problem too,” McBride said. The Missouri Department of Social Services has not responded to requests for

income Missourians, but with the politicians in Missouri who won’t do their jobs. It’s past time for lawmakers in Jefferson City to earn their salaries – and the taxpayersubsidized health insurance we pay for – by seeking solutions to the health care needs of their constituents.

Representatives and senators in the Missouri General Assembly ought to stop erecting barriers to coverage, and instead look for ways to expand coverage and put the billions we send to other states back to work here in Missouri – now that’s a work requirement that makes

comment from The American Ferber said thus far, LSEM has been able to help at least 40 children get back on Medicaid.

“Every single case that we’ve handled, the kid has still been eligible,” Ferber said.

“It’s not that the family got jobs that made them so much income that they didn’t need Medicaid anymore. They all qualified.”

Ferber said the evidence of error is clear; now the state needs to really want to fix the problem it created.

“Missouri’s drop-off rate for Medicaid for kids is nine times the national average, and Missouri’s economy isn’t nine times better than the national economy, and this is the only benefit that shows deviation,” Ferber said.

sense. In Ohio, three quarters of Medicaid expansion participants who were looking for work stated that Medicaid coverage made it easier to do so. Medicaid also works in other ways. Increasing health care coverage through Medicaid would give hardworking Missourians access to affordable health care. Healthier individuals lead to more stable families and stronger communities.

Missourians are common sense folk, and yet, skeptical people. Many decades ago, a legislator from our state implored his fellow politicians

“So, it’s not the economy, it’s systems issues – whether it’s complicated paperwork, or problems with all these systems breaking down, or it’s the phone center, or dueling computer systems that don’t talk to each other.”

To find out if you or your child is still enrolled in MO HealthNet Medicaid services, contact the MO HealthNet Service Center at 1-855-3734636 or at www.myDSS. MO.gov.

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri assists families in getting their eligible children back on Medicaid who may have been kicked out of the system in error. Reach LSEM at 314-534-4200, 800-4440514 or at www.lsem.org.

to “show me.” Today, the evidence is all around us. Work requirements don’t work. The 100th Missouri General Assembly is one of historic significance. What could be of more significance to hundreds of thousands of Missourians than to work toward better health care for all? Let’s work together to move Missouri forward.

Stephen Eisele, 32, is a health care advocate living in Richmond Heights. He serves as board president, Missouri Health Care Action, and board member, Missouri Health Care for All.

Watch the Salt!

Nutrition Challenge:

We all know that salt can sometimes “bring out” the flavors of some foods. But like many other things, we have to remember moderation. Kids should limit their salt (sodium) intake to 1,200 – 1,500 mgs. But according to a recent study by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control),

If you injure yourself while exercising (or even just walking around), an ice pack is usually one of the best ways to treat the initial pain and swelling.

Talk to a nurse or doctor about your injury if the pain is severe,

Safety In Numbers

Anytime you are walking to the store, school or anywhere, take a friend along! Not only can it be more fun, it is safer to be with a group of friends than walking alone. Also, avoid shortcuts

Healthy Kids Healthy Kids

the average American kid averages more than 3,300 mgs each day!

Too much sodium contributes to high blood pressure and other health problems. It also can make you swell, making your face, hands and legs look puffy. The next time you’re looking for a snack or meal item, note the sodium content on the label! You’ll feel and look better.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

or if you don’t feel better within a day or two. Let him or her know what you were doing when you first felt the pain.

If you’re told to “take it easy” for a while, follow the doctor’s orders. Sometimes you just need to let your body heal. Pushing yourself before you’re ready could actually cause your body to take even longer to mend itself and feel better.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 7, NH 7

Healthy Snacks

Dr.

Edgar Everett, III, Chiropractor

Where do you work? I work at Proficient Chiropractic. Where did you go to school? I graduated from Belleville West High School. I attended Illinois State University, and earned a Bachelor of Science and a Doctorate of Chiropractic from Logan College of Chiropractic, Chesterfield, Missouri.

What does a chiropractor do? In addition to adjusting all the bones of the spine, my partner, Dr. Xavier Tipler, and I educate our practice members about their nervous system and spine. We teach them how to do exercises that will help them get stronger and be able to walk and play sports again.

Why did you choose this career? We wanted to help people live healthier lives without medication by getting them active and eating a healthier diet. Water aerobics, workout classes, and walking are great ways to get the body stronger. A diet full of vegetables, water and the proper vitamins help the body function at its best.

that include dark, empty alleys, parking lots or buildings. Instead, choose a route that is filled with other people that are also out walking.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

remaining toppings on each of the salsa-topped tortillas and then cover with the second tortilla. Warm in a skillet to melt the cheese.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? It’s incredibly rewarding to see people walk better, sleep better, run faster and live without pain. Our practice members start out nervous about Chiropractic, but in no time they tell us how much they love coming to our office and getting adjusted.

Learning Standards: HPE 6, NH 3

Questions or comments? Contact

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

Mason Elementary School 5th grade teacher Monica Soehnlin shows students Alonal Feiteira, Luis Ramirez, Aleya Matthews and Abdullaziz Hussein how to

Computers are an essential part of our daily life. It is important to protect them from harmful (and expensive) viruses.

What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a piece of programming code spread through email attachments, application programs on your computer, or application programs installed from disk drives or flash drives.

There are several different types of viruses. The program virus starts with application programs and spreads to other programs on the computer. It

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

Types Of Computer Viruses!

can also be spread when a copy of the program is installed on another computer. The boot sector virus enters your system through a disk and infects the hard drive. With this virus, any time a disk is used, it will be infected. The macro virus specifically targets applications on your computer like Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook. When you open an infected document in these programs, the program itself becomes infected, allowing the virus to spread to any document opened up inside

Background Information:

In this experiment, you will test your inventor skills to create a security device.

Materials Needed:

• Buzzer • Battery • Cardboard • Electrical Wires (red and black)

• Battery Snap Connector • Scissors

• Ribbon or String • Concealing Materials (aluminum foil, paper, magnets, tape, push pins) • Large Rubber Band • A Door Tape

Process: Your goal is to build an alarm that will make a buzzing sound when someone enters your room. You will need to attach wires from the buzzer to the battery. The red wire needs to connect to the positive end of the battery and

MATH CONNECTION

Computer scientists are excellent problems solvers. They have a good eye for detail and strong logic skills. Solve these multistep word problem. Remember to read all parts of the question carefully and check your work.

z Sami and Krystal have twenty five minutes to walk to school together. It takes them eight minutes to get to the corner where the library is. It takes them another seven minutes to get to the fire station. How much longer do they have to get to school without being late?

___________ minutes

x Joseph earned $15 on Saturday but he only managed to earn half that amount on Sunday. He earned $23 the previous weekend. How much more does he need to earn to give him the $80 he needs to

DID YOU KNOW?

SCIENCE STARS

AFRICAN AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL ENGINEER: Window Snyder

the program. The email virus spreads through email attachments and links. Once an infected attachment is opened, the virus enters your email application, and duplicates itself by emailing everyone in your email list.

In order to protect your computer, be sure you keep an updated version of anti-virus software. Also, do not open email from anyone you don’t know. If you receive an email from a friend that has a link or attachment, check with your friend to be sure they actually sent the link and that it is not a virus.

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details.

the black wire needs to connect to the negative end. Use the other materials to conceal the alarm (remember you don’t want others to know it is there).

q Brainstorm a design for your alarm using the materials that you have available. Sketch the design.

w Build the design and test it. If your alarm doesn’t work, try reattaching the wires from the buzzer to the battery.

e Revise and rebuild the alarm as necessary.

r Compare designs with your classmates. Which designs were most effective. Why?

Learning Standards: I can follow sequential directions to complete an experiment. I can analyze results.

buy a new computer monitor? ___________ dollars

c Ashleigh runs 2 miles on Monday and three times that many on Tuesday. If she wants to run a total of 25 miles this week, how many more miles does she need to run? ___________ miles

v A salesman bought a case of 48 backpacks for $576. He sold 15 of them for $18 each at the conference, and the rest were sold to a department store for $25 each. How much was the salesman’s profit?___________ dollars

Learning Standards: I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve multistep word problems.

In 1976, Mwende Window Snyder was born to an American father and a Kenyan-born mother, Wayua Muasa. Mwende means “beloved” and is the name of her maternal grandmother. This tradition of passing down the names is customary in Kenya. Snyder’s mother taught her basic computer programming at 5 years old. Snyder learned new concepts quickly and taught

herself phrases in Swahili at 9 years old. This came in handy when she accompanied her family on trips to Kenya. Snyder attended Choate Rosemary Hall in the early 1990s and was the youngest of 30 board members there.

Snyder is an IT expert who has worked as director of security for such companies as @stake, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple.

Snyder even had “chief security of something-or-other” printed on her business cards. In 2004, she coauthored Threat Modeling, an online security guide designed for software engineers. She also co-founded a security company, @stake, that was sold to Symantec for $49 million dollars. Snyder’s approach to security is to think like a hacker and to identify weak points in security.

Many people are taking notice and praising her success. Dave Goldsmith, president of Matasano Security refers to Snyder as an “online rock star.” Eva Chen, CEO of Trend Micro says, “It’s gratifying to see other women in prominent roles in tech security. For so long, men have dominated the field.” Mitchell Baker, chairman of Mozilla, adds, “She is effective and respected among several constituencies—nitty gritty geeks, customers, and the general public. She has learned to walk the fine line of making complex concepts understandable and accurate.”

To follow Window’s blog, visit: http://www.dec.net/ws/.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography about a person who has made a contribution in the field of science, technology, or mathematics.

MAP CORNER

Use the newspaper to complete the following activities.

Activity One — Fact and Opinion:

Choose an editorial (or opinion column) in the newspaper to read. While reading, underline the facts, and circle the opinions. Did the writer rely more on facts or opinions? How did this technique affect the reliability of their writing?

Activity Two — Digital Citizenship:

Part of digital citizenship involves giving credit to the proper sources. Find examples in the newspaper for crediting others for their photographs, quotes, articles, etc.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can identify fact, opinion, and reliability.

This special Newspaper In Education initiative is made possible, and delivered to classrooms, through The St. Louis American Foundation and its NIE Corporate Partners:

find STEM lessons using the newspaper’s STEM page.

Photo by Wiley Price/ St. Louis American.

Blackface is a flaunting of white privilege

By Marc H. Morial National Urban League

“Blackface isn’t just another costume. It’s a mask of privilege, the kind of unchallenged power that comes through denying the experience of others.” – Justin Ellis

As a black student in overwhelmingly white schools in Louisiana, I faced my share of racial insults and slights. But one of the more memorable incidents was not even a deliberate slight directed at me. The offenders probably didn’t even think of me. But when a group of my classmates contemptuously affected exaggerated accents mocking black people, as part of a school production, I walked out.

The governor and attorney general of Virginia are under fire for having worn blackface to parties in the 1980s, and the Senate Majority Leader there edited a college yearbook that featured blackface photos and racial slurs. NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly lost her job after defending blackface Halloween costumes. Fashion design house Gucci was forced to apologize for marketing a balaclava sweater that resembles blackface.

Not by accident, the rise of the minstrel show coincided with the rise of the abolitionist movement. The portrayals were intended to dehumanize black people, to sabotage any nascent empathy for those held in bondage. The stock character Zip Coon made a mockery of free blacks, with all his attempts at dignity undermined by his foolish tastes and lack of education. The “coon” part of his name, which remains an all-too-common racist slur, referred to his preference for raccoon meat over more sophisticated fare.

Other stock characters included the overly-sexualized “Buck” and “Jezebel,” which simultaneously fueled a fear of black men seducing white women and justified the rape of women slaves. The sympathetic minstrel characters, the “good ones,” were portrayed as content with their place in society.

For white people in much of the country, the demeaning stereotypes of the minstrel shows were their only exposure to black life. The minstrel shows functioned to solidify the concept of white supremacy at a time when support was waning for the inhumane institution of slavery. The stereotypes - lazy, hypersexual, violent, incapable of social grace - persist to this day and are at the root of the inherent bias that infects our institutions. So prevalent were these characters, so powerful was their role in establishing racial hierarchy, that the name of one character, Jim Crow, became shorthand for the entire system of racist suppression and terrorism that followed the collapse of Reconstruction. When white people darken their skin or otherwise distort their facial features to resemble black people, it’s not an “homage” as many have tried to claim. It’s an act that is almost always performed for laughs. It is mockery. Blackface is a white person exclaiming with derisive glee, “Look at me, pretending to be black! Isn’t that hilarious?”

Those who defend blackface aren’t simply ignoring history; they’re ignoring the very structure of contemporary American society. Whiteness, in 21st Century America, conveys status and privilege as much as it ever did. The status and privilege of whiteness are at the heart of blackface. The

Young Leaders to be awarded next week

This year’s class of Young Leaders includes a supervisor of more than 50 registered nurses, a contract negotiator for one of the world’s largest financial institutions, and a chemical engineer for a major pharmaceutical company.

The stock character Zip Coon (seen here in an 1834 illustration) made a mockery of free blacks, with all his attempts at dignity undermined by his foolish tastes and lack of education.

cruel humor depends upon the chasm between privilege and disadvantage. It is a kind of flaunting of white privilege.

It’s why you almost never see the reverse; black people manage to get through costume parties dressed as white characters without lightening their skin or disguising their facial features. A black child in with an S on his chest and a red cape is pretty clearly Superman, and almost no one would think his costume was incomplete without white makeup.

Even though we are once again having a national dialogue about this hurtful practice, there are those who will continue to defend it, who refuse to understand why it is offensive, who insist that is their own intentions that matter, and not the effect on others. But it is the very definition of white privilege to decide for oneself what is and isn’t – or what should and shouldn’t be –offensive to black people.

When you step on someone’s foot, even accidentally, you step off and apologize. You don’t stomp down harder and say, “But I didn’t do it on purpose, and I can’t feel it so it must not hurt.”

The fact that blackface gives offense, whether intended or not, is reason enough.

Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League.

The class also includes an international support systems project manager for Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray Program, and even a manager of local history initiatives for the Missouri Historical Society.

What do they all have in common? They are highperforming, young AfricanAmerican professionals who have distinguished themselves in their professional field and are also giving back to the community.

This diverse group of 20 outstanding African-American professionals, age 40 and under, has been selected as the 2019 class of Young Leader award recipients. The awardees will be honored at the St. Louis American Foundation’s 9th annual Salute to Young Leaders Networking Awards Reception, Thursday, February 21 at the Four Seasons St. Louis Hotel.

Here’s a listing of this year’s Young Leaders:

Chiquita ‘Coach

Chi’Anderson

Founder/CEO Prize & Shine Life Coaching/ Mentoring, LLC

Crystal M. Carter

Officer, Assistant Relationship Manager Associate U.S. Bank

Cynthia Chapple

Research and Development Chemist

ELANTAS PDG

April T. Cole

Director, Learning and Development Mastercard

Jami Ballentine Dolby

Director of Development

Maryville University

Evan W. Fowler

Senior Program Manager

Ameren Corporation

Jeremiah Giles

MQ-25 Support Systems

Project Manager The Boeing Company

Shakia Gullette

Manager of Local History Initiatives

Missouri Historical Society

JenniferA. Haynes

Vice President, Legal Department

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Andrew Hubbard

Product Manager

Wells Fargo Advisors

Darryl T. Jones, II

Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis

Dan Lester Sr.

Director of Field Diversity, Inclusion and Culture Clayco

Diana Hill Mitchell

Buyer/Contract Negotiator Edward Jones

Ana Stringfellow

Financial Advisor Edward Jones

Felicia R. Williams Partner Thompson Coburn LLP

Nytilia Young MHA, BSN, RN

Team Leader 2 North Telemetry/Oncology DePaul Hospital SSM

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Associate Dean for Policy & Program Analysis The Graduate School Washington University in St. Louis

Cletra Peters, Ed.D

Director of Internal Operations, Liaison to the Board of Regents Office of the President Harris-Stowe State University

Tickets for the 9th Annual Salute to Young Leaders Networking Awards Reception, 5:307:30pm, Thursday, February 21st at Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, visit stlamerican.com, or contact Kate Daniel at 314289-5413, kdaniel@stlamerican.com. Tickets are $25 each.

Columnist Marc H. Morial

Business

Shelley House rededicated

4600 Labadie St.

was focus

of landmark Shelley v Kraemer case

By Rebecca Rivas

Of St. Louis American

When Mary Easterwood’s family moved into their home at 4600 Labadie St. about 60 years ago, the neighbors had tried to explain the history behind the house.

“But they couldn’t quite get the story together,” Easterwood said. “As we got older and we started to study, then we found out about the Shelley v Kraemer case” decided in 1948. Easterwood’s father, Lenton Morris, had bought the home from another African-American man, J.D. Shelley. When Shelley purchased the home, the title included a racially restrictive covenant – which was an agreement that prohibited the building’s owner from selling the home to anyone other than a Caucasian.

A neighbor sued to keep Shelley’s family from moving into the area. Shelley won the case, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state enforcement of racially restrictive covenants violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The Shelley House is now a National

n “It could be argued that the Shelley House is the single most important and historic piece of architecture directly related to fair housing in the entire United States of America.”

– Marc Levinson

Historical Landmark.

“It could be argued that the Shelley House is the single most important and historic piece of architecture directly related to fair housing in the entire United States of America,” said 2018 St. Louis REALTORS President Marc Levinson.

On January 18, the St. Louis REALTORS Foundation, Northside Community Housing and Rebuilding Together St. Louis held a rededication ceremony to replace the commemorative plaque that was stolen from the

front of the home in 2018.

The first time the house was dedicated as a National Historical Landmark was on May 1, 1988, and Easterwood remembered it being quite an event.

“There was a big band, and people came from all over,” she said. “It was shoulder-to-shoulder all the way down the street.”

The ceremony on January 18 drew only about 30 people during a bitterly cold day. However, Easterwood said the house draws people who want to learn more about this civil rights history year-round.

“This is an exciting day for the Greater Ville Neighborhood, for the City of St. Louis, and for everyone who understands that teaching and treasuring our history matters,” U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) said at the January 18 rededication ceremony.

“The historic legal battle to end restrictive covenants in residential housing was a great victory, not just for the courageous family who lived here but for the fundamental principle that

Even Republican voters now say the rich should pay their fair share

By Charles Jaco For The St. Louis American

As the noted economist 50 Cent has pointed out, everyone wants to get rich or die tryin’. And that’s one of the reasons conservatives have been able to get away with their tax-cut trickledown scam for so long: most of us fantasize that someday, we too will be rich, just like the oligarchs who’ve helped bankrupt the country for almost 40 years. The fact is, of course, that we have a better chance of being struck by lightning after winning the Powerball than we do of becoming rich. That’s because income and wealth inequality in the United States is a result of economic immobility.

The great American myth involves bootstraps, hard work and, eventually, wealth. But the most important word in that sentence is “myth.”

Charles Jaco

As a landmark study from Stanford University and Stockholm University showed back in 2006, social and income mobility in America is not nearly as good as other countries. They found that of people born into the bottom 20 percent in terms of household wealth and income, 40 percent stay there, as opposed to around 25 percent in the Scandinavian countries.

Lack of educational opportunities, lack of bank accounts and access to capital, lack of skills, and lack of the work connections that lead to social and income advancement are the main reasons the United States in the 21st century is starting to look a lot like Great Britain in the 19th century: the lower classes remain mired

in poverty through generations, while the upper classes pull farther ahead due to inherited wealth and economic connections.

French economist Thomas Piketty has written a pair of groundbreaking books that pretty well explain what’s been going on.

His books “Capital in the 21st Century” and “The Economics of Inequality” demonstrate clearly what most of us have lived through: since Reagan, the rich have gotten richer at the expense of the rest of us. In the 1960s, the top one percent in the United States accounted for eight percent of total earnings. In the Age of Trump, that one percent controls over 20 percent of all income.

There are lots of reasons for that, but among the two biggest are falling tax rates for the rich, and conservative attacks on organized labor that

William F. Tate was elected to the Board of the Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, the only national organization in the United States dedicated solely to the advancement of graduate education and research. As dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for Graduate Education at Washington University, Tate is charged with ensuring the positive trajectory of the programs leading to Ph.D.s awarded at the university.

Desiree Green received an “Apple for the Teacher” awards from the Alpha Zeta Chapter of Iota Phi Lambda Sorority Inc. She is a fashion design teacher at Normandy High School. Iota Phi Lambda is a business and professional women’s organization founded in 1929. It provides scholarships for high school and college students interested primarily in business education.

Will R. Ross was elected to a fouryear term on the St. Louis Zoological Park Subdistrict Commission. He is associate dean for Diversity and a professor of Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The commission is the governing authority for the Saint Louis Zoo. It has the fiduciary responsibility for the well-being of the zoo and the responsibility for fulfilling the zoo’s mission.

Renay Spears-Fort published her first poetic title, “The Poetic Bible,” which is a compilation of 66 poems interpreting each book in the Holy Bible. She started writing poems at the age, and 12 and recently she and her siblings started Shaw Publishing Group, LLC, to create edifying and uplifting content in book and ebook format. See www. thepoeticbible.com.

Sean “Scooda” Thomas, host of “The Scooda Radio Show,” a preemie gospel radio program in St. Louis, can now be heard five days a week on Praise 95.1FM and 1260AM from 6-7 p.m. Monday through Friday. He said he wants to bring “encouragement, inspiration, motivation, laughter and more” to listeners. See www.iamscooda.com or contact the Scooda Chat Line at 314325-6447.

Leyla Fern King received the highest Gold Key recognition for her poem “To Mama” in the 2019 Missouri Writing Region of the Scholastic Writing Awards Contest and now advances to national competition. She is a sophomore at John Burroughs School where she serves as sophomore justice on the student court and a member of Class 14 of Cultural Leadership.

On the move? Congratulations! Send your good professional news and a color headshot to cking@stlamerican. com

Sean ‘Scooda’ Thomas

Desiree Green

Leyla Fern King

Renay Spears-Fort

William F. Tate

Will R. Ross

Eric Friedman of St. Louis REALTORS; Erich Morris, who grew up in the home; Michael Burns, president of Northside Community Housing Inc.; Alderman Sam Moore; Morris’ sister Mary Easterwood; and U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay participated in the rededication of the historical monument plaque for the Shelley House at 4600 Labadie St. on January 18.

Photo by Steven Engelhardt

AKAs pledge $100K endowment to Lincoln University

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (AKA), in partnership with the Educational Advancement Foundation (EAF), pledged an endowment of $100,000 to Lincoln University as a part of the AKA-HBCU Endowment Fund.

“Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has implemented the AKAHBCU Endowment Fund with the goal of investing in the future of our young people and the sustainability of our treasured HBCUs,” said Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. International President Glenda

Glover. “Our organization has pledged to donate a total of $10 million towards the endowment, and we are honored to provide Lincoln University the first $50,000 during our February event as we celebrate Black History Month and the legacies of all HBCUs.”

Lincoln University President Jerald Jones Woolfolk, a proud

Free pre-police academy program starts Feb. 26

The Ethical Society of Police (E.S.O.P.) will host its next free Pre-Academy Recruitment Program from February 26 through May 4. The program, which prepares attendees for the St. Louis Police Academy, is open to individuals of all races and genders, age 19 and older. Classes will be held at the Urban League, 3701 Grandel Square in St. Louis.

The program will be held on Tuesday evenings from 6-9 p.m. and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. Courses will be taught by current and former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers, including graduates of the E.S.O.P. Pre-Academy Recruitment Program.

Since 2015, 53 participants have been hired as police recruits in training and civilian law enforcement employees by local law enforcement agencies. Of the 18 participants who graduated from the last session, eight have been hired or are in the process of being hired by local law enforcement departments.

To become a police officer in Missouri, candidates must be at least 21 years old upon graduation from the Police Academy, a U.S. citizen with a high school diploma or GED, and have a minimal criminal record. Class size is limited. To register, call (314) 478-8140 or email at preacademy@esopstl.org.

member of AKA, said the funds will allow the university “to provide more scholarship dollars to students who otherwise could not obtain a college education and to aid in ensuring Lincoln’s sustainability for another 153 years.”

Lincoln University of Missouri is a historically

black, 1890 land-grant, public university. Established in 1866 by the 62nd and 65th Colored Infantry Regiments, the campus is located in the heart of Jefferson City. The university currently serves a student population of approximately 2,500.

AKA pledged $50,000 to Harris-Stowe State University. The sorority will present 32 HBCUs with checks on February 28 at AKA international headquarters in Chicago.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated is an international service

n Lincoln University President Jerald Jones Woolfolk said the funds will allow the university “to provide more scholarship dollars to students who otherwise could not obtain a college education.”

organization that was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1908.

It is the oldest Greek letter organization established by African-American collegeeducated women with nearly 300,000 members

Community College to host three career fairs on three campuses

St. Louis Community College will host three career fairs – on February 27, March 6 and March 26 – on three campuses to connect the community with potential employers. The career fairs are free and open to the public. Participants are asked to bring resumes and dress in professional attire.

Companies representing health and wellness, banking and finance, retail, nonprofit organizations, information technology, security, state and local government, and other fields are expected to participate.

The first fair will be held 11 a.m.1:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 27 at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park in the Student Center Café, 5600 Oakland Ave.

Expected employers include Abbott EMS, Bethesda Health Group, BJC Healthcare, Missouri Department of Mental Health, Special School District of St. Louis County, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Whole Foods and others. For questions, call Career

Development at 314-644-9225.

The next fair will be held 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday, March 6 at St. Louis Community College at Meramec in the Gymnasium, 11333 Big Bend Rd.

Expected employers include Abbott EMS, Commerce Bank, BJC Healthcare, Central Bank of St. Louis, Dierbergs, Mercy, Home Depot, St. Louis Community College Workforce Solutions, UPS and others.

For questions, call Career Development at 314-984-7611.

The third fair will be held 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, March 26 at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley in the Student Center’s Multipurpose Room, 3400 Pershall Rd.

Expected employers include Ameristar Casino, Central Bank of St. Louis, LGC Hospitality Staffing, Marygrove, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Neighbors Credit Union, Urban League and others.

For questions, call Career Development at 314-513-4233.

in more than 1000 graduate and undergraduate chapters in the United States, Liberia, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Germany, South Korea, Bermuda, Japan, Canada, South Africa and the Middle East.

Free Lyft rides to Black History sites

Lyft is offering free rides in celebration of Black History Month. Riders can use the code “BHMSTL19” anytime in February for one free ride up to $10 to the following locations: Griot Museum of Black History and Culture (2505 St. Louis Ave.), Mary Meacham Freedom Crossing (4500 E. Prairie Ave.), Old Courthouse (11 N. 4th St.), National Blues Museum (615 Washington Ave.) and Eye See Me Bookstore (7827 Olive Blvd.). The ride must begin or end at the participating location to qualify. Limit one code per Lyft account while supplies last. Lyft is a ridesharing application like Uber that can be downloaded from all the major sites.

Jerald Jones Woolfolk

Glenda Glover

n “I’ve been here for a long time. This is my city. We have a chance this year.”

Sports

Playoff season begins

The road to the state championship begins this weekend for the small school programs in the state of Missouri as district playoffs in Classes 1, 2 and 3 get underway on Saturday.

Here is a look at the upcoming district tournaments involving teams in the St. Louis metropolitan area. For complete district tournament brackets, you can go to www.mshsaa.org.

Class 3, District 5 (at Whitfield)

Boys: Hancock drew the No. 1 seed in this competitive district, but the Tigers should get challenges from teams such as Maplewood and host Whitfield.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 5:30 p.m.

Girls: The host, Whitfield Warriors, are the No. 1 seed in the tournament. They have good players at every position. No. 2 seed Principia could provide a challenge.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 7:15 p.m.

Class 3, District 6 (at Vashon)

Boys: A very loaded district which features a couple of state title contenders in host Vashon and Cardinal Ritter. Barring upsets, they should meet in the championship game. Lift for Life and St. Louis Collegiate have also enjoyed excellent seasons in 2019.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 7:30 p.m.

Girls: Cardinal Ritter and Metro have been battling each other for district championships for many years. They are the top two seeds in this year’s field. Lift for Life has a solid team as well.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 6 p.m.

Class 3, District 7 (at North Tech)

Boys: Another excellent district that features a

Durant takes aim at

“I have nothing to do with the Knicks. I don’t know who traded (Kristaps) Porzingis. That got nothing to do with me. I’m trying to play basketball. Y’all come in here every day, ask me about free agency, ask my teammates, my coaches, rile up the fans about it.”

– Kevin Durant

It’s probably safe to say that Kevin Durant is not feeling the media these days. After not speaking with the media for more than a week, Durant decided that he had time following a game against the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 6. The Golden State Warriors’ superstar aired out his grievances against Ethan Strauss, sports columnist at The Atlantic, and sports writers in general.

Durant was upset at Strauss for an article he penned entitled, Silent star: On the presumed Warriors’ exit of Kevin Durant.

“Let us play basketball,” Durant pled with the press. “That’s all I’m saying. Now when I don’t want to talk to y’all, it’s a problem with me. C’mon man. Grow up.”

Strauss’ article noted the presumption by numerous “insiders” that Durant would bolt from the Warriors after the season via free agency. Many writers, sports personalities and fans have speculated that Durant may head East to join the New York Knicks. The rumor mill hit a boiling point after the Knicks dealt away Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks for Dennis Smith Jr. and a ton of cap space. It is understandable why Durant would be unhappy with being linked to another team (especially one as terrible as the Knicks). After all, Durant is trying to lock-in and help the Warriors win a third-consecutive NBA championship, which is no

or

— Philadelphia 76ers Star Joel Embiid

Earl Austin Jr.

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Webster Groves Amorey Womack (2) got up for 2 of his 12 points on the night past Hazelwood Central’s Eric Walker (4). Webster would defeat the Hawks of Central in a nail bitter 64-63. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant have

Photo by Wiley Price

It’s a big week for Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, who will make two appearances during the NBA AllStar Weekend, Feb. 15-17 in Charlotte.

After playing at Duke, he will certainly receive thunderous ovations when he participates in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night and the NBA Skills Challenge on Saturday.

After a scintillating 15-point performance as a rookie in last year’s game - in just 26 minutes – Tatum said he was “like a kid at a candy store” during All-Star Weekend.

While he was not named as a reserve for the Eastern Conference All-Star team, like fellow St. Louisan and Washington Wizard Bradly Beal, Tatum did finish fourth in forward balloting.

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Celtics’ Jayson Tatum takes trade talk in stride

son.

“I’m glad to still be on the team. I know everyone else was probably watching, so I’m glad it’s over with ... for now,” he said.

“Everyone in here wants to be here. We enjoy being around each other, playing with each other. Hopefully we just stay healthy and give ourselves a shot (at the NBA title.)”

It was possible that Tatum could be performing this weekend in a New Orleans Pelicans uniform instead of the green-and-white of Boston. He was the key player in several proposed deals that would have sent multiple Celtics to New Orleans in return for Anthony Davis. The trade deadline came and went last Thursday, and Tatum remains a Celtic.

Tatum said Friday “It’s new for me,” to be on the table as a cog in a trade.

“Especially when you hear your name and all the rumors. But I just focus on what I can control, go out there and play the game.”

A bright and astute young man, Tatum hinted that the trade rumors will probably begin again during the offsea-

Several sources indicated that Tatum would not have minded being dealt from the star-studded Celtics lineup, including Brian Windhorst of The Hoop Collective. He told ESPN, “Boston has got Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier — these young guys are thinking ‘dude, we went to Game 7 of the East Finals without you, Kyrie Irving, without you, Gordon Hayward. We’re this level of player’ … This summer, they could be gone.”

“It’s gossip, but the gossip is Jayson Tatum wouldn’t mind if he’s shipped to New Orleans and has a chance to be the face of the franchise somewhere. Because he’s not going to get that opportunity in Boston, at least not in the immediate future,” Windhorst said.

Tatum averaged 18.5 points per game during that 2018 playoffs run. He was a single point short of tying Hall of Fame center Kareem AbdulJabbar’s record for most points scored by a rookie in a single postseason (352.)

With the departure of LeBron James from Cleveland, the Celtics were viewed by many pundits as the favorite to win the NBA Eastern Conference.

Jayson tatum was the key player in several proposed deals that would have sent multiple Celtics to New Orleans in return for Anthony Davis. The trade deadline came and went last Thursday, and Tatum remains a Celtic.

But the Celtics have struggled at times this season, including an embarrassing 123-112 home loss to the L.A. Clippers last Saturday.

All-star guard Irving strained his knee and left the game near halftime, but that didn’t excuse the Celtics blowing a 28-point lead.

Tatum picked up some of the slack with 16 points, but most of those were in the first half. The team’s highest scoring half of the season was followed by its lowest scoring half.

That stunner came on the heels of a shocking loss to the L.A. Lakers in which the Celtics blew an 18-point lead and lost on Rajon Rondo’s shot at the buzzer. Tatum had his hands on the ball during a wild flurry, couldn’t control it and it bounced to Rondo who drilled the shot to secure the

129-28.

Tatum is averaging 16.4 points and 6.3 rounds this season, both up from last year’s rookie campaign. At 35-21 on Wednesday, the Celtics were six games behind the pacesetting Toronto Raptors in the Atlantic Division and a game behind the Philadelphia 76ers. Boston is in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and, if the postseason began now, would open a series against the 76ers on the road.

Way out Wizards

Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis said last January that his team would not part with its core three players of Bradley Beal, John Wall and Otto Porter Jr., via trades. Last Wednesday, Porter was dealt to the Chicago Bulls. Forward Markieff Morris was also traded to the Pelicans. Wall was out for the season with a heel surgery, which then became infected. While treating that ailment, he was diagnosed with ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered in a fall at his home and will be out until this time next year. That leaves Beal as the

lone ranger for the foreseeable future and he met with Leonsis on Friday to discuss the team’s direction.

“It went really well,” Beal told The Washington Times. “I’d personally rather not talk about what we talked about, but it went really well. … It was pretty much just talking about what we’re going to do moving forward.”

The Wizards acquired forwards Bobby Portis, Jabari Parker and Wesley Johnson in the respective Porter and Morris deals, and they played well in back-to-back wins against Cleveland and Chicago. Beal had 25 and 31 points, respectively, in those victories.

Beal is averaging 25.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists during his second consecutive All-Star season.

The bad news is that the Wizards are 24-33. The good news is that Beal and Company are just three games out of the Eastern Conference final playoff berth.

Like Tatum, Beal survived the trade deadline, but it doesn’t promise his surroundings will not change before next season.

“I’ll keep playing my (rear) off until I’m out of here,” Beal said.

“I’m always a fan of just being in one spot and working with what we got, no matter what it is, who it is, who’s in, who’s out, who’s hurt, who’s not. You know, I always fight and compete until the end.”

The Reid Roundup

Have you checked out Gatorade’s “You Fuel Us, We Fuel You,” commercial? The ad for Gatorade’s GX beverage features Jayson Tatum along with Serena Williams triathlete Lionel Sanders and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Christian Pulisic Baseball lost one of its most historic, intelligent and classiest gentlemen when Frank Robinson passed away at 83 last Thursday. MLB’s first black manager and the only player to win an MVP Award in both leagues, Robinson was as kind as he was talented. I met him several times and I always came away thinking, “I would have liked to play with him and have him as my manager.”… In case you’re in the Kansas City area later this month, the 18th Spencer Cave Black History Month Lecture entitled “Jackie Robinson, American” will be delivered by Arnold Rampersand. A retired Stanford professor of Humanities, Rampersand is author of Jackie Robinson: A biography after being selected by Robinson’s widow, Rachel to present her husband’s story. The event is at 7 p.m. Monday, February 25 at Park University’s Gem Theater, 1615 East 18th Street … In case you missed Patrick Mahomes’ basketball moves in a pickup game last week, you won’t see them again. The KC Chiefs told their superstar quarterback that’s enough of that … I’ve said in the Sports Eye I have questions about the MLS’ financial structure and the request that the Taylor and Kavanaugh families find more corporate support for the expansion team they seek seems more like a shakedown than a legitimate concern … The Cleveland Browns have signed troubled running back Kareem Hunt and didn’t bother talking to the woman he shoved, kicked and brutalized Bob Costas said “bleep you” to the NFL, NBC and the other networks that carry the NFL as he headed out the door. Forget his storied broadcasting career, I remember him for being the St. Louis Spirits announcer and speaking at the Kirkwood High School basketball banquet in 1978… Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest and is a New York Times contributor. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and appears monthly on “The Dave Glover Show” on 97.1 Talk.” His Twitter handle is @aareid1.

Alvin A. Reid

From The easT side

With Maurice Scott jr.

UIC guard Tarkus Ferguson is lighting up the Horizon League

Former Belleville Althoff basketball standout Tarkus Ferguson is having a stellar college career as a member of the University of IllinoisChicago Flames. The Flames are currently 13-12 and are contending in the Horizon League going into tonight’s matchup with Cleveland State. In their previous matchup, Ferguson had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in a 75-56 Flames victory.

Currently, the 6’4” Ferguson is averaging 15 points a game while grabbing 6.7 rebounds and handing out 5.0 assists a game as one of the top allaround guards in the league.

CLUTCH

Continued from C7

Every story that comes out connecting KD to NY is pure speculation. Whether it’s coming from Strauss’ unnamed sources or the talking heads on ESPN, it’s all due to guesswork – and Durant is to blame.

Last summer, Durant signed a two-year, $61.5M contract extension with the Warriors. However, the second year is a player option, meaning Durant can opt-out after the first year and become an unrestricted free-agent.

It’s similar to the deal he signed when he first joined the Warriors in 2016. Durant declined the second-year of that contract and signed anoth-

PREP

Continued from C7

couple of excellent teams in Trinity and Soldan, who are the top two seeds in the field. They met about a month ago in the third place game of the Belleville East Tournament with Trinity getting the win. A rematch could be very good. Third-seeded Lutheran North also bears watching.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 7 p.m.

While at Althoff, Ferguson was a big part of one of the area’s best high school teams we’ve seen in recent years as the Crusaders finished 32-2 and defeated New Lennox Providence 62-37 for the Illinois Class 3A state championship in March of 2016.

Joining Ferguson on that talented team of stars were top two-sport athletes, such as Jordan Goodwin (SLU basketball), C.J. Coldon (Wyoming football), Edwyn Brown (Eastern Illinois football), Keenan Young (Jackson State), Marvin Bateman (Greenville basketball), Bryson Strong (SIU football) and Brendon

er “1+1” deal in 2017. Durant has several benefits by signing the short-term deals. His looming free agency status gives him tremendous leverage. If he is unhappy about the direction of the franchise, personnel decisions or the post-game spread at the Oracle Arena, he can bounce.

Perennial free agency puts pressure on the franchise to do whatever it takes to keep Durant happy. That a big reason why Green was suspended for his role in their aforementioned verbal altercation.

The short-term deals could also pay off for Durant’s bank account. If the NBA’s salary cap continues to increase, Durant could keep signing baby deals until the next big bump in the salary cap. Then he could cash in long-term at a significantly higher salary.

Girls: Top seeded Lutheran North is looking for another deep postseason run after advancing to the Final Four in 2017 and the quarterfinals last season. McCluer SouthBerkeley and Trinity have also enjoyed solid seasons.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 5:30 p.m.

Class 3, District 8 (at Montgomery City)

Boys: Top-seeded ChristianO’Fallon is looking for another big postseason run after

The junior center had three big performances in three consecutive Panthers’ victories.

The 7’0” Bradford scored 23 points in a 60-37 victory over Oakville. He also had 15 points in a victory over Summit and 32 points and nine rebounds in a win

Gooch (SIU basketball).

After looking over numerous scholarship offers from football programs as a wide receiver, Ferguson chose to play basketball at UIC, and it seems to be working out just fine for him. He chose coach Steve McClain’s program because of his up-tempo style and his knack for rebounding as a point guard. He also credits former NBA player Dee Brown, who is an assistant coach in charge of the Flames’ player development.

Some of Ferguson’s highlights during the season include 12 points and 6 rebounds against Notre Dame, 14 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists against Illinois State, a 23-point, 10-rebound and five assist performance against St. Joseph’s and 18 points and 11 assists against Duquesne.

The sky is the limit for this former East St. Louis product. And I wish him well as the Horizon League Tournament begins in a couple of weeks.

Drawbacks exist to the short deals too. Should he suffer a major, career-threatening injury, he won’t have that long-term, guaranteed money that longer contracts bring. At age 30 and in the prime of his career, injury risk isn’t yet at the top of mind for Durant.

The second drawback is the one that seems to have the two-time NBA MVP all riled up – incessant questions and speculation about free agency.

LeBron James received the same treatment when he was signing “1+1” deals with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Ask Paul George how many questions he fielded about free agency and the Los Angeles Lakers last season. Is anybody asking them those same questions now?

advancing to the quarterfinals of the state tournament last season. The Eagles are led by a talented group of freshmen and sophomores.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 7:45 p.m.

Girls: Top seeded LutheranSt. Charles and No. 2 seed Hermann appear to be on a collision course for the championship game. Both teams have enjoyed 20-victory seasons.

Championship Game: Friday, February 22, 5:30 p.m.

top players in the Class of 2020.

Scott’s Notes

The East St. Louis Flyers’ basketball team is currently 22-5 and sitting atop the powerful Southwestern Conference standings. The Flyers put themselves in the driver’s seat for the league title after defeating Belleville West 57-56 on the road last Friday night.

The Flyers made three of four from the free throw line while West was 17 of 20 from the line. NEED I SAY MORE?! East Side will entertain O’Fallon on Friday night and finish the season at Collinsville on February 22

No, because they signed fouryear deals. They committed.

Kyrie Irving, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, is also getting daily questions about his future plans. It’s par for the course.

NBA players are able to command gargantuan salaries in large part due to the sport’s media coverage. TV deals, endorsements and partnerships are all driven by access to potential consumers that watch NBA games. More than any other major sport, the NBA grants amazing access to its players.

Every interview, news story, rumor, highlight or player impersonation video leads to more eyes on the game which translates to more money for the players (and owners). That’s why the NBA, and every other major sports

league, makes it mandatory that players and coaches are available to talk to the media.

If Durant really wants to just play basketball, there are plenty of YMCAs, rec centers and outside courts where he can ply his craft. If he wants to be a famous, multi-millionaire superstar, he’ll have find a way to spend a few minutes each night talking to a bunch of random people who are paid to talk about him.

Of course, there’s another simpler solution that doesn’t require Durant to give up the flexibility that comes with his short deals. That would be to grow thicker skin and simply ignore the negative or speculative stories.

As a celebrity, Durant should expect people are going to write things that doesn’t like. He doesn’t have to whine or

before beginning the Class 3 regional playoffs. Many fans around the state are looking forward to a Class 3A Super-Sectional showdown against powerhouse program Springfield Southeast. • Congratulations to the Mason-Clark Cardinals, who will play for the IESA Middle School state championship tonight against Springfield Grant in Urbana, Illinois. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. Mason-Clark is currently 25-2 while Grant is currently 27-1 going into the championship game.

throw a hissy fit every time a reporter writes an article without getting a quote or running his past his PR team. Somewhere in the world, there’s a badminton champion making $30K per year, flipping burgers or waiting tables on the weekend. They’re likely wishing and praying that a reporter would come to interview them so they can get a few more followers on social media or a few more dollars for their next title.

To keep up with the latest deadline deals in the NBA, be sure to check In the Clutch online and also follow Ishmael on Twitter @ishcreates. Subscribe to The St. Louis American’s YouTube page to see weekly sports videos starring Ishmael and Melvin Moore at youtube.com/stlamericanvideo.

Maurice Scott Jr.

SHELLEY

continued from page B1 in America where you live should not be determined by what you look like.”

The two-story brick home was built in 1906. In 1930, J.D. Shelley, his wife Ethel, and their six children migrated to St. Louis from Mississippi to escape the pervasive racial oppression of the South, according to the National Park Service. For a number of years, they lived with relatives and then in rental properties. When they began to look into buying a home, they found that many houses were covered by racially restrictive covenants.

They purchased the house at 4600 Labadie Ave. from an owner who agreed not to enforce the racial covenant. Louis D. Kraemer, owner of another property on Labadie covered by restrictive covenants, sued to enforce the restrictive covenant and prevent the Shelleys from acquiring the title to the building. The trial court ruled in the Shelleys’ favor in November of 1945, but when Kraemer appealed, the Missouri

continued from page B1

saw union membership shrink. Not surprisingly, as unions diminished, wages stagnated and benefits disappeared, making it even harder for working Americans to make even modest inroads into the middle class.

Economic stagnation became a full-scale implosion during the Great Recession. Millions of previously middleclass Americans lost their jobs and their homes due to a home mortgage and credit crisis engineered by Wall street types, who created risky financial instruments that promised fat-cat investors serious gains with almost no oversight. A blizzard of layoff notices and an avalanche of foreclosures destroyed the

Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s decision on December 9, 1946 and ordered that the racial covenant be enforced. The Shelleys then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 3, 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered its landmark decision in Shelley v. Kraemer. However, the case did not actually outlaw covenants, only a state’s enforcement of the practice.

“Following the Shelley decision, local realtors recommended ‘various schemes for circumvention,’ and the St. Louis chapter of the Urban League lamented that ‘all sorts of devices and practices’ – ranging from mortgage redlining to intimidation – worked to sustain the restrictions,” stated Colin Gordon in an article for the Missouri Historical Society titled “Deeds of Mistrust.”

At the ceremony, Levinson said that the St. Louis REALTORS work to overcome this history.

He said, “Replacing the plaque is just a small gesture of our pledge to encourage and practice fair housing in the great communities of St. Louis.”

savings of working people at a rate unparalleled since the Great Depression, while the rich waltzed off with their wealth and low taxes intact.

After all, we’ve been told since Reagan that the rich are like oxygen: they make life itself possible. Cutting taxes for the rich would trickle-down to we mere mortals. The rich would take that extra money and hire workers, creating a rising tide that would lift all boats. Even the language changed. Conservatives assured us the rich weren’t rich. They were “job creators.” The right wing took that trope and ran with it. If the rich are virtuous, the non-rich were not virtuous. So the GOP is now talking about “the makers”—the rich—versus “the takers”—pretty much everybody else.

n The Reagan tax cuts, George W. Bush’s tax cuts and Trump’s tax cut starved basic services while fattening both defense contractors and the portfolios of the rich.

Starbucks magnate Howard Schultz, who is exploring a run for president as a “moderate,” said that billionaires shouldn’t be called billionaires. They should be called “people of means” or “people of wealth.” By that logic, maybe we should call murderers “people with self-control issues.”

That kind of language perversion, coupled with decades of propaganda from conservative media blowhards, shifted the ground under the economic debate in America, convincing voters that somehow, in some unicorn universe, what was good for

On January 18, the St. Louis REALTORS Foundation, Northside Community Housing and Rebuilding Together St. Louis held a rededication ceremony to replace the commemorative plaque that was stolen from the front of the home in 2018.

the rich was good for the rest of us. The Reagan tax cuts, George W. Bush’s tax cuts and Trump’s tax cut starved basic services while fattening both defense contractors and the portfolios of the rich-whoshall-not-be-called-that.

But a funny thing happened amid the debris of the 2016 election and the low-wage, no-benefits gig economy. Progressive Democrats were elected and began pushing ideas like a 70 percent top income tax rate, a surtax on the richest households in America, raising corporate and estate taxes, and a Medicare for

all idea that would require significant tax hikes on the wealthy to pay for it. This time around, though, the conservative blather about raising taxes on the rich being “socialism” fell flat. In a new Harris poll, 59 percent of Americans support raising the top tax rate on the wealthy to 70 percent. But slapping an additional two percent surtax on the wealthiest households is even more popular. A recent poll from the Morning Consult group find the wealth surtax supported by 61 percent of all voters including – brace yourself –half of all Republicans. Half What this tells us is that even among the pro-Trump America-First crowd of (white) nationalists, there is a feeling that we’ve been screwed by the rich. They vote Republican because of

guns, racism, and abortion, not because of economics. What all this means is fairly simple. Anger against the wealthy gaming the system and not paying their fair share while schools, roads, bridges, and many communities collapse has reached a tipping point. Taxing the wealthy to lower the debt and/or repair infrastructure and/or pay for single-payer medical care is mainstream. The lie that making the rich richer benefits anyone but the wealthy has finally been exposed. Now it’s up to progressives to make those proposals into law eventually, no matter what Republicans or timid Democrats may think.

Charles Jaco is a journalist, author, and activist. Follow him on Twitter at @ charlesjaco1.

JACO

AMERICAN TRAVELS

Dubai: a true oasis in the desert

The United Arab Emirates is a diverse winter destination

By Michael Dutton For The St. Louis American

Had it with the snow and ice? Are you ready to jet away to a warm getaway? Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is calling your name – as it did mine.

Actually, Baroness Angela Van Wright Von Berger, a classmate of mine at Hampton University, is the one who called me to attend a fundraising gala she held there. The baroness is an advocate for the children of war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. It didn’t take a lot to convince me to go. I flew Air Canada from Dulles International

Top: The view from the

Left: (Left to right) STL American Publisher Donald Suggs joined TenTwenty founding partner Bas ter Laare, Michael Dutton, Fred Sweets and Laare’s guest at the reception before the “In The Kitchen With Stars by Robinsons” fundraising initiative gala in Dubai’s Al Futtaim Festival City on November 27, 2018.

K. Curtis Lyle to perform with J.D. Parran and George Sams

Roscoe Crenshaw

For The St. Louis American

Nu-Art Series will present poet K. Curtis Lyle, multi-reed master J.D. Parran and trumpeter/ flugelhornist George Sams 8 p.m. Saturday, February 16 at St. Louis University’s Xavier Hall, 3741 West Pine Mall, part of its ongoing “Jazz N’ Tongues” concert series at SLU.

“Poetry has been one of my biggest influences,” Parran said. “Michael Castro, Shirley LeFlore, K. Curtis Lyle, Eugene Redmond and Ajule Rutlin have been huge inspirations for my musical work.”

See TRAVEL, C4

Metro Theater Company uses ‘The Hundred Dresses’ to build bridges

Actress Alicia Reve Like hopes latest play will help youth celebrate differences

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“Yesterday, I had a girl come up to me after the show and say, ‘I’ve had kids make fun of my last name,” said Alicia Reve Like, who costars as Maddie in Metro Theater Company’s current production, “The Hundred Dresses.” Based on Eleanor Este’s 1945 Newberry Honor winning-novel of the same name, the play, adapted by William Kent Williams, is about an immigrant girl subjected to bullying because of her last name and the way that she dresses.

“Maddie is a doll,” Like said of her character. “She is loyal to her friend Peggy. She believes that they are best friends through

thick and thin. She sees the good in everybody, which makes it very hard when she feels stuck between having to choose. In her mind, she’s like, “Can’t we all just be friends?” The play, which caters to youth audiences

See PLAY, C4

Alicia Reve Like is one of the stars of the current Metro Theater Company production of ‘The Hundred Dresses,’ which continues through February 25 at The Grandel Theatre.

Photo by Dan Donovan

n “For me, it’s such a wonderful reunion, since it’s been decades since we performed together.”

– K. Curtis Lyle

Among his many sonic excursions was on Bluiett’s “Clarinet Family,” but he has led or energized a remarkable range of aggregations – in size and scope – from Stevie Wonder to Julius Hemphill to Shirley LeFlore. His brilliance as a player and composer is bolstered by his educator’s resume, whether in New York or in various residencies around the country. Lyle, a transplant from Los Angeles, has long been associated and worked with musicians, including Hemphill, Bluiett, of Oliver Lake, Phillip Wilson and Lester Bowie.

“For me, it’s such a wonderful reunion, since it’s been decades since we performed together,” Lyle said of the February 16 gig.

He will perform “Undivided Soul,” a piece comprised of six letters, which he described somewhat, but further disclosure here may soil any surprise. The iconoclastic wordsmith is known for conscience-stirring piece such as “Fifteen Predestination Weather Reports,” “Electric Church” and “Drunk On God.” Sams, who also runs Nu-Art Series, and Parran are native St. Louisans, products of historic Sumner High School. Sams also was a great friend of the late poet Ntosake Shange, another native St. Louisan. Sams continues his longtime efforts to elevate

See JAZZ, C4

Photo by Roscoe Crenshaw K. Curtis Lyle

148th floor of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Kalifa, looking down on the skyscrapers and fountain plaza of downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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black history activities

Sat., Feb. 16, 1 p.m., Fair Housing 50 Years Later Film Screening. Marking the 70th anniversary of the landmark Shelley v. Kraemer Supreme Court decision and the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Ave., 63112. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., Feb. 21, 6:30 p.m., Maplewood Public Library presents The History of Negro Leagues Baseball. 7550 Lohmeyer Ave., 63143. For more information, visit www.maplewoodpubliclibrary. com.

Thur., Feb. 21, 7 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Times’s Getting Harder: Stories of the Great Migration. Part of the 2019 Black history series: Black Migrations. Schlafly Branch, 225 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Fri., Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents Lift Every Voice: Black History Month Celebration. 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.slso. org.

Sun., Feb.24, 2:30 p.m., West Central Church of Christ presents A Black Heritage Month Musical Production Conversations at the Kitchen Table: A Look at Black Music & Song. 4662 Delmar Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 367-0060.

Thur., Feb. 28, 6:30 p.m., The Remarkable Story of Missouri Slave Archer Alexander. Members of Archer Alexander’s family will be present for the event. Maplewood City Hall, 7601 Manchester Ave., 63143. For

more information, visit www. maplewoodpubliclibrary.com.

concerts

Fri., Feb. 15, 8 p.m., St. Louis Music Festival starring Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Joe and Charlie Wilson. Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Sun., Feb. 17, 7 p.m., The Sophisticated Soul Tour starring Lalah Hathaway, Lyfe Jennings and Raheem DeVaughn, Stifel Theatre. For more information, visit www. stifeltheatre.com.

Sun., Feb. 17, 8 p.m., The Ready Room presents Bryce Vine. With special guest Kid Quill. 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.thereadyroom.com.

Sun., Feb. 17, 8 p.m., The Pageant presents The 2009 Tour feat. Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y. 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Mon., Feb. 18, 8 p.m., Travis Scott: Astroworld - Wish You Were Here Tour 2, Enterprise Center. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com

Wed., Feb. 20, 8 p.m., The Pageant presents Zhu. 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112.

Sat., Feb. 23, 7 p.m., The Ready Room presents Chrisette Michelle. 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www. thereadyroom.com.

Sun., Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m., Sheldon Concert Hall presents Ladysmith Black Mambazo. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. thesheldon.org.

Fri., Mar. 1, 8 p.m., The Pageant presents Marsha

Kenya Vaughn recommends

Ambrosius. 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112.

Sat., Mar. 2, 7 p.m., Ambassador presents Ginuwine, Jon B., and Adina Howard. 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., Mar. 3, 7 p.m., Ambassador presents Howard Hewett. 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. Sun., Mar. 3, 8 p.m., Sheldon Concert Hall presents Aaron Neville. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., Mar. 3, 8 p.m., The Pageant welcomes Sammie 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112.

Fri., Mar. 8, 7 p.m., Sheldon Concert Hall presents Anthony Lucius with DJ Nune. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108.

local gigs

Sun., Feb. 24, 5:30p.m.,

The Drew Project presents Urban Jazz: Celebrating the Musical Mastery of Miles Davis. Feat. Dawn Weber and others. The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136.For more information, call (314) 869-9090.

Sat., Mar. 2, 8 p.m., The Ready Room presents LA4SS. The Ready Room, 4195 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www. thereadyroom.com.

special events

Sat., Feb. 16, 6 p.m., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., East St. Louis Chapter presents the Kappa Klassic. Ainad Shriners Temple, 609 St. Louis Ave., East St. Louis, IL. 62201. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., Feb. 17, 1 p.m., Beauties & Bruhs Brunch 2019. Hosted by Miss Tiffany. Polish Heritage Center, 1413 N. 20th St., 63106. For more information, visitwww.

The Sophisticated Soul Tour starring Lalah Hathaway, Lyfe Jennings and Raheem DeVaughn. For more information, see CONCERTS.

eventbrite.com.

Sun., Feb. 17, 2 p.m., St. Louis Area Voting Initiative invites you to a Candidates Forum: Board of Alderman President City of St. Louis New Northside Conference Center, 5939 Goodfellow Blvd., 63147. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Sun., Feb. 17, 3 p.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., East St. Louis Alumnae Chapter presents A Red Hot Affair Day Party Founders’ Day Celebration. Grand Marais Golf Club, 5802 Lake Dr., Centreville, IL. 62203. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Sat., Feb. 23, 3 p.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., St. Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter presents the 2019 Jabberwock: Standing on the Promises Missouri Athletic Club, 405 Washington Ave., 63102. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Feb. 23, 6 p.m., The Women’s Safe House presents

the In Her Shoes Gala: Roaring in the 20s. Bid on a silent auction, hear from survivors, and raise funds to support our families. Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, 1335 S Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, call (314) 772-4535.

Sun., Feb. 24, 1 p.m., The Sumner High School Alumni Association hosts its 16th Annual Membership RoundUp, Sumner’s Journey: Past and Present. Lifetime Members will be honored and as well as “Showcase Your Talent II”. Sumner High School. Individuals or groups that would like to showcase, please respond by February 5th at 314.345.2676 or e-mailing sumneralumniassn@yahoo. com.

Mon., Feb. 25, 6 p.m., 18th Ward Aldermanic Candidate Forum. Candidates will discuss priorities in the 18th Ward & their public policy proposals. Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being, 1000 N. Vandeventer Ave., 63113. For more information, visit www. deaconesscenter.org.

Fri., Mar. 1, 7 p.m., Mardi Gras Foundation presents the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Ball. St. Louis City Hall, 1200 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www. stlmardigras.org.

Sat., Mar. 2, 11 a.m., The Curvy Bridal Show. Giveaways, prizes, a fashion show, and more. St. Peters Cultural Arts Centre, 1 Saint Peters Centre Blvd., 63376. For more information or to register, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Mar. 2, 12 p.m., 2019 Diversity Teacher Job Fair. Designed to advance individuals of color within St. Louis Independent Schools. City Academy, 4175 N. Kingshighway Blvd., 63115. For more information, visit www.independentschools.org.

Sat., Mar. 2, 6 p.m., International Food Festival. Enjoy a culinary feast of delicious foods from around the globe while donating nonfor local foodbanks. Corner of Skinker and Wydown, 63105. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Sat., Mar. 2, 8 p.m., Jackson State University St. Louis Alumni Chapter’s Blue and White Dance. Machinist Hall, 12365 St. Charles Rock Rd., 63044. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., Mar. 3, 2 p.m., Family Day at the National Blues Museum – Mardi Gras Party. Music, scavenger hunts, crafts, Musical Petting Zoo, and more. 615 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, visit www. nationalbluesmuseum.org.

Fri., Mar. 8, 6 p.m., Marygrove invites you to the 2018 BLOOM Gala Proceeds benefit children, youth and families impacted by abuse, neglect and other trauma. Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, 999 N 2nd St., 63102. For more information, visit www. marygrovechildren.org.

Sat., Mar. 9, 7 p.m., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Upsilon Phi Omega Chapter presents Mardi Gras: Zulu for Life. Omega Center, 3900 Goodfellow Blvd., 63120. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

comedy

Sat., Feb. 23, 7 p.m., Focus on the Funny: Humorous Vibes Only. With Jason Nelson and Marquise Moore. Key West Elks Lodge, 8745 Jennings Station Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Feb. 15 – 17, The Laugh Lounge presents Melanie Comarcho. 111208 W Florissant Ave., 63033. For more information, visit www. thelaughloungestl.com.

Mar. 8 – 10, The Laugh Lounge presents Hope Flood. 111208 W Florissant Ave., 63033.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

literary

Sat., Feb. 16, 8 p.m., Saint Louis University’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts and the Nu Art Series presents Jazz n’ Tongues: The Art of Music and Poetry. Xavier Hall Theatre, 3733 West Pine Mall, 63108. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Wed., Feb. 20, 4:30 p.m., Webster University hosts authors Lynn Rubright and Ted Green, authors of Oh Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939. A screening of the documentary by the same name and Q&A with the authors. University Library, 470 E. Lockwood, 63119. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Wed., Mar. 13, 7 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Read it Forward with Nic Stone. Teens can hear from the author of Dear Martin and get a free copy of the book. Central Library, 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www. slpl.org.

theatre

Feb. 13 – March 3, The Black Rep presents Milk Like Sugar, AE Hotchner Studio Theatre inside Edison Theatre at Washington University, 6445 Forsyth. Tickets are available atwww. theblackrep.org, 314-5343807.

art

Fri., Feb. 15, 5 p.m.,

Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries’ Winter/ Spring Gallery Open. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. thesheldon.org.

Sat., Feb. 23, 2 p.m., Field House Museum hosts Speaker: Harry Weber Weber is an internationally known sculptor with statues of Dred and Harriet Scott, Daniel Boone, and more. 634 S. Broadway, 63102. For more information, visit www. fieldhousemuseum.org/event.

Tues., Feb. 26, 3:30 p.m., Beyond Museums: Career Paths in Arts and Culture. The Kemper Art Museum’s third annual career exploration event features brief panel discussions with arts and culture professionals. DUC Formal Lounge, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, www.kemperartmuseum.wustl. edu.

lectures and workshops

Tues., Feb. 19, 5 p.m., Grace Hill Women’s Business Center presents a Legal Clinic. Meet with an attorney from Legal Services of Eastern Missouri to discuss business related questions. 2125 Bissell St., 63107. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Thur., Feb. 21, 6 p.m.,

Adulting 101 for Teens:

Know Your Rights. Cori Bush, Bruce Franks, and SLU law students will discuss teens’ individual rights as a member of the community and how to speak up for what is right. Central Library, 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www.slpl. org.

Wed., Feb. 27, 6:30 p.m., The Scholarship Foundation presents Decision-Making: Using Award Letters to Assess Affordability

Understand college award letters, compare financial aid packages, and more. 6825 Clayton Ave., 63139. For more information, visit www.sfstl. org.

Sat., Mar. 2, 10 a.m., Grants in Plain Sight

Explore sources of grants, the components that go into a proposal, and strategies for how to manage a grant once awarded. Anheuser-Busch Hall, Fontbonne University, 6800 Wydown Blvd., 63105. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., Mar. 7, 12 p.m., Great Decisions Lecture Series - Refugees and Migrants Topics include determining refugee status, how countries have reacted to migration, international laws, and more. The Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd., 63117. For more information, call (314) 727-4771.

Critical Steps to Take for a Job or Career Change. Limelight Events, 1378 S 5th St., 63301. For more information, visit www. masteritseminars.com.

Sat., Feb. 23, 10 a.m., Let’s Get Some F.U.N.D.S. Gain a better understanding of credit restoration, wealth building, increasing income, and more. Open Door Christian Center, 9501 Weyburn Dr., 63136. For more information, visit www. restoreyourcreditscore.net.

Wed., Feb. 27, 4 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents

Through Apr 16, numerous Volunteer Income Tax Assistance & AARP TaxAide sites will open to prepare income tax returns free of charge. For more information, visit these sites: https://mctcfreetax.org/, https://stlouistap.org/, http:// naba-stl.org/vita/location/, http://gatewayeitc.org/index. html

health

Fri., Feb. 22, 5 p.m., SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s

Hospital invites you to Glennon Style. Enjoy a cocktail party, fashion show, and concert featuring Erin Bode. Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, 1335 S Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, visit www. glennon.org/style.

Sat., Feb. 23, 8 p.m., Young Friends of Mercy 5th Annual Masquerade: Let the Good Times Roll. Proceeds benefit Mercy Kids Child Life Program. Palladium, 1400 N. Park Pl., 63104. For more information, visit www.4agc.com.

spiritual

Thur., Feb. 14, 7 p.m., New Life Community Church of East St. Louis presents A Night of Love. A valentine dinner dance. Eco Jazz, 1409 Walter St., East St. Louis, IL. 62205. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Feb. 22 – 23, 2019 Festival of African American Spirituals. Participants will learn vocal style, performance practice and ensemble techniques. Free concert on Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. Kirkwood Baptist Church, 211 N Woodlawn Ave., 63122. For more information, visit www. kirkwoodbaptist.org.

Sat., Mar. 2, 7 p.m., Diamond Entertainment presents Deitrick Haddon Live in Concert. Harris Stowe State University, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

film

Sat., Feb. 23, 7 p.m., St. Louis Black Short Film Screenings. Travis Haughton and Philip Irving will show and answer questions about their films I’m Not the Only One and Love Thy Neighbor 470 E. Lockwood Ave., 63119. For more information, visitwww.eventbrite.com.

The Laugh Lounge presents Melanie Comarcho. See COMEDY for details.

the world, the UAE has one of the most diverse economies and populations in the region. Everything about Dubai is orderly, hospitable and immaculate. The airport, taxis, hotels and public restrooms are all pristine. Don’t even think about doing anything illegal. The judicial system is based on civil and Sharia law. Offenses can range from alcohol consumption outside of a licensed environment, mostly exclusive hotel restaurants and bars, to offending a person’s honor. Punishment can range from a lashing to stoning to worse. That is why Dubai is one of the safest, most hospitable cities.

Getting around the UAE is as easy as renting a car, hailing a cab or summoning an Uber, which I took to Abu Dhabi to meet a pair of long-time friends who flew in from St. Louis and from Washington. They came to watch Lewis Hamilton, the first and only black driver to race in Formula 1, participate in and win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton has won five world championships in this popular, international motorsport.

While the official religion of Dubai is Islam and the official language Arabic, the UAE is a global hub with a diverse population connecting Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. In a recent letter to the editor of The Washington Post, the UAE ambassador to the United States stated, “People of more than 200 nationalities live peacefully in the UAE. There are more than 40 Christian churches, and there are Hindu and Sikh temples. ... More than 80 universities in the UAE are challenging and inspiring young people. More than 20 million tourists visited the UAE last year.”

The next day, my friends Fred Sweets and Donald M. Suggs, both of The St.

JAZZ

Continued from C1

and celebrate the visual and performing arts with this concert series on the St. Louis University campus that blends spoken and instrumental tones

Hampton University classmates of Baroness Angela Van Wright Von Berger (center) were her guests at the annual “In The Kitchen With Stars by Robinsons” fundraising gala in Dubai’s Al Futtaim Festival City. With the Baroness are (left to right) Michael Dutton, Dr. Donna Pratt, Brandi Stewart, and Dianne “Dickie” Dickert.

Louis American, and I took the hour-long drive back to Dubai, where we connected with Dianne Dickert of San Francisco and her goddaughter Brandy Stewart of New York

n Everything about Dubai is orderly, hospitable and immaculate. The airport, taxis, hotels and public restrooms are all pristine.

to get ready for the gala. Through the reach of Facebook, Dr. Donna Pratt, another Hampton graduate living in Abu Dhabi, learned of the gathering and joined the fun.

Prince Albert II of Monaco attended the gala to share his

(and sometimes dance) from renowned performers.

“This new partnership with SLU is something that should be applauded, because collaborations are significant survival tools for arts organizations,” Sams said. The next “Jazz N’ Tongues” gig at Xavier Hall on March 22 will feature Oliver Lake on

interest in climate change and environmental sustainability.

Baroness Von Berger introduced the third edition of her book “In The Kitchen With Stars,” featuring the recipes of some of the world’s most renowned chefs.

More than 200 guests attended the book signing to raise funds and awareness for two organizations – the International Humanitarian City’s HELP Our Kids “One Humanity” and The Foundation of Prince Albert II of Monaco’s “Sustainable Energy Program.”

Put Dubai on your bucket list and plan to stay for more than a week to enjoy all the region has to offer. Plan your travel to Dubai for the cooler winter months from November to March, since summers are brutally hot, and restrict outdoor activities to late nights and early mornings. Plan ahead by visiting https://www.visitdubai.com/en/ travel-planning

reeds, Greg Mills on piano, Sams on brass, and two retired Alvin Ailey dancers, Antonio and Kirven Douthit-Boyd.

Sams also noted that the Nu-Art Series recently donated four working acoustic pianos to the St. Louis Parks and Recreation Department.

PLAY

Continued from C1

and runs through February 25 at the Grandel Theatre, follows a group of fifth-graders as they navigate life at the age when bullying becomes a regular part of the school experience.

“This is so important for kids to see,” Like said. “And being a teaching artist, I’ve seen the kids in this play.”

Like found it striking – and telling – that a story from a book written 75 years ago still resonates today. She said the book has never been out of print, which means that people continue to connect with the story.

“You have to ask yourself, ‘Why do they feel the need?’” Like said. “You mean to tell me for 75 years – and a little beyond, because this would have happened to her in the 1930s when Eleanor Estes was a kid – that kids have been feeling out of place, uncomfortable and unsafe in their learning environment for that long? How is a student supposed to learn anything if they can’t focus because they are always concerned about what somebody will say about them?”

Seeing that continuum and wanting to be a part of the solution was what attracted Like to the production. The story is even more pressing in this digital age, where kids are subject to cyberbullying.

“Being a millennial, I’ve watched the transition,” Like said. “That’s a huge thing that the kids of today don’t get to turn it off. I feel for them. But if we can make their face-toface contact a little bit better, I’m hoping it will ripple out to their phones. That’s the brunt of the work.”

Like wasn’t much older than the character she plays when she was introduced to the theater. She grew up singing – but joined a production of “Macbeth Jr.” in the eighth grade. According to her, the production was disastrous.

“I did this evil laugh – and the audience laughed back at me,” Like said.

During her freshman year of high school, she became hooked on musical theater after being introduced to the art form through “The Wiz.” A professional acting internship brought the Kansas City native and University of Missouri grad to the St. Louis area.

“There’s a huge overlap in the way that actors, singers and dancers all create their art,” Like said. There’s an overlap of, ‘Okay, what is the story I’m telling?’ and making sure that

this is the message that I want them to walk away with. They all have that problem to solve when they are performing.

When I realized that, I was able to translate everything I wanted to get done acting-wise through the eyes of a musician.”

She’s since become one to watch on the St. Louis theater scene, thanks to work with the Black Rep, Mustard Seed and Metro Theater Company. She was last seen in their December production of “Wonderland: Alice’s Rock and Roll Adventure.”

n “How is a student supposed to learn anything if they can’t focus because they are always concerned about what somebody will say about them?”

Like feels that “The Hundred Dresses” is especially important as the nation grapples with issues surrounding immigration.

“Yes, somebody here doesn’t speak our language. They have a different name than you would think of, but there’s no reason why this person should not be allowed in this room,” Like said. “In my personal opinion, I don’t care how they got here. They’re here. They deserve to be respected until proven otherwise.”

As an African-American, Like said she relates to what

the main character of “The Hundred Dresses” experiences.

“There are people of color walking into spaces and feeling uncomfortable because of their difference,” Like said. “It’s absolutely not okay. That’s another reason why I had to do this show. I know how it feels. It’s like, ‘Let me prepare myself.’ You want to be positive, but you have to prepare yourself for the negative.”

She’s hoping that stories like “The Hundred Dresses” do their part in tearing down those walls.

“I don’t want our kids to have to deal with that,” Like said. “I want them to walk into a room and say I’m about to make friends. Not ask, ‘Am I going to be able to make friends?’ just because they are black or because they speak Spanish. We are in America. We are supposed to be in a place where we can gel and be our own selves. Why can’t we be ourselves?”

It is her firm belief that collectively embracing what makes each of us unique is the most critical part of the solution.

“We can’t create a perfect world, I understand that,” Like said. “But it would be so great if we can get people to understand that all of our differences are really what make our world so colorful.

Metro Theater Company’s The 100 Dresses continues through February 25 at The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. For a full schedule of showtimes and to purchase tickets, visit http://metroplays. org or call (314) 932-7414.

Alicia Reve Like has become one to watch on the St. Louis theater scene, thanks to work with the Black Rep, Mustard Seed and Metro Theater Company.

Beaumont High School Class Of 1969 will celebrate i’s 50 year reunion Sept 20-22, 2019 at Embassy Suites St. Charles.. Come join us as we celebrate these golden years, “Living Life Like It’s Golden.” For more information contact Dennis Hayden 314 276-6188 or beaumontclassof1969@ yahoo.com or send your questions to P.O. Box 155, Florissant, MO 63032.

reunion announcements can be viewed online!

Beaumont High School Class of 1979 is planning its 40 year reunion. All activities are scheduled for the weekend of September 27-29. The location is The Airport Marriot at 10700 Pear Tree Drive, St. Louis 63134. For more information, contact Milton Jackson at 314-2764392 or Yolanda Lockhart at lockhartyo08@gmail.com.

Northwest Class of 1979 is planning on cruising for our 40th class reunion and would love for you to join us!

Celebrations

Birthdays

Happy 99th Birthday to Mother Pearl Shelton on February 22! Love, your daughter Willine

Date to sail is set for July 20, 2019 and you can feel free to contact: Duane Daniels at 314-568-2057 or Howard Day at 414-698-4261 for further information. Please don’t miss the boat!

Soldan Class of 1979 is planning its 40th year reunion for the weekend of August 2-3, 2019. Yearlong reunion activities will begin with a kickoff at Soldan High School Homecoming on Saturday, October 13, 2018 prior to the game at 1 p.m. For more information or to assist with reunion activities, please email at: soldanclassof1979@gmail. com or call Barbara at 314 456-3391.

We would like to wish Sylvester Clark a Happy 83rd Birthday! May the rest of your year be filled with joy and happiness. Love, your family

Sumner Alumni Association hosts its 16th Annual Membership Round-Up Sunday, February 24, 2019, 1-4 pm at Sumner High School. Theme: Sumner’s Journey: Past and Present and “Showcase Your Talent II”. Activities: Reception 12:301:45 pm catered by Murray’s Catering, Angelo “Sax” Shaw, displays, souvenir items, vendors, and more. New, renewal or upgrade Alumni Assn Membership; program 2 pm. Bring canned goods for a Ville’s church food pantry. Vendors ($50 Fee). For flyer or more info, email: sumneralumniassn@ yahoo.com or call J. House, Chairperson (314) 420-3442.

Sumner Class Of 1969 50th reunion “Living Life Like It’s Golden” June 28-30, 2019. Looking for classmates of 1969 to contact us with your updated information via address:sumnerclass1969@ gmail.com or our FB page: Sumner High.

Sumner Class of 1979 will hold its “Bulldogs Rock the Boat” BIG 4-0 Reunion Cruise, June 22-27, 2019. For further information, email your contact information to sumner1979@ymail.com or call 314-406-4309. Join our Facebook group at Sumner High Class of ‘79.

Do you have a celebration you’re proud of? If so we would like to share your good news with our readers. Whether it’s a birth, wedding, engagement announcement, anniversary, retirement or birthday, send your photos and a brief announcement (50 words or less) to us and we may include it in our paper and website – AT NO COST – as space is available Photos will not be returned. Send your announcements to: kdaniel@stlamerican. com or mail to:

St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315

MO 63103 Deadline is 10 a.m. on Friday. If you’d like your class to be featured in a reunion profile, email or mail photos to us. Our email address is: reunions@stlamerican.com

Ernest and Yvonne Turner were married 60 years ago on February 22, 1959. They are celebrating sixty years of love and life together in Holy Matrimony. Congratulations to the beautiful couple!

Bishop Elijzah Hankerson III to speak at Eden Theological Seminary

President of the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition speaks Feb. 19

American staff

St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition President Bishop Elijzah Hankerson III will lead a discussion on creating strong community leaders at a free public presentation on Tuesday, February 19 at Eden Theological Seminary.

Bishop Hankerson will discuss what it takes to grow as a leader of impact, how lay and clergy leaders alike can bring their talents to bear on the problems facing the St. Louis region, and what it takes to build broad-based collaborative efforts. He works locally nationally and internationally to grow and strengthen the impact of churches on their communities.

As local pastor of Life Center International Church of God in Christ, Bishop Hankerson’s agenda focuses on crime reduction, education, economic development and social justice. He also serves as the youngest jurisdictional bishop in the Church Of God In Christ (COGIC), overseeing 65 churches in Missouri and the Midwest.

As president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, Bishop Hankerson has organized clergy to work with civic leaders and activists gathered to address the growing crime epidemic and to encourage the

St. Louis community to help in the reduction of crime by holding their fellow citizens accountable.

“What is it that has caused our society to deteriorate to the point that nothing is sacred and that people are fearful even to speak up? The answer is a loss of a sense of community, but as clergy, we do believe that we are our brother’s keeper,” Bishop Hankerson challenged the community last year.

“Faith in God is the proven moral compass of our society. It is at the church that you learn thou shall not steal, thou shall not kill, do onto others as you would have them do unto you, it is even at the church that you learn love your neighbor as you love

yourself.”

His Eden Theological Seminary presentation is part of the Langenberg Leadership Forum, a program for business and organizational leaders offered through The Walker Leadership Institute at Eden Theological Seminary. Working at the intersection of faith and business, the Walker Leadership Institute equips business leaders with skills and experiences to guide their organizations in better serving the common good. The institute partners with other academic, religious, and business groups to put together workshops, conferences and forums to identify, encourage, and activate

community leadership. Eden Seminary has been at the forefront of educating students to become leaders in faith since its founding in 1850.

The event will take place on Tuesday, February 19 from 7:30-9 a.m. at the Schroer Commons on the campus of Eden Theological Seminary, 475 East Lockwood Ave. in Webster Groves. This free event includes a light breakfast at no cost.

Advance registration is required and can be made at www.eden.edu/events/strongerleaders. For more information on this event, call 314-918-2547 or send an email to leadership@ eden.edu.

The Message

In awe of Paul

I remember reviewing the letters of Paul in Bible study. In doing so I was constantly reminded that one cannot look at Paul without really seeing Jesus’ amazing handiwork. I think Paul is an awesome person when it comes to the story of his life. I haven’t found a biography or autobiography of anyone in or outside of the good book who comes close to my admiration for Paul, Jesus notwithstanding. Because the two are so closely associated with one another, I can’t help but consider the impact of this tandem on human history.

Just in case someone wants to debate me on this by bringing up the lives of the 12 apostles, I have considered them as well as the prophets and I’m in awe of Paul. A very large part of the Bible is devoted to Paul’s building of the early church at a time when who you worshipped was a life and death decision. Sound familiar?

Paul himself says in his letters to the church in Corinth that there was indeed a point to his suffering and persecution and the basis for most, if not all, of what he went through was a by-product of his faith in Jesus Christ. It’s another perspective of one of my favorite scriptures.

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I (Paul) will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-10.

This kind of thinking and belief led to the eventual proliferation of the church world-wide. It also makes the point of how the lives of so few have impacted and influenced so many in the world then and also in the world as we know it today. Forgive me if I find this a rather fascinating fact.

Paul is who he is because of his unique one-on-one encounter with Christ. That encounter changed him and ultimately the world in which we live. If that be true, then our individual encounters with Christ should also have a profound effect on us and the world in which we live.

When the going gets extremely tough, check the human being Paul. Like Christ, he’s been through and has experienced the worst that life has to offer. But because of his belief system, he’s experienced the best of God’s promises. It’s like a refresher course and I just wanted to let you know where I go during difficult times.

In the eyes of God, one’s weaknesses are welcomed opportunities for God to show up and show out. Have you ever wondered why those who have been through so much are able to stand and witness mightily for Christ? Reexamine the reality of God’s grace and you just might get your answer.

Columnist James Washington

Photo by Wiley Price

Bishop Elijah Hankerson III, pastor of Life Center International Church of God in Christ and president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition President, addressing the coalition last May.

PASTOR

M/WBE COMPLIANCE SPECIALIST

St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) has opening for a M/ WBE Compliance Specialist. SLDC is looking for candidates with progressive experience in contract compliance monitoring, or construction project management. To apply online and see a full job description go to: http://www. stlouis-mo.gov/sldc/ and click on “Careers at SLDC.” SLDC is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Real Estate Appraisal

Evaluation Services for Tax Sales

St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) seeks the service of a Real Estate Appraiser to provide professional and technical assistance in support of SLDC and City staff to assist in the management of appraising the properties that are deeded to the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) as a result of 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 tax foreclosure Sheriff’s sales. Proposals due 03-01-2019. Details at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/sldc/procurement/ index.cfm or by contacting Synetta Wright, Real Estate Specialist III, SLDC, at wrights@stlouis-mo.gov.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Real Estate Appraisal Evaluation Services

St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) seeks the service of a Real Estate Appraiser to provide professional and technical assistance in support of SLDC and City staff to assist in the management of establishing pricing in the acquisition and sale of property. In some instances, the appraiser may be required to testify in eminent domain proceedings in support of their professional opinions relating to real estate values. Proposals due 03-01-2019. Details at https:// www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/ departments/sldc/procurement/index. cfm or by contacting Synetta Wright, Real Estate Specialist III, SLDC, at wrights@stlouis-mo.gov.

LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY The St. Louis County Library is hiring for a variety of positions. These positions include:

Full-time DevelopmentAssistant$33,758 Bachelor’s degree required Full-time Custodian - $25,355 Part-time CirculationAsst. - $13.41/ hour - HS diploma required

Hours will vary. Evenings and weekends required. Applicants can apply online at the Library’s website at www.slcl.org. Equal Opportunity Employer

PRINCIPAL

St. Margaret of Scotland is receiving applications for the position of Principal. St. Margaret is a diverse, urban, vibrant, and inclusive Catholic community. With an enrollment of 500 students, our Blue Ribbon Pre-K to 8th grade school is dedicated to academic excellence, service, and social justice. For details go to: www. stmargaretstl.org/employment.

NORTHWOODS PUBLIC WORKS POSITION

City of Northwoods has a position open in the Public Works Dept. for a skilled laborer to perform tasks related to lawn maintenance,the upkeep of city grounds and greenspaces, the set up/breakdown for city events and meetings, code enforcement for vacant and delinquent properties, snow removal and plowing, and equipment repair and maintenance. Individuals must have a driver’s license and be able to pass a physical.Applications will be accepted untilthe position is filled. Apply at: The City of Northwoods 4600 Oakridge Blvd. Northwoods, Mo. 63121. Or send resume to: aowens@cityofnorthwoods.com Call City Hall at 314-385-8000 for details/directions.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Real Estate Title Services

St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) seeks the service of a Real Estate Title Company to provide professional and technical assistance in support of SLDC and City agencies in need of title services during the research, acquisition and sale phases of property acquisition and disposition. Proposals due 03-01-2019. Details at https://www. stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/sldc/procurement/index.cfm or by contacting Synetta Wright, Real Estate Specialist III, SLDC, at wrights@stlouis-mo.gov.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Real Estate Brokerage Services

St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) seeks the service of a Real Estate Brokerage Firm to provide professional and technical assistance in support of SLDC staff to a) provide advice on market value of target and comparable properties; b) advertise available parcels and buildings through media outlets; c) analyze and evaluate offers presented on subject properties; d) present SLDC agency counteroffers; e) consult on related matters such as land subdivisions, lot consolidations, surveys, as necessary; and f) provide information and documents in preparation for closing, in conjunction with SLDC staff and counsel. Proposals due 03-01-2019. Details at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/ government/departments/sldc/ procurement/index.cfm or by contacting Synetta Wright, Real Estate Specialist III, SLDC, at wrights@stlouis-mo.gov.

you would fit right in.

Associate Director, Annual Giving Programs - Alumni and Development Programs – 42716

The Associate Director is responsible for planning, evaluation, and implementing a strong Eliot Society program in key cities outside of the St. Louis area. The Associate Director completes 175 cultivation and solicitation visits each year with the

Notice

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

BIDS REQUESTED

Louis, MO For Bid Information: 636-931-4244 or leegreg70@gmail.com / nleoni@sbcglobal.net

Double Diamond Construction 1000 A Truman Blvd. Crystal City, MO 63019

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Public

Notice

to IBM for this service. Any inquiries should be sent to ameyer@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: Oracle Enterprise PBCS Software Hosting & Support. The District is proposing single source procurement to Mythics for this service. Any inquiries should be sent to ameyer@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

BIDS REQUESTED

Rehab Section 3 / MBE /WBE

Encouraged 48 Units Multi Family Marble Hill, MO For Bid Information: 636-931-4244 or leegreg70@gmail.com / nleoni@sbcglobal.net

Double Diamond Construction 1000 A Truman Blvd. Crystal City, MO 63019

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Gravois Trunk (Whitecliff to RDP) Sanitary Relocation Phase VI (Buckley Rd to Union Rd) under Letting No. 11766015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, at a place designated. Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for: DEEP SEWER CONSTRUCTION – St. Louis County drainlayer’s license required Plans and Specifications are available for free electronic download. Please go to MSD’s website and look for a link to “ELECTRONIC PLANROOM.” Plans and Specifications are also available for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District

NOTICE

Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

LETTING #8687

2019 CAPITAL MAIN REPLACEMENT PROGRAM –EIGHT (8)

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for CONTRACT NO. F 19 402, Science Lab Relocations at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park Campus, until 2:00 p.m. local time March 5, 2019. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 5464 Highland Park, St. Louis, MO 63110-1314. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office, at the above address or by calling (314) 644-9770.

Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting: February 22, 2018, 8:00 am Meet at Third Floor “C” TowerForest Park Campus

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

BIDS REQUESTED

New Construction

Section 3 / MBE /WBE

Encouraged 40 Units Multi Family Cape Girardeau, MO For Bid Information: 636-931-4244 or leegreg70@gmail.com / nleoni@sbcglobal.net

Double Diamond

Construction 1000 A Truman Blvd. Crystal City, MO 63019

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on March 8th, 2019 to contract with a company for: Courier Services – Water Samples.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9809 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on March 28th, 2019 to contract with a company for: Debt Collection Services.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9818 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Louis Economic Development Partnership’s web site at www.stlpartnership.com. The LCRA reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities therein. Questions should be directed to Howl Bean II, Staff Attorney, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership at (314) 615-7663 or hbean@stlpartnership.com.

St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

LETTING #8686

2019 CAPITAL MAIN REPLACEMENT PROGRAM – SIX (6) INCH MAIN IN KOSSUTH AVE. AND SIX (6) INCH MAIN IN PALM ST. CITY OF ST. LOUIS – WATER DIVISION

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on March 12, 2019, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http:// www.stl-bps.org/planroom (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies).

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

LETTING #8689

2019 CAPTITAL MAIN

REPLACEMENT PROJECT/CMRP –SIX (6) INCH MAIN IN MORGAN ST.

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on _March 5, 2019, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http:// www.stl-bps.org/planroom (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies).

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: Soda Fountain located at St. Louis Union Station.

The project consists of restaurant build out with MEPFP scope being design build.

Bids for this project are due on March 7th at 10:00 a.m. For any questions or would like to find out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Theresa Stout at 636-561-9849 or tmstout@paric.com.

All bids should be delivered to Paric via e-mail (bids@paric.com) or fax (636-561-9501).

Plans and specifications will be available to view at Paric’s Main office at 77 Westport Plaza, Suite 250, St. Louis, MO 63146

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

BIDS

Curtiss-Manes-Schulte, Inc. is soliciting bids from MBE/WBE/ SDVE/DBE subcontractors and suppliers for work on the Jesse Hall – Dome Repairs and Window Replacement, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Bids are due February 21, 2019 by 1:00 pm and can be faxed to (573) 392-4527 or emailed to bbrown@ cms-gc.com. For more information, call Bob @ (573) 392-6553. Curtiss-Manes-Schulte, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

SEALED BIDS

for Construction Services, St. Louis Region, Missouri, Project No. ZASIDIQ-9016, will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, Thursday, March 14, 2019. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http:// oa.mo.gov/ facilities

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for CONTRACT NO. F 19 502, Renovation for STEM Academy, at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, until 2:00 p.m. local time Tuesday, March 7, 2019. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 5464 Highland Park, St. Louis, MO 63110-1314. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office, at the above address or by calling (314) 644-9770.

Voluntary Pre-bid Meeting: 1:30PM February 21, 2019, Florissant Valley, Renovation for STEM Academy, Engineering Building, Room E144

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

MetroLink System-Wide Security Assessment, Phase 2 East-West Gateway is seeking proposals from consultants to complete Phase 2 of the MetroLink SystemWide Security Assessment. DBE information can be found in Section VII of the RFP. Submittals are due no later than 1:00 p.m. on March 1,

St. Louis Community College

and read aloud at the

of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 5464 Highland Park, St. Louis, MO 631101314. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office, at the above address or by calling (314) 644-9770.

Voluntary Pre-Bid Meeting: February 19, 2018, 1:00 pm Meet at “F” Tower Patio LevelForest Park Campus

An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

A week away from Young Leaders. Y’all already know what it is, the urban professional networking session that highlights the achievements of individuals who have made major moves before the big 4-0 is just a few days away. Well, seven days to be exact. The St. Louis American Foundation’s 9th Annual Salute to Yong Leaders Awards and Networking reception will be going down at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 21 at The Four Seasons. I’m not trying to curate the appetizer menu, but those chicken meatballs were life more abundantly. Actually, it’s best if they are not on the menu, since I’m trying to go backless for the next Salute To Education Gala. But back to the Young Leaders. I always say this, but it is never untrue: I always leave inspired to get busy with making a difference in my community because of the great work for that our honorees exemplify. Age is nothing but a number for these 20 men and women who are shaping the future of the region with their work right now. I also always say that y’all need to get your tickets now, before it sells out – because it always does. This year will be no different. So be sure to hit us up on stlamerican.com or call (314) 533-8000 right now – so you won’t be all suited up with no place to go, because you didn’t heed my advice to get your tickets in advance.

Blue Energy. Now y’all already know by now that Teddy BFree will always have my support. Y’all also already know that I’m not showing favoritism when I say that it was all the way live – but merely stating facts. BFree Events have been win- after-win for more than a decade in these streets – the slang to describe them has changed, but his results remain the same. I guess we can call what went down Saturday night at Blue Dine and Lounge a litty-kicking-it experience. As soon as I came through the door, I saw my girl Lauron Thompson and her TLT Productions partner Tre’von Griffin getting it in for Lauron’s b-day. There were so many birthdays going on that somebody hopped in the DJ booth and crooned “Happy Birthday” like a baby Luther. Then the DJ cued up 2 Chainz’ “Birthday Song.” It was classic.

Tuned out on Tommy Davidson. I guess my punishment for tapping the folks at Helium a bit last week was that I be sat directly in front of a pillar. It’s what it is. I didn’t see much of Tommy Davidson, but I heard him. And I can’t say that I got my life. It pains me to admit this, because he was so kind, humble and personable ahead of the show. Oh well. I cackled a bit here and there – when he talked about a guest’s allegedly German Shepherd vest. However, I can’t say that I hollered like I did the last time he came to town as part of a comedy revue lineup that I have since forgotten. I expected him to be high strung and all over the place – and was prepared for him to randomly break out into songs. But I guess I was expecting a stream of coherent jokes to go with it. I will say this, though. He looks phenomenal. If it weren’t for that little patch of gray in the front of his fade, you couldn’t tell me that he hadn’t walked right out of an “In Living Color” rerun. Now his opener, Willie Lynch Jr., had me on a kee-kee spree! I knew he came to play no games when he came out in that “I’m not quite a ‘King of Comedy,’ but I’m on my way” blazer and brim. His “prince of comedy” attire was a sign for what was come. I knew when he said that he was from an “upscale suburb” of the region – he’s from East St. Louis – that I was going to be cackling all night. I was right. I also knew that he was going to suggest some “juices and berries” prescription or two for their ying and yang (if you get my drift) and share some tips from his Dr. Sebi lifestyle. I was also right.

HeyLuv was lit. On Saturday I hit up Hey Luv at what I believe to be their winter location – Barnett’s on Washington. Makes sense since they had the Bronson House patio on lock all summer long. The first Hey Luv of 2019 had to deal with that hawk. Though more folks than expected braved the bitter cold – the crowd wasn’t as robust as a typical HeyLuv crew. Oh, but what a difference 30 degrees Fahrenheit can make! Saturday night, HeyLuv was hittin’ like a scene from “Breakin’2: Electric Boogaloo!” I’m sad that I have to wait until the end of March for their next set, but I have a feeling deep down to my soul that it will be worth the wait. Iced out of Will Downing. I was expecting to let y’all know about how I got every bit of my life from an extended live version of “Wishing on a Star,” Sunday night thanks to Will Downing’s show at Harris-Stowe. but Mother Nature has chosen the winter of 2019 to prove herself to be the most cruel of mistresses. First with Snowmagedden, then with the deep freeze and Sunday with the surprise slip-andslide ice down. Cars were skating around like a toddler skating unattended around Steinberg Ice rink because of how we were caught off guard. Now I know folks felt a type of way that the show was cancelled, because by the time the show started the roads weren’t terrible. But I’m glad that the promoters put our safety ahead of their profits, because as we saw with Snowmagedden Jr. the last weekend in January, the roads could have easily become worse before they got better. The new date is March 23, so you don’t have to wait too long!

True’s soul. While I was sad that I’d have to wait for Will Downing, I was over the moon that the cancellation meant that I could check out a true vocal powerhouse. Get it? Probably not. Truenessia Combs sang the Signature Room stage down to the point where I could have sworn the mirrors on the wall behind her were shouting, “You better sing True!” It could have been the sparkly, bedazzled shapes of hosts Jazzy Ladies Rae and Monica, but whatever. Serving the late Queen of Soul realness with a strapless chiffon ball gown, Miss Aretha wouldn’t have been the least mad at True’s vocals either as she served up Chaka Khan, Jill Scott and more. You know you have the range if you have the one and only grand diva Denise Thimes groovin’ in her seat!

Denise, Velma and Deborah kicked back and grooved to the sounds of Truenessia Combs Sunday night @ The Signature Room

Zee and TJ were just a few who represented for the Zeta and Sigmas @ Shades of Blue two weeks ago @ Polish Heritage Center

Tyeisha and Miryam kicked off their weekend with a chill session Friday night @ Blue Dine and Lounge

Allen and Takiyah kicked back @ Blue Dine and Lounge Friday night

Lauron her husband Mac, Tre’von Griffith and Shelton helped Lauron do it big for her b-day Saturday night @ Energy @ Blue Dine and Lounge

Claire and Linda helped wish Gina a happy big 5-0 at her surprise party two Sundays ago @ The Corner

Rebeccah and Salim continued with her birthday celebration festivities with a visit to Helium to check out funny man Tommy Davidson Saturday night

Jimele and Jace were all smiles recently @ UrbArts

Estelle and Leannie were in the building for Energy Saturday night @ Blue Dine and Lounge

Monica and Jazzy Lady Rae were the hosts with the most Sunday night @ The Signature Room

Dwayne with comedy veteran Tommy Davidson before his sold-out Saturday early show at Helium Comedy Club.

Black history and white privilege

Applying the lessons of Dr. King’s ‘drum major’ to 2019 and beyond

By Tiffany Anderson For The St. Louis American

On February 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached a sermon entitled “The Drum Major’s Instinct” at Ebenezer Baptist Church exactly two months before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Dr. King’s sermon about the biblical story of James and John, who shared their desire to be on the right and left side of Jesus in Heaven, was used to share how many have an instinct to be important. Dr. King used that story to explain how the need for superiority is at the root of many race problems in America.

n The drum major’s steady beat throughout history can be viewed in how neighborhoods and schools are segregated.

White privilege is an outgrowth of the desire for racial superiority, and it is just as prevalent in mindsets today as it was then.

White privilege and the exercise of a superior status against people of color paved the road for the U.S.’s current immigration policies and practices. Further, the reference to people with terms such as “illegal aliens” is language intended to create an inferior image of another

group in an effort to regulate the status of God’s children to subhuman. We can hear the white drum major beating loudly through the discussions of the border war and wall.

The drum major’s steady beat throughout history can be viewed in how neighborhoods and schools are segregated. Those segregated patterns were purposefully created in part through the early land grants offered only to white families and property taxes that fund the schools in those neighborhoods.

We can hear the steady drum beat in looking at systems designed decades ago that create disparities in health outcomes within races that have contributed to a disproportionate number of people of color having higher blood pressure,

Black nuns ran boarding school, orphanage in St. Louis

open letter to the congressional Black caucus

Court.

‘Bush’s record on civil rights was one of the worst in the history of U.S. presidents’

By William L. Clay For The St. Louis American

As aggressive crusaders in the struggle to make America what it proclaims to be in terms of living up to the slogan “All men are created equal,” I am sure you are as appalled as I by the decision of Hampton University to honor former President George H.W. Bush with a statue on its campus. What a “giant step” backward in the fight to correct the unfortunate, disgraceful, and distorted history of the effort of African Americans to achieve parity in the country’s social, political and economic life.

n He steadfastly and vigorously opposed any specific proposal to ameliorate the inequitable, bigoted treatment of black citizens.

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” For nearly two centuries, the Oblate Sisters of Providence have been a continual living testament to this scripture. In 1828, Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange and Rev. James Nicholas Joubert, SS, joined forces in their Catholic faith in to help educate young

The mere fact that the president of Hampton University and his top advisors would commission such a shameful project must be challenged by the strong voices of African Americans in Congress and allies across the nation. What a tragedy! Recently, when former President Bush passed, one fact was quite obvious. In the month-long campaign to canonize him for sainthood, there was a deliberate omission of any truthful relationship of him and civil rights. Therefore, I am calling upon Congressional Black Caucus members to lead the way in exposing the hypocrisy of celebrating George H.W. Bush as a true representative of “all the people.”

I must remind you that President Bush’s record on civil rights was one of the worst in the history of U.S. presidents. For three decades in public service, he refused to come face-to-face with his paradoxical conflict of duplicity in matters of race. He steadfastly and vigorously opposed any specific proposal to ameliorate the inequitable, bigoted treatment of black citizens.

Hampton’s President Dr. William R. Harvey said, “I believe in giving people their credit when it is due. President Bush was an extraordinary person who believed it was crucial that African Americans have access to education. I think that’s something that we

See CLAY, D7

Members of the Oblate Sisters of Providence during the 19th century See NUNS, D3

Tiffany Anderson – the first black female superintendent of Topeka Public Schools in Topeka, Kansas – previously was superintendent of the Jennings School District.

The most egregious and most damaging act of George H.W. Bush’s entire career was the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme

boarding school in

black girls in Baltimore. Out of that work, the Oblate Sisters of Providence made history and ultimately served cities and regions across the nation – including St. Louis and St. Louis County –through learning institutions, orphanages and other services.

A white French native, Joubert worked on the island of Saint Dominique (Haiti) before he fled to Cuba to escape the Haitian Revolution. He made his way to Baltimore, where he became an ordained as a priest in 1810. In 1827, Joubert was assigned to teach the French-speaking Catholics of African descent – many of whom, like Joubert, had arrived in Baltimore after fleeing the Haitian revolution. Joubert had a difficult time

connecting with his students, so in 1828 he enlisted the aid of Lange – who, with the help of Haitian native Marie Balas, combined her love of learning and her passion for her faith to operate a school for the free black children of Baltimore out of her home. It would be 1866 before free public schools were available for the black children of Baltimore.

Lange was a native of a Haitian community in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. She arrived in the United States at the turn of the 19th century. After residing in cities in the Southeast –including Charleston, South Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia – she settled in Baltimore, which had a bustling AfroCaribbean population. After Joubert and Lange teamed up, they formed a religious institute to operate in conjunction with a school to teach young black children.

Upon approval from Most Rev. James Whitfield, Archbishop

of Baltimore, Lange, Balas, Mary Rosine Boegues and Mary Theresa Duchemin made their vows to become the Oblate Sisters of Providence. They became the first religious congregation of women of African descent in the United States.

On October 2, 1831, Pope Gregory XVI approved the institution of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Their work began in a rented house with four sisters and 20 students. The school started by Lange later became known as St. Frances Academy – which is still in operation today in Baltimore more than 190 years after black children sat and learned in Lange’s living room. In Baltimore, the sisters opened other Catholic schools for African-American girls. They held evening classes for adult women and established a home for widows. They provided healthcare for the terminally ill during the cholera epidemic of

1832. They housed orphans and the elderly.

Oblate Sisters of Providence expanded to regions with sizable populations of black Catholics. Philadelphia, New Orleans and St. Louis were among them. Jesuits invited the Oblate Sisters of Providence to the St. Louis region in 1880, seven years after their establishment of St. Elizabeth’s Church for the AfricanAmerican Catholic community in St. Louis. Upon arrival, the sisters opened and operated the parish’s first school.

Because the only orphanage available to African-American children at the time was operated by St. Paul AME Church, black Catholics began dropping children off at the convent of the Oblate Sisters of Providence. By 1887, they were able to secure donations to purchase the Taylor Mansion, located at 4358 Page Blvd., to house the orphans. It was a building they quickly outgrew.

Ten years later, they sold the building. With the proceeds they expanded to the then-rural area of Normandy. The grand opening of their new orphanage took place in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the Oblate Sisters of Providence’s arrival in St. Louis – and the 75th anniversary of the order.

“In the past 25 years of the St. Louis branch of the order, with the single exception of the one located in Washington, D.C., has grown to be the most important community of the order,” the St. Louis PostDispatch said in its preview of the 1905 grand opening of their expansion in Normandy, which included a new dormitory and chapel.

The Post-Dispatch also reported that then Archbishop John J. Glennon (namesake of Cardinal Glennon Hospital) would keynote the opening ceremonies for the “Catholic order of negro nuns.”

In 1912, they opened St.

The

students from across the country – and expanded to three locations over the course of its 45-year existence.

After 60 years of service to the region, Oblate Sisters of Providence closed their Normandy orphanage in 1965. According to Catherine T. Corbett’s book, “In Her Place: A Guide to St. Louis Women’s History,” they remained in the St. Louis region until 1992. Oblate Sisters of Providence, still an active organization, offered more than a century of service to the region, and St. Louis will be forever linked to their legacy – which stretches to 25 cities in the United States and several countries around the world.

For more information on the Oblate Sisters of Providence, visit http://www.oblatesisters. com.

Rita’s

St. Louis.

school attracted

Continued from D1

The Oblate Sisters of Providence’s St. Rita School in St. Louis in 1919.

Blood banking in the name of Dr. Charles Drew

Comptroller Darlene Green hosts American Red Cross blood drive

By Chris King

Of The St. Louis American

Comptroller Darlene Green

hosted a blood drive in the name of Dr. Charles Drew for the American Red Cross on Monday, February 11 in Room 208 of St. Louis City Hall.

“The need for donations is ongoing, and only volunteer donors can fulfill that need,” Comptroller Green said. “Nationwide, someone needs a unit of blood every two to three seconds and most people will have at least one blood transfusion in their lifetimes.”

In addition, she noted, there is a need for African-American blood donors for sickle cell therapies. Although there is no cure for Sickle Cell Disease, it can be managed through regular blood transfusions.

Chana Morton, who works in Green’s office, donated blood during the drive. She told The American that she has family members and friends who struggle with Sickle Cell Disease. “I want to help people, but especially those with Sickle Cell,” Morton said.

The namesake of the blood drive, Dr. Charles R. Drew (1904-1950), was a prominent physician and medical researcher who improved techniques for blood storage and developed the first largescale blood banks early in World War II. He also trained a generation of black physicians at Howard University. Drew did not excel scholastically in high school or at Amherst College in Massachusetts, which he attended on an athletic

scholarship. He cited the death of his oldest sister, Elsie (from tuberculosis complicated by influenza) and his own hospitalization for a college football injury as fostering his interest in medicine. Drew worked on a fellowship with Dr. John Scudder at New York’s Presbyterian Hospital while pursuing his doctorate in medical science from Columbia University. It was while working with Scudder that he developed his first experimental blood bank, which also formed the basis for his dissertation, “Banked Blood.” He became the first African American to earn a doctorate in medical science at Columbia. After working on a Blood for Britain project during World War II, Drew served as assistant director for a Red

Above left: Despite the leadership role of Dr. Charles R. Drew (1904-1950), the Red Cross’ National Blood Donor Service first excluded black donors, at the insistence of the U.S. armed forces, and then accepted but segregated blood from black donors.

Cross pilot program to massproduce dried plasma in New York in 1941. This became the model for the National Blood Donor Service. Despite Drew’s leadership role, the Red Cross pilot project and the National Blood Donor Service excluded black donors, at the insistence of the U.S. armed forces. After protests from the Black Press and the NAACP, the Red Cross started to accept blood from black donors in January 1942,

but segregated it.

“It is fundamentally wrong for any great nation to willfully discriminate against such a large group of its people,” Drew said in his Spingarn Medal acceptance speech in 1944. “One can say quite truthfully that on the battlefields nobody is very interested in where the plasma comes from when they are hurt.”

Of course, American

blood supplies have been desegregated for decades, so blood donors have no way of knowing what person from which background will be helped with their donation. There remains an enduring need for blood donations that is especially high right now, according to the American Red Cross, after this month’s historic cold weather resulted in many blood drives being cancelled and thousands

of blood donations going uncollected.

Michele Coleman, who works in the city’s Department of Human Services, understands. “I do this every year,” she said, as she lay on a portable gurney to have her blood drawn. “Because it’s needed.”

Source for information on Dr. Charles R. Drew: U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Photo by Wiley Price

Above: Flavia Horne, a phlebotomist with the American Red Cross, prepared to draw blood from Michele Coleman at the Dr. Charles Drew Blood Drive sponsored by Comptroller Darlene Green on February 11 in Room 208 of St. Louis City Hall.

2019 Black History MontH celeBrations

Sat., Feb. 16, 12 noon, Delta Sigma Theta Black History Month Author Celebration Meet authors from the Delta Sigma Theta St. Louis Alumnae Chapter as they discuss their books. Featured authors include Jo Lena Johnson, author of “Broken Conditions;” Candice Cox, author of children’s book “Please Oh Please Be Patient With Me;” Yvonne Yvette Thomas, author of “Matters of the Heart: Ten Episodes of Purpose;” Kim Burke, author of “It’s Growth Time!: 6 Intentional Personal Growth Strategies That Will Set You Up For Greatness;” and Dr. Camesha Hill-Carter, author of “I Am Woman: Defining Womanhood and Identity (Volume 1).” Books will be available for purchase. St. Louis County Library – Lewis & Clark Branch, For more information, visit www.slcl.org

Sat., Feb. 16, 1 p.m., Fair Housing 50 Years Later Film Screening. Marking the 70th anniversary of the landmark Shelley v. Kraemer Supreme Court decision and the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Ave., 63112. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Feb. 16, 4 p.m. Opening reception for St. Louis artist Damon Davis’ exhibition ‘Negrophilia,’ Gallery 210 at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. “Negrophilia” will remain at Gallery 210 until May 11, Gallery 210 on UMSL’s North Campus. For more information, visit http:// gallery210.umsl.edu/

Sat., Feb. 16, 8 p.m., The Fine and Performing Arts Music program at Saint Louis University in association with Nu-Art Series continues the

Jazz n’ Tongues Concert Series. Multi-Woodwind player

J.D. Parran will be joined by poet K. Cutis Lyle. University Theatre on the campus of Saint Louis University, 3733 West Pine Mall. Tickets can be purchased at 314.534.1111 or metrotix.com

Mon., Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Multicultural Center & International Student Affairs Of Webster University present the 2019 Black History Month Lecture Featuring Former U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, Loretto-Hilton, 130 Edgar Road, St. Louis, MO 63119. For more information, e-mail: multi@webster.edu.

Tues., Feb. 19, 7 a.m., Langenberg Leadership Forum welcomes Bishop Elijah Hankerson III, pastor of Life Center International Church of God in Christ and president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, the Schroer Commons on the campus of Eden Theological Seminary, 475 East Lockwood Ave. in Webster Groves. Event is free and includes free breakfast. Advance registration is required and can be made at www.eden.edu/events/strongerleaders. For more information on this event, call 314-9182547 or send an email to leadership@eden.edu

Tues., Feb. 19, 4 p.m., Picture Yourself in History, Teens will learn about the Harlem Renaissance and Photoshop themselves with notable artists and influential figures of the times. Teens will receive a framed copy. St. Louis Public Library-Central Branch, 1301 Olive. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Tues., Feb. 19, 5 p.m., In

the Footsteps of the Great Migration, Explore the Great Migration in this interactive program that takes you along the three major streams of migration. St. Louis Public Library-Barr Branch, 1701 S Jefferson Ave, St. Louis, MO 63104. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Tues., Feb. 19, 7 p.m., The Missouri History Museum presents the Inspiration By Example Black History Month Speaker Series fea-

turing Hazelwood East High School Principal Dr. Chauncy Granger. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell at DeBaliviere in Forest Park. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Wed., Feb. 20, 4:30 p.m., Webster University hosts authors Lynn Rubright and Ted Green, authors of Oh Freedom After While: The Missouri Sharecropper Protest of 1939. A screening of the documentary by the same name

On Monday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., the Multicultural Center & International Student Affairs Of Webster University present the 2019 Black History Month Lecture Featuring Loretta Lynch, former U.S. Attorney General at the Loretto-Hilton

Tues., Feb. 21, 4 p.m., Creative Kids: Can You Paint Like Jacob Lawrence? St. Louis Public Library –Carondelet Branch 6800 Michigan Ave, St. Louis, MO 63111. For more information, visit www.slpl.org

Tues., Feb. 21, 5:30 p.m., Creative Kids: Can You Paint Like Jacob Lawrence? St. Louis Public Library –Carpenter Branch 3309 S Grand Blvd. For more information, visit www.slpl.org

Thur., Feb. 21, 6:30 p.m., Maplewood Public Library presents The History of Negro Leagues Baseball. Learn how men of color organized a league of their own. 7550 Lohmeyer Ave., 63143. For more information, visit www.maplewoodpubliclibrary.com.

Thur., Feb. 21, 7 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Times’s Getting Harder: Stories of the Great Migration. Part of the 2019 Black history series: Black Migrations. Schlafly Branch, 225 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. slpl.org.

and Q&A with the authors. University Library, 470 E. Lockwood, 63119. For more information, visit www.facebook.com.

Thurs., Feb. 21, 9 a.m., Hazelwood Central High School Black History Celebration, Guest speakers include KSDK Meteorologist Anthony Slaughter, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, and St. Louis Surge Team Owner Khalia Collier. 15875 New Halls Ferry Road.

Fri., Feb. 22, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents Lift Every Voice: Black History Month Celebration. 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.slso.org.

Sat., Feb. 23, 1 p.m. Gift of Gospel featuring Singer/ songwriter, Stellar Award nominee and Billboard chart topping gospel artist Cheneta Jones and The Youth Gospel Music Conference Choir. Pastor Shaun Williams will emcee

2019 Black History MontH celeBrations

the program. St. Louis County Library – Florissant Valley Branch, 195 New Florissant Rd., S. For more information, visit www.slcl.org.

Sat., Feb. 23, 7 p.m., “John Lewis: Get in the Way.”

The first major documentary biography of John Lewis civil rights hero, congressional leader and champion of human rights whose unwavering fight for justice spans the past 50 years. The film showcases never-before-seen footage shot over 20 years. St. Louis Public Library – Central Branch, 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Sat., Feb. 23, 7 p.m., “The East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917: Look How Far We’ve Come,” in 2017, Centennial Commission and Cultural Initiative sponsored activities throughout the year that focused on the riot. Hear remarks by speakers, Dr. Andrew Theising and Edmond Brown St. Louis Public Library-Walnut Park Branch, 5760 W Florissant Ave, St. Louis, MO 63120. For more information, visit www.slpl.org.

Sun., Feb. 24, 2 p.m., St. Louis County NAACP 15th Annual Rosa Parks Celebration, Christ Our Redeemer AME Church, 13820 Old Jamestown Rd.

Tues., Feb. 26, 8 p.m., Maryville University presents St. Louis Speakers Series at Powell Hall with Bryan Stevenson, social justice advocate and author of “Just Mercy,” Powell Symphony Hall. For more information, visit https://www.stlouisspeakersseries.org

HISTORY

Continued from D1

higher incarceration rates and less educational attainment compared to white men and women. The drum major instinct causes one to limit opportunity for all in support of access for the privileged few.

The drum major’s beat can be heard most clearly when we review the black history that is not taught in schools today, which creates a narrative of inferiority for people of color.

The beautiful black history of Black Wall, which illustrates the early work of black business owners, Street is not taught in most economic or business course books.

Jim Crow laws and their current impact years later are not taught in depth in textual material.

Understanding the impact of Jim Crow could inspire future policy makers to transform the system feeding generational disparities, recognizing the foundation it sits on.

n We can hear the white drum major beating loudly through the discussions of the border war and wall.

Wed., Feb. 27, 4 p.m., The Great Migration: You Choose, kids will create an interactive story and find out where their choices will lead them. St. Louis Public Library – Kingshighway Branch, 2260 S Vandeventer Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110. For more information, visit www.slpl.org

Alexander. Members of Archer Alexander’s family will be present for the event. Maplewood City Hall, 7601 Manchester Ave., 63143. For more information, visit www. maplewoodpubliclibrary.com.

Wed., Feb. 27, 6 p.m., Great Migration: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back, SLPL and Mack Williams of History To You, Inc., looks at the Great Migration. St. Louis Public Library-Julia Davis Branch, 4415 Natural Bridge Ave, St. Louis, MO 63115. For more information, visit www. slpl.org

Thur., Feb. 28, 6:30 p.m., The Remarkable Story of Missouri Slave Archer

Thurs., Feb. 28, 7 p.m., Coretta Scott King awardwinning author and National Book Award finalist Sheila P. Moses will sign and discuss her new book, “The Last Mile: Conversations with Dick Gregory,” Left Bank Books. 399 N. Euclid. For more information, visit www.leftbank. com.

Through Feb. 28, National

Blues Museum presents Our Living Past: A Platinum Portrait of Music Maker Photographer Timothy Duffy provides a look at the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of American roots music. 615 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, visit www. nationalbluesmuseum.com.

Sat., March 9, 5:30 p.m., Ghanaian Association of STL 10 Anniversary Independence Gala, Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, Creve Coeur, MO. For more information, visit www. ghanastl.com or call (314) 5962517

While Rosa Parks is such an important historical figure that history books do not teach that on March 2, 1955 a 15-year-old named Claudette Colvin refused to move to the back of the bus and was the first to challenge segregated bussing and one of four women to challenge it in court. This was nine months before Rosa Parks. Imagine the empowering message teens today can get from a historical narrative framing youth as empowered voices. We have to know the shoulders and sacrifices we stand on today to appreciate and use our God-given rights for equality.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his sermon at Ebeneezer Baptist Church, “Some people have to feel

superior … and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first.” Dr. King went on to say, “Jesus responded to keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love.” Dr. King’s sermon shared how love, service and civil disobedience could change the course of history. Therefore, this February lets change the beat of the drum. Be challenged to be first in creating equal opportunities in your schools and places of work. Be first in giving a new historically accurate narrative to children, empowering them with images and ideas of greatness that lie within them. When being first and leading falls to you, as it did for a teen like Claudette Colvin and as it did for President Barack Obama, use it to serve, courageously challenge, open doors, and know that without the first to open the doors of access and opportunity, you cannot have a second enter. As Dr. King challenged us all using the words from Jesus, “Seek to be first in love.” Everything we do must be grounded in love first and the walls of fear and inferiority will fall. We are living the history of yesterday, and we are creating a new history for tomorrow. I look forward to one day hearing a new drum beat and seeing diversity in the drum major. I am encouraged that future black drum majors will lead with love and service at the heart as we empower a unified group willing to create a history of justice and equality uplifting us all. Celebrate black history all year by uplifting the accurate and forgotten history that shares the message of greatness, love and courage. March on!

Tiffany Anderson is the first black female superintendent of Topeka Public Schools in Topeka, Kansas.

St. Louis Speakers Series will welcome Bryan Stevenson, social justice advocate and author of “Just Mercy,” to Powell Symphony Hall at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26.

must acknowledge”.

These are only words of praise that are very much contradicted by the record. It is possible to cite one or two instances that he was involved in on the fringe of an issue that benefited black people. Those who argue Bush was not a racist and did not hate black people might also consider what others have surmised – that he believed every household should own one.

George H.W. Bush’s record on civil rights

He never met a civil rights measure he could support without qualified reservation. Legislative initiatives and administrative dictums devised to alleviate oppressive conditions of segregation and discrimination were always sufficiently flawed, in his opinion, to justify objecting to the remedy.

Bush vetoed a major civil rights bill in 1990, and the bill fell one vote short of override in the Senate. The measure would have restored four major civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis gender, disability and age. In the 1960s, television networks extensively covered brutalizing events, exposing the savagery of white mobs attacking helpless Negroes with bricks, clubs and dogs. Bush ignored the mayhem and blamed the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. the Board of Education and “forced busing” for precipitating the violence.

The most far-reaching, racially oriented legislation in modern history was enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Six years after it became law, Bush opposed the measure with missionary zeal. Appealing to the bigotry of white voters in a Texas

campaign for the U.S. Senate, Bush repeatedly stated, “The act was passed to protect 14 percent of the population. I’m also worried about the other 86 percent.”

When peaceful marches and other non-violent protests by blacks demanding the right to register and vote, he voiced no sympathy for their cause. Millions of television viewers looked on in horror as police billy-clubbed black adults as they peacefully demonstrated for the right to vote. City firemen, in their official capacity, sprayed elementary school children with high-pressure water hoses for supporting the registration drive. Yet, Bush, seemingly oblivious to the injustice, vigorously opposed the 1965 Voting Right Act, which was designed to guarantee the right of all to participate in the electoral process.

In Bush’s legal lexicon, widespread harassment, intimidation, and physical violence preventing blacks from registering and voting was insufficient to justifying federal intervention into rights he claimed reserved to the states.

Bush: bad on voting, fair housing

Bush rationalized that blacks did not need federal supervision to insure their ability to register and vote. He ignored reality. Dallas County, Alabama, a community just outside the city limits of Selma, had a population of 29,515 adults, of whom 14,400 were white and 15,115 were black, but only 383 blacks were registered to vote compared to 8,216 whites. Nor was he moved to indignation by the slogan of the Alabama Democratic Party that endorsed his candidacy: “the Party of White Supremacy.”

Describing Bush’s 1968 vote for the Fair Housing Act as a profile in courage that jeopardized his chance for reelection is grossly distorted political hyperbole. In fact, he voted for passage only after

unsuccessfully leading an effort to kill the bill. Arguing the act unfair, he challenged the authority of Congress to impose restrictions on realtors and home-owners.

The House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at protecting civil rights workers who were being beaten, gassed and killed for trying to register black voters and to desegregate public schools. After its passage the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings and the full Senate attached the fair housing provision.

To appease those who opposed fair housing, an antirioting amendment (which was pushed by Bush in the House) was accepted. The action was specifically aimed at H. Rap Brown and other black leaders whose incendiary speeches incited blacks to riot in numerous cities. The bill provided criminal penalties for anyone convicted of traveling in interstate commerce or using the mails, telephone, telegraph, radio or television with the intent “to incite, organize, or encourage a riot.”

The 1965 riots of Watts, Los Angeles lasted six days, left 34 persons dead, 1,000 wounded, and more than 4,000 arrested. Then the violent summer of 1967 saw riots in Newark (killing 23, wounding 1,500) and in Detroit (killing 43, wounding 2,000).

In that atmosphere, the House was presented a bill calling for fair housing as well as Bush’s version of making it a federal crime to cross state lines for the purpose of inciting violence.

Bush found the fair housing legislation distasteful and politically uncomfortable. Caught between the proverbial rock and hard place, he dared not oppose the highly emotional and popularly driven effort to pass anti-rioting legislation, but the fair housing amendment fit his obsessive complaint about civil rights promotion always being at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

Irritated and frustrated by

the housing provision, Bush petitioned the House Rules Committee to order separate votes on the two issues. It was generally speculated that the House would reject a specific vote for fair housing. The Rules Committee denied his request. Then Bush offered his proposal to the full House and it too was rejected. Bush’s timing was horrible and insensitive.

Six days before the scheduled vote, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee. Within 72 hours, fiery uprisings erupted in 125 cities and civil unrest broke out on 50 college campuses. The U.S. Army and the National Guard found themselves pitted against an army of black insurrectionists with little respect for the property rights of the privileged class.

White America was in a state of peril, appall, confusion, and bewilderment. For three days and three nights, Washington, D.C., the capital of the free world, burned. Dark clouds of smoke belched from fires lit in front of the president’s residence and surrounding neighborhoods. U.S. Marines in sand-bagged bunkers and mounted machine guns protected the White House.

Under these conditions there was no way that Bush was going to convince House members to vote against the fair housing legislation

As president, Bush opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act, vetoed a major civil rights bill expanding protection against employment discrimination, sought to overturn five Supreme Court decisions that altered prevailing interpretations of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Bush appointed Clarence Thomas

The most egregious and most damaging act of Bush’s entire career was the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bush’s flowery introduction of the erstwhile nominee calling him the most qualified in the country was political speech that enlarged truth beyond the normal limits of intelligent acceptance. Describing Thomas as a fiercely “independent thinker” with an “excellent legal mind” insulted those who had personally engaged Thomas in the fight for compliance and enforcement of established civil rights laws. Those who followed his career closely were able to decode the words “independent thinker” in referring to people like Thomas. It meant as defined by conservatives that he had no ideas, no positions and no statements that were “independent” of those dictated by the brain trust advising the Republican hierarchy.

The surprise selection of Thomas baffled even the most cynical, sending shock waves shooting across the wrinkled brows of congressmen, civil rights advocates, women activists, senior citizens, and civil libertarians. They who had battled Thomas’ slipshod, slapstick disregard for enforcing equal rights were emotionally traumatized with the possibility of an individual that had shown utter contempt of mandated law would sit on the high a position.

Clarence Thomas was in the forefront of attacks on affirmative action, criticizing leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus and the civil rights organizations for promoting policies that recommended reasonable accommodation of past racial discrimination in hiring and the awarding of contracts.

Despite almost total rejection of Thomas’ philosophy and politics by the most respected African American leaders, and longtime white supporters of civil rights, a majority in the media and a substantial number of white Americans persisted in portraying him a spokesman of black people.

The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) confronted President Bush on Thomas’ legal qualification and

questioned his commitment to racial equality. The CBCF, in a lengthy document gave overwhelming justification why Americans should oppose the nomination of Clarence Thomas.

I stated on the House floor: “Thomas’ preemptive attack on affirmative action lacks merit His motive is dubious and his sincerity doubtful. It’s a perversion of justice to advocate its elimination without offering a viable alternative.” My statement was in conjunction and agreement with the expressed opinions of other Congressional Black Caucus members.

Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) testified, “Thomas wants to destroy the bridge that brought him over troubled waters! He wants to pull down the ladder that he climbed up.”

Congressman Major Owens (D-NY.) said, “Clarence Thomas has clearly and consistently stood against those legal principles, philosophies, and ideas which are vitally necessary for black survival.”

Congressman Louis Stokes (D-Oh.) testified, “The difference between Thomas and most Black Americans most have not forgotten from whence they have come.”

Yes, Dr. William R. Harvey, you have a right to recognize extraordinary persons and to give them their due. Unfortunately, your choice of George H.W. Bush as one of those persons flies in the face of historical truth and his horrendous record. Finally, you the members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are the most legitimate voices in the country for protecting the rights and advancements of African Americans cannot sit silently by and let another exaggerated distortion of black history go unchallenged.

William L. Clay (D-St. Louis) is retired as Missouri’s 1st District congressman.

Chink Washington and the black political avant-garde

They defined the possibilities for black and white Democratic politicians

By Mike Jones

Of The St. Louis American

Black History

February is

Month, and February 6 would have been the 89th birthday of Arthur “Chink” Washington.

Chink’s active political career spanned 60 years and touched multiple generations of St. Louis and Missouri political actors, black and white.

For those of us who knew him, worked with him and loved him, his passing was of note. Those of you reading this today should know Chink Washington as either the 21st Ward Democratic committeeman or as a political elder in his emeritus role as the former committeeman of the 21st Ward.

I’m not an academic expert on the political history of black St. Louis, but I’ll admit to being more than a casual observer. Chink Washington was a part of what I believe

was arguably the most important and impactful black political generation in St. Louis political history. But that importance and impact happened before any of today’s political practitioners were yet born.

If you were to visit a mythical Valhalla (or if we had a Black Political Hall of Fame), along with Chink Washington here are some of the men and women you would meet: TD McNeal, David M. Grant, Fred Weathers, Benjamin Goins, Jackie Butler, LeRoy Tyus, Pal Troupe, Franklin Paine, JB Banks, DeVern Calloway, Fred Williams, Louis Ford, Gwen Giles, Pearle Evans, Eugene Bradley, Lawrence Woodson and Joe Clark.

These are some of the men and women I consider part of the avant-garde who led the black political charge in the late 1950s and early ‘60s that changed the black political footprint in and the political calculus of St. Louis and Missouri. What this generation did, and how they did it, defined the political possibilities for black and white Democratic politicians in St Louis and Missouri for most

of the second half of the 20th century.

If you’re a black elected official elected in St. Louis anytime in the last 50 years, your political career is built on this foundation. If you were a white Democratic politician interested in citywide or statewide office, you had to come see them. With the notable exception of former

Congressman William L. Clay, they’re all just about gone. Chink also was a significant contributor to that history. He was a founding member and the beating heart for more than 40 years of what was at one time arguably one of the most powerful political organizations in the city or state: the 21st Ward Regular Democratic Organization. He was an

unelected political interlocker between the black community and black elected officials. These unelected political players were the bridge that facilitated the exchange of influence and support between the community and elected officials. Don’t get it twisted, there was always intramural competition and regularly high levels of tension, but to borrow a phrase, none of it was personal, it was always business.

Chink’s passing kind of closed the book on a chapter of St. Louis black political history that we’ve never really noted and certainly never appreciated.

As I write this, I feel like an old black jazz musician talking about improvisation to young black musicians who have never heard of or listened to Louis Armstrong or Sidney Bouchet.

Fish probably never consider the presence of water until it’s removed. The same is too often true of people in our lives. I also had a personal relationship with Chink Washington. I’d known Chink for 62 of my almost 70 years. He was a ubiquitous part of my political life for over 40 years. The importance of friendships with anyone a generation or more ahead of you is not what they teach you, but what you learn from them. I’m a politician writing about politics, so what did I learn from my 40-plusyear political relationship with Arthur “Chink” Washington? Long before HBO’s “The

Wire” was the best serial drama ever on television, I learned the game is the game. I also learned something even more important: you can’t change the game, but you don’t have to let the game change you (too much). “To thine own self be true....and you can’t be false to any man.” This quote from Shakespeare captures the essence of what I learned from Chink about authenticity and consistency in this political space. No matter who you were or where he was, he was always Chink Washington. He was as consistent as the sun rising in the east. The only advice he ever gave me was at the beginning of my political adventure, and I’ll share it with this generation. He told me, “To get some ass, you got to bring some ass. Nobody get any if they leave theirs at home.” It was a great run, Dr. Washington. R.I.P. Mike Jones is a former senior staffer in St. Louis city and county government and current member of the Missouri State Board of Education and The St. Louis American editorial board. In 2016 and 2017, he was awarded Best Serious Columnist for all of the state’s large weeklies by the Missouri Press Association, and in 2018 he was awarded Best Serious Columnist in the nation

Centene Corporation presents

BLACK HISTORY

How Their Life Changed Yours Dr. Matthew O. Ricketts

Matthew Oliver Ricketts was born on April 3, 1858, in Henry County, Kentucky. Both of his parents were enslaved when he was born. After the American Civil War, Ricketts’ family moved to Boonville, Missouri, where he grew up and went to school. By 1876, he had earned his first degree from the Lincoln Institute at Jefferson City, Missouri, where he became a teacher for two years before moving to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1880. While working as a janitor at the school to pay for his tuition, Ricketts earned his medical degree from the Omaho Medical College in March of 1884. He joined the Omaha medical society and the Nebraska State Medical Society in 1892, and soon after met his wife Alice Nelson with whom he had three children. Ricketts was the first African-American Nebraskan to be elected to the Nebraskan State Legislature where he was active in drafting laws for the advancement of civil rights.

How His Life Changed Yours

While serving on the Nebraska State Legislature many of the laws Ricketts pushed for faced much scrutiny , with his interracial marriage bill he had passed being vetoed by the governor. Nevertheless , he was able to create the first Nebraskan Negro Fire Department. He also was responsible for getting numerous appointments in government for other African Americans. At the same time other states were establishing Jim Crow laws, Ricketts was able to pass a law prohibiting the denial of services in public facilities to anyone on account of their race.

Columnist

Mike Jones