January 8th, 2015

St. LouiS AmericAn

Ferguson movement drafts its own blueprint

St. Louis police removed protestors who briefly occupied police headquarters in downtown St. Louis on December 31 when a marching group of protestors tried to join them inside.

Protestors promise, ‘We aren’t going anywhere’

By Koran Addo and Elisa Crouch

Of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A group of protesters stormed St. Louis police headquarters on New Year’s Eve, shouting and pushing their way inside, only to be met by a line of aggressive police and pepper spray. Their plan for a sit-in inside the lobby was one of the boldest actions they’ve taken in five months of protesting, and the act suggested that in 2015 the movement won’t be going away.

n “Everyone is replaceable.”

– Johnetta Elzie

The marches, the sit-ins and other demonstrations in the 150 days following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown Jr., an unarmed black teenager, are the same kinds of actions protesters are planning for the new year.

It’s a playbook that has puzzled many in the St. Louis area who aren’t sure what the protesters are asking for, how long demonstrations will continue, or even who is leading the charge.

That’s because while the protesters are drawing on civil rights movements of the past, they are also drafting their own blueprints.

They’ve engaged in conventional civil disobedience, such as rallies and highway

See FERGUSON, A7

Grand juror sues to speak out on McCulloch

ACLU argues that claims of ‘transparency’ should waive gag order

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

A grand juror who wants to speak out about the way the evidence was presented to the jury in the Darren Wilson case – as well as the public’s perceptions of the deliberations – sued St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch on Monday, January 5 in attempt to lift the lifetime gag order.

n “The First Amendment prevents the state from imposing a life-time gag order in cases where the prosecuting attorney has purported to be transparent.”

– Tony Rothert

Without permission from a court, the grand juror could be charged with a misdemeanor for discussing the jury’s investigation into the shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown Jr. on August 9.

On November 24, the jury declined to indict Wilson, who was then a Ferguson police officer, in Brown’s death.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in St. Louis, states that the plaintiff (only referred to as “Grand Juror Doe”) believes the evidence in Wilson’s case was presented much differently than in the hundreds of other cases the jury members heard during their term, “with the insinuation that Brown, not Wilson, was the wrongdoer.”

“From plaintiff’s perspective, the

Clergy rally behind jailed protestor

Attorney claims high bond is unconstitutional for poor defendant

By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American

The case of a Ferguson protestor charged with arson became the legal stage for a skirmish over the constitutionality of setting high bonds to protect public safety and guarantee the presence of the accused at trial. Judge John Borbonus III refused counsel’s request to reduce the cash-only bond for Ferguson protestor Joshua Williams, 19, which was set at $30,000 after the state argued that the teen was a “threat to society.” Williams’ attorney Thomas Harvey argued that the bond was excessive and that the only Constitutional purpose of a high bond is to guarantee the presence of the defendant at

n “For the indigent, high bonds act as punishment – which is not allowable under the Constitution.”

– Thomas Harvey

court and to protect against public safety. High bonds do neither, he said.

“If a wealthy person’s bond is set this high, they simply pay it and are free until trial,” said Harvey, who is executive director of Arch City

See CLERGY, A6

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Joshua Williams, right, was one of the protestors who disrupted the second Ferguson Commission hearing in the Shaw neighborhood when St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson, left, spoke.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

See JUROR, A6

Phylicia Rashad

comes to Bill Cosby’s defense

In a conversation that may or may not have been on the record Phylicia Rashad was said to have broken her silence to Showbiz 411’s Roger Freidman regarding the allegations against Bill Cosby.

“She did say to me ‘I love him’ about Bill Cosby. She stands defiantly behind him. She told me that in the years she’s known him, she has never seen the behavior alleged by the women who say they were drugged and raped, or sexually harassed.

Forget these women,” Rashad said, according to Freidman. “What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy. And it’s a legacy that is so important to the culture.”

no pushover.” There is no question, Rashad said, that Camille Cosby has not been complicit or looked the other way as her husband terrorized women for the last 50 years.

She said, ‘Someone is determined to keep Bill Cosby off TV,” alluding to people other than the women. “And it’s worked. All his contracts have been cancelled.’”

Stars a no-show for NeNe’s Broadway run

“Real Housewives of Atlanta” star NeNe Leakes just wrapped up her two and half month stint on Broadway playing the wicked stepmother opposite KeKe Palmer in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.

Ahead of her debut NeNe bragged to the media that the audience would be filled to the brim with her celebrity friends. It wasn’t.

Two weeks before her debut NeNe Leakes told The New York Daily News, “Kim Kardashian is coming to see me, and she’s bringing North,” and “More celebrities will come. I’m sure.”

Former partner accusing Beats by Dre of shady business

The CEO of technology firm Monster is suing Beats Electronics and its co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine for allegedly swindling him before selling the headphone company to Apple for $3 billion.

In the complaint, filed in a California court on Tuesday, Noel Lee, who also founded the video and audio cable company, accuses Dre and Iovine of double crossing him.

The suit alleges the shady maneuvering prompted Lee to pare his stake in Beats to 1.25 percent before selling his remaining holdings for $5.5 million in the autumn of 2013 after being assured by Beats executives that there were no plans to sell the company for at least several years.

Beats announced its sale to Apple in May, opening the door for Dre and Iovine to become executives at the iPhone and iPad maker.

Freidman said Rashad dismisses claims from both Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson. “‘Oh, please’,” she said when their names came up. She also is quick to defend Camille Cosby. “This is a tough woman, a smart woman,” she told me. “She’s

She didn’t. Neither did any of NeNe’s “Glee” co-stars or any of her former cast mates from “The New Normal.”

She barely got any of the Real Housewives to show up save for Phaedra Parks, Porsha Williams, Kim Zolciak, Ramona Singer and Teresa Giudice.

Had he held on to his 1.25 percent stake, Lee would have received more than $30 million in the Apple deal. His original 5 percent stake would have been worth roughly $150 million.

Lee’s lawsuit says Dre and Iovine each owned 15 percent stakes in the early stages of the Beats partnership.

Houston family dusts ‘Whitney’ premiere

While colleagues and friends of the late Whitney Houston were on hand Tuesday night for a screening of Lifetime’s new biopic about the singer, her family was nowhere to be found. The premiere took place at the Paley Center for Media, located just minutes away from The Beverly Hilton hotel, where the 48-yearold Houston drowned in her guest room in February 2012.

Relatives were invited to participate in the “Whitney” project from the start, Angela Bassett, the Oscar-nominated actress marking her feature-directing debut with the biopic, which debuts Jan. 17. “And it was the family’s choice and decision, because of what they want to do and whatever their desires or their plans are, not to be involved in this one,” Bassett said. “But they didn’t have anything negative to say about it. You know, sometimes to be silent is the greatest gift.”

Editorial /CommEntary

Season for reform, not celebration

We are headed into those dark winter months when our nation officially celebrates African Americans, beginning with the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday in mid-January and continuing through Black History Month, scheduled annually for February (the shortest month of the year, as a young Chris Rock comically reminded us). It will be fascinating to see this annual ritual of celebration played out against the backdrop of an aggressive national protest movement, led mostly by younger African Americans, which originated in St. Louis.

Though Dr. King has not been disrespected by Ferguson protestors, as latter-day elder civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton have been at times, this is not a group of young leaders who are looking to the past for their leadership models. Their sharpest backward glance, in fact, is toward Assata Shakur, who currently is considered a fugitive felon by the United States government that officially celebrates MLK and Black History. Shakur – whose conviction was based on police evidence – has become a fitting model for a movement with so little confidence in the credibility of police evidence against African Americans.

A Black History Month seen

through Ferguson protestor eyes should be interesting. We have already seen from this movement an action where lynchings were simulated in downtown St. Louis within view of the Gateway Arch and the Old Courthouse. We should expect an increasingly extensive historical timeline of African Americans who were killed by American law enforcement. Such an intense focus on morbid facts is unsettling for many people, we understand, but protest leaders would say that means more people are being forced to live with the dread that so many black people, and especially young black people, feel every day and night in a world where armed law enforcement is a necessary reality.

So we should not expect your grandfather’s MLK or Black History Month celebrations in St. Louis or America this year. Police work has been put on the national stage and agenda by mostly young people who don’t think there is anything to celebrate about empathy for blacks in police work, so it is a continuing season of review and reform, not of celebration. However, we do celebrate the emergence of a new group of aggressive young leaders who demand that the reality of their experience – historic and

Commentary

Protestors briefly occupied St. Louis Metropolitan Police Headquarters on New Year’s Eve and delivered a symbolic eviction notice to police commanders.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

current – be addressed and the value of their black lives – their full and equal humanity – be acknowledged.

This week we are making the extremely unusual statement of leading our news coverage of the Ferguson movement with a news story reported and first published by the St. Louis PostDispatch, because we think Post reporters Koran Addo and Elise Crouch expressed something we know intimately, but have not yet said so clearly: that this is not a leaderless movement, in the sense that it lacks leadership, but rather it is leaderless only in the sense that it has not coalesced around one single leader. Its leadership is decentralized, unpredictable and evolving. Ferguson protestors have been more successful in protesting and forcing a conversation about their grievances than most of us will ever succeed at anything we do, and we understand why so many people around the world have been captivated by their courage and daring. We expect to see that daring leadership continue to evolve from episodic protests into a movement that drives meaningful, substantive reforms of public policy that impacts black lives. The Black History Months of the future may one day teach what they accomplish tomorrow.

GOP’s racism habit

Here’s some advice for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise that also applies to the Republican Party in general: If you don’t want to be associated in any way with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, then stay away from them.

Do not give a speech to a racist organization founded by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, as Scalise did when he was a Louisiana state legislator before running for Congress. Do not pretend to be the only Louisiana politician who could possibly have failed to grasp the true nature of the event, as Scalise did this week when the 2002 speech became public.

Come on, a group called the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), established by one of the nation’s proudest and most vocal bigots? Who happens to be, Rep. Scalise, from your state?

House Speaker John Boehner defended Scalise with the usual tut-tut about how speaking to the white supremacists was “an error in judgment” and Scalise was “right to acknowledge it was wrong and inappropriate.” Despite this lapse, Boehner said, Scalise is “a man of high integrity and good character.”

As if on cue, friends and supporters chimed in to offer evidence of how demonstrably non-racist Scalise truly is. He was an early supporter of

Gov. Bobby Jindal, an IndianAmerican, over his white primary opponent! He coached in a predominately black New Orleans basketball league! In the Louisiana Legislature, he voted against a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday – oh, wait. We hold officials accountable for what they say and do. Whatever feelings he might have in the deepest recesses of his heart, Scalise was simply following the wellthumbed Republican playbook by signaling to avowed racists that he welcomed their support. This is nothing new. In fact, it’s like a bad habit that the party can’t seem to quit. The addiction goes back to 1968, when Richard Nixon’s “Southern strategy” leveraged white racial resentment over federally mandated integration into an electoral majority. The GOP became the party of the South, even as the region – and its racial realities –underwent sweeping change. Mississippi now has more black elected officials than any other state. But do pockets of old-style, unapologetic racism persist, both in the South and elsewhere? You bet they do.

In 2002, Scalise was seeking support for his tax-cutting agenda in the Legislature – and, of course, contacts that could further his political career. He was invited to speak to the EURO group by Duke’s longtime political strategist, Kenny Knight, who happened to be Scalise’s neighbor.

As prominent conservative blogger Erick Erickson wrote on Twitter: “How Do You Show Up at a David Duke Event and Not Know What It

When was the last time you shared a kind word or complimented someone or showed someone an act of kindness to help start their day? like waiting for an elderly or handicapped person to cross the street without blowing your horn; by asking someone, how are you feeling today; or purchasing a cup of coffee for someone behind you in line before work?

As we prepare to enter a New Year full of the unknowns and the uncertainties of life?

“You cannot make life move faster than it is moving, no matter how urgent your situation may seem to be,” lyanla Vanzant said. “Things are going to happen when they happen, not a minute sooner. Be patient with yourself. Be patient with others. Be patient with life. Patience always pays off.”

Let’s all try harder to practice patience, acts of kindness and good deeds. These gestures are missing out of the lives of most Americans. We have totally dismissed and forgotten the power of these great attributes. After men have been

diagnosed with prostate cancer and bear the pains of going through the trials of this disease, I often tell them that after surgery or treatment, they must now learn to be patient as they go through the recovery and healing process, awaiting the outcome of their 6-month or 1-year exam. This is a period in their lives when they must try to understand the changes taking place in their bodies. These changes will affect their life and the outcome of many decisions they will have to make with those special loved ones.

Yet, this is a great time to extend kindness and show love to their caregivers, who are assisting them during a time when they are unable to care for themselves as they go through a period of helplessness. As cancer survivors, showing patience and kindness is the beginning of the healing process for the body and mind. These are attributes the body and heart truly understand. The human family must start to practice these principles, if the world is to become a better and safer place for our families. This display of inner-love and patience has proven to be effective as cancer survivors start on the road to recovery and healing.

Is?” Erickson was not alone in finding it hard to believe that anyone involved in Louisiana politics could fail to grasp what the meeting was and who was behind it.

Poor Boehner has more of a knack for getting caught in vises than anyone else in politics. Usually he gets squeezed between the GOP’s establishment and tea party wings. This time, he’s mashed between his party’s present and its future.

Today, the Republican Party depends on a broad coalition of voters, weighted toward the South, that ranges in views from traditional Main Street conservatives to anti-government radicals who believe that menacing helicopters are about to descend any minute. One thing these GOP voters have in common is that the vast majority of them are white.

The nation, however, becomes more racially diverse every day – and the Republican Party will have to become more diverse if it is to survive. In picking and electing state-level candidates, the GOP has been doing better with governors such as Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, and Jindal. In attracting voters, not so much.

One way not to attract African-American and Latino voters – in fact, one way to drive them away, along with the votes of some whites as well – is to show that the party is still happy to welcome the support of unrepentant racists and anti-Semites.

An extraordinary life Michelle and I were saddened to learn of the passing of former Senator Edward Brooke. Senator Brooke led an extraordinary life of public service, including his time in the U.S. Army. As the first African-American elected as a state’s Attorney General and first African-American U.S. Senator elected after reconstruction, Ed Brooke stood at the forefront of the battle for civil rights and economic fairness. During his time in elected office, he sought to build consensus and understanding across partisan lines, always working towards practical solutions to our nation’s challenges. We express our deepest sympathies to his wife Anne, children Remi, Edwina, Edward, stepdaughter Melanie, family, friends and the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

President Barack Obama Washington, D.C.

Impacting on children

I am so glad you raised the issue of “what about the children?” It is beautifully written and hopefully will lead more people to focus on how the news and adult conversations, not to mention loud and frightening scenes on the streets of some, are impacting on children around us. Hopefully future generations of children will have less trauma because of the organizing and agitation that is currently occurring. I certainly look for ways to follow the Spirit’s leading toward my own role in the work necessary to bring our region and our nation to the vision described so beautifully in Isaiah 65: 17-25.

Jeanette Mott Oxford St. Louis

Scoffing at a child’s memorial

Following the destruction of the memorial to slain Ferguson youth Michael Brown Jr., Ferguson Public Information Officer Timothy Zoll responded to media enquiries saying, “A pile of trash in the middle of the street? The Washington

This reminds me of a beautiful story of the patience of a man in the scriptures named Job. Job was described as a perfect and upright man who feared God and shunned evil. Job was a very rich man who had everything, but lost his many blessings, his family, property, wealth and his good name. Yet, through his endurance, patience and holding steadfast to his faith in God, he was redeemed with all his treasures.

I challenge everyone in 2015 to show patience, share an act of kindness and do a good deed each day for our fellow man or woman. Let’s all try harder to think of a kind word that we can share to bring on a smile and brighten someone’s day. As Mark Twain wrote, “Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Mellve Shahid Sr. is Founder/CEO of TheEmpowerment Network.

Although the body may be limited, this is also a time to perform some good deeds by sharing our journey and resources with fellow survivors to help them as they heal. These attributes are truly missing in the world today, and it was missing in the urban community of men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer before the emergence of The Empowerment Network, a great cancer organization of survivors that, at times, had lost patience or given up on life and faith.

Letters to the editor

Post is making a call over this?” Just as they left the body of Michael Brown lying in the street for four and a half hours, Zoll is comfortable scoffing at a child’s memorial being destroyed The memorial is a site of solace and pilgrimage for Michael’s family, friends, community and many who never knew him but mourn his senseless, violent death. Officer Zoll’s comments merely reflect the thinking of the Ferguson Police Department, and, sadly, far too many of his colleagues around the country that black people’s lives are trash.

Reverend Osagyefo Sekou Fellowship of Reconciliation Jamaica Plains, MA

Speaks with forked tongue

State Rep. Rick Brattin, a conservative Republican from Harrisonville, has proposed House Bill #131 which will

require “any woman seeking an abortion to have [the] written, notarized consent of the man who impregnated her, except in cases of ‘legitimate rape’” (thank you, Todd Akin!). The bill further requires that the “legitimate rape” victim provide proof of her victimization (i.e., a police report) in order that government grant the impregnated female permission to have an abortion. Brattin has proposed legislation that contradicts a core issue (government regulation) of his own party. He who speaks with a forked tongue is able to deplore government regulation of the business and personal lives of Missourians, while at the same time championing government control of the very personal reproductive lives of Missouri women.

Michael K. Broughton Green Park

Guest Columnist Mellve Shahid Sr.

Protestor thrown out of police station

LaShell Eikerenkoetter was rushed out of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Headquarters on December 31 during an action where protestors attempted to occupy the station and symbolically “evict” the police. Immediately after being thrown out of the building, where she had been videotaping the protest, a different cop pepper-sprayed her in the face. She documented the protest on her Instagram page @the4th_duck.

‘St. Louis remains a question mark’

By Emanuele Berry Of St. Louis Public Radio

My family has these cheesy black-and-white pictures of my parents in high school.

My favorite is of my parents holding hands. Their fingers, black and white, black and white, interlacing. I’ve always wondered if my mother and father knew that their marriage would generate a conversation about race extending beyond the initial interracial union to their children. My siblings and I are walking racial question marks that individuals are constantly trying to change and pin down with sturdy periods.

What are you really? Can I touch your hair? And are you a black/white person or a white/black person? These questions have been constants throughout my life. As a result, I’ve been talking about race and fascinated by it since childhood. They are discussions I have learned to lean into rather than run from. When a fellowship position focusing on race, culture and diversity opened at St. Louis Public Radio, I jumped at the chance, even though most of what I knew about St. Louis at the time was based on a Judy Garland musical and some vague understanding of a sports team called the Cardinals. I figured I’d been talking about race since I was in elementary school; I’d explored most of the issues around race in my lifetime. I figured any conversation I had about race in St. Louis would just be a rehashing of ones I’d already had.

I was wrong.

“You’re mulatto, right?” Five times in the five months since I moved to St. Louis I’ve been called a mulatto by people from varying backgrounds. Never has it been said in an intentionally malicious manner. It’s either a question or a statement of fact.

I’d let them know that I’m not OK with being called a mulatto, explaining the roots of the word. In some cases, this generated a longer dialogue; in others I was told, “But you are mulatto, though.”

“Isn’t it just like Detroit?” This was a question and subsequent conversation I had continuously with friends and family in Michigan regarding St. Louis.

First, let me say I love Detroit. I abhor the gajillion stories about Detroit filled with ruin and despair. But I know what people mean when they say “like Detroit” – decline, poverty and segregation. These are very simplified terms that in no way capture the complexities and nuances of these cities.

And while “poverty” and “segregation” are words that could be used to describe both St. Louis and Detroit, they are unique to each city. Over the past several months, I’ve found myself on the phone countless times trying to explain race in St. Louis, only to find myself at a loss for words.

“Ferguson.” The fact that I came to St. Louis to cover race, culture and diversity just weeks before “Ferguson” became a national byword has been described to me as both witchcraft and providence. It’s a conversation I never could have imagined being a part of. Ferguson generated an internal conversation about race and reporting I’ve never encountered before.

I’ve still not made sense of it and … that’s fine. For months I’ve had conversation upon conversation about race, but rather than feeling exhausted with the topic, it’s made me want to lean into it more.

This fellowship and city are not at all what I expected. I still don’t really know St. Louis all that well. I won’t pretend to. Most of what I know about the city is through the lens of my beat, which has left me with more questions than answers, and I’m OK with that.

St. Louis remains a question mark and I feel it would be a disservice to pin it down with a defining period.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Emanuele Berry

Defenders. “For the indigent, high bonds act as punishment – which is not allowable under the Constitution.”

n “I’m not going to leave that kid sitting in jail night after night by himself thinking that everyone is against him.”

The judge’s decision was based upon the seriousness of the charges against Williams for his alleged conduct at a protest in Berkeley on December 24. “Everybody get out to N. Hanley and Frost now,” Williams said via Twitter on December 23. “There [has] been another kid shooting.”

That evening, news of another officerinvolved shooting of a black teen circulated on social media. Hundreds of protestors convened at North Hanley Road and Frost Avenue near a convenience store in Berkeley where Antonio Martin, 18, had been fatally shot. Police say Martin pointed a firearm at an officer, who shot Martin to defend himself.

Berkeley is the adjoining municipality northwest of Ferguson, where then-Police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed teen Michael Brown Jr. on August 9, sparking months of protests that spread nationwide. In Berkeley at around midnight on December 23, chaos ensued between protestors and police. At the Quick Trip across the street from the protest, St. Louis County police claim Williams was captured by surveillance

– Rev. Renita Lamkin confessed to these crimes in a videotaped interview. On December 27, he was charged with first degree arson, second degree burglary and misdemeanor theft, and his bond was set. Harvey said the misdemeanor theft is for allegedly stealing a pack of chewing gum from the store.

JUROR

Continued from A1 investigation of Wilson had a stronger focus on the victim than in other cases presented to the grand jury,” the lawsuit states. “From plaintiff’s perspective, the presentation of the law to which the grand jurors were to apply the facts was made in a muddled and untimely manner compared to the presentation of the law in other cases presented to the grand jury.”

The lawsuit also questions the way McCulloch chose to characterize the grand jurors’ collective views toward the evidence when he announced the jury’s decision on November 24.

“In plaintiff’s view, the current information available about the grand jurors’ views is not entirely accurate –especially the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges,” the lawsuit states.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri is representing the grand juror, who is identified as a St. Louis County resident. McCulloch is named as a defendant, since he would be the person to bring charges against Juror Doe.

On November 24, McCulloch released some evidence from the case, including transcripts, reports, interviews, and forensic

evidence. However, the suit questions whether McCulloch “has truly provided transparency.”

“From plaintiff’s perspective, although the release of a large number of records provides an appearance of transparency, with heavy redactions and the absence of context, those records do not fully portray the proceedings before the grand jury,” the lawsuit states.

The 12-person jury — which included nine white and three black members — heard more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses. On December 19, McCulloch said he knew some of the witnesses were lying under oath but allowed them to testify anyway with no regrets.

His statement came after questions were raised about Witness 40, who said she saw Brown charge Wilson shortly before he shot and killed Brown. McCulloch said the “lady clearly wasn’t present” and that she probably came up with the story after reading the newspaper to back up Wilson’s account. However, he said he made a decision early on to allow everyone who claimed to have witnessed the incident to testify before the grand jury.

Many believe Witness 40’s testimony highly influenced the jury’s decision, but McCulloch argued that the grand jurors knew her account was not credible. Yet with the 12 grand jurors sworn to silence, they

cannot say whether that is true or not.

Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri, said the rules of secrecy must be lifted in this “highly unusual circumstance.” He also believes his client’s experience could contribute to the public dialogue concerning race relations.

“The Supreme Court has said that grand jury secrecy must be weighed against the juror’s First Amendment rights on a case-by-case basis,” Rothert said. “The First Amendment prevents the state from imposing a lifetime gag order in cases where the prosecuting attorney has purported to be transparent.”

Other complaints against McCulloch

Later on Monday, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund submitted a letter to Judge Maura McShane, the presiding judge of the 21st Judicial Circuit in Missouri, asking for the court to conduct an investigation of the grand jury proceedings.

In the nine-page letter, the group highlighted parts of the proceedings transcripts where the prosecutors used questionable tactics.

“Our review of these proceedings has raised grave legal concerns, including knowing presentation of false witness testimony, erroneous

If convicted, Williams faces five to 15 years in prison. Harvey was joined at the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton on Monday by Williams’ supporters, including clergy of varying faiths and hues, who have stood alongside the youth in the protest movement.

Among them was Rev. Renita Lamkin, pastor of St. John AME Church in St. Charles, and Bishop Derrick Robinson, senior pastor of Kingdom Dominion International Church.

“We love Josh and that’s why we’re here to support him,” Robinson said. “Josh is not a bad individual.” Lamkin said she believes in accountability and responsibility.

“Did he do this? I don’t know. Did he do it to the extent that it’s being presented? I don’t know,” Lamkin said.

Staring off into the distance, Lamkin’s eyes watered. God’s love is unconditional, she said, adding that her role as clergy is not to pass judgment. Both said they often visit Williams in jail –sometimes bringing cards, drawings and other trinkets of encouragement. One card came all the way from Portland, Oregon.

When asked how Williams was faring, they said he was “distraught,” yet holding on – knowing that people care. Robinson said the two have shared a few tears.

“I’m not going to leave that kid sitting in jail night after night by himself thinking that everyone is against him,” Lamkin said. “I have been very clear with the young people: I will love and support you – even if I have to do it behind a glass.”

A bond reduction hearing is scheduled for Monday, January 12.

Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.

instructions on the law, and preferential treatment of Mr. Wilson by the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, the fund’s president and director-counsel. To “restore public confidence” in the St. Louis County justice system, the group asked the court to take action, including convening a new grand jury or appointing a special prosecutor pursuant to Missouri law.

Also on Monday, seven citizens filed a misconduct complaint with the Missouri Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, which handles attorney discipline in the state. It accuses McCulloch and assistants Kathi Alizadeh and Sheila Whirley of failing as prosecutors to represent their client – the citizens of St. Louis County. Alizadeh and Whirley were in charge of presenting the Wilson case to the grand jury.

Among the allegations is that the prosecutors knowingly allowed witnesses to lie to the grand jury, and they acted more like “Wilson’s defense attorneys.”

Lawsuit: http://www.aclumo.org/files/4214/2047/0504/ Grand_Jurur_Doe_ Complaint_1-5-15.pdf

NAACP letter: http://www. naacpldf.org/files/case_issue/ NAACP%20LDF%20Open%20

Ferguson protestor Joshua Williams, left, listens to a fellow protestor at a demonstration at Ferguson Police Department on November 22.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

FERGUSON

Continued from A1 shutdowns. And yet, tools such as Twitter have allowed protest organizers to mobilize quickly with no need of a single leader or a centralized message.

They’ve clashed with establishment civil rights leaders, such as the Rev. Al Sharpton at a recent march in Washington.

Their perspective shows a difference in tactics and generations. While the protesters are of all ages, most are millennials. Many are women.

“We’re the lost generation,” said Kayla Reed, 24, who grew up in north St. Louis County. “It was very necessary that we didn’t allow someone who’d done this before to come into this space. Michael Brown was my age bracket.”

The movement has remained a decentralized one. Leaders step up and step back. Some virtually disappear.

Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman, was one of the most visible faces of the movement at the start. His chronicling of its events in the first few weeks through Twitter found an international audience. But now French is rarely seen or heard from.

“Everyone is replaceable,” said Johnetta Elzie, 25, who organizes meetings and documents protests on social media. “I could go away right now and there could be 100 more who could Vine and Instagram the same way I do.”

As the new year begins, the Ferguson movement is at a critical juncture.

Some organizers want to keep the focus strictly on police brutality. Others want to continue to push other issues. Among them are municipal court reform, stronger laws addressing racial profiling and new protocols for how police respond after an officer has fatally shot someone.

Brittany Packnett, 30, a key organizer and member of the state-appointed Ferguson Commission, said the two must happen in concert.

“Disruptive action has to continue to keep people awake about this,” she said. “Systemic action has to continue to ensure that we move forward. One of those things can’t happen without the other.”

Different roles

The movement that began with Brown’s death on Aug. 9 was not prompted by any single speech or any single organization calling people to the streets. It began in the

moments after the shooting when hundreds of people gathered outside the Canfield Green apartments, at the scene where Brown was shot.

In the days that followed, strangers came together holding signs and chanted in marches along West Florissant Avenue and at demonstrations in front of the Ferguson police station. They eventually formed a loose family. At the most formal level are the organized groups. Some, such as the Organization for Black Struggle, had existed before the Brown shooting. Others have cropped up since.

Millennial Activists United organizes rallies. Operation Help or Hush works almost entirely on building the infrastructure of support needed for protests to continue, raising money to feed people and put them up in hotels. On a less formal level are the organizers, who act essentially as free agents, filling whatever role they are drawn to.

Some choose to work behind the scenes. Others are far more visible, using social media to build as large an audience as possible. No one is more public with the message than DeRay Mckesson, 29, who has become one of the most visible figures in Ferguson-related demonstrations.

His prolific use of Twitter sends hundreds of images, videos and thoughts concerning the Ferguson movement and police-involved shootings around the world daily to more than 60,000 followers. He blasts the media and individual reporters with whom he disagrees. He challenges establishment leaders who disagree with protesters’ methods.

Before Ferguson, Mckesson directed his energy solely to addressing education inequities. A former math teacher, he

continues to work as the senior director of human resources for Minneapolis Public Schools.

Brown’s death drew Mckesson to St. Louis. He arrived on Aug. 16 to join the protests. He has come to believe that educating black children means nothing if they die in the streets. It’s why he’s fighting for better policing.

Mckesson spends most weekends and vacation time in St. Louis to continue the push. He said he doesn’t see an end in sight to the struggle.

“What are the fights you won’t walk away from?” Mckesson said. “This is mine.”

In contrast, Charles Wade, another out-of-town organizer, sees less value in street demonstrations. The fight, he said, needs to move away from protests and more toward structural reforms of public policy.

Based in Austin, Texas, Wade, 32, is a former fashion stylist turned consultant. Since the protests started in August, he’s been living in St. Louis hotels and working in a behind-the-scenes role through Operation Help or Hush, an organization he founded with two partners.

Operation Help or Hush is not yet a nonprofit, but it’s the

vehicle through which Wade and his partners have raised an estimated $50,000 since midAugust, by seeking donations on Twitter.

The group spent the money to set up secretive safe houses for protesters thought to be targeted by police. They handed out gasoline cards and bought people groceries. They paid for hotel rooms for out-of-town protesters and fed hundreds of demonstrators each week.

‘To the halls of power’

Wade’s group is in the process of renting four apartments meant to sustain a core group of activists he estimates will be working in the region on a number of different issues.

Wade now thinks the movement should go in a different direction.

“We are pushing the fivemonth mark, and people are now looking for tangibles,” he said. “We need something to check off on a list. Having the attention of the world doesn’t mean anything if you don’t do something with it.”

Justin Hansford, a St. Louis University law professor

St. Louis police repelled protestors with pepper spray on December 31 after a small group of protestors briefly occupied police headquarters in downtown St. Louis.

who has been active in the movement, said now that protesters have gotten the public’s attention, they have a real opportunity in the coming legislative session to get meaningful reforms.

Ferguson will be a dominant theme during the Missouri legislative session that began Wednesday. Based on prefiled bills, lawmakers plan to debate a range of issues spotlighted by the movement, from limiting when police may use deadly force to reducing the amount municipalities could collect in traffic fines.

Meanwhile, the governor created the 16-member Ferguson Commission to address the social and economic conditions highlighted by the protests.

“I’m of the opinion that nobody takes these things seriously until it affects their bottom line. We can march all we want, but the whole point of the movement is to bring accountability,” Hansford said. “So the push you’re going to see from us is from the streets to the halls of power.”

But whether protesters can effectively make that transition is unclear. The movement has some support in the Legislature, but there is also a

growing disconnect between the protesters on the street and elected officials who represent them.

The rift was made clear late last month when a white Berkeley police officer shot and killed Antonio Martin, 18, who was black. Police said the teen pointed a gun at the officer.

With doubts over the police’s story growing online, protesters took to the streets once again. Meanwhile, state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, who protested after Brown’s death, backed police this time around and stated that the shooting was justified.

To outsiders, the movement can seem loud and leaderless.

That point of view was highlighted last week when Oprah Winfrey called for leadership to emerge and articulate clear demands for change.

Protesters pointed to that as an example of how the older generation doesn’t understand what they’re trying to do.

“Everyone wants this to be the Civil Rights Movement, to go by the book, what Martin Luther King did, what Malcolm X did,” said Elzie, a protest organizer. “We do not have a manual.”

The only prediction she would make about the movement is that protests will continue.

On New Year’s Eve, about 50 people gathered on the sidewalk outside the Old Courthouse downtown to begin their march to police headquarters, Protester Rasheen Aldridge, another Ferguson Commission member, spoke into a megaphone.

“We’re about to start a whole new year,” he said. “This is going to go on forever. Us claiming back what’s ours. We’re coming into 2015 to let people know we aren’t going anywhere.”

Reprinted with permission from stltoday.com.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Stenger, McCulloch sworn in under armed guard

“I think what the public is going to see and what you’re going to see is an open door in my office,” the new St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger told reporters at his inauguration on New Year’s Day, according to St. Louis Public Radio.

That open office door would be a dramatic change from Stenger’s inauguration, which was closed to the public and open only to invited guests, who were nearly all white.

The ceremony was moved from St. Louis County Council chambers to the sixth floor of the St. Louis County Courthouse due to what Stenger characterized as “multiple threats.”

The EYE suspects the real reason was that Stenger was dodging the embarrassment of being protested at his own inauguration. After all, his general election night party was partly spoiled by Ferguson protestors. But Stenger claimed he feared for his safety if he proceeded with an inauguration that was open to the public, and he is sticking to that story.

“After consulting with law enforcement we decided it was prudent to change the venue,” said Cordell Whitlock, former broadcast journalist and Stenger’s new director of Communications.

However, a St. Louis County Police spokesman told the Post-Dispatch that the request to switch venues came at the request of Stenger and St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch, who was sworn in alongside Stenger under armed guard on New Year’s Day.

Of course, it is Stenger’s close connection to McCulloch that makes him a target of Ferguson protestors. McCulloch was Stenger’s staunchest ally in his successful Democratic primary campaign against Charlie Dooley, St. Louis County’s first black county executive.

The EYE suspects that Stenger and McCulloch also collaborated in the PostDispatch series on alleged corruption in Dooley’s

administration, which relied solely on anonymous sources for any claims of criminal corruption. The U.S. Attorney subsequently folded that investigation without taking any charges to the grand jury.

McCulloch even accused Dooley of corruption in a Stenger campaign ad – an odd thing for a prosecutor to do without bringing any charges. McCulloch later told The American that “corrupt” could mean “unethical,” but not criminal.

To which the EYE can now say: and multiple fears of being protested on your big day can also mean (to Stenger and McCulloch) “multiple threats” of violence.

The EYE contends that Stenger and McCulloch dodged, not bullets, but merely a repeat of the general election night protest against them, which was led by the Organization for Black Struggle. On Stenger’s big night in November, just when he started his victory speech, protestors started singing, “Which side are you on?” In what they now call “Requiem

for Mike Brown,” Ferguson protestors have adopted the song, written by union organizer Florence Reece in 1931. It debuted at a St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performance in October to protest McCulloch’s handling of the case against thenFerguson Police Officer Darren Wilson

Of course, the protestors knew which side Stenger was on: McCulloch’s. Stenger remained by McCulloch’s side throughout the Ferguson protests, all the way up to New Year’s Day, and that is why the public – including those pesky protestors – were barred from the inauguration. That’s why “additional security measures” (as the invitation stated) were put in place. Yes, the EYE did receive an invitation. It was not where or how the EYE wanted to spend the first day of the new year, however.

St. Louis County Councilwoman Hazel Erby – the only African American on the seven-member council – apparently felt the same way. According to St. Louis

Public Radio, Erby wrote on her Facebook page that she “decided that it was best” that she not attend Stenger’s inauguration. Erby soured on Stenger when he blocked her minority inclusion bills in the council. Stenger submitted alternate bills with changes favorable to his union supporters, at the expense of the black workers and contractors that such legislation is designed to benefit. It was labor’s mass defection from Dooley to Stenger that – along with McCulloch’s support, the Post’s series on Dooley’s non-existent corruption and a crazy little thing called racism – helped enable Stenger’s landslide primary victory.

Between Stenger’s August primary victory and the general election in November, a few things changed in St. Louis County. For example, the North County suburb of Ferguson spawned an international protest movement focused on the value of black lives and the failure to prosecute police shootings of unarmed black people. McCulloch’s handling of the Darren Wilson

In the company of his wife and their baby, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger was sworn in by Judge Ronnie White at a private inauguration event held on New Year’s Day at the St. Louis County Courthouse.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

protégé from Affton. Stenger – a CPA and attorney – tried to sell his invite-only inauguration under armed guard like a huckster trying to move an unsightly used car. “We could have canceled the event and we didn’t – and we’re not going to do that,” Stenger said to reporters before the ceremony, according to St. Louis Public Radio. “And I think what you’re going to find with my administration and with me is a constant forward momentum. We are not going to let anything slow us down.”

“We are not going to let anything slow us down,” McCulloch’s ally said under armed guard at his invite-only, nearly all-white inauguration. And this is the man elected to lead St. Louis County, which is now on the world’s map of racially troubled hot spots.

case made him a pariah of the protest movement on par with police shooters themselves. Stenger never wavered in his support of the embattled prosecutor.

Erby – bolstered by African Americans’ antagonism towards McCulloch and Stenger – countered by forming the Fannie Lou Hamer Coalition. This group of disaffected black elected officials from St. Louis County threw its support to Stenger’s Republican opponent, Rick Stream, a conservative state legislator from Kirkwood. In a vote so close it merited a recount, Stenger beat Stream by a paltry 1,182 votes – in a St. Louis County that has become a Democratic stronghold. By comparison, the Democratic candidate for County Assessor, the incumbent Jake Zimmerman was endorsed by the Fannie Lou Hamer coalition and beat his Republican opponent by more than 50,000 votes. The EYE does not consider it an accident that Zimmerman did not attend Stenger’s inauguration to be sworn in alongside McCulloch and his

Just to show how carefully – and racially – screened Stenger’s inauguration was, McCulloch received “a warm reception from the crowd,” according to St. Louis Public Radio. The EYE thinks we all know how difficult it is –after August 9 and November 24, 2014 – to find a St. Louis County crowd where McCulloch will receive “a warm reception.”

“We’ve had some difficult times in the past months and old wounds have been opened,” McCulloch told that warmly receptive crowd. “But those are the wounds that have to be addressed. And we’ll fix those.”

McCulloch must have heard himself sounding hopelessly unrealistic, as he immediately backpedaled from “fixing” the old wounds of – oh, let’s see, what were they? – racism and police killings of unarmed black people that are not prosecuted.

“And we’ll work on those,” McCulloch revised his promise about those old wounds. “And we’ll keep doing that. And I look forward to working with the new county executive, with the old county council and the new county council to address an awful lot of these issues.” McCulloch and Stenger look forward to talking to everybody and working with everybody – just as soon as everybody is invited in the door and gets past the armed security.

Town hall forums on police work

Over the next two weeks, Better Together and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) are hosting four townhall discussions to which the community is invited.

Better Together and PERF (a national research organization focused on critical issues in policing) are conducting an exploratory study to identify the “ideal” policing solution for the St. Louis region. The key purpose of PERF’s collaboration with Better Together is to examine the geographic and demographic characteristics of St. Louis city and county and, with extensive input from the community, develop an idealized policing strategy for St. Louis.

The first town hall was Wednesday, January 7 at the Sheet Metal Workers’ Hall, co-sponsored by Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed.

The second town hall takes place Thursday, January 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Lodge Des Peres (1050 Des Peres Rd.).

On Wednesday, January

14, the third town hall is from 6 to 8 p.m. at Greater St. Mark Family Church (9950 Glen Owen Dr). The event is co-sponsored by Missouri State Representative Tommie Pierson, who is also the pastor at Greater St. Mark.

The fourth town hall takes place Thursday, January 15, from 6 to 8 p.m. and is

co-sponsored by Missouri State Senator Maria ChappelleNadal. The location will be announced soon.

“We feel privileged to gain this type of community input,” said Better Together Executive Director Nancy Rice. “These meetings are by far the most important component of our Police Study.”

Throughout the coming months, Better Together and PERF will gather opinions and insights from thousands of community members –including police officers, clergy members and their congregants, police officers’ families’ groups, neighborhood association leaders, local elected officials, and constituents. They will also obtain and analyze data, such as jurisdiction population and demographics, crime patterns, police resources, staffing issues, etc. for the jurisdictions and police departments within the St. Louis region.

“Our work in St. Louis comes at a historic moment,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of PERF. “We are here to listen to community members throughout the region as they share their thoughts about the challenges of policing in this area and how police and community members can work together to improve police services.”

To sign up for one of the town-hall meetings, visit www.bettertogetherstl.com/

Healthy Kids Kids

Resolve to Eat Right!

Nutrition Challenge:

This time of year many people make New Year’s resolutions. A resolution is simply a promise you make to yourself of ways that you would like to improve your life in the new year. So for 2015, why not make a resolution to eat healthier? Try adding a healthy new habit every few weeks or so. Here are a few ideas (from past Healthy Kids features) to get you started.

What are some other tips you’ve learned?

Learning

5

NewYear, NewYou!

Start!

Another healthy change you can make for yourself with the new year is to be more active. Staying active not only helps keep your heart healthy, but it burns calories, improves your brain functioning and helps you feel better — the more you do!

Some reminders:

The new year brings a fresh start. Plan on making 2015 your best year yet! Try letting go of the problems you may have faced last year and look forward to a new year with excitement and hope. Here are a few ways to stay positive.

> Make a list of all of the good things that happened for you in 2014.

> What are some goals you’d like to achieve in 2015?

> Try to have at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day that increases your heart rate (60 minutes is even better).

> Warm up, stretch and cool down before and after exercising.

> Select one or two of those goals and make a list of specific steps you can take to accomplish your new year goals.

> Always remember — you can’t change others, you can only change yourself and how you react. So focus on yourself and how you can have a happy 2015!

Learning Standards: HPE 6, NH 3

NewYear’sResolutions1. ofDrinkatleast8glasses wateraday. 2.Eatmorefreshfruitsand foodsvegetablesandlessfried andsweetsnacks.3.Eatslowlyandstopas soonasyoufeelfull.

> Start off slowly and increase time, distance, and speed as you feel stronger.

> Check with your doctor before starting a brand new exercise program.

> Drink lots of water when you’re working out.

Discuss some of the ways you can keep active during the cold winter months.

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

Healthy Snacks

Veggies & Dip

Careers

Chrystal Norleet, Medical Assistant

Why did you choose this career? I chose this career because when I was younger, my cousin and I took care of my grandmother who was disabled. Working with the home health nurse allowed me to see that this was a way I can give back to people.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I enjoy taking care of people. It’s a joy to see people happy and smiling, knowing that someone cares about them and that someone is there to listen and help.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

year, at no charge.

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

Ashland Elementary School 5th grade student, Donald Byes-Manning, of Ms. Eason’s 5th grade class, uses the newspaper to find main idea in nonfiction text.

the St. Louis Public School District.

Did you know some of today’s inventions, such as potato chips, were a popular “mistake?” Other inventions, such as the stoplight, were designed to solve a problem. Inventors are curious and patient, with a high tolerance for trial and error. It also helps to have a strong background in math and science. Many inventors are young, just like you. Frank Epperson was only 11 years old when he developed the popsicle. Louis Braille was just 15 when he designed the Braille system of reading for the blind.

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

Background Information:

How to Become an Inventor!

If you are interested in becoming an inventor, develop your critical thinking skills. Take apart old machines and put them back together to see how things fit together. Think about your daily life. Are there any processes that need to be improved? Interview your family members and teachers. What invention would they like to see created? Start sketching ideas and designs to solve these problems.

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

“Invent” The Xylophone!

In this experiment, you will “invent” a xylophone using glasses filled with water. It will take a lot of trial and error to get everything just right, so remember to be patient. You will use your xylophone to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Materials Needed: • 8 Drinking Glasses of the Same Size and Shape. • Pitcher of Water • Metal Spoon

• Table

Procedure:

q Place the 8 glasses on the table near each other without touching.

w Fill each glass with a different amount of water.

MATH CONNECTION

Inventors have strong problem solving skills. Give these problems a try!

z Mrs. Bailey learned that $1,348 worth of tickets were sold at the carnival. If tickets cost 3 for $1, how many tickets were sold?

x Mrs. Hilt sold 125 pencils for $0.40 each. If half of the cost is profit, how much profit did she make on the pencils? __________

DID YOU KNOW?

SCIENCE STARS

AFRICAN AMERICAN INVENTOR & ARCHITECT: Earl S. Bell

Earl S. Bell was born in Brooklyn in 1977. He developed a passion for inventing at a young age. At just nine years old, he presented his first design. His family offered a lot of support, especially his Uncle Virgil. Bell was a student of Pratt Institute’s Architecture Program and began to formally submit his designs in 1998. He holds 3 US patents and 1 international patent and has several patents pending approval. He invented Sasu Technology (liquid hydraulic electrical display for showing information), Slide Skin Technology: (an ergonomic chair system), and Qet Ambit Technology (internal electrical mechanical mechanism). Bell has been classified as an inventor, building designer, architectural theorist, and hip hop architect.

For more information, visit: http://www.earlsbell.com or http://projectblackman. com/GreatBlackMenInHistory. aspx?notablePersonId=211 (this site also features videos). Learning Standards: I can read a biography about a person who has made contributions in the fields of science, math, and technology.

e Tap each glass with the metal spoon. What sound does it make? Do the glasses with more water make a higher pitched sound or a lower pitched sound? Try tapping the glass in different places. How does that affect the sound?

r Continue to experiment with the sounds until you have all the notes to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

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

Use the newspaper to complete the following activities.

c Emmy Noether, the Mother of Modern Algebra, was born in 1882. In what year did she celebrate her 25th birthday? __________

v Many families serve each person in the family one 6-ounce glass of orange juice each morning. If they buy orange juice by the gallon, how many whole servings of juice will they get out of one gallon of juice? __________

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

Activity One Inferences: Read part of an editorial and make an inference about the author’s opinion. Write your inference at the top of a t-chart (labeled fact and opinion), listing facts and opinions from the editorial to support your inference.

Activity Two — Goal

Setting: Find a story in the newspaper about people who have achieved a goal (e.g., a new business that just opened, a sports team that won a game, etc.) Cut out the story and write the steps you think the people had to take to achieve that goal.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can make inferences and describe the necessary steps for goal setting.

The St. Louis American’s award winning NIE program provides newspapers and resources to more than 7,000 teachers and students each week throughout the school

Josephine Cochrane invented the first dishwasher in 1886.

Leo Fender, inventor of the Stratocaster, could not play guitar.

MAP CORNER

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

Ashland Elementary is in

Slide Skin Technnology Chair

The first mobile phone call was made in 1973 by Martin Cooper, a former Motorola inventor.

Adeline D.T. Whitney patented wooden blocks in 1882 to help children learn their ABCs.

Sasu Clock and Wii Router Charge Ring

Grand juries, cops and ham sandwiches

St. Louis County and the State of Missouri seem to be impervious to ridicule and criticism of their history, image and functioning from residents, as well as those outside the state. No amount of writing that I’ve done in this newspaper for decades could have educated the world about how backwards we are as the region’s response to the killing of Michael Brown Jr. has done. Now a spotlight is on our issues of police violence, economic injustice, government corruption and the lack of visionary leadership to address these challenges.

The grand jury process in the Darren Wilson case has become a glaring deviation of equal justice under the law and has helped many to see its inherent problems.

Most lay observers know that the grand jury is a tool of the prosecutor. Hence the popular phrase, coined in 1985 by New York Judge Sol Wachtler, that prosecutors have so much influence over grand juries that they could get them to “indict a ham sandwich.” In his argument to put the grand jury system in the trash bin of history, Judge Wachtler went on to say that he believed that grand juries “operate more often as the prosecutor’s pawn than the citizen’s shield.”

Grand juries have been

become a mockery of a judicial system built on a system of class and race privilege. Nothing just or true or fair will come out of them. Yes, a mockery of a mockery.

When unarmed, young Mike Brown was killed by Ferguson cop Darren Wilson and left in the street for four and a half hours, it was clear that incompetency was the rule of the day. The quick and overpowering response by the community was yet another indication that this shooting was going to be different, thereby requiring a very different response from law and government officials.

None was forthcoming. St. Louis looked like it was just unprepared for prime time. It looked like we have a legal system and government that

n Grand juries have been become a mockery of a judicial system built on a system of class and race privilege.

harkens back to pre-Civil Rights Movement days.

Let me not try to walk you through St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s fiasco of a grand jury process. Many with a better grasp of the law than me have dissected it like a frog in a biology class. There are more flaws than McCulloch’s bias in this highprofile case, given that his

police officer father was killed by a young, black male. We can start with the hours of testifying by Darren Wilson before the grand jury or the questionable testimony from dubious Witness 40 or the prosecutor’s misleading of the jury by giving them an outdated law on lethal force that was changed nearly 30 years ago by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. This latter raised so much clamor in legal circles that it forced Republican-turned Democrat Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster into the fray. Even Koster was forced to admit that the outdated Missouri law shouldn’t have been given to the jurors. He meekly suggested there is a “need to update Missouri’s use of deadly force statute.” Let’s see if an updated law passes through the Missouri legislature this upcoming session.

Shortly after McCulloch’s mockery of a grand jury, a New York grand jury failed to indict Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choke-hold killing of Eric Garner. That grand jury had just about everything it needed to indict Pantaleo, including the videotape of a dying Garner begging for air. It’s clear that the grand jury system doesn’t see cops as ham sandwiches. The point is, there’s no way to reform the grand jury system. I put grand juries right up there with the U.S. Electoral College. These instruments are leftovers from a Southern aristocracy and have no value in the 21st century. “End the grand jury system” is a legit demand.

Giuliani lies about Obama

Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani is living up to his image of bigotry and intolerance. How can he blame President Obama for the unrest and civil disobedience that followed the

Michael Brown Jr. and Eric Garner killings? It reveals the insensitivity of a man with a track record of intolerance for poor people and people of color.

The reasons given by Giuliani for the riots and protests that erupted in American cities is nothing short of right-wing hate speech and political misinformation. The opposition has reworked its demand for the oppression of poor and black people in the hate speeches they deliver on national TV, the cable news channels and in the print media. Blaming Obama for the murder of two New York police officers, Giuliani lied about the president.

Giuliani said, “We’ve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police. The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests, even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence, all of them lead to a conclusion: The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong. It is the reason for the heavy police presence in the black community.” Giuliani should be embarrassed and ashamed, but extremists die hard.

This is the same Giuliani who declared war on the homeless. He stated that the homeless had no right to sleep on the streets: ‘’Streets do not exist in civilized societies for the purpose of people sleeping there. Bedrooms are for sleeping.” He added that the right to sleep on the streets doesn’t exist anywhere: “The founding fathers never put that in the Constitution.’’ Advocates for the homeless reacted with

disbelief.

The New York Times reported that in January 2000, on one of the coldest nights of the winter, cops with badges began pulling sleeping homeless out of bed, dazed and destitute, and putting handcuffs on them. They were being arrested for failing to appear in court in the distant past to answer for such crimes as public urination, sleeping in the subway, and begging for food in public. Nearly 150 homeless were arrested. “These are quality of life crimes,” Giuliani said. Most of those arrested had afflictions, such as mental illness and substance abuse, common to those who end up on the street. It seems that Giuliani does not have compassion for the demonstrators because he has no sympathy or consideration for poor and oppressed people. He must understand that the negotiators and protestors declare they will continue with an ongoing effort to gain a clear and permanent guarantee of privileges for their groups, such as police oversight, justice, equal and human rights, and an end to police brutality. It is hard to accept as true that, after so many years of struggle and sacrifices , people of color must again have to revert to demonstrations and civil disobedience to seek justice and acceptability in a country so many of their parents, grandparents, forefathers and ancestors have fought and died for.

Margaret Mead put it in a few words: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Wake up, Rudy. Wake up! Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday Night at 10 p.m. and Sunday Evenings

I

Jamala Rogers

Bernie Hayes

Business

JANUARY

‘Building Union Diversity’

By Camille Phillips

Of St. Louis Public Radio

In his 35 years as president of the St. Louis chapter of the Coalition for Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), Lew Moye has seen a lot of initiatives to increase diversity in construction.

–

There have been agreements to include minorities in specific projects, such as building the Edwards Jones Dome and expanding Interstate 64. And there have been protests demanding greater minority representation, such as the 1999 shutdown of I-70, where Reverend Al Sharpton led minority contractors in a call for more state highway jobs.

But according to Moye, the projects and protests have failed to bring significant numbers of African Americans into St. Louis construction unions – often called the building trades.

Because Moye has seen so many initiatives try and fail to increase diversity in the past, he is hesitant to believe the hype surrounding the newest such initiative, the BUD program.

Bethany A. Johnson-Javois was appointed managing director of the Ferguson Commission. She will assemble the commission’s staff, and oversee community engagement and commission activities. She is taking a leave of absence from her position as chief executive officer of Integrated Health Network to accept the position. She also resigned from the commission, to which she had been appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon.

Byron Watson was named to serve on the Ferguson Commission by Gov. Jay Nixon. He is a retired St. Louis County Police sergeant. He replaces Bethany Johnson-Javois, who was named as the commission’s managing director. The independent commission is charged with making specific recommendations for how to make progress on the issues raised by events in Ferguson. Watson grew up in north St. Louis City and currently lives in Florissant.

A disparity study commissioned by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District in 2011 supports Moye’s statement. It shows that construction workers in St. Louis and St. Louis County are disproportionately white and overwhelmingly male.

“We have seen some cooperation at certain projects at different times between contractors and the building trades, but in the end when you look at the numbers, they are low,” Moye explained.

“Anything that the BUD program would do to increase minorities and women in the trades, we’ll support it wholeheartedly,” Moye said. “But there’s been all kinds of efforts in the past, there’s been all kinds of initiatives to increase African Americans in the trades over the last 50 years, and it just hasn’t happened.”

BUD stands for Building Union Diversity, and it is an eight-week pre-apprenticeship program taught

Trendsetting black businesses

By Danie Rae, Stylebroker For The St. Louis American

I’m kicking the New Year off right by highlighting some of the area’s places to go to get the hottest of the hot. Ranging from nightlife to creative spaces, the hot spots for 2015 list gives just a little glimpse of what some of our local, African American-owned businesses have to offer. This year, it’s all about bringing the business back to our communities. With most of the hot spots being located within St. Louis city, being “urban chic” is what is “Stylebroker Certified” for the New Year.

Breve’ Wine Bar A new hot spot just east of the Delmar Loop, Breve’ Wine Bar is the premier spot to have a romantic date or to hang with your crew. With the entry age being 30 and up, this spot is guaranteed to be a mature look. Under the new management of interior designer Hasina Starks, the former dessert bar is transformed into a chic, upscale watering hole.

“Brevé is like your classy ‘Cheers!’ When you come in, if everyone doesn’t know your name, they sure will before you leave,” said Starks. Offering an exquisite array of wines with complimentary cheese

Johanna R. Wharton was named the new executive director of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. She will be responsible for fundraising, expanding programming and community partnerships for the foundation. She most recently served as the executive vice president of Grace Hill Settlement House, where she led Grace Hill’s Efforts in Early Childhood Education, Community and Economic Development, School Age Academic Advancement, Aging Services and Family Advancement. Elmus Miller was presented with a Veterans Service Award among 25 other Missouri veterans. The award was given to those veterans who provide exemplary volunteer service to their communities. Lt. Governor Peter Kinder honored all the winners at a banquet in the State Capitol in Jefferson City. Miller, a U.S. Air Force veteran, volunteers for the food pantry at Compton-Hill Missionary Baptist Church and the NCCD Corporation.

Kenya BrumfieldYoung has received a Master of Legal Studies Degree from Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University; her specialties are criminal procedure and juvenile law. Previously she earned her Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Administration at Columbia College. She recently was appointed as the Program Coordinator for the Juvenile Drug Court in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Stevie Wonder was named one of 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. One of the world’s most gifted singer-songwriters, he created a sound entirely his own, mixing rhythm and blues with other genres and mastering a range of instruments, styles and themes. He is also a Kennedy Center Honoree, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and winner of 25 Grammys. On the move? Congratulations! Send your professional news and a color headshot to cking@stlamerican.com

Byron Watson

Johanna R. Wharton

Elmus Miller

Kenya BrumfieldYoung

Bethany A. JohnsonJavois

Stevie Wonder

Vic Sunshine of the Associated General Contractors teaches the inaugural class of BUD participants about OSHA safety standards.

Photo by Camille Phillips/St. Louis Public Radio

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Yours, mine, ours: planning stepfamily finances

By Jason Alderman

The Pew Research Center reports (http://www. pewsocialtrends.org/) that four in ten American adults have at least one steprelative, defined as a stepparent, a step-or-half sibling or a stepchild, in their family. While the Pew study says that many stepfamilies operate harmoniously, it also notes that adults “feel a stronger sense of obligation to their biological family members than they do to their step kin.” That is one reason why blended family finances can get so messy.

Couples planning to blend families often have to make financial arrangements that respect previous relationships with ex-spouses and their families. Issues range from childcare and eldercare to potentially complex matters involving businesses, investment assets and real estate. That’s why involving trained experts in stepfamily financial planning is a must. Here’s a basic checklist of issues and solutions potential spouses and partners should consider:

• Start with all cards on the table. Today’s first-time marriages or partnerships alone can introduce some staggering financial variables – business and inheritance issues, college debt, consumer debt or even past bankruptcies. Couples planning stepfamilies face even more complications. But all couples need to start with a critical first step – sharing personal information with a potential impact on finances. Start with the following:

• Current credit reports and credit scores. Extensive loans or bad credit for one or both partners can endanger future purchasing plans for auto, home or tuition. It’s also

Couples planning to blend families often have to make financial arrangements that respect previous relationships with ex-spouses and their families. Issues range from childcare and eldercare to potentially complex matters involving businesses, investment assets and real estate. That’s why involving trained experts in stepfamily financial planning is a must.

important to share information about personal or cosigned loans to family and friends.

• Assets and liabilities. Potential spouses or partners should know each other’s financial assets and liabilities and any issues connected with them. As mentioned above, debt and credit issues may be a problem, but if one spouse has extensive assets, it’s important to clarify whether those assets will be shared legally or promised to others.

• Legal issues. If divorce, child custody, foreclosure, bankruptcy, or any other civil or criminal legal proceedings are pending against either partner or members of their families, full disclosure is essential.

• Business and estate issues. If potential spouses or partners have significant estate or business assets assigned to children, former spouses or family members, those commitments need to

be factored into the finances of the planned marriage or partnership.

• Bring in professional expertise. Beyond disclosure, it’s good to have qualified professionals who have specific expertise with blended families and their many unique issues. Both partners should start by bringing any existing advisors into the discussion. But if none exist and friends and family members don’t have solid suggestions, the

following organizations might provide local experts with specific skills in helping stepfamilies plan:

• Financial planners. The Association for Financial Counseling, Planning and Education and the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards are two nationwide organizations that can identify advisors in your area.

• Tax advisors. Your state CPA society can suggest

qualified personal, business and estate tax advisors in your area.

• Estate planners and attorneys. Organizations like the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils and the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel might be able to help.

• Address problems before move-in. Most experts tell you it’s best to start any new marriage or partnership with a clean slate – or a slate that’s as clean as you can make it. That’s doubly true with stepfamilies. As many income, asset, debt, child custody, estate and business issues as possible should be identified and solutions put in place before the family is legally joined.

• Make a fresh estate plan. Financial experts say it’s time to review all money issues whenever you face a major life event, and remarriage or re-partnership certainly qualifies. Even if the individuals have their own separate estate matters in order, stepfamily issues restart the planning clock on everything.

• Plan – or re-plan – your retirement. You may have planned a great retirement with a former spouse or on your own, but what if your future spouse hasn’t? Whatever steps you’ve both taken toward retirement, you need to review your strategies so you can retire comfortably together.

Bottom line: Money issues complicate all relationships. But stepfamilies have unique, detailed planning needs that should be discussed and settled before marriage or move-in.

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

n “I will miss Stuart Scott. Twenty years ago, Stu helped usher in a new way to talk about our favorite teams and the day’s best plays.”

– President Obama

pRep BaskeTBall noTeBook With Earl Austin Jr.

Gift of hoops

Christmas tournaments deliver presents to area fans

It was an exciting week of holiday basketball in the area with all the Christmas tournaments taking place on both sides of the river. Here is a quick recap of last week’s holiday tournament action.

Webster Groves defeated Hazelwood Central 41-39 to win the Coaches vs. Cancer Holiday Tournament at Meramec. Junior guard Leland Bradford scored on a short jumper with three seconds left to give the Statesmen the dramatic victory in a battle of the top two seeds of the tournament.

Top-seeded St. Charles defeated No. 3 seed SLUH 63-54 to win the MICDS Tournament. Senior guard Casey Teson scored a gamehigh 20 points to lead the Pirates while fellow senior guard Chase Morfeld added 14 points. In the girls championship game, host MICDS defeated Westminster as senior guard Miya Howard scored 19 points.

In the most exciting championship game of the holidays, Fort Zumwalt South defeated Sikeston 82-80 in overtime in the finals of the St. Dominic Tournament. Preston Whitfield’s 3-pointer while 13 seconds left in the overtime was the game-winner. Senior forward Marshawn Blackmon scored a game-high 31 points to lead the Bulldogs.

CBC ventured to Southeast Missouri to play in the Poplar Bluff Tournament and brought home a third-place trophy.

On the Illinois side, Southwestern Conference members Collinsville and Alton finished as runners-up in their respective tournaments. Collinsville entered its own tournament with a 3-6 record, but advanced to the championship game before losing to fourtime champion Lincoln (Ill) 47-34. The Kahoks upset undefeated Althoff in the semifinals. Alton advanced to the championship of the Centralia Tournament before falling to the host Orphans.

The girls of Breese Central and Edwardsville won tournament titles and remained undefeated in the process. Breese Central won the Mascoutah Holiday Tournament while Edwardsville won the championship of their own tournament.

Hazelwood Central’s Dominique Dobbs attempts a shot over a Webster defender during the Coaches vs. Cancer Holiday Tournament at Meramec. Webster Groves defeated Hazelwood Central 41-39 in the championship.

Chaminade takes down No. 1 team

Chaminade College Prep registered a huge win for the area when it upended Lincolnshire

If sports casting was an actual sport, Stuart Scott would have been the Babe Ruth of broadcasting. The fly and always dapper SportsCenter star was the undefeated, undisputed king of the catchphrase. In the mid-90s, when network sportscasters were very vanilla (both literally and figuratively), Scott stood out with his unashamed blackness infused with a coolness that would make Snoop Dogg and Billy Dee Williams blush. Scott mixed professionalism, confidence, swagger, wit, authenticity and a hip-hop delivery with every highlight.

urbs to the hood.

During Scott’s early days on ESPN, I can recall watching SportsCenter as a teenage athlete and aspiring sportscaster, and being completely astonished that he was on the holy grail of sports, speaking like me. Guys like Keith Olbermann

To paraphrase Jay Z: I made it so, you could say ‘Boo Ya’ and it was all good / I ain’t cross over, I brought the sub-

Dan Patrick and Chris Berman were extremely talented and fun to watch, but there wasn’t the same personal connection I felt whenever Scott effortlessly delivered his linguistic gems. I remember playing cork ball with my friends in Hanley Hills and yelling out “Boo Yah” whenever a ball skied over the fence into a neighbor’s backyard. I remember hurrying home to catch the highlights or

New Rams GM has helped improve the

When the St. Louis Rams hired Les Snead to become general manager almost three years ago, it looked like a wise move. The product on the field was repulsive to look at. Angry fans started threatening to sell their personal seat licenses, and some people stopped showing up. The decision even to this day was a good move by this franchise.

Snead has carved out a solid NFL career spanning now decades. He got his first NFL job as a pro scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars when Tom Coughlin was head coach back in 1995 and served in that position for two years before spending the next 14 season with the Atlanta Falcons. In his last three seasons with the Falcons as director of Player Personnel, they went 37-16 and went to the playoffs. In St. Louis at that time, some would have traded the Arch or maybe toasted ravioli for a stretch of winning like that.

n Nevertheless, 7-9 or 6-10 is no reason to celebrate either.

After the 2011 season, the Rams were in need of a head coach and a general manager. They hired Jeff Fisher, and he would play a hand in selecting Snead as GM. Snead is young. He has charisma and charm and can be quite a gambler. While director of Player Personnel with the Falcons in 2011, they gave up 1st, 2nd and 4th round draft picks for wide out Julio Jones, who has lived up to his top billing since his collegiate days in the SEC. Then Snead arrived in St. Louis, and after his introductory press conference you could feel things about to change. Snead got a lot of much deserved praise for the RGIII trade with the Washington Redskins. Snead and the Rams were able to acquire six total picks from that trade, and five of those six players are starters. The exception is running back Zac Stacy, who lost his starting job to rookie Tre Mason. That’s progress, and the Rams have made some since Snead took over. However, the Rams still remain idle after the 16th game of the season. They’ve put a little distance between going 1-15 and 2-14. Nevertheless, 7-9 or 6-10 is no reason to celebrate either.

After the conclusion of last season, the Rams seemed poised to make 2014 their season to get over .500 and possibly qualify for the playoffs. The Rams had limited salary cap space, and Snead stuck to the original game plan of building the roster through the

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Earl Austin Jr.

(Ill) Stevenson 88-81 in the Cancer Research Classic in Wheeling, WV on Jan. 2. Stevenson

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

By Earl Austin Jr.

Sweet performance for Burroughs grad

Ezekiel Elliott breaks Sugar Bowl rushing record

Of The St. Louis American

If it seems like Ezekiel Elliott is breaking records every time he steps on the football field, he does.

In his last two starts for The Ohio State University, the former John Burroughs star has had enjoyed record-breaking performances to have the Buckeyes in contention for the national championship.

n For his efforts, Elliott was voted the Offensive Player of the Game.

Elliott rushed for 230 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead Ohio State past No. 1 Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. On the biggest stage of college football to date, Elliott broke the Sugar Bowl rushing record on an 85-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to seal the Buckeyes victory in the national playoff semifinals and put them in next Monday’s national championship game against Oregon in Dallas, TX. For his efforts, Elliott was voted the Offensive Player of the Game.

It was Elliott’s second consecutive record-breaking performance. He rushed for 220 yards and scored three touchdowns in Ohio State’s 59-0 destruction of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 6.

For the season, Elliott has rushed for 1,632 yards on 237 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also has 27 receptions for 221 yards.

As a senior at John Burroughs, Elliott was the St. Louis American Player of the Year after amassing more than 3,000 yards of all-purpose yardage and scoring 50 touchdowns to lead the Bombers to a runner up finish in the Class 3 state playoffs. He also won several individual state championships as a hurdler and sprinter on the Bombers’ track and field team.

Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 230 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead Ohio State past No. 1 Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day – and breaking the Sugar Bowl rushing record.

Continued from B3

is a two-time Final Four participant in the Illinois Class 4A state tournament and the current No. 1 team in the state.

All-American Jayson Tatum led Chaminade with 39 points and 12 rebounds while 6’8” junior Tyler Cook added 22 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Mike Lewis scored 12 points, including three 3-pointers. Stevenson was led by Villanova-bound guard Jalen Brunson, who scored an event record 48 points. Brunson and Tatum shared Player of the Game honors.

Chaminade will take on another one of the Illinois’ best this weekend when they face Chicago St. Rita in the featured game of the Highland (Ill) Shootout, which will take place at Highland High. Tip-off is at 5:15 p.m. St. Rita is led by 6’6” senior AllAmerican Charles Matthews, who has signed with Kentucky. Also on the schedule at Highland are: Highland vs. Jerseyville (girls) at noon, East St. Louis vs. Normal Community (Ill), 1:45 p.m.; CBC vs. Breese Mater Dei, 3:30 p.m.; and Fort Zumwalt North vs. Highland, 7 p.m.

Cardinal Ritter Classic

Cardinal Ritter College Prep will be hosting its annual two-day Classic on Friday and Saturday. On Friday night, Jennings will take on Chicago Hales Franciscan at 6:15 p.m. That game will be preceded by a junior varsity game between Cardinal Ritter and St. Mary’s. There will be three games on Saturday. Lutheran North will face Normandy at noon, Hales Franciscan will face St. Francis Borgia at 1:30 p.m. In the finale, Cardinal Ritter will take on Hazelwood East at 3 p.m. Admission for the Cardinal Ritter Classic is $5 for adults and $3 for students on Friday and $8 for adults and $4 for students on Saturday.

RAMS

Continued from B3 draft, refusing to give in to the temptation of spending frivolously during free agency. Snead’s gamble in that sense has paid off. Just look at defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who is going to the Pro Bowl as a rookie. He was the second first-round pick for the Rams in last year’s draft. Donald was so dominating that he ended taking Kendall Langford’s spot on the line, and Langford is a veteran entering the final year of a $24 million contract. It’s not just Donald, either – Alec Ogletree, EJ Gaines, Tim McDonald, and undrafted Rodney McLeod have played better than advertised. Now, the danger of gambling is always losing. And if you lose and lose badly, the trickle-down effect will continue to retard the growth of this franchise. The signings of Jake Long, Courtland

CLUTCH

Continued from B3 broadcasting today. No, he wasn’t the first black sportscaster. He was, however, the first African American on the national sports scene to embrace our culture. There would be no Steven A. Smith Charles Barkley, Jason Whitlock Shaquille O’Neal or Kenny Smith without Scott. They would still exist, but undoubtedly as much more homogenized versions of themselves.

My favorite quotables from Scott include: “You ain’t gotta to go home, but you gotta get the heck up outta here,” “Vlade Dodi, he like to party,” and “as cool as the other side of the pillow” (which describes Scott down to a tee). According to Olbermann, Scott’s flair was not always embraced by ESPN executives. When certain viewers called or wrote to complain about his non-traditional style, executives pulled him aside and told him to tone it down. They wanted him to be less black. He refused. Today, we see black faces, hear ‘black vernacular’ and see a marriage between sports and hip-hop culture that would’ve been unfathomable 25 years ago. Scott is like the godfather who ushered it all in. Even more impressive is the fact that blackness in sports

Finnegan, Scott Wells, and Jared Cook have not paid dividends.

Then there’s the bromance with oft-injured Sam Bradford, which is a true mystery of the universe. The Rams want him back, and he wants to come back. But, not at the $16 million price tag (according to

media is now so prevalent and ever-present that it is no longer even thought of as ‘black vernacular.’ It’s just sports talk. How else can you explain Olbermann’s constant (and hilarious) use of “Bye Felicia” in broadcasts?

It’s been a tough few months in sports. First we lost Bryan Burwell, whose skillfully crafted prose painted pristine pictures on sports pages for years. Now Scott has joined Burwell inside the big flatscreen in the sky. They

SPORTSTRAC). If both sides can work out a deal, then fine, but they better put a fortress, a stone castle, two fire-breathing dragons and a moat filled with piranha around Sam Bradford to protect him.

This off-season may be the one that determines whether or not the gamble was worth it. A

both stayed true to their roots and refused to cave to the pressures to change. They did not conform their personalities for stuffy executives who didn’t understand the conversations they had with fans through their work. Even today, as I host sports Hangouts or conduct video interviews of athletes, I can honestly say I feel comfortable being myself on camera thanks to Scott holding it down on the ESPN airwaves for so many years. Though I’ll probably never been as cool

lot of GMs and head coaches don’t get this long to turn a team around. By this time next year, we’ll see if the gamble paid off.

For more Rams Roundup, please subscribe to youtube. com/stlamericanvideo.

or as smooth as Stu, I won’t forget the way he made me feel about sports. I’ll never stop

Renetha Dickson

Lutheran North – Girls Basketball The 5’9” junior guard was one of the individual standouts at last week’s St. Dominic Christmas Tournament in O’Fallon, Mo. Dickson averaged 22 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists in the Crusaders’ three games. She had 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and seven steals in North’s 47-26 victory over Timberland in the first round. Dickson had 28 points, four rebounds, six steals and hit six 3-pointers in the Crusaders’ loss to host St. Dominic in the semifinals. She followed up with 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two

trying to emulate that feeling in my own work. Rest in peace Stuart Scott.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Follow Ishmael and In the Clench on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk

Hazelwood Central’s Steve Holloway attempts to get a shot off through Webster Groves defenders last Wednesday. Webster Groves defeated Hazelwood Central 41-39 to win the Coaches vs. Cancer Holiday Tournament at Meramec.

Rams General Manager Les Snead chatted with John Schneider, general manager of the Seattle Seahawks, during the Rams’ 20-6 seasonclosing loss to the Seahawks in Seattle.

Photo courtesy of St. Louis Rams

HOT SPOTS

Continued from B1

have to wait or compete with anyone else. They have my full attention. I also expose them to more than just one brand, from drugstore brands to high-end.”

The Beauty Lounge is hosting a hands-on, makeup class January 24. For more information, go to https:// byobmakeupclass1.eventbrite. com/ or taralowerymakeup.

com. The Beauty Lounge, 1430 Washington Ave, Ste. 105 (enter on 15th St.), 314-4008272, www.taralowerymakeup.

com. By appointment only.

The African Hut

“This mission of The African Hut is to promote fair trade goods to empower African artists,” said owner Roosevelt Pratt. To bring awareness to the diversity of the African diaspora, The African Hut offers apparel and goods,

BUILDING

Continued from B1 by instructors from seven St. Louis unions. The inaugural class is currently underway.

Pre-apprenticeship programs have been in St. Louis for years, but participants have struggled to get accepted into the union’s apprenticeship programs.

But BUD will be different, said Jeff Aboussie of the Building and Construction Trades Council of St. Louis.

“Not to downplay any of the past pre-apprentice programs, but they’re not people from our industry, and they’re going to have to come to us eventually anyway if they’re going to get indentured into any of our apprenticeship programs,” Aboussie said. He added that because the union instructors are part of the industry, they know what skills and knowledge pre-apprentices need to be accepted by the unions.

To help match participants with the construction trade they are best suited for, the unions are each taking one week to introduce pre-apprentices to their trade. By the time BUD is over, they will have a basic understanding of what it takes to be a brick layer, a carpenter, an electrical worker, an iron worker, a laborer, an operating engineer and a plumber.

Aboussie admitted that unions have done a poor job recruiting minorities in the past, but said they have committed to improving their outreach.

“We know we have to do better,” Aboussie said. “And we need to make these jobs that are going on in these neighborhoods look like the people who live in these neighborhoods.”

If they make it through the program, BUD participants will be invited to interview for acceptance into one of the union’s apprenticeship programs. The unions plan

alongside African-based culture programs, classes and events, including classes in African

to hold four sessions of BUD within the next year, for a total of 60 participants.

But with the small participant size and no guarantee of employment, MOKAN Executive Director Yaphett El-Amin is skeptical of the ability of BUD to truly diversify the unions.

“If the BUD program is structured … to be a pipeline to employment, then kudos to the BUD program,” El-Amin said. “But we are not going to wait and sit idly by hoping that it works – and hoping that people who have traditionally not done the best job of being inclusive are being inclusive.”

cooking, language, drumming and dance.

The African Hut started in

minority and women-owned contractors, MOKAN has a pool of potential employers for their future apprentices. But MOKAN apprentices may not be able to find employment with the two biggest construction projects of the decade.

n “We are not going to wait and sit idly by hoping that it works.”

– MOKAN Executive Director Yaphett El-Amin

Plans are in the works for MOKAN to open its own, non-union, apprenticeship program in January. As an organization that supports

Springfield, Illinois. It has been at its new location on Delmar since October 2014. The “Organic Shea Butter” is The African Hut’s claim to fame along with other handmade, tailored apparel and other artisan goods. The African Hut, 5860 Delmar Blvd, 314-556-8653, www.fashionfrique.net.

Hours of operation: Monday –

Major projects underway for the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District and BJC HealthCare have helped drive the creation of the MOKAN and BUD programs because they are increasing the number of construction jobs available. But executives with BJC and MSD say their companies usually hire union contractors.

“Health care work is a highly specialized type of construction,” explained BJC HealthCare Group President Bob Cannon. “And so what

we’ve learned is that the unions have done a very good job over time preparing their workforce.”

MSD Executive Director Brian Hoelscher echoed Cannon, saying that MSD trusts union training and that “well over 99 percent” of their work gets done by union contractors, “although on occasion we do have nonunion workers,” Hoelscher said.

But despite that potential setback for MOKAN, there are some positive signs that African Americans and women may soon begin to make greater inroads into the St. Louis construction industry.

Both BJC and MSD have committed to diversifying their construction workforce –BJC by appointing a diversity consultant and posting a dashboard of their minority work hours, and MSD by signing a Community Benefit Agreement to make 30 percent of their construction

workforce minorities. MOKAN and CBTU are both signatories on the agreement. The City of St. Louis and St. Louis County also have minority hiring requirements for public projects now. St. Louis has had requirements in place since 2009, but the effects weren’t fully felt right away due to a recession-related construction slowdown. In 2012, the city’s requirements expanded to include projects funded with TIF (Tax Increment Financing). This past June, County Executive Charlie Dooley signed an executive order establishing diversity goals for St. Louis County. However, methods of enforcing the order are unclear. For more information, visit www. stlouisbuildingconstruction trades.org or call 314-6470628.

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org. Follow Camille Phillips on Twitter: @cmpcamille.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Lunch with Lyah in L.A.

New Year Brunch with plenty of vision

By Jami Ballentine Dolby

For The St. Louis American

Best-selling and award-winning author Lyah

Beth Leflore recently celebrated her birthday with friends in Los Angeles at the home of Ira Dewitt, who hosted the most fabulous luncheon for her and over 20 of LeFlore’s closest friends.

Jami Ballentine Dolby

Ira Dewitt of Notifi Records may be known by many as the wife of Cardinals President Bill Dewitt, but the PhD recipient is one of the best party-planning chefs I know. With Chef Ira in the kitchen alongside Chef Tony, the guests included Grammy Award-winning singer Brandy Norwood and it was an event for the books. Lyah – who penned “Wildflowers: A Novel” and co-authored books with Shirley Strawberry and Eddie and Gerald Levert – is busy working on some upcoming biographies with some well-known names. Looking forward to see what the St. Louis native brings us next.

Brunch with a Vision. Brandy Butler served up visions and a new way to network with her Vision Board Brunch at Soho. The event was the perfect way to bring in the New Year and get focused. Anytime your first time event sells out before doors are open, I call that a success. Sinita Wells, who I just met a few months ago and is one to watch, was one of the guest speakers, along with Naretha Hopson, Lakesha Brown and Angela Lewis. I don’t think one can have a complaint about a Vision Board party, but next year she just may have to go to a larger space with more room for the ladies. When you do great things, people recognize and more want to take part. Congratulations to Brandy for setting the bar for 2015.

Going Red. Tracie Berry-McGhee is one of the most humble ladies in the Lou. But, she has every right to go stand on the table and scream, “I am great” because this woman keeps me amazed.

Online • ‘Selma’ star David Oyelowo on his incredible transformation

“I know I gave it everything I possibly could,” Oyelowo said. “I am my own worst critic and the point beyond which I am happy to leave it alone is knowing there wasn’t one single thing I could do differently.”

Praise due for adaptation of Civil Rights Movement’s defining moment

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Seven years, three directors and a rewrite would take place before “Selma” saw the light of day on the big screen. Lee Daniels and Oliver Stone would come and go as directors before Ava DuVernay –and her overhaul of Paul Webb’s original script – finally gave audiences a cinematic glimpse into the climactic moment of the movement that led to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

From “Bloody Sunday” to the successful march to Alabama’s capitol – along with tragedies and victories in between – the film highlights the tumult of the Civil Rights Movement.

Already nominated for a Golden Globe, DuVernay is primed to be the first African-American female to be nominated for a “Best Director” Academy Award.

While especially insightful and timely with the Ferguson unrest still prominently on America’s radar, the biggest draw for many is the cinematic interpretation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

David Oyelowo is charged with the task of filling the shoes of the most iconic figure in African-American history.

By the end of the opening scene

– which has King preparing to receive The Nobel Peace Prize in 1964– Oyelowo proves equal to the challenge.

Audiences will instantly connect with Oyelowo’s King and easily settle into the film’s intention of providing a behind-the-scenes

element for the turn of events that led to one of the Civil Rights Movement’s biggest legislative victories.

Ironically, a core group of British actors bring the experience of Selma to the screen. Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King, Tom Wilkinson as President Lyndon B. Johnson and Tim Roth as Alabama Governor George Wallace provide depth, richness and authenticity to their roles.

Ejogo’s uncanny transformation is especially striking – as well as her genuine chemistry with Oyelowo – but audiences will be in absolute awe of Oyelowo’s King. Aside from cadence missteps during speech deliveries, he is absolutely flawless. He captures the nuances without stumbling

into mimicry and provides new facets to the iconic figure.

Perhaps his English upbringing gave him the freedom to do so, but he manages to humanize King. And Oyelowo never appears overwhelmed with the burden of assuming the role of a man that has been deified by black America in the 45 years since his assassination.

The King seen in “Selma” is a man willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of civil rights – but a man nonetheless.

Doubts, fears and even guilt and flaws are expressed as King attempts to work for equal rights on behalf of an entire race of people in a segregated nation.

A strong supporting cast that includes Wendell Pierce as Reverend Hosea Williams, Lorraine Toussaint as Amelia Boynton and Andre Holland as Andrew Young and Corey Reynolds as CT Vivian aids him in the process.

Producer Oprah Winfrey also appears in the film as activist Annie Cooper. And DuVernay is to “Selma” as Oyelowo is to King with respect to presenting the full picture. Complications, complexities, conflict and setbacks that are often unspoken in the glorification of history are presented with tact and grace.

The truth – good, bad and ugly, as it can sometimes be – appears to be

Telling Ferguson in the moment

History Museum collecting artifacts for future research and display

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“What we are hoping to capture at this point is to understand on all levels what people were really feeling – the real tension and the sense of anger,” said Christopher Gordon, director of library and collections for the Missouri History Museum. 2014 is a year that won’t soon be forgotten in the St. Louis area. The tragic death of unarmed teen Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson on August 9 engaged an international audience and sparked a movement that continues to this day. Outrage ignited demonstrations and protests, which led to dialogue regarding the sensitive topics of race, police brutality, excessive force and the relationship between law enforcement and the African-American community.

The Missouri History Museum is taking an active role in cataloguing Ferguson’s legacy by calling on the community to submit items

By

and artifacts related to the unrest.

“That’s a rare occurrence in the history field – to be that close to the groundwork and that close to the incident,” Gordon said. “We are reaching out to the community to gather everything really that we can reasonably accept having to do with Ferguson.” Protest posters, event flyers, t-shirts are a few of the items that have trickled in during the few days since the initiative was announced.

“The real purpose is to try to build a research collection that will allow

See SELMA, C4

Lyah Beth LeFlore celebrating her birthday with singer Brandy and Ira DeWitt in Los Angeles.

Photo

Lawrence Bryant

1. Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican. com

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

mlk day

Jan. 9, 6 p.m., The Griot Museum of Black History presents the opening reception for EMANCIPATION AND ITS LEGACIES,

This timely touring exhibit, tracing the progression of emancipation from the Civil War of 1850 to the Civil Rights Movement of 1964. Michael McMillan, President & CEO, The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis will serve as guest speaker. The exhibit will run through February 7. WednesdaySaturday, 10:30a.m. -5:00p.m.

Additional hours available for prepaid group reservations. Make reservations and payment @thegriotmuseum. com, fax or mail.

Sat., Jan. 10, 6:30 p.m., 29th

Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. State Celebration Commission Kick-off Program for Missouri. 2015 Theme: Emerging Leaders Called to Action: A Time for Healing. The Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Special performances by Ronni Gee, Excel Performing Arts, Point of View Jazz Ensemble, Harris-Stowe State University Concert Chorale. A reception featuring Danita Mumphard will follow the program. Harris-Stowe State University Main Auditorium, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 3403390.

Wed., Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m., The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival presents A Community MLK Event with Lisa Bloom Ms. Bloom is the author of Suspicion Nation: The Inside Story of the Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We Continue to Repeat It. Jewish Community Center, Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Dr., 63146. For more information, call

(314) 442-3299 or visit www. stljewishbookfestival.org.

Sat., Jan. 17, 8 a.m., American Heart Association and American Stroke Association present Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Health Fair and Luncheon with special guest Karen Clark Sheard. The goal of the event is to increase awareness of risk factors and warning signs in the African American community. Prior to the luncheon attendees are encouraged to attend the health fair with highlights including: free health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, and Body Mass Index; CPR Anytime demonstrations; and Ask the Doctor, where local physicians will be available to answer questions. St. Louis Union Station Doubletree,1820 Market St., 63103. For more information or to reserve a table, call (314) 692-5642.

Sat., Jan. 17, 2 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents Dr. King, Michael Brown, #Ferguson, and the Future of America. Months after holding a town hall on the recent unrest that plagued Ferguson, Missouri, activist, journalist, and author Kevin Powell returns to relect on Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and the protests that Michael Brown’s death prompted. A community conversation follows. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.mohistory.org.

Sun., Jan. 19, 10 a.m., Southern Mission Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King March & Celebration, Pastor Alfred Washington of Second MB Church of Kinloch, (SMBC), 8171 Wesley Ave., Kinloch, MO. For more information, call 314-521-3951.

Mon., Jan. 20, 9 a.m., Christ Church Cathedral presents the 6th Annual “Let Freedom Ring” daylong community reading of King’s

writings, speeches & sermons at Christ Church Cathedral, from the very pulpit where Dr. King preached in 1964. Christ Church Cathedral, (13th street between Olive and Locust.

concerts

Sat., Jan. 10, 7 p.m., Javotti

Media & Mike Judy present Beneit for Prison Performing Arts of St. Louis feat. Talib Kweli and Jessica Care Moore. 3108 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www.fubarstl.com.

Sat., Jan. 17, 7 p.m., Loose Cannon Entertainment and Headliner Market Group present State of Emergency 2 Concert feat. Yo Gotti, 2 Chainz, Fabolous, August Alsina, The Migos, Lil’ St. Louis, and Vega Sills. Chaifetz Arena, 1 Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.thechaifetzarena. com.

Sat., Jan. 17, 8 p.m., Powel Symphony Hall presents Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. Exuberant and introspective, charming and complicated, Mozart’s final symphony, “Jupiter,” foreshadows the work of Beethoven and sums up what had happened in symphonic music up to that point. Hailed for music making of tremendous power, Richard Goode joins the orchestra for Mozart’s sublime Piano Concerto No. 17. 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. stlsymphony.org.

Jan. 16 – 17, Jazz at the Bistro presents Jazz at Lincoln Center Group

feat. Terell Stafford, Victor Goines, Chris Crenshaw & Alvin Atkinson. 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. jazzstl.org.

Jan. 21 – 24, Jazz at the Bistro presents Arturo O’Farrill. O’Farrill is a worldrenowned, Grammy Awardwinning pianist, composer, and educator. In 2002, he created the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to bring the vital musical traditions of Afro Latin jazz to a wider audience. 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. jazzstl.org.

local gigs

Sun., Jan. 11, 5 p.m., Lilly Mac Production And Management presents And Our Feelings – ATribute to Babyface Concert. Vinnis Bryant will be performing a jazz tribute to Babyface and most of his written and performed classics. The night will be full of musical numbers as well as a charity rafle and a few moments of spoken word. 212 S. Tucker Blvd., 63102. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Wednesdays, 6-10 p.m., Lexus Len’s “Winedown Wednesdays,” Live Band featuring: Cheryl Brown, Jeremiah Allen, Jeff Taylor, Gerald Warren & Amos Brewer, The Loft, 3112 Olive.

comedy

Sat., Jan. 17, 8:30 p.m., The Firebird presents Nikki Glaser. Nikki Glaser is a

mix of cutting-edge hip-hop and contemporary dance in a wide range of styles. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 7256555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

Thur., Jan. 15, 6:05 p.m., St Lou Fringe hosts Submit to Fringe Party. Whether you’re a brave artist submitting to the festival or you’re part of the bold audience who loves the art come to the annual kickoff party and enjoy delightful culturally curious companionship and hopefully witness some cosmic creative collisions in the heart of winter. The Stage at KDHX, 3524 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 664-3955 or visit www. stlfringe.com.

comedian, writer, and host whose television appearances have included The Tonight Show, CONAN, and Last Comic Standing. She was the co-host of the MTV late night talk show Nikki & Sara LIVE, as well as the popular podcast, You Had To Be There. Nikki can currently be seen as a regular contestant on Comedy Central’s @Midnight and will guest star on the upcoming season of Inside Amy Schumer. 2706 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

special events

Jan. 10 – 11, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. St. Louis Metropolitan Chapters present Founders’ Day Celebration Weekend: Celebrating New Dimensions of a Committed Sisterhood. Jan. 10 at 11 a.m.: Rededication and Luncheon with keynote speaker; Kathy Walker-Steele, Central Regional Director of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Regency Conference Center, 400 Regency Park Dr., O’Fallon, IL., 62269. Saturday’s activities are open only to members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Jan. 11 at 11 a.m.: Morning Worship at Union Memorial United Methodist Church. 1141 Belt Ave., 63112. For more information, email basileus@akaddo.com.

Sat., Jan. 10, 2 & 5 p.m., COCA presents 20142015: Perpetual Motion –COCAdance and the COCA Hip-Hop Crew. The New Year kicks off with this highenergy dance concert that follows in the popular tradition of In the Loop. Enjoy a

Fri., Jan 16, 7:30 p.m., The Scottrade Center presents WWE: Live. WWE returns to St. Louis for the irst time in 2015 with a special Friday Night Live event. The event will feature John Cena vs. Seth Rollins in a Steel Cage match. 1401 Clark Ave., 63103. For more information visit www. scottradecenter.com.

Sat., Jan. 17, 7 p.m., Sumner Class of ’59 Alumni presents 37th Annual Oldie But Goodie Dance. There will be music provided by Baby O & Master Blaster. Machinists Hall, 12365 St. Charles Rock Rd., 63044. For more information, call (314) 6808324 or (314) 791-5504.

information, call (314) 3676731 or visit www.left-bank. com.

Tues., Jan. 13, 6:30 p.m., Maplewood Public Library presents An evening with Julius Hunter. Mr. Hunter, St. Louis native, journalist, and writer, will be discussing his new book “Priscilla and Babe.” It is the story of two former slaves who made St. Louis their home and became wealthy brothel owners during the Victorian era. You will experience drama, heartbreak, scandal, mystery, political maneuvering, and even humor. Mr. Hunter will be signing the book and answering questions. 7550 Lohmeyer Ave., 63143. For more information, visit www. maplewood.lib.mo.us.

Thurs., Jan. 15, 7 p.m. The St. Louis County Library Foundation presents local historian Carol Ferring Shepley to discuss her book discuss her book “St. Louis— An Illustrated Timeline: Blues, Baseball, Books, Crooks, Civil Rights and the River.” Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd. Contact St. Louis County Library by phone 314-9943300 or visit www.slcl.org.

Thur., Jan. 15, 7 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Authors at Your Library: William L. Clay, Sr. Congressman Clay will discuss and sign his book, Clarence Thomas: A Knight in Tainted Armor. Clay traces how U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas joined other conservatives in a shameful effort to reverse historic advancement of Civil Rights for minorities, women, and the poor. Books available for purchase courtesy of Congressman Clay. All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the William L. Clay Scholarship Fund. Central Library Branch, 815 Olive Blvd., 63118. For more information, call (314) 206-6755 or visit www.stlouispubliclibrary.net.

Featured Event

Thur., Jan. 15, 7 p.m., St. Louis Public Library presents Authors at Your Library: William L. Clay, Sr. Congressman Clay will discuss and sign his book, Clarence Thomas: A Knight in Tainted Armor Clay traces how U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas joined other conservatives in a shameful effort to reverse historic advancement of Civil Rights for minorities, women, and the poor. Books available for purchase courtesy of Congressman Clay. All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the William L. Clay Scholarship Fund. Central Library Branch, 815 Olive Blvd., 63118. For more information, call (314) 206-6755 or visit www. stlouispubliclibrary.net. (found in LITERARY)

theatre

Jan. 7 – Feb. 1, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, 130 Edgar Rd,, 63119. For more information, call (314) 9684925 or visit www.repstl.org.

Jan. 13 – 18, Peabody Opera House presents The Book of Mormon. The story of two young Mormon missionaries sent to a remote village in northern Uganda, where a brutal warlord is threatening the local population. Naïve and optimistic, the two missionaries try to share the Book of Mormon, one of their scriptures—which only one of them has read—but have trouble connecting with the

locals, who are more worried about war, famine, poverty, and AIDS than about religion. 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, call (800) 745-3000 or visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Fri., Jan. 16, 8 p.m., Edison Theatre’s Ovations Series presents The Clothesline Muse. This show explores the clothesline as a metaphor of the African-American community lifeline. The clothesline was a place to meet, to work, to socialize, and to share traditions and common struggles. Edison Theatre, Washington University, 6445 Forsyth Blvd., 63130. For more information, call (314) 935-6543 or visit www.edison. wustl.edu.

Jan. 20 – Feb. 1, The Fox Theatre presents Cinderella. This lush production features an incredible orchestra, jawdropping transformations and all the moments you love—the pumpkin, the glass slipper, the masked ball and more—plus some surprising new twists. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.fabulousfox.com.

Javotti Media & Mike Judy present Benefit for Prison Performing Arts of St. Louis feat. Talib Kweli and Jessica Care Moore. For more information, see CONCERTS.

arts

Jan. 9, 6 p.m., opening reception for “THIS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE,” a provocative installation by Jessee Rose Crane and Philip Jerome Lesicko. 501 N. Grand. For more information, call 314.533.0367 or visit www. kranzbergartscenter.org

Thur., Jan. 15, 6 p.m., St Lou Fringe 2015 Fringe Festival Submissions Go Live. At 6 p.m. sharp (CST) you can submit your online application to secure one of our 20 (10 local and 10 national) firstcome first-served spots at St. Louis Fringe Festival. In 2014, these spots filled up in a matter of seconds! So be prepared. Producers of all genres of performing arts are invited to submit. Details, including submission guidelines, are available at www.stlfringe. com.

Jan. 21 – Feb. 8, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Safe House. In 1843 Kentucky, the Pedigrews hold a unique place in their community as free people of color. While one brother has dreams of opening his own business as a cobbler and creating a life for his family, the other risks everything in an effort to help slaves escape. Inspired by the lives of his ancestors, playwright Keith Josef Adkins tells a gripping and heart-wrenching story of love, freedom and survival. Recommended for Adult Audiences Only (ages 18 and up). 130 Edgar Rd., 63119. For more information, call (314) 968-4925 or visit www.repstl. org.

Jan. 22 – 25, Peabody Opera House presents Sesame Street Live: Let’s Dance. Elmo uses his imagination to ‘Do the Robot,’ Cookie teaches all ‘feets’ to dance, and Ernie shares the fun of dance with the Sesame Street favorite “Shake Your Head One Time.” 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, call (800) 745-3000 or visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Jan. 17 – Feb. 22, COCA Gallery Exhibition: Ten Years Telling Their Stories: A Community Photography Project. From 2004 through 2013, artist Mel Watkin put cameras into the hands of children and adults throughout St. Louis in an effort to draw attention to the diverse work and impact of community organizations and social service agencies. Artists worked with individuals teaching them photographic techniques, about the history of the medium as a social document, and the inherent power of photographs to connect people. There will be an opening reception on Friday, Jan. 16, from 6 – 8 pm at COCA. 524 Trinity Avenue, 63130. For more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl.org.

lectures

Sat., Jan. 10, 10 a.m., St. Charles Outreach Coalition Against Human Traficking. Slavery still exists in our world and in our own county.

You can help to break the chains of modern day slavery. Spencer Road Library, 427 Spencer Rd., 63376. For more information, call (636) 2481117.

Thurs., Jan. 15, 9 a.m.

HireLive Career Fair, Inside Sales Reps, Outside Sales Reps, Account Executives, Retail Managers, Account Managers, Insurance Sales, Customer Service, Technical Sales, Sales Managers, Pharmaceutical Sales, Telesales, Sales Trainer, Merchandiser, Mortgage Brokers, Financial Planner, Route Sales, Retail Sales, Retail Management, Human Resources and much more! Doubletree Westport Hotel, 1973 Craigshire Road, St. Louis, MO 63146.

Thur., Jan. 15, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library hosts Carol Shepley. Ever wonder about the essential history of St. Louis? Local historian Carol Shepley moves beyond the founding of a city on the banks of the Mississippi to tell the lesser-known stories of St. Louis from its early development to today—stories of racial struggle, political corruption and progress, art and music, sports victories and defeats, and ordinary people living extraordinary lives in our endlessly fascinating city. Library headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh, 63131. For more information, call (314) 9943300 or visit www.slcl.org/ authors.

spiritual

Sun., Jan. 25, 3 p.m., 4TH ANNUAL MALE CHORUS ROUND-UP, Your Male Chorus is invited to come and sing! Special Guests: Cool Valley Singers, MC’s: “Radio Angel” Evangelist Mary Tillman of 95.5 and Min. Darryl Lee of 920-WGNU, Jerusalem MB Church, 5596 Ridge Ave 63112, Bring 2 Canned Goods to support Food Pantry.

the museum’s Ferguson collection, he’s noticed a stark contrast from the typical ebb and flow of historical movements.

experienced Ferguson on the frontlines – oral narratives from protesters, residents and police, cell phone images and videos – will also be included.

“This is probably the first time that there has been something this significant that we’ve had the chance to start collecting from the ground up,” Gordon said.

“I think it feels like we’re really doing something important for the community because of the emotional component and because of the importance this fight has in the long run. We will do our best to try to bring these items in so that future generations can get a real sense of the seriousness of this event and the emotions of these events.”

The Ferguson factor As Gordon gathers for

“In history you tend to get the perspective and the opinions of those who are in leadership positions – and the voices of the average citizens are lost,” Gordon said. “But this is a situation where the members of the Ferguson community and the members of the St. Louis community were raising their voices.”

Those outraged individuals who wandered through Canfield Green Apartments as Michael Brown Jr.’s body lie on the ground set the tone –and the items he’s seen so far already reflect the tenor of a grassroots movement.

“It really gives you an idea of what the average citizen was feeling,” Gordon said. As the unrest and demonstrations were underway, the History Museum also housed related programming to spark dialogue and connection with

n “That’s a rare occurrence in the history field – to be that close to the groundwork and that close to the incident.”

– Christopher Gordon

the Ferguson movement.

“Over the past 15 to 20 years, we’ve developed a good relationship with the community already and that’s why we felt like it was important to build these opportunities as things occurred in Ferguson,” Gordon said.

The collection is primarily for research purposes, but the museum will likely exhibit the materials at some point.

“It’s part of our mission, really, because this is history. These people in the community are building their history,” Gordon said. “We want to capture that, and we certainly want to encourage people to express their opinions and let their voices be heard. This is something that would be expected of any history museum in any community where an event like this occurred.”

For more information on submitting artifacts from Ferguson, visit www. mohistory.org or call 314746-4599.

SELMA

Continued from C1

DuVernay’s mission with the film, aside from what some might consider an augmented element of antagonism from President Johnson during the process.

Audiences will be exposed to a commitment to civil rights that ultimately puts a strain on the King marriage. They will grasp the true pain and grief

of the lives lost within the movement.

As heavy and sobering as it is inspiring, “Selma” provides an objectivity and realism to the monumental task that the brave individuals – led by King – undertook while putting their lives on the line as they fought for the liberties of future generations.

Selma opens in theatres nationwide on Friday, January 9. The film is rated PG-13 with a running time of 127 minutes.

On Sunday, Jan. 11, Christ

Church Cathedral, Christ the King UCC and First Congregational UCC are inviting guests to attend the 1:30 pm showing of “Selma” at the Moolah Theater (3821 Lindell Blvd.) followed by conversation led by Pastor Traci Blackmon(Christ the King) and Pastor Heather Arcovitch (First Congregational), and Dean Mike Kinman (Christ Church Cathedral).

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Continued from C1

If raising three children with two in college wasn’t enough, Berry-McGhee opened up her second office for Imani Therapy, all while writing and publishing her newest book, “The RED BOOK: Reaching the Essence of Development Teen Girls.” It’s the go-to guide for young girls who enter that next stage of their lives. Alex Stallings is a guest contributor in the book, which can be purchased from Barnes & Noble online.

Berry-McGhee also was recently announced as the keynote speaker

for the Nationals Stop the Girl Bullying and Girl Empowerment Conference in Las Vegas this summer.

Tea & Crumpets. Oprah had the protestors feeling some sort of way by saying she was looking for leaders to rise out of Ferguson. I’m going to let your auntie have that moment to herself, but I am looking forward to seeing who will take the lead in their field for 2015.

Personally I’m keeping my eye on three St. Louisans who are doing something new, creative and taking their brand to another level. Barber Rance John is becoming a name I can’t go a week without hearing. Ellicia Qualls, director of Urban Sprouts Child Development Center (which already has two locations), just secured a new contract that is expected to silence the competition. And B. Marcell Williams has to be one of the busiest women I know! Wife to former NFL player Brandon Williams and mother to four children, she is taking her organization Jewel to another to diamond status. Now for a little tea: the year was rounded-off with more engagements around St. Louis. I will sit back and watch to see who actually makes it to the altar. My plan is to sip while they dress shop. If you have some tea for me, be sure to connect on Instagram @theSTLsuite.

Naretha Hopson, Sinita Wells, Angela Lewis, Brandy Butler, Lakesha Brown and Sunshine Crain at Butler’s Vision Board Brunch at Soho on Sunday

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Reunions

Beaumont High Class of 1965 is planning a 50th reunion. Searching for classmates who are interesting in celebrating. Please email your contact information to bluejackets65@ gmail.com.

Beaumont High Class of 1970 is looking for team members to plan its’ 45th year reunion.

Interested? Please email Beatrice Palmer (Vanzant-Smith) at bvanzantsmith@yahoo.com or bsmithrealtor@att.net.

Beaumont High Class of 1984 can stay updated via our Facebook page “Beaumont Class of 1984”. We meet the last Friday of every month. Contact Rochelle Williams at rochellewilliams001@yahoo. com.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri District 3 would like to invite you to an Alumni Event. We are looking for anyone who worked in or was a member of Girl Scouts in St. Louis City. If you would like to participate, please contact Essie Harrison at essie.harrison@att.net or call (314) 400-4602 with your

Celebrations

Birthdays

Happy 60th Birthday to my wonderful husband and best friend Melvin Askew, as he celebrates a new season of his life January 8.

Happy Birthday to our “Beauty Queen” Dionda Gatling on January 9! May God grant you many more. Love, your family

Jaylor Dixon turned nine on December 29. She is a third grader at Barrington Elementary in Florissant, Mo. Hope your birthday is filled with wonderful gifts and joyful moments! Love, The Dixon and Stafford Families

name, address, phone number, and email address.

Sumner High School Class of 1965 is planning a 50th year reunion for June 12-14. 2015. Please join us via Facebook: Class of ‘65 Sumner High School St. Louis, MO.

St. Louis Community College needs your help identifying STLCC alumni. Alumni are encouraged to visit the website: www.stlcc.edu/foundation/, to become members or update information. For more information, contact Ashley Budde, coordinator of alumni relations, at abudde6@stlcc. edu, or 314-539-5145.

Sumner Class of ’59 Alumni presents 37th Annual Oldie

But Goodie Dance, Sat. Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.. There will be music provided by Baby O & Master Blaster. Machinists Hall, 12365 St. Charles Rock Rd., 63044. For more information, call (314) 6808324 or (314) 791-5504.

Sumner High Class of 1965 is planning its 50th Reunion on the second and fourth Mondays at 7 p.m. at the Lower Level of Ronald L. Jones Funeral Chapel. For updates and/or to leave your contact info--visit our Facebook group Sumner Class of ‘65.

Sumner High Class of 1970 is planning its 45th Reunion. Please provide contact information to: cshsco70@yahoo. com or J. Fox at 314-606-3506

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, graduation, 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 Pine St. St. Louis, MO 63103 FREE OF CHARGE

for more information.

Sumner High Class of 1975 has started planning its 40th reunion. Please provide contact information to sumnerclassof75@gmail.com or C. Jackson 314-477-6785 for more information.

Upward Bound (Webster University ) Class of ‘66 thru ‘70 of Kinloch, Beaumont, Vashon, Summer, Central, Soldan, Northwest, McKinney and Laboure, we are the process of planning a reunion around June/ July 2015. Please respond by contacting via email or Facebook Lawrence (Larry) Lewis: lewis3936@gm.com or Kenneth W. McClendon irisingridarlene@aol.com.

Reunion notices are free of charge and based on space availability. We prefer that notices be emailed to us!

However, notices may also be sent by mail to:

Kate Daniel, 2315 Pine St., St. Louis, 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

Happy 10th Birthday to Syrai Lovelace on January 7!

Obituaries

Edward Brooke

Edward Brooke -- the irst African American to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate -- passed away Saturday, according to family spokesman Ralph Neas and the Massachusetts Republican Party. Brooke was 95. Brooke served in the Senate from 1967-1979 and has often been heralded by both parties as a trailblazer. He is the only AfricanAmerican to be elected to a second term and was the irst black Republican elected to the Senate since Reconstruction.

President Barack Obama hailed Brooke as someone who led “an extraordinary life of public service.”



“As the irst AfricanAmerican elected as a state’s Attorney General and irst African-American U.S. Senator elected after reconstruction, Ed Brooke stood at the forefront of the battle for civil rights and economic fairness. During his time in elected ofice, he sought to build consensus and understanding across partisan lines, always working towards practical solutions to our nation’s challenges,” the President said in a statement Saturday night.

Brooke grew up in a racially divided Washington, D.C. and after graduating college he served in the Army during World War II later receiving a Bronze Star. After his military service, he moved to Massachusetts and attended law school. Later he would enter politics -- irst winning the position of Massachusetts attorney general in 1962. Four years later he ran for the Senate

and won.

“Massachusetts has a history of sending giants to the United States Senate, great statesmen like Quincy Adams, Webster, Cabot Lodge, and Kennedy. We count Ed Brooke among them. He carried the added honor and burden of being ‘the irst’ and did so with distinction and grace. I have lost a friend and mentor. America has lost a superb example of selless service. Diane and I extend our deepest condolences to the Brooke family,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, said in a statement Saturday.

Leaders of both parties Saturday honored Brooke honoring his career and praising his lasting legacy.

“He was never partisan or wedded to party interests,” civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) recounted. “He was a champion for whatever he believed was right. He was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and added an important open-housing requirement to the act. He also crafted the

Brooke Amendment a year later which capped the inancial responsibility of public housing applicants to no more than 25 percent of a poor person’s income.”

“America mourns the loss of a trailblazer who will always be remembered as a model of courage and honesty in ofice: Senator Edward W. Brooke.

Senator Brooke’s accomplishments remind us that anything is possible in our country. It’s a proud legacy that paved the way for others. And it’s a proud legacy that will live on into history,” incoming Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.

While in the Senate he played a key part in the passage of civil rights and low-income housing bills earning him the title “Mr. Housing.” He took some liberal positions while he served his two terms in the Senate and at times opposed three of President Richard Nixon’s Supreme Court nominees.

Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, the only black Republican serving in the Senate, said he was “deeply saddened” by the news Saturday, on his Twitter account.

Vertrilla T. Givens

Vertrilla T. Givens (nee Penny) 86, received her angel wings on the evening of Saturday, December 20, 2014. She was born April 15, 1928 in New Madrid, Missouri to Reverend Henry Penny Sr. and Nancy (Withers) Penny. She was the 21st of 24 children.

Vertrilla’s parents and her husband, Robert T. Givens Sr., preceded her in death.

Vertrilla accepted Christ as her Lord and Personal Savior at the age of 16 years old. As a child, she attended St. John Baptist Church in Pilot Knob, MO where her father was the pastor. She later became a member of Antioch Baptist Church and was a member for 60 plus years until her passing.

school sweetheart, Robert T. Givens Sr., “My Bob” in 1951. They were married 56 years until his passing in 2008. Their union was blessed with ive children, Robert Jr., Vertrilla “Penny”, Catherine, Renita and Lloyd.

After 25 years, Vertrilla retired from McDonnell Douglas in 1990 where she was a supervisor in housekeeping.

Vertrilla loved her family and enjoyed the many occasions they would gather together. Her motto was: “There’s always room for one more.” She instilled in her children and grandchildren the importance of accepting Christ as their Lord and Personal Savior.

Vertrilla’s ive children, Robert Givens Jr.,Vertrilla “Penny” Rooks, Catherine Givens, Renita (Byron Sr.) Lewis and Lloyd (Shelly) Givens; 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren will carry on her legacy. She is also survived by two sisters, Matilda Byrd and Mary Watkins; one brother, Henry Penny Sr.; 2 sisters-in-law, Belma Givens and Armetta Whitmore; one brother-in-law, Dr. Henry Givens Jr.; goddaughter, Samantha Harris and a host of family and friends.

Lester C. Knuckles

Vertrilla attended grade school in Pilot Knob, MO, graduated from Sumner High School in 1948 and attended Stowe Teacher’s College.

Vertrilla married her high

Lester Corey Knuckles Sr. was born January 13, 1946, in St. Louis, Missouri, to the union of Wavie and Dorothy Knuckles. Lester was educated in the St. Louis Public School System, graduating from Vashon High School in 1965. He then furthered his education at Forest Park Community College.

Lester’s irst marriage in 1969 to his former wife, Betty Knuckles, produced three children: Jennifer, Corey and Kimberly. He was then united

in holy matrimony to Lynda Lee Knuckles on July 21, 1984. They honored this union, also raising Lynda’s children: Annette, Lorna, Vernyll, Kelly and Karbin until July 3, 1999, when she was called to the Lord.

Lester confessed his faith in Christ as a young person and joined Progressive Baptist Church where his mother attended. Lester remained a member for over 50 years. In 1968, Lester worked for Electro Motive, becoming the irst black president of UAW Local 986. Lester served as mayor of Velda Village in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1976 to 1981. Lester transferred to General Motors in 1985. He was an organizer for International UAW Department Leaders, Alternate Committeeman and an Educational Chairman for UAW Local 2250. Lester received many awards and titles throughout his career, all to assist people’s rights in labor unions. He retired from General Motors on January 1, 2003, with over 34 years of service.

He leaves to cherish his memory, three children: Jennifer (Charles), Lester Corey Jr. and Kimberly (Matthew); ive step-children: Annette, Lorna, Vernyll, Kelly and Karbin; his signiicant other: Rose Rattler and her children: Ronald, Rookie, Ronzella and Roxanne; Four siblings: Brenda, Matthew, Rosalyn and Valerie; as well as a host of relatives and friends.

Donnetta Nunley

Edward Brooke

Lester C. Knuckles

Donnetta Nunley

Vertrilla T. Givens

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Celebration at the Art Museum

The Dream Marches On

Friday, January 16

Saint Louis Art Museum, The Farrell Auditorium

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm. Doors open at 6:30 pm Free same-day and advance tickets available

Keynote Address by Sam Walker, historian and founding member of the National Voting Rights Museum

Featuring: Voices of Praise Choir, Greater St. Mark Family Church Delta Vipepeo, Saint Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Civil Rights Photography by Moneta Sleet, Jr.

The Saint Louis Art Museum invites you to join us on Friday, January 16 at 7:00 pm in The Farrell Auditorium for our family-friendly annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Celebration. This year’s program commemorates the Selma to Montgomery marches that ultimately led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The keynote speaker for the evening program will be Sam Walker, historian and founding member of the Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama. He will share his personal memories of the civil rights movement and examine today’s issues in the context of Dr. King’s hopes and dreams for equality for all citizens. The program will also feature the Voices of Praise Choir of Greater St. Mark Family Church performing interfaith gospel and spiritual music. Greater St Mark Family Church, located in Ferguson, is led by Rev. Tommie L. Pierson, Sr., pastor. Looking to our future and calling for change, the audience will be delighted by a dance performance by youth in the Vipepeo Program (Swahili for butterlies), which looks to our future and calls for change. The Program is one of the Educational Development Programs of the Saint Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and is dedicated to African sisterhood, service and the history and culture of people of African

descent The Art Museum is pleased to offer this free public program, but seating is limited and tickets are required. Sameday and advance free tickets are available at the Museum Information Centers during regular Museum hours. Advance tickets also are available through Metrotix. The tickets are free, but tickets acquired through Metrotix will incur a Metrotix service fee. For additional information about tickets, please call 314-655-5444.

The long fought road to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act

The Emancipation Proclamation freeing enslaved Americans took effect on January 1, 1863. Seven years later on February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratiied. The amendment granted enslaved men the right to vote by declaring that the “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Justice continued to be delayed, however, as Southern legislatures quickly enacted “Jim Crow Laws” to prevent Black American citizens from voting by imposing literacy tests, poll taxes, property ownership requirements, moral character tests, document interpretation tests, and in some cases, the requirement that one’s grandfather had voted (an impossible task for most previously enslaved persons). In addition to these laws, there

were widespread intimidation campaigns led by racist groups like the KKK that threatened Black Americans who voted.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Dr. King and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement called for an end to widespread Jim Crow practices of segregation in public places and voting rights discrepancies. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which set up the Civil Rights Commission to investigate voter discrimination, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned the poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections. But both Acts fell short of their goals to guarantee the right to vote to all American citizens because Southern states continued discriminating against racial minorities by imposing literacy tests.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was written to further enforce the voting rights of all citizens by speciically stating, “No voting qualiication or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.”

The 1965 Voting Rights bill was passed in the U.S. Senate by a 77-19 vote on May 26, 1965. After debating the bill for more than a month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 333-85 on July 9. President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders present at the ceremony.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Is New Life a church or hotel?

Homeless advocates debate response to possible shelter closure

By Camille Phillips Of St. Louis Public Radio

A small group of people, many connected to New Life Evangelistic Center, gathered Saturday, December 27 for a meeting of the Metro St. Louis Coalition for the Homeless. The group’s main topic of discussion was what to do now that the city has declared New Life’s emergency shelter a nuisance and given the organization until May to reduce the number of people they serve or shut down.

Although only 11 people attended the meeting, each one had his or her own idea about how to best respond to the city’s decision to revoke New Life’s hotel license. But on one point they all agreed: the city shouldn’t close the emergency shelter or require New Life to reduce the number of beds it provides each night from 300 to 32. Anthony Knight, who is currently staying at New Life, said that the city’s decision “makes him feel like the city sees (homeless people like himself) as pests” to extinguish.

“Right, they would prefer you not be a part of our city,” agreed New Life Shelter manager Scott Egan. According to Egan, New Life is currently looking into filing civil lawsuits against the city in federal court, first to show that New Life doesn’t need a hotel license to offer shelter because it is a church, not a hotel. A second possible lawsuit would charge that the city is biased towards Catholic agencies that provide homeless shelters, such as the St. Patrick Center.

Some in the group wanted to ask the federal government to investigate how the city is spending its grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), saying they don’t trust the city to handle it correctly and that it takes years of being homeless before the city will give someone housing.

In 2014, HUD gave St. Louis more than $21 million for its Continuum of Care Homeless Services. New Life is not part of St. Louis’ Continuum of Care.

At least two of the people present were

currently homeless and living at New Life:

Anthony Knight and Lamont Belle. The two men were among the most outspoken in their distrust of the city.

Belle suggested that they round up 300 homeless people and have them sign up en masse for housing through the city and HUD as a means of demonstrating that the government is not currently capable of providing homes for all the people who need it. Knight and Eagen were supportive of the idea.

Downtown St. Louis resident Bob Linsey said he attended the meeting because he didn’t want to be seen as part of the problem. The city’s Board of Public Service voted that New Life’s shelter was a nuisance in response to a petition signed by downtown residents and business owners.

“They rankled my feathers because they said I was a part of the problem because I’m a downtown condominium owner,” Linsey explained.

Linsey, who is also affiliated with Amnesty International, suggested embarrassing public officials into action, stating that it needs to become politically expedient for them to do something real about homelessness. Linsey

also suggested trying to build consensus between all of the local agencies that provide services for the homeless, noting that services and objectives between agencies in the region seems disjointed.

Linsey said he had attended a presentation by Iain De Jong this fall about ending chronic homelessness, and wanted to see if the city or a coalition of agencies would hire De Jong to help the region come up with a plan to end homelessness here.

Jennifer Little came as a representative of The Rock Church in Soulard. She suggested trying to work with the city for solutions, and said she would try to meet with Eddie Roth. Roth was appointed Director of Human Services earlier this month and is now in charge of housing for the city. Several others in the group said it was worthless to try and work with the city because it doesn’t care about the homeless.

Jeff LaCroix of Rooftop Church in St. Louis County suggested area churches band together to provide the full range of housing and services needed for the region’s homeless, not relying on government agencies or funding.

Follow Camille Phillips on Twitter: @ cmpcamille.

The Message

Is there not a cause?

By Cassandra D. Smith For The St. Louis American

I wasn’t until a few days after Michael Brown Jr.’s homegoing service that I fully slept. I’m not quite sure if my unrest was due to the killing itself, or the myriad of responses I witnessed to the killing of this kid. No. It’s the killing itself. Eleven bullets aimed by racism at an 18 year-old.

Following this national injury was the personal insult I received when a friend said she was surprised that I was participating in the demonstrations associated with Michael Brown Jr.’s killing. Needless to say, I was stunned that she was stunned by my insistence on marching, with hands in the air, proclaiming, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” She imagined, because I am somewhat of an introvert and live in another city approximately 45 minutes from Ferguson – a city of predominantly white residents – that I would not welcome the engagement of such a large, angry, protesting crowd. My answer to her was, “I’m black wherever I live, and this is a cause that demands my cultural participation.” Passivity is the enemy to progress.

During the days when Goliath was tormenting the entire nation of Israel, a question was posed to those hesitant to speak out: “Is there not a cause?”

Although it was popularized by David, it must again be answered by us. Is there not a cause for raising our voices against the slaying of our sons by officers? Is there not a cause for protesting against the senseless beatings of our daughters by patrolmen? Or against the systematic traumatizing of our children as they witness the bodies of their parents and mentors lying lifeless in the street?

Yes, everyone, there is still a cause.

As a Christian, a black woman, a mother, a grandmother, a minister, and an American born in the Jim Crow South during the year of the Rosa Parks bus boycott, I refuse to be silent and non-demonstrative as those entrusted to protect and serve our neighborhoods are becoming the “hoods” themselves. No one will kill our kids, our people, or our spirit and just go on with their life as usual!

Cassandra D. Smith is the author of “I Am SO Outta Here!”

Cassandra D. Smith

Photo by Camille Phillips/St. Louis Public Radio

Anthony Knight, left, listens as New Life Shelter Manager Scott Eagen addresses the group. Bob Linsey and Lamont Belle in the background look on.

BIDS KCI CONSTRUCTION COMPANYis soliciting M/WBE bids for Kickapoo High School located

INVITATION TO BID

McCarthy is requesting Bids on All Trades

From qualified Small Business and MBE/DBE/WBE Subcontractors & Suppliers for the following project: Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Contract #1 Arch Museum & VisitorCenterRenovation St. Louis, Missouri

BIDS DUE: January 21, 2015 by 5:00 PM CST.

Contact: Michael Kloster (314) 919-2191 mkloster@mccarthy.com

REQUEST FOR

For specific project information and ordering plans, go to http:// www.oa.mo. gov/fmdc/dc/ list.htm.

CITYOFST. LOUIS BOARD OFPUBLIC SERVICE

REQUESTFOR QUALIFICATIONS for Engineering Design Services for Reconstruction of Taxiway Echo from Taxiway Juliet to Runway 30R at Lambert-St. Louis International

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on January 27, 2015 to contract with a company for: "RFP5738, Vehicle Batteries.

ATTENTION:

e-mail to gpatton@insituform.com and mwreeves@insituform.com

Acknowledge in your quote your company will meet the workforce per trade minority requirements per the project specifications. A pre-bid conference for the bid will be held at Insituform Technologies USA, LLC’s Training Center , 580 Goddard Avenue, Chesterfield, MO 63005 on Wednesday,January 7, 2015 at 10:00 AM Quotes must be completed and submitted to Kenny Pipitone at kpipitone@insituform.com by 11:00 AM, Monday January 12, 2015, along with a copy of your current MWBE Certification. All quotations will be evaluated for overall compliance with the project specifications, scheduling availability and pricing.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFP’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on February 12th, 2015 to contract with a company for: Actuary Study for Workers Compensation & Water Backups.

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 5750 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis SewerDistrict is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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 5738 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314-768-6254 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis SewerDistrict is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on January 28, 2015 to contract with a company for: "RFQ 5739, Fasteners.

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 5739 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314-768-6254 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis SewerDistrict is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

REQUESTFOR BIDS

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:

All about the NYE. I decided that the first Partyline of 2015 would be all about at NYE flow. While I wasn’t as underwhelmed as I was for Halloween, New Year’s Eve 2014 proved to be pretty regular. I can’t say that I was utterly blown away by the biggest party night of the year. I tried with all of my might to make sure that y’all could see how STL went out of 2014 with a bang, but most of the parties would fall into the thump category – with a couple of busts. Either way, I made my rounds until the early morning hours hoping to give y’all the flavor of NYE in STL.

Day early and a dollar short. I thought the idea of the Eve of the Eve New Year’s Eve party presented by Ciroc Tuesday night at Lit was a big risk. I mean it’s a great way to set your party apart, but I figured most folks wouldn’t bother because of the insurmountable logistical challenges for partygoers. I was right. It goes without saying that most people put their ankle into their New Year’s Eve outfit. With a party on the 30th you either have to be ratchet and wear the same thing two days in a row (don’t judge me) or have to have formidable backup gear on standby. And not to mention the fact that you absolutely must kick it in moderation on the 30th to be in top form for the actual New Year’s Eve.

Flamingo flop. The Rockhouse Ent. Bowling and Bottles at The Flamingo Bowl had the makings of an epic New Year’s Eve experience. I mean seriously, atmosphere and concept were so cute I wouldn’t have imagined in a million years that it wouldn’t make my top spots as I left there screaming, “Yassss!” Sadly, the masses opted out. I was trying to decide if it was the parking on Washington or the oversaturation of kicking it opportunities. Either way, it was quite underwhelming for one of the events I was looking forward to the most on the front end.

Lakeside looky loo. As I was making my way towards the action on the new strip of urban nightlife, I couldn’t help but be delightfully caught off guard by the sounds of a band doing a masterful job of Lakeside’s “Fantastic Voyage” in the Rustic Goat. They appeared to be dressed for the occasion serving up the Village People paying tribute to space-age sexy pirates, but they sounded fantastic. I was like these cyber sea captains are making Lakeside look bad with how good they sound. I got my life for their grand finale – as did the most seasoned of partygoers that I came across for the evening. Later I found out that it actually was Lakeside performing for a New Year’s Eve party presented by Old School 95.5. That little snippet ended up being one of the more memorable moments of my evening. NYE at HG. After dancing out the door thanks to Lakeside, I made my way next door for one of the rare openings of the Rustic Goat’s sister club HG for Three Magic Words. It was supposed to stand for New Year’s Eve, but it was more like, “Ummm, okay, I guess …” when I made my way up in there. In all fairness, I did get there relatively late. But I was expecting things to be on lean because of the roll call of birthdays that were being celebrated.

K. Michelle’s complex kickoff. K. Michelle in a silicone defying cat suit apparently wasn’t quite enough to bring a capacity crowd to the allnew and quietly still under construction Complex for what was expected to be the New Year’s Eve party of all parties. Perhaps the fact that as the folks rang in 2015, she was marking her third trip to the Lou. One more and she would have been in town every season. It was by no means empty boots in the building, but I guess the novelty of her surgeon-assisted curves being perched on the stage has worn off. It was cute enough, I guess, but by no means spectacular – especially when you consider the crowds for her Rebellious Soul sew ins and cigarillos tour stop at the Ambassador in March and the Super Jam 2014 after party in June during the Complex’s former life as the Coliseum. I got there towards the end of her stay, but aside from her conservative shake dancer attire, she was quite reserved. Now her partner in store bought curves that worked the stage and “twerked it in a circle” was another story. Her pop, drop and lock was real. She was bouncing that upgraded thickness in the same way I whip my hair when I splurge on 22 inches of virgin Malaysian Remy! K. scooted up out of there after an hour on the dot, but the folks pretty much stayed put.

Tastfully turnt up at Tani. My favorite New Year’s Eve stop of the night would have to go to the Moet Gold New Year’s Party at Tani & Area 14. I found it especially interesting (and not necessarily in a good way) how the party was quietly segregated – with the general pops on the Area 14 while the young black and fabulous folks tore the club up at Tani. It looked like it was 1964, but the folks were partying like it was 1999 up in there. Despite the shocking separate but equal scene, Tani truly gave me so much life because of how the folks were genuinely having a great time in the colored section. It was the ideal crowd too – from tastemakers to the cusp of _____________ (insert new slang for “grown and sexy”).

Queen Bee’s second coming. In non-New Year’s Eve news, the Capricorns are in prime position to snatch their party animal zodiac status back from team Pisces as Lil Kim and her partner in rhyme the lovely Tiffany Foxx prepare to shut the Complex down for ReRe’s Capricorn party Saturday night. When I first got the news that the Notorious K.I.M. was heading back to town, I figured it would be an epic night. New Year’s Eve brought my expectations a bit closer towards earth – that’s not to say that it won’t be a good time.

Monet, Bianca and Tron danced into the New Year @ HG for the Three Magic Words Celebration

Cynthia and Tanaka took in the funky throwback sounds of Lakeside for New Year’s Eve @ The Rustic Goat

Annie and Tiarra were in top form to ring in 2015 with K. Michelle @ Complex

Julius and Tina were in party mode as they welcomed 2015 @ The Rustic Goat

Arriana and Loreal stepped out to celebrate their New Year with K. Michelle @ Complex

St. Louis’s own Doughboi kicked it in VIP with recording artist Yung Joc Saturday @ the Marquee

Vondi and Melody made way for 2015 Wednesday @ The Rustic Goat

The creators of The Grand arts event “Vibes” Ciej and Rell took time to pose with performer Tino Friday @ Vibes 2015

Reace, Herb and Melo of the 2 live crew celebrated Melo’s birthday Saturday @ Envy

Singer and reality star K. Michelle helped the city usher in the New Year with a new kicking it spot Wednesday night at The Complex.

Photos by Lawrence Bryant & John Scott