April 13th, 2017 Edition

Slay slammed for ‘poor exit strategy’

Rec center closed for New Life residents

By Rebecca

State Senator Jamilah Nasheed and youth protested outside 12th and Park Recreation Center on Friday, April 7, after the Slay administration temporarily canceled youth programs at the center to accommodate homeless people who had been staying at New Life Evangelistic Center, which the city forced to close.

Friendly Temple opens bank branch

Baptist church in North City partners with Midwest BankCentre

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

It was something that you don’t see every day. A black banker was praying on the pavement in front of a Baptist church. He was praying for the prosperity of a new bank branch that the church was opening on its campus and the well-being of the community served by the church – and, now, by the bank.

The senior pastor of the church – Pastor Michael F. Jones of Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, 5553 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood of North St. Louis – thinks it has never happened before, but could set a new standard.

“We think we are great standard bearers for the nation,” Jones said of the partnership between his church and Midwest BankCentre, which opened a

Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Photo by Marty Murray Jr.

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Sanford,

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Chuck Berry

Patricia McKissack

Charlie Murphy passes at 57 after battle with leukemia

Comedian and actor older brother of Eddie Murphy of “The Dave Chappelle Show” passed away this morning after a battle with leukemia.

His death was first reported by TMZ.

The celebrity news and gossip site said Charlie’s manager confirmed his passing Wednesday morning in a New York City hospital, where he had been undergoing chemotherapy.

He made a name for himself in his own right as a featured player on Chappelle’s Comedy Central sketch comedy show –which became an instant pop culture phenomenon during

its three seasons on the air.

His most popular contributions were the pair of “Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Stories.” The skits featured tales of his encounters with late music

icons Rick James and Prince.

Charlie also co-wrote a few of

Eddie Murphy’s movies, including “Norbit” and “Vampire in Brooklyn.”

He co-starred in “Are We There Yet?,” “The Boondocks” and “Black Jesus.”

He recently toured with Cedric The Entertainer, Eddie Griffin, George Lopez and D.L. Hughley on “The Comedy Get Down.”

revealed she had the locks changed on her apartment at the Trump International tower in New York City.

The insider told the New York Post newspaper’s Page Six column: “She wanted the locks changed a few weeks ago, and no keys for him.”

Sources claim that despite their separation, Janet is doing well and is spending all her time focused on her three-monthold son, Eissa.

Charlie’s wife, Tisha Taylor , died in 2009 from cervical cancer. They had two children, and he had another from a previous

Did Janet just change the locks on Wissam?

Janet Jackson reportedly separated from Wissam Al Mana, her husband of five years, earlier this month –just three months after the 50-year-old pop star gave birth to their first child. A source close to the singer

“Janet is ecstatic. She’s so happy with her baby and that’s all she is focused on,” a source said. “Sadly, Janet and Wissam have decided that it wasn’t working and to go their separate ways.

They’re both busy people but determined to be good parents, even if they’re apart. It’s amicable and Eissa will stay with his mother, who is basing herself in London.”

prank renewed interest in the group.

In his response, Tyrese said that he wouldn’t be up for the reunion, because Ginuwine wants an equal share of the pay and doesn’t deserve it.

“Say Chris and I are doing a show,” Tyrese said, referring to his “Fate of the Furious” co-star Ludacris, who was on also on the show to promote their upcoming film.

“If Chris is getting $200,000 a show and I’m getting $30,000 a show, my motivation would be obvious,” Tyrese said. “If I’m able to split with Chris, then I’m getting way more at the end of the day per show. We’re brothers and all of that, but the end of the day, it’s business.”

When the clip was posted on social media, Tank responded.

“That’s what we doing now? This guy…,” Tank said before asking Ginuwine not to dignify Tyrese’s statements with a response.

Tyrese still taking jabs at Ginuwine

In a recent interview with Hot 97 FM’s “The Breakfast Club,” actor/singer Tyrese couldn’t resist another swipe at his former TGT group mate Ginuwine.

He was asked if the group would ever reunite after buzz from an April Fool’s Day

“Ok I won’t, but that was total wackiness bro. I mean, really? I’m about tired of not saying [expletive], but okay…you say no so that’s what it is like we always do, but that was totally outta bounds, king.”

Sources: TMZ.com, People.com, Instagram, The New York Post

Tyrese

Chess program bridges gap between cops and youth

St. Louis police and public schools partner with Chess Club and Scholastic Center

By Tashan Reed

For The St. Louis American

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, Saint Louis Public Schools and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department are partnering to launch St. Louis CHESS Cops. The CHESS acronym stands for “Cops Helping Enhance Student Skills.”

The program targets inner-city students and uses St. Louis-area police officers to teach them the game of chess. The officers teach the fundamental elements and educational values of chess and incorporate lessons on critical thinking, planning and logic.

Lt. Perri Johnson of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is one of the eight officers participating in the program. Johnson explained that chess was chosen partly because “it’s not physical, and every kid doesn’t play physical sports. Chess can incorporate so many other kids and officers than physical sports can.”

The subject matter takes a back seat to the program’s true goal: fostering positive relationships between police and the community.

Johnson has been the commander of the Juvenile Division for two years and has worked with kids for over 15 years through the Police Athletic League, the Students Talk Over with Police program and coaching high school basketball. He hopes that more officers pursue community involvement.

“This isn’t about me,” Johnson said. “I want others to be exposed to it.” In addition to the eight officers already in the program, there are “another seven or so” that are interested, he said. The more officers that get involved, he said, the greater the opportunity there will be for kids to sit across a chess board from

Progressives must hold Krewson accountable

By Kennard Williams Guest columnist

Residents of the City of St. Louis have elected a new mayor, marking the end of Francis G. Slay’s 16-year reign. To many progressives in the city, Slay’s announcement that he would not seek another term as mayor presented a unique and valuable opportunity to get a candidate in Room 200 of City Hall who would represent all of St. Louis, and not just wealthy white business interests and campaign donors.

them and “see them for what they really are.”

“We are very pleased to see organizations working to promote programs that actively involve our city’s youth,” said Anthony Ruby, network superintendent of Saint Louis Public Schools. “Now, when our students see a police officer, we hope they will see a mentor.”

The St. Louis CHESS COPS program began with a ceremony at Gateway Middle School on February 22. There were representatives from all three organizations present, and the event concluded with chess matches between local students and officers.

Jayson Pulliam, who attends Gateway Middle School, participated in the ceremony along with his fellow chess mates and his father. He remembered the chess games more than his police opponents. “It was great,” Pulliam said.

“I liked it a lot. I won some and lost some, but I like getting beat so that I can learn more.”

Pulliam is a great example of the realworld benefits that being in the chess club can offer. “It helps me concentrate more in school and it improved my memory,” Pulliam said. “Before I played chess, I couldn’t really remember much when it came to my classes.”

Being in the program already is changing the way that Pulliam looks at police officers. “I think they are better than what people think they are,” Pulliam said. “Just because they are cops doesn’t mean they are bad people.”

For more information about the CCSCSL and the scholastic programs offered, visit www.saintlouischessclub.

org.

Tashan Reed was a St. Louis American editorial intern from the University of Missouri

In the Democratic primary, St. Louis’ progressives placed their hopes in Tishaura O. Jones. Jones campaigned using the slogan “One St. Louis” and demonstrated an understanding of many citizens’ discontent with the status quo. Calling for investments in St. Louis’ public schools and underdeveloped neighborhoods in the largely black and lowerincome portions of St. Louis while promoting fiscal responsibility, Jones blasted large taxpayer-funded projects like the Major League Soccer stadium. Alas, she lost by 888 votes to Lyda Krewson. Krewson has received justified criticism for her track record as 28th Ward alderwoman. She pushed for the gentrification of the Central Corridor and supported closing the homeless shelter at the New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC). She embraced the endorsement of Jeff Roorda and the St. Louis Police Officers Association.

On matters of policing and race, Krewson advocates for more training for police officers and “to look at everything through a racial equity lens.” In fact, the reinforcement of racist structures

with narratives of “more training” only makes the faults in them more nuanced and easier to conceal, rather than abolishing them. Promises of racial equity also fail to convince when trends of gentrification and neoliberal economic policy accumulate, while the city’s poorer neighborhoods are sold the idea of needing more police in exchange for safety. The core of Krewson’s priorities becomes apparent through her enmity toward people experiencing homelessness in St. Louis and her policies and rhetoric around closing the NLEC shelter without a suitable alternative. Krewson stated that the NLEC doors should be chained shut. In an attempt to distance herself from these condemnations, she has remained silent as the City of St. Louis was named the defendant in a lawsuit decrying individuals experiencing homelessness being warehoused in a city garage.

Krewson previously drafted an ordinance that criminalizes panhandling. Not all individuals experiencing homelessness panhandle, though one may draw the conclusion that she thinks so after saying of homeless people in 2008 that “most aren’t interested in regular employment. Often panhandling is more lucrative.” It is for these reasons that progressives – and every resident who has great concern about where our country and our city are headed over the next four years, given constantly widening class and race divides – must hold our new mayor accountable.

Kennard Wiliams is a St. Louis native, community organizer, and social justice advocate.

Photo by Wiley Price

Gateway Middle School eighth graders Liltrell Young and Jayvion White played chess in the school library during a recent event that announced St. Louis CHESS Cops.

Editorial /CommEntary

Krewson inherits homeless crisis from Slay

When Saint Louis Public Schools last reported the number of homeless students in the district at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, there were 5,451 students in the city district designated as homeless. That staggering number has been increasing every year, reflecting a deepening crisis. Five years before, there were 1,732 homeless students in city public schools – less than one-third of the number last year, but even then a catastrophe – and the number has increased every year.

We were impressed and moved when a group of students from Central Visual and Performing Arts High School responded to the district’s recent Love of Learning Design Challenge, where they were tasked to design buildings in response to regional problems, by redesigning the currently vacant Simmons School as a shelter, providing support, counseling, job training and a safe place to sleep, eat and study for their homeless peers. Their proposal did not win the design competition, and we can see why, given that financial feasibility and sustainability were included in the judging parameters. These students had a compassionate and brilliant idea, but tragically one renovated school building would not be a solution to a crisis of this magnitude. If the homeless students in the city incorporated into a homeless village, it would have more residents than 52 of St. Louis County’s municipalities.

Interestingly, downtown St. Louis claims almost exactly twice as many residents –approximately 9,000 people, according to its neighborhood association – as the city has homeless students. That number “is growing each year,” according to the neighborhood association – just like the city’s homeless student population. The city’s first four-term mayor, Francis G. Slay, will soon relinquish power, and he will claim the still-emergent revival of downtown St. Louis as one of his administration’s accomplishments. Slay has indeed worked hard to revive downtown, a mission we embrace

Emily Rich-Lane, Antonai Ball and Tiaunna Hamilton (back to camera), students at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, talk to Tishaura O. Jones about their redesign of a vacant public school building as a shelter for homeless students.

Photo by Wiley Price

and will continue to embrace. But while his administration has done everything in its power to spur downtown development – which is, again, a good thing, if negotiated prudently –more and more children in the city public schools have gone homeless each year. While Slay has not ignored the city’s homeless problem – 12 years ago, he announced a 10-year plan to “end” it – he has failed miserably to address or contain the crisis, which effects many segments of the population. To be fair, building more affordable housing to address the crisis is a daunting challenge for a cash-strapped city, but we believe more could have been done.

It is grimly fitting that one of the Slay’s administration’s final actions was to force the closure of a downtown homeless shelter that was a nuisance to its neighbors who have shelter. It also served as a perfect capstone to Slay’s leadership on our homeless crisis that this closure was an abject, mismanaged failure. The city arranged for the male residents forced from the shelter to stay in a shed used for Forestry Division equipment, attracting a lawsuit from ArchCity Defenders that the city almost immediately settled by stipulating to the court a sunset date for this inhumane housing solution and the agreement that the city will never do it again. As alarming, the female residents were transferred to a city recreation center, forcing the temporary cancellation of vital youth programs – in the early days of spring, where the most likely alternative for these youths (some of them homeless) is the street.

In a matter of days, the candidate Slay endorsed, Lyda Krewson (who won a close primary victory, with only 32 percent of the vote), will assume power, inheriting a profound housing crisis that includes 5,451 homeless public school students. We encourage her to keep them and their needs top of mind when she takes her oath to lead this city – and every day she is mayor thereafter.

Veterans of Iraq – and St. Louis – motivated to change

By Stephen Webber Guest columnist

Several weeks ago, after he had a long week in the Missouri Legislature, state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. spent an evening showing me around his home district in St. Louis.

Bruce and I easily relate through politics and sports. After all, we’re the same age and were both raised in Missouri – even though it was 120 miles apart. As we drove around Bruce’s neighborhood, I saw a tightknit community built on strong values we should all aspire to share. Parts of it are also undoubtedly fighting an uphill battle against issues like local poverty, economic downturn, racism and violence. And through that second lens, there is a thought I can’t shake: One of the best ways I relate to Bruce is, not as a fellow Missourian in our early 30s, but as a combat veteran.

Bruce and I both have a city where we can drive around and point out street corners where our friends were shot to death. Mine is Fallujah, Iraq, and for Bruce it’s his hometown of St. Louis. Bruce and I both have friends that self-medicate their PTSD with drugs. Mine are trying to cope with war; his are trying to cope with the scourge of poverty, racism and violence.

Bruce and I both know people who can instantly judge if gunshots are close enough to be dangerous. Mine are battled hardened U.S. Marines; his are local children.

Bruce and I both shy away from large sporting events because we’re bothered by fireworks and cannons that remind us of gunfights. We’ve both been shot at, carried guns for protection, and experienced a city under curfew.

Bruce and I can each tell a story about armored vehicles, and know about the dangers that lurk in abandoned buildings. We’re each haunted, and motivated, by violence that was done to children.

Bruce and I have each talked about making it home alive. I meant to America; Bruce means to his front door. To be clear, our experiences are vastly different. But it’s deeply troubling that it’s so easy to relate to a Missouri neighbor through my 14 months at war. And touring an American neighborhood shouldn’t be so easily related to Iraq. Of course, Iraq wasn’t my

Trump bombed Syria – now what?

The United States has become a combatant in Syria’s horrific civil war. The Trump administration, which intervened with deadly military force, gives no sign of knowing what it’s doing or why.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has absurdly tried to suggest that nothing has changed. He is wrong. Fiftynine cruise missiles constitute a policy shift. So what is the administration’s strategic vision? What is its desired outcome? How does it get there? And what happens next?

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Sunday that the administration cannot envision “a peaceful Syria” with dictator Bashar Assad still in power. Tillerson went on a different Sunday show to say that Assad’s fate is up to “the Syrian people.”

Neither statement had much grounding in the reality of a heartbreakingly brutal war that has killed about 400,000 people and displaced half of Syria’s population.

Who’s going to make Assad leave? “The Syrian people” have been trying to get rid of him for nearly six years, yet he remains. The Obama administration believed it had at least negotiated the surrender of Assad’s capacity to use chemical weapons, but last week’s sarin gas attack demonstrates otherwise. There is no political process through which Syrians can express their will. There is only a grinding, multi-sided conflict that has allowed the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, to seize huge swaths of territory.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we got together with Russia

and knocked the hell out of ISIS?” Trump asked during the campaign. But nice does not equal feasible. Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent military forces to help Assad maintain his grip on power. Working with Russia would require the coldbloodedness to look past Assad’s myriad atrocities – and Trump’s description of the “beautiful babies” who were “cruelly murdered” was hardly the rhetoric of realpolitik.

Now, having bombed the Sharyat airfield near Homs from which the planes carrying chemical weapons took off, Trump has sided against Assad in deed if not in word. Careful diplomatic statements cannot disguise the obvious fact that the United States and Russia are working at crosspurposes.

At least in part, Trump seems to have been determined not to follow the example of the Obama administration.

In 2012, Obama declared chemical weapons use a “red line” that must not be crossed. When Assad crossed it anyway, Obama prepared to strike – but decided to ask Congress to give him authorization to use force.

Congress declined.

Trump enthusiastically supported Obama’s restraint at the time. He warned throughout the campaign against deeper U.S. involvement in Syria. Now his decision to launch the

Letters to the editor

Morally bankrupt step

The NAACP issued a letter to Attorney General Sessions questioning the legality of announced attempts to modify consent decrees between the Department of Justice and a number of municipalities across the country and their police departments.

home - I left it. Bruce lives in his neighborhood every day. I stopped losing friends. Bruce and I both fear that he is likely to lose more. We have an incredible amount of work to do here at home. Poverty must be combated with the same zeal with which we combat foreign enemies. The fight against systemic racism is critical to saving American lives.

Someday Bruce and I will no longer have the same opportunities to make a difference that we have now. As time passes, there will eventually be a new representative from the 78th House District and a new chair of the Missouri Democratic Party. I hope the work that we do between now and then leaves a different legacy – a legacy where future Missourians don’t have to be veterans of war and, if they are, they don’t relate to their fellow Missourians through their wartime experiences.

Above all, Bruce and I share that deep motivation – and it will continue to drive each of us as we fight to improve our state.

Stephen Webber is chair of the Missouri Democratic Party, a former representative of Missouri’s 46th House District in Columbia, and a United States Marine Corps Veteran of Iraq.

It is not enough, we submit, that the current administration might have chosen not to include certain provisions in the consent decrees or not to have instituted a pattern or practice investigation in the first instance. The investigations have been conducted, the facts have been found, and the agreed-upon remedies are being implemented. The current leadership of the Department of Justice should support the meaningful progress that has been made in reforming policing practices in these jurisdictions rather than deliberately impeding that progress.

Should the Department of Justice seek changes to the terms of existing policing consent decrees, it would be required to justify the changes based on something more than a shift in priorities. It would have to demonstrate a significant change in the facts or the law. Based on the justifications put forth by the department thus far in its public statements on the subject, we doubt that the department could satisfy this test.

The Attorney General’s attempts to re-litigate or eliminate policing reforms designed to address systemic misconduct represents a morally bankrupt step that could have disastrous results regarding the protection of Black lives. The NAACP is prepared for protests in the streets and action in both the courts of law and the court of public opinion against any attempt by the Attorney General to normalize racebased misconduct by law

cruise missile strike is being applauded by foreign policy traditionalists of both parties – the establishment figures who gave us the disastrous war in Iraq – as a show of U.S. “strength” and “resolve.” That should worry us all. I have long opposed U.S. military intervention in Syria because I did not see how such action – within the parameters of the possible – would make the situation better. I still don’t. A punitive strike to deter Assad from using chemical weapons does nothing to protect the millions of desperate civilians who remain vulnerable to conventional weapons wielded by the Syrian government, such as deadly barrel bombs. Indeed, Assad reportedly made a point of having warplanes take off from Sharyat on bombing runs the day after the missiles landed. Civilians are also under attack by Russian forces, the Islamic State and various jihadist and non-jihadist rebel groups. I have to wonder what Assad hoped to accomplish by using chemical weapons in the first place. Could he have been trying to bait the United States into military action – and thus drive a wedge between Trump and Putin? The Russian strongman is not what you’d call sentimental, and he might abandon Assad if Trump made it worth his while. If the cruise missile attack was a one-and-done warning, it changes nothing. If it was an opening salvo of some kind, what follows? Either we’re on a slippery slope toward deeper military involvement, or we remain helpless witnesses to unspeakable carnage.

enforcement officers.

Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO NAACP Baltimore, Maryland

Missouri needs REAL ID compliance

Following recent reports of discussions between Gov. Eric Greitens and our current president, I believe that there is no better time than now to reiterate the importance of Missouri’s REAL ID compliance. However, embarking on numerous trips to Washington D.C. and toying with the idea of an additional extension is not a sufficient

solution to the issue at hand. Missouri is currently one of five states who have failed to comply with the federal REAL ID law and I am a bit perturbed as to why, considering the fact that our state’s 2018 deadline is vastly approaching. I find it extremely counterproductive to drag our feet on policy that will deprive Missourians of daily functions such as boarding planes and accessing federal facilities. Inflicting suffering upon families of our military personnel and stripping them of the ability to visit their family members on military bases is reprehensible and a flagrant disregard of basic morality. State Rep. Joshua Peters St. Louis

Columnist

Eugene Robinson

Guest Columnist Stephen Webber

Fun at the bus stop with mama

enjoyed her time with her mother Alecia Selmon while waiting for the bus near Euclid Avenue and Page Boulevard recently.

County Family Court seeks mentors

The Family Court of St. Louis County Mentor Program gives community volunteers the opportunity to build productive relationships with juveniles (ages 12-16 years), focusing on developing self-esteem, positive attitudes, and appropriate social behaviors. A minimum commitment of only two hours per week is needed. Record and reference checks are required for all applicants. Family Court staff provide all mentors with a program orientation, in addition to ongoing training and support. Call Marlon Chambers, mentor specialist, at (314) 615-8447 for further information.

Special Olympics needs volunteers

Volunteers are needed for setup, registration, venue assistant or Athlete Buddy when the St. Louis Community College-Meramec hosts the 42nd annual Special Olympics St. Louis Metro Area Spring Games on Saturday, April 29. The Opening Ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m., rain or shine. Athletes will compete until 3 p.m. in a variety of running, jumping, throwing and swimming events. This event is a qualifying track, field and swim meet for nearly 400 registered Special Olympics athletes in and around the St. Louis metro area as they prepare for the State Summer Games in Springfield. To register online as an event volunteer, visit http:// stlmetro.somo.volunteerhub.com/events/indexv1.

State Rep. Roberts hosts Town Hall

State Rep. Steven Roberts will hold a Town Hall meeting at noon on Saturday, April 22 at the Julia Davis Branch of St. Louis Public Library, 4415 Natural Bridge Ave. Roberts, who represents the 77th Legislative District in the Missouri House of Representatives, will give an update on the legislative session so far. The 77th Legislative District covers most of north-central St. Louis city. For further information, contact Robert’s office at 573751-1400.

The Irish and African-American Connection

By Cecilia Nadal Guest columnist

Beyoncé, Shaquille O’Neal, Muhammad Ali, Barack Obama, Billie Holiday and Colin Powell, Alicia Keys share a common Irish heritage. In fact, you may be surprised to know that 38 percent of African Americans have an Irish heritage.

While the relationship between the two cultures has not always been a good one, there are some remarkable contributions that have been made to American culture as a result of the intersection between the two and we share much in common when it comes to our American experience.

In the mid-1800s, freed slaves and Irish indentured servants found themselves living side-by-side in New York City, largely due to their common poverty and the availability of tenement slums. During this period, there was cross-cultural engagement between the two castaways, particularly in music and dance. The Irish had clog dancing, and the Africans had juba. Today, the most American form of dance known as tap is the result of the intersection between freed slaves with juba and Irish indentured servants with clogging.

Sadly, as both groups struggled to climb the social ladder through hard work, they became competitors and often enemies. This was fueled by leaders like President Andrew Jackson, who gave the Irish permission to take the land of freed slaves. Nonetheless, there have always been those reflective Irish and African Americans who understood how they shared a common history of oppression and prejudice. It was no coincidence that one of the first Democrats to endorse Barack Obama for president was U.S. Senator Teddy Kennedy. Obama was also endorsed by Caroline, John Kennedy’s daughter. Both Kennedys became important allies to the Civil Rights Movement.

Michael Dalton, an 83-year-old St. Louis Catholic Irishman, initiated a 20-year long relationship between St. Monica Catholic Church in Creve Coeur with Blessed Sacrament Church, a predominantly African-American church in North City.

“My father was Irish, and he knew personally how bad prejudice could be, and he never wanted any of his children to be that way,” Dalton said. “And a black man named Harrison who stoked our furnace became quite a friend to me and my father, and I always wanted to honor our friendship by bringing our communities together. I loved that man!”

In 2000, Michael Dalton was the recipient of the “Extraordinary/Ordinary Person of the Year Award” at Powell Symphony Hall. He was too ill to come, but his wife and a young African-American boy of 10 who was mentored by Michael came to receive the award for him.

This year, I went to the annual Hibernian St. Patrick’s Day Parade for the first time and I carried a sign that said, “I love the 24% Irish in me and I love you! Free Hugs” I was quite touched when almost 40 Irish men, women and children came up to me for the free hugs. But I was blown away when one beautiful little girl with brown skin and green eyes had a sign that said, “Dr. Martin Luther King is part Irish!”

Cecilia Nadal is executive director of Gitana Productions, an arts and education company that provides global healing through music, dance and drama in the St. Louis community

Cecilia Nadal

Aziyah Selmon, 6, a student at Jefferson Elementary School,

Photo by Wiley Price

full-service bank branch right next to the church sanctuary at 5501 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. “I know that’s a bold statement, but I am going to say that.”

The pastor’s new business partner – Jim Watson, chairman and CEO of Midwest BankCentre, headquartered in St. Louis with 300 employees and 12,000 members – agreed with Jones that they have started something new. “I am aware of no partnership like it across the country,” Watson said. Watson and Jones started negotiations about 18 months ago, Watson said. They were connected by Alex Fennoy, the bank’s executive vice president and community and economic development director – and the black banker who prayed in front of the church at the ribbon cutting on Thursday, April 6. Fennoy was so excited about the idea of opening a branch at a black church in North St. Louis that he called his boss while the bank president was on vacation, and Watson was so intrigued that he called the pastor the same day.

“I called him and built that

SALUTE

Continued from A1

Continued from A1 of the health clinic at 5701 Delmar Blvd. In his 28 years at the center, he has helped to secure more than $15 million in capital or grant funds to help expand People’s facilities – which now include 60 apartments for seniors, 18 apartments for individuals with disabilities and their families, five single family homes and the Social Security Administration building on Delmar Boulevard. Soon it will also include a children’s health center at 5647 Delmar Blvd.

foundation of trust,” Watson said. The foundation of trust between Fennoy and Jones was established 18 years, not months, ago. The pastor’s aunt, Dorothy Jones, helped train Fennoy as a banker at a different financial institution when, he said, he was a “young, green commercial lender.” She encouraged him to meet her ambitious nephew, the pastor. “I fell in love with him at first sight,” Fennoy said of Jones, “like everyone does, but the time was never right –until 18 months ago, when God brought us back full-circle.”

The bank opened for business on February 13, under the leadership of Branch Manager LaTonya R. Jackson, who has five full-time staff. By Friday, March 30, Fennoy said, more than 150 people had opened accounts at the branch, which had moved more than $6 million in loans and deposits in six weeks.

That aligns with the bank’s goals, as outlined by Watson, which include steering people away from predatory lenders and into a conventional bank and helping people repair broken credit and finance homeownership.

Jones wants all of that for his community, but he has his eyes set especially on something else Watson

When the community comes to People’s, Sanford wants them to know that he has gone through some of the same difficulties that they might be experiencing. And he has poured all of his life lessons into creating spaces that care for the community, he said.

“Some may know Mark is a nurse,” said Vickie Wade, executive vice president of clinical services as People’s. “He understands the needs of the patients and the disease process, so when he goes after a grant, he puts that little spin on it. Being a nurse and a businessman and a humanitarian as well as a comedian, it just provides

mentioned: financing community development.

Friendly Temple operates Robert Fulton Community Development, Inc., named for Jones’ grandfather, Rev. Robert Fulton Davis, who was the church’s first pastor (Jones is the second). Since 1996, the church has invested more than $100 million to revitalize areas bordering its campus. With the committed partnership of a bank, Jones is sure the church can expand its development efforts dramatically.

“I have an urban development vision that I want to take to the community,”

Jones told The American after the ribbon-cutting.

The church’s urban development efforts began

for a full circle of services that he helps us deliver to the patients.”

On Friday, April 28, Sanford will receive the Stellar Performer Award at the Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon, an event whose net proceeds fund college scholarships through the St. Louis American Foundation.

with the very building that now has the bank branch as a tenant. When they bought the church property 15 years ago, its mortgage lender advised Jones to tear down the building and start over, but Jones saw potential both in the structure and in his congregation, which includes a wide range of accomplished and talented people. He recruited a project manager, engineer and architect from his congregation to restore the building. A group of Washington University students who had adopted Friendly Temple as their home church away from home got involved.

One of those students, Duane Thompson, became a professional architect, remains a church member and served

Sanford said he wants to recognize his “excellent team,” who don’t often get noticed. “I really appreciate all the work they do,” he said.

Floyd Simms, environmental services manager at the center, said he has seen the organization grow so much from Sanford’s leadership – and it has a lot to do with how he leads.

“He’s a conscientious individual who helps bring out the best traits in everyone,” Simms said. “He treats everyone with dignity and respect, and his team supports him. I feel I’m a better person from having had the ability to work with him.”

Sanford said one of his proudest achievements was to

Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church cut the ribbon on Midwest BankCentre’s newest branch on the church campus at 5501 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Thursday, April 6.

as lead architect on the bank branch construction.

Remarkably, Friendly Temple served as general contractor on the branch construction, with church member Zac Hamilton the project manager. More than 60 percent of the construction and supply services for the development of the branch were contracted with Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) or Women Business Enterprise (WBE) firms. Fennoy was so proud of this fact that, when he wasn’t praying or thanking the bank’s legal board, he listed each of these businesses by name.

“It was beautiful, everything went smoothly,” one of those MBE contractors, James R.

work with Betty Jean Kerr, the center’s founder, on the design and fundraising efforts to build the health center that now serves about 40,000 people every year.

He is also very proud of his children – all 13 of them.

Sanford has two children from his marriage, raised one of his children’s friends and took in 10 children from Caribbean countries through a nonprofit organization.

“I started when a lady from Mexico asked me to open my home to children who were living in poverty,” Sanford. “I started with two at a time.”

At times, there were seven children living in his home.

Williams Sr. of Williams

Heating and Cooling, told The American about the construction. He said Jones’ leadership makes the church a good contractor to work under. “Pastor is unique,” Williams said. “He is not untouchable. He can talk to anybody. Mostly, he does a lot of listening.”

Friendly Temple member Felicia Pulliam, who served on the Ferguson Commission, has seen Jones lead the church to this point from gritty beginnings. “It was a 20-year journey,” Pulliam told The American. “It’s not like this happened overnight.”

She said Jones always looked beyond the church walls and asked his faithful to do the same. Pulliam said, “Pastor has always been telling us that if the community around a church does not change, then God is not in the house.”

The branch is the first new bank branch opened in North St. Louis since 2009. Fennoy was highly conscious of the bank investing in North City and made reference to the region’s notorious divide between a relatively stable south side and more distressed north side. “We need both sides to be strong,” Fennoy said. “It’s like a runner. You need both of your legs to be strong.”

Now all have completed at least two years of college, and some have PhDs.

“I think it helped my children understand that you can open up your doors and love anyone,” Sanford said, “no matter what the circumstance.”

Tickets for the 17th Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 28 at the Frontenac Hilton are $750 per table for VIP/Corporate seating and $50 each/$500 table for Individual seating. To order tickets, call 314-5338000 or visit www.stlamerican. com.

Mark Sanford

Photo by Wiley Price

Continued from A1

and know about who they are and where they come from.

She was an English teacher. Her love of the written word and storytelling led her to work as a book editor for Concordia Publishing. He was an engineer. His research helped frame her writing. Together they produced more than 100 titles – and captured the black experience, both real and imagined, for their reading audiences.

“It was like a missionary thing for them,” son Fredrick McKissack Jr. told The Washington Post. “There was a whole history and set of experiences that weren’t being taught, discussed or examined with the gaze of a writer.”

Patricia L’Ann Carwell was born on August 9, 1944, in Smyrna, Tennessee. She spent several years of her childhood in Kirkwood before her family returned to her birth state and settled in Nashville.

“Before I was a writer, I was a listener,” Patricia

NEW LIFE

Continued from A1

and desist order” because the shelter had been operating without an occupancy permit since 2015. This order allowed the city to shut down the privately run shelter on April 2. That day, an estimated 75 men went to live in a temporary shelter – a warehouse used by the city’s Forestry Division to store gardening equipment, cityowned vehicles and certain chemicals. The “St. Louis Weed Control” building is located near the Biddle House, the city’s new homeless shelter in the majority-black Carr Square neighborhood. About 50 homeless women went to live in the 12th and Park Recreation Center, which put a stop to a number of afterschool

said in a video interview on her website. “I grew up sitting on the front porch listening to my mother and my grandparents tell stories. They told wonderful family stories about people that I knew only by name, but I knew very well because of the stories that influenced my life.”

As an adolescent in Nashville, she met Fredrick McKissack and became friends. They both attended Tennessee State University, where their friendship blossomed into romance. They were married in 1964. The couple moved to St. Louis, where she worked as an English teacher for the Kirkwood School District.

While teaching in the district she once attended, Patricia was compelled to write her first book to share the story of one of her mother’s beloved authors, 19th century AfricanAmerican poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

She and Fredrick based their books on their own childhood experiences, raising their children, incidents they observed and history. “Sometimes, it’s just

programs for children in the surrounding neighborhood.

“It was a poor exit strategy,” said state Sen. Jamilah Nasheed. “How do you take individuals and put them in a warehouse not meant for human inhabitants? We have children out on the street now that their afterschool programs have ceased. It’s appalling.”

Eddie Roth, director of human services who led the relocation effort, said the plan wasn’t perfect but it is only temporary. The city’s Building Division deemed the warehouse a safe place to live, he said. And the city commits to being out of the rec center by the end of the school year.

“Is it ideal for the long term?” Roth asked. “No, it doesn’t have plumbing available. There’s Porta-Pottys and handwashing stations. It is not luxurious, but it provides a safe, reasonable, inspected,

overhearing a comment and saying, ‘Oh, wow, that sounds like a good book,’” Fredrick told Reading Rockets. Their works featured biographical sketches of historical figures like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sojourner Truth, A. Philip Randolph and Jesse Jackson. They also wrote about folklore and fairytales, like “Precious and the Boo Hag.”

slavery, segregation, oppression and systemic racism.

“It is not designed to point a finger or to make some child in a classroom feel responsible for all that happened back then,” Patricia said.

Their work was digestible for young readers, yet managed to encourage readers to learn more about themselves – and share with others the rich legacy of African Americans as integral to our nation.

They didn’t shy away from detailing the traumas of

lawful shelter that’s 500 feet away from an excellent facility” in Biddle House.

On March 31, ArchCity Defenders and Saint Louis University School of Law Legal Clinic filed a class-action lawsuit in state court against the City of St. Louis, arguing that it violated state law when it warehoused the homeless men in “an uninhabitable temporary shelter.”

“Warehousing 100 men experiencing homelessness in a garage away in a low-income community of color is not a solution,” said Thomas B. Harvey, ArchCity Defenders executive director. “This is a crisis of [the city’s] own making.”

Harvey said after spending four years trying to close New Life, the Slay administration had plenty of time to come up with better shelter – and alert

“But we can’t shovel it under the rug and say that those things did not happen – they did. But let’s tell it by telling an evenhanded, wellresearched, welldocumented story.”

They wrote three books for Scholastic’s “Dear America” series: “A Picture of Freedom: The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl,” “Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, The Great Migration North” and “Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French

the community about those plans.

On April 7, Harvey and his team reached a settlement with the city, which stated that the city would close the temporary shelter on North 13th Street no later than June 5. The city can no longer store chemicals, lawn mowers or vehicles in the warehouse. The settlement also forbids the city from using the Forestry Division’s buildings as a place for human habitation in the future.

Harvey said city authorities didn’t collaborate with the members of the Continuum of Care – which is made up of 70 groups who are dedicated to aiding the homeless – about where the New Life residents would be moved. He said those groups could have helped come up with a better plan.

Roth said that the city asked for help in several areas, but it did not include the Continuum

Slave Girl.”

Their stories about the sources of their inspiration were captivating narratives in their own right.

“Ideas are of two different natures,” Fredrick said. “One is of the instant idea that just seems to come to you and doesn’t take any time whatsoever. The other type is the type that you work on and work on.”

“We even named them,” Patricia said. “The ‘Athenian’ idea is one that kind of pops in your head, like with the birth of Athena. And the ‘mustard seed’ idea kind of grows over time.”

The work garnered some of the field’s most coveted honors.

“The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural” won the Newberry Honor and the King Author Award in 1993.

Other awards included the C.S. Lewis Medal, the Caldecott Award, the Jane Addams Peace Award, the Coretta Scott King Award and the Regina Medal.

Their earthly marital and creative partnership ended when Fredrick passed away in 2013 at age 73 after complications from kidney

of Care in identifying the locations.

Roth estimates that it could take as long as a year and as much as $1 million to place the New Life residents into a regular shelter or housing. Because of the expense for the temporary shelters, Roth estimates that the first 60 days after New Life’s closing will cost the city $214,000.

The director at the 12th and Park Recreation Center, along with community members, only learned about the city’s intent to transform the center into a temporary shelter the weekend that it happened, said Marty Murray Jr., the 7th Ward Democratic committeeman.

“It’s a shock to the community,” Murray said. “I’m not even certain that the plan of action was thoroughly thought out. They didn’t give fair notice to the community.”

Murray said about 50

disease. Patricia was devastated by Fredrick’s passing, but she carried on with the work they began together. Her latest book, “Let’s Clap, Jump, Sing & Shout; Dance, Spin & Turn It Out,” was released in January. Over the years, she often relied on stories passed down to her from her family. Her grandmother told ghost stories. “She could just make up a story that would scare you to death,” Patricia said. Her grandfather, called “Daddy James” by her family, “told wonderful stories about little girls who could outrun the wind and outsmart a fox.”

“I hear their voices, I remember their stories,” Patricia said, “and I pass them on whenever I can to young readers everywhere.”

Patricia McKissack is survived by her three sons Fredrick McKissack, Jr., Robert Lewis McKissack and John Patrick McKissack, a brother and a sister. Funeral arrangements are pending.

children use the center after school for basketball, dance lessons, tutoring and a safe place to hang out. The youth boxing program, which Murray facilitates, has continued, but some recreational activities for adults have also ceased. Nasheed said she grew up in the neighborhood and the recreation center was her safe haven. She said the needs of people who use the rec center and others in the community were ignored to placate upperincome downtown residents.

“There was communication with those residents to get the homeless away from Washington Avenue,” Nasheed said. “Then why didn’t they do all they could to reach out to this community? We have too many kids dying on the streets, and now we have taken away their safe haven.”

Patricia and Frederick McKissack

Photo by Wiley Price

Building a community ‘Just for Kids’

Deaconess Foundation deepens commitment to racial equity

By Rev. Starsky D. Wilson

For The St. Louis American

In April of 2014, more than 120 advocates, practitioners and academics gathered in St. Louis’ Grand Center District to discuss research and their experiences helping children. They quickly realized there wasn’t a common vision of the goal they all pursued. Problem solvers that they were, the team set out to craft a clear definition of child well-being. In the end, they agreed that child well-being is when a little one grows and develops as kids their age (and stage)

should, has what he or she needs to be a successful adult and is able to enjoy being a kid. The group went further to assert that well-being is the right of every child and it’s the community’s responsibility to create conditions for children to flourish.

These St. Louisans’ audacious claims of children’s rights and civic responsibility reach well beyond the commitments of our country, the only member of the United Nations not to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They also helpfully bind together the image of

a playful, inquisitive child with the healthy function of a community. At Deaconess, we believe a just society is essential to achieve individual and community health.

Of course, our society is not yet just.

Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “Beyond Vietnam” speech at the Riverside Church of New York. In it, he prophesied our inability to overcome the “giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism” as long as things are more important than people. With his “radical revolution of values” still incomplete, calls to place children at the center of public debate and to build public will to invest in their thriving go unanswered. Instead, wellresourced, well-positioned interests skip our children in line, accumulating things for themselves by perpetuating King’s terrible triplets.

Persistent militarism is reflected by easy access to guns, disproportionate youth contact with police and a system of mass incarceration that King could have never imagined. The extreme materialism of a select few leaves masses of parents with full-time jobs to raise children in poverty without comprehensive health care, holding out the hope of mobility through higher education while cranking up the cost and kicking the legs of public education out from under them.

Meanwhile, the internalized impact and physical trauma of structural racism shorten many of their young lives as they struggle to walk through forgotten neighborhoods with shoulders square and heads held high.

Scholarship has advanced since King’s speech. We can now speak scientifically – as well as morally – to attest that upstream social determinants, like education, income and racial discrimination, impact our kids’ health. To be clear, there are significant gaps in civic infrastructure, resources and power that inhibit the wellbeing of the 640,000 children in the St. Louis region. This reality, combined with our kids’ position at the back of the line for positive public policy causes entrenched racial disparities in nearly every social category.

Today, children are the poorest demographic of people in the nation and our region. Yet, while one in five kids live in poverty, two in five black children do. Although food insecurity is a rising challenge for everyone, a Hispanic child is twice as likely as to be malnourished than a white one.

Black and brown youth are also more likely to be sentenced to out-of-school suspensions, placing them on fast tracks to fill prison cells and the pockets of the privateers who profit from them. These racial disparities put more than our kids in jeopardy. They make our community fragile.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in 2014 there were more than 20 million children under the age of five years old living in the United States and 50.2 percent of them were people of color. More than half of the nation’s children are expected to be a part of a minority race or ethnic group within the next three years.

Under-educated, overincarcerated and malnourished children of color equate to an ignorant, imprisoned and emaciated America.

Over the last half-century, we’ve proven our inability to prioritize our children. Perhaps, now is the time to build a community that is just for kids. This is precisely what Deaconess Foundation has committed to accomplish.

Taking direction from that cadre of well-informed child advocates, we’re focusing our work on increasing our community’s commitment, civic infrastructure and power that can be deployed and leveraged for kids. We are more clear than ever, though, that we can only accomplish a vision of child well-being by taking the journey through racial equity.

We’ve spent much of the last year learning about ourselves and others, clarifying our vision and refining our strategy. Our

first lesson and commitment is that we will be “Just for Kids.” Justice has been the first stated value of Deaconess for years, and child well-being is not a new focus. But, to be “Just for Kids” means something more. First, being Just for Kids means being “only” for them. The children of metropolitan St. Louis are the moral owners of our mission. As such, we owe them an account for the real, relational and human capital placed in our care. Our real capital includes our investment portfolio, the grants and funding commitments we make from the portfolio and the Deaconess Center for Child Well-being currently under construction. In 2016, we strengthened our socially responsibly investment policy. We’ve increased investment in firms with healthy records of worker rights and environmental sustainability, divested from companies that profit from weapons, the prison industrial complex or the subjugation of people in Palestine and set goals for the participation of minority investments managers. Our funding opportunities will support community organizing and non-profit advocacy for children’s issues and include mission-related investments to increase access to capital for community development financial institutions that serve their families. The Center for Child Well-being is well on pace to surpass (and in some cases double) local goals for minority and women’s participation. Human and relational capital will follow suit. The deep resources of connection with and knowledge from the faith community (specifically the United Church of Christ), social sector partners, volunteers and staff will be aligned to advocate for our kids’ benefit. We will choose them over any other relationships, powers, influencers or interests and reject alignment with any individual, initiative or institution that does not prioritize their health, voice and flourishing. Ends do not justify means. Good grants cannot absolve extreme materialism for us any more than officer outreach can make up for departmental militarism in our communities. Building a community that is “Just for Kids” also means assuring situational fairness. For years, Deaconess Foundation has envisioned a community that values the health and well-being of all children and gives priority attention to the most vulnerable. Today, we add that this community can only exist if the allocation of power and distribution of resources, benefits, opportunities and burdens are not predictable, nor determinable by race. In short, if it is racially equitable.

To accomplish this vision, we pursue child well-being through public policy and racial equity.

In the context of a metropolitan region, getting to fairness in daily life means swimming upstream to disrupt policies that make racial disparities in our classrooms and neighborhoods possible, while offering innovative alternatives. These types of philanthropic investments have a leveraging effect, returning $115 in public benefit for each dollar provided. Deaconess’ policy agenda will result in all children enjoying access to early childhood education, just treatment under the law, comprehensive health care and family economic mobility. Perhaps our greatest tool on this journey will be the systematic application of a racial equity impact analysis to decision-making and grant making. Our staff, Board of Trustees and Community Advisory Board have all been trained in the effective use of common language, tools and communications to advance a racial equity agenda. This will take all of us. And more than us. For our accountability and our children’s sake, join us on the journey. The only healthy community is one built just for kids.

Rev. Starsky D. Wilson is president & CEO of Deaconess Foundation. Follow him at @revstarsky or @ deaconessfound.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Coltrane Stallings took a swing at the Children at the Center hosted by the Deaconess Foundation last June at Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club.

Prosecutor seeks leads in ESL ‘pay to vote’ video

Congrats are in order to Alvin Parks, who barely won the East St. Louis Township supervisor’s seat, by a mere 15 votes, in the April 4 elections. A recent scandal may have influenced Parks’ victory.

I’m speaking of two video postings on YouTube, depicting what appear to be teens riding on a party bus, during which time they are visibly filling out absentee ballots, while simultaneously indulging in the consumption of liquor and cigarettes.

Seen driving the bus while young passengers audibly joke about how cheaply they are being paid to vote is Roy Mosley Jr., a St. Clair County Board member and former ESL

Public Works director. A second video shows the same group of passengers being dropped off at ESL City Hall and voicing their frustration at not being paid.

Columnist James Ingram

Finally, referencing a man climbing into a gray SUV, several people shout, “Alvin Parks; there’s Alvin Parks….Looks like we’re not gonna get paid.”

Parks has since reviewed the video and denies having any involvement in the alleged vote-buying arrangement, the

party bus or the provision of liquor to the young passengers.

As for his presence at City Hall, Parks implies that it was a coincidence and that he was merely there to pick someone up.

Hopefully, St. Clair State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly and the authorities can solve this riddle. According to Kelly, “the videos have been received by multiple law enforcement agencies.”

Kelly asked anyone who can identify the passengers on the videos to call the corruption task force at 618-589-7353.

The identity of all callers will remain anonymous.

Email: jtingram_1960@ yahoo.com; Twitter@ JamesTIngram.

ESL middle schooler praised by state superintendent

Mason-Clark 8th grader Cynthia Taylor-Cutler, Advance Illinois Executive Director Ginger Ostro, State Superintendent Tony Smith and Ryan Smith, executive director of Education Trust-West (a California-based education advocacy organization).

Cynthia TaylorCutler addressed a legislator forum on education issues

American staff

East St. Louis District 189

seventh grader Cynthia TaylorCutler has been recognized by Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Tony Smith as an inspiration for students across the state for her role in helping map out the future of public education.

Taylor-Cutler, who attends Mason-Clark Middle School and serves as student council president, addressed the Advance Illinois Legislator Forum in Springfield, Illinois on March 14 as part of a threeperson panel, along with Smith and Carbondale High School

teacher Bill Curtain. The panel members discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the education system in Illinois.

“She was confident and wise beyond her years as she answered questions about education in front of a room full of lawmakers, educators and educational advocates,” Smith said in his weekly newsletter. He went on at length about how impressed was with the thoughtful honor student. “Thank you, Cynthia, for reminding us that feedback and insight from all of our stakeholders – including students – must inform our work.”

Taylor-Cutler told the audience at the forum that she credits the teachers of District 189 with inspiring her to become the accomplished young lady she is today. She also said she’s proud of the improvements that the East St. Louis School District has made in improving its state Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing.

But she said it’s important to for school leaders across the state to continue to question themselves about how they can do a better job of getting students ready to make the transition from middle school to high school and then on to higher education.

“How will we make sure our students and my classmates are ready and prepared and that we’re going to have teachers who are going to prepare us for that work?” she asked. “As an honor student, if I’m not getting what I need, what are the lower classes getting?”

She was asked by the audience what the best teachers she has worked with over the years have in common. She said they all taught students not just to memorize answers and repeat facts, but how to ask questions in order to find solutions for problems.

“It teaches me to ask, ‘What can I do to help myself?’” she said. “It’s not having someone stand over you. It’s learning how to figure things out.”

Romere Bearden fellowship accepting applications

The Saint Louis Art Museum is in the last few days of accepting applications for the Romare Bearden Graduate Fellowship program. This 12-month paid museum fellowship seeks outstanding individuals from backgrounds historically underrepresented in professional positions at art museums. Fellows have an opportunity to learn and hone their skills by working throughout the museum on a wide variety of projects that include research, programming, curatorial, marketing and much more. Additionally, Fellows have any an opportunity to design projects tailored to the Museum’s needs and the Fellow’s skills and interests.

According to a 2015 study by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, African Americans make up only four percent of the professional positions of museum curators, conservators, educators and leaders within American museums. This problem was the impetus for the creation of the Romare Bearden Graduate Fellowship in 1990 when Museum supporter Daniel Schlafly asked what could be done to further goals of racial desegregation in St. Louis and in museums. Today the goal of the fellowship continues to be to build a pool of talented young people of color to work in professional positions at art museums, galleries, arts orga-

nizations, and universities. The Art Museum has trained more than 23 exceptional museum professionals who are employed throughout the United States, including three at the Saint Louis Art Museum. After a nationwide search, Jennifer Doyle was selected as the 2005–2006 Romare Bearden Fellow. At the end of the Fellowship, Jennifer joined the Art Museum as an associate educator and in 2009 was promoted the manager of teacher programs and learning resources. She holds an M.A. in art history from the University of Arizona and a B.A. in art history and studio art from the Florida State University. Previously, she was the recipient of the Van Lier Foundation Internship at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and worked as an Image and Photography Researcher at Christie’s Auctioneers, New York.

Sherri Williams came to the Museum a little closer to home; she graduated from East St. Louis High School, received her B.A. from Washington University and her M.A. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in African Studies. She was the 2009–2010 Romare Bearden Fellow and at the end of the Fellowship was hired as the Museum’s coordinator of family programs. Most recently

she was promoted to manager of adult programs in charge of adult lectures, classes, SLAM Underground and the Art Hill Film Series.

Yvonne Osei is our current Romare Bearden Fellow. Originally from Ghana, Yvonne earned undergraduate degrees in International Studies and Graphic Design from Webster University and an MFA in Visual Art from the Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis. She is also a practicing artist and enjoys teaching young people. When asked what the Fellowship means to her, Yvonne commented, “I am fortunate to continue the legacy of the Romare Bearden Fellowship at the Saint Louis Art Museum. My interest in the fellowship was enforced by the pool of excellent alumni who have attained high achievements, actualized dreams and shown intellectual proficiencies in various levels of museum administration. Not only do they serve as examples worth emulating, but they also challenge me to strive for ‘impossibilities.’” For more information about this fellowship opportunity, visit www.slam.org (employment) or email renee.franklin@ slam.org. We are accepting applications through the end of April. The Fellowship assignment is from mid-July 2017 to mid-July 2018.

Sherri Williams, Yvonne Osei, Jennifer Doyle

Photo courtesy East St. Louis District 189

Healthy Kids Kids

Healthcare Careers

Smart Holiday Eating!

Here are a few Easter holiday eating tips.

> Ask your parent (or the “cook” for your Easter dinner) if you can help, and if you can prepare a healthy dish.

> Eat a healthy snack such as an apple or granola bar while waiting for the big meal. This reduces the temptation of overeating on all of the rich holiday foods.

Easter Egg Treasure Hunt

Safety In Numbers

> Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables and baked meats, avoid the super-cheesy and starchy side dishes.

> If you want a dessert, try

Ask your parents if you can create a fun, fitnessfilled egg hunt. This is how it’s done.

1. First think of 10 different fun exercises you can ask your family/friends to do. (These could include jumping jacks, push-ups, etc.)

2. On the first clue write, “This egg hunt is different than the ones you’ve done before. First do 10 jumping jacks then look by the back door.” Hand this clue to the participants.

3. Near the back door you’ll have an egg filled with a similar kind of rhyme and fitness challenge. Continue this rhyme/challenge pattern until you have filled and hidden 10 eggs.

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

Also, avoid shortcuts

just a very small slice, taking your time to really savor the yumminess.

Easter Candy Temptations — As a class, discuss ways to not overeat when there is candy all around you. Can you share with guests? Perhaps allow yourself one treat per day? What else can you do?

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

Remind your participants to leave each egg in its hidden location for the next person to find. Visit http://www.rhymezone.com for help.

4. The last egg should say something like, “Congratulations! You made it to the end. Now you get to choose a prize, my egg-hunting friend!”

5. Have a basket filled with small little prizes (tattoos, fruit, balloons, stickers, etc.). The first to arrive gets to select their prize first, and so on.

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

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

Frozen Yogurt Bark

Teresa Brandon, Executive Vice President of Clinical Operations

Where do you work? I work for Amanda Luckett Murphy Hopewell Center. Where did you go to school? I graduated from Field Kindley High School, Coffeyville, Kansas, and earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Missouri State University with a major in sociology and a minor in psychology.

What does an executive vice president do? Each day I work hard to find ways to make a difference in the lives of the individuals we service. I work with our Hopewell managers, staff, and administration to improve and expand behavioral health services for youth and adults within the North City St. Louis area.

Why did you choose this career? I believe “everything happens for a reason,” so in some ways my career chose me. I chose a career in behavioral health because I am a true advocate for helping those in need. A person’s mental health is just as important as physical health. I have been in this field over 25 years and I am just as passionate about behavioral health today as I was in my first position years ago.

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

What is your favorite part of the job you have? It has always been seeing the smile on a child’s face or starting a new program or service that will help someone feel better. I enjoy hearing the success stories, and knowing that I work for an agency and corporation that truly focuses on doing our best to meet the need.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

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 year, at no charge.

Questions or comments? Contact Cathy Sewell csewell@stlamerican.com or 314-289-5422

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

Northview Elementary School teacher Sonya Harvey

SCIENCE CORNER

What is Metabolism?

Metabolism is the process of converting the food we eat into energy through a series of chemical reactions. The thyroid gland produces hormones to determine how fast or slow this process takes place. The pancreas secretes hormones to determine the body’s metabolic activity. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate your body burns calories at rest. People with a low BMR tend to gain weight more easily. The more muscle you have, the higher your BMR rate will be. If you want to burn more calories while you sleep, you need to lose fat and add more lean muscle. Get active!

What can you do to help the process? First, choose your calories wisely. Even though a

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

In this experiment, you will use chemistry to see the different components of milk. You will turn milk into a solid.

Materials Needed:

• Skim Milk • White Vinegar • Microwave Proof Bowl

• Strainer • Measuring Cup • Measuring Spoons Procedure:

q Add 4 teaspoons of white vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of skim milk.

w Microwave the mixture for a minute.

SCIENCE STARS

African American Biochemist

William C. Davis

chocolate bar has the same number of calories as a banana with yogurt, your body processes those calories differently. Choose foods with a lot of nutrients for your calories— fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, lean protein, and whole grains. Aim for 60 to 90 minutes of activity each day to boost your metabolism. Drink plenty of water to flush wastes from your body. And finally, get plenty of sleep. This allows your body to build and repair cells.

Plastic Milk

e After a minute, the milk and vinegar will be separated into two parts, a liquid and a solid. If it has not separated, try microwaving the mixture for another 15-20 seconds.

Learning Standards: I can identify main idea and supporting details in non fiction text. I can make textto-self connections.

William Davis was born in August 1926 in Georgia. When he was 15, he moved to New York City to live with his brother. He graduated from Dwight High School in 1945, then attended New York University before going to Talladega College in Florida. Davis left college to serve as 2nd Lt. of Engineers in the Korean War. He did return to Talladega College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1956. Two years later, he earned a master’s degree in organic chemistry from Tuskegee Institute. In 1965, he earned his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Idaho. Davis has worked as a research director at Physicians Medical Laboratories. He specialized in the chemistry of food while there. He worked to improve such foods as the potato chip, instant potatoes, and soft serve ice cream. He also developed an organic glue that holds particle board together. Davis was a visiting scientist at Washington D.C.’s George Hyman Research Institute and a research associate at the University of Texas Health Science Center. Next, he worked as a chemistry professor at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas.

r Stir the milk, and the solid curds will become a “blob.”

t When you strain the liquid off, you can make the blob into one big lump.

y Let it cool off before you play with it. It feels like rubber. The protein in the curds is what makes it act like rubber. You can form the blob into shapes. If you leave it out, it will harden.

Beware: The smell is very foul! What happened? By adding the vinegar, you have created a chemical reaction that separated the milk into two parts, a solid (curds) and a liquid (whey).

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

Food and Activity Challenges

Keep a food journal for one day. Write down everything you eat and drink. At the end of the day, calculate the number of calories you consumed. What nutrients did you get? What changes do you think you should make?

As a class, keep track of your daily activity /exercise minutes. Set a goal and work to meet it. Brainstorm ideas of ways to add exercise and fun activity to your day.

Survey 20 people regarding their activity level. 1 = inactive and 10 = very physically fit. Graph the results.

DID YOU KNOW?

Bring in three food labels to class. Use them to write math problems for your classmates to solve. Trade labels and answer the questions asked.

Many fast food menus are trying to offer more nutritious choices. Use a fast food menu to showcase unhealthy vs. healthier choices. Create a poster with the amount of calories, fat, and sodium in an unhealthy meal vs. a healthier meal choice at the restaurant.

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

Processed foods, especially those with added sugar and salt, are addictive.

Davis is a member of the American Chemical Society, Health Physicist Society, Society of Nuclear Medicine, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the chair of the National Sciences Department and director of the Renewable Energy. The science building at St. Philip’s College is named in his honor, he received the Tuskegee’s Institute’s George Washington Carver fellowship, the U.S. Armed Forces Purple Heart, and he was inducted in the Texas Hall of Fame in 2000. His research has been published in the Journal of Medical Technology and the European Journal of Pharmacology. Learning Standards: I can read about an African American who has made strides in the STEM fields. I can make text-to-text connections.

Enjoy these activities that help you get to know your St. Louis American newspaper. Activities — Vowel Scavenger Hunt: out words from the newspaper and count the number of vowels and consonants in each word. Paste the words on a separate piece of paper and write the fraction of vowels for each. Reduce the fractions, if possible. For example, cat = 1/3 (1 of the 3 letters is a vowel). Newspaper = 3/9 or 1/3.

Purchasing a House: In the classified section, find a house that you would like to own. If you paid $500 a month towards the house payment, how many years would it take to buy the house?

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can identify and reduce fractions. I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve a problem.

works with students Darius Smith, Zamya Jackson, Keith Martine, and Victoria Cole on a STEM lesson using the newspaper. Northview Elementary is in the Jennings School District. Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

MAP CORNER

According to Melanie Warner, author of “Pandora’s Lunchbox,” 70% of our calories now come from processed food.

5,000 additives to be allowed in our food.

Jennings, moving past impeachment, elects new mayor in Yolanda Austin

Yolanda Austin was elected Jennings mayor on April 4. She celebrated on election night with her son Terry Wilson, who was elected Ward 2 council member.

Photo courtesy of Terry Wilson

Jennings) had two candidates each get 8 votes for one alderperson seat. Uplands Park (some 445 people just south of a short stretch of Natural Bridge Road) elected two trustees, with one clear winner at 39 votes, but two tied at 32 votes for the second seat.

make it significantly more difficult for victims of unlawful discrimination based upon their race, gender age or sexual orientation to prove their cases under the Missouri Human Rights Act.

Senate Bill 43 is sponsored by state Sen. Gary Romine, R-Farmington, who owns a company, Show-Me Rent-toOwn, that is being sued for unlawful racial discrimination under the Missouri Human Rights Act.

“This is a blatant disregard for common decorum and integrity by Senator Romine, who is attempting to change a Human Rights law on a matter that directly benefits his company,” said state Rep. Michael Butler, D-St. Louis.

In that case, what do you do.

Flip a coin?

Uh, yeah, actually, you could.

“Under Missouri law, ties can be broken by ‘the drawing of lots (coin flip usually)’ or by having a runoff election”

Fey told The American. “Since people usually won’t agree to a coin flip, runoffs usually ensue. We had to conduct two runoff elections in 2015.”

Fountain Henderson’s misfortunes as mayor began when she had Elbert Walton file a bizarre suit on her behalf, suing just about everyone in Jennings government – including herself, in the capacity of former councilwoman – in a failed bid to force a stronger mayoral system giving the mayor broader appointing powers. Without council approval, Fountain Henderson then brought aboard as a consultant Tony Weaver, who was with Walton when he ran the Northeast Ambulance and Fire District into court receivership.

Speaking of Northeast, one of the Walton gang’s old nemeses, Kris Boevingloh, lost his bid for district director, with Duane H. Moore thumping him by more than 1,700 votes and more than 40 points. Jennings’ neighbor Pine Lawn reelected Terry Epps as mayor, with three times the votes of his nearest rival,

In our reporting last week on the April 4 municipal general elections, we did not cover every election, which is, indeed, impossible in the St. Louis metropolitan area. In St. Louis County alone, there were elections in 81 municipalities, 17 school districts, 12 fire districts and a community college district. St. Louis County had 499 candidates file for 267 different offices, as well as 22 different ballot propositions. No news organization in St. Louis has adequate news staff to cover all of these elections intelligently – and that’s just St. Louis County. But there was some more news of interest in municipal elections that needs reporting. Jennings finally has a new mayor to replace the impeached Yolonda Fountain Henderson Yolanda Austin won easy (854 votes to 520) over Francine Dugger, the Ward 2 councilwoman who had been serving as mayor pro-tem. Dugger keeps her seat on the council. Joining her in representing Ward 2 is Terry Wilson, the son of Austin, who just beat Dugger for mayor. Wilson crushed Harold D. Cushshon with 91 percent of the vote, running for an open seat, as incumbent Yolonda “Yonnee” Fortson was disqualified by the Missouri Department of Revenue. Fountain Henderson tried to come back from the political dead with a run for the Ward 1 Jennings council seat but lost to incumbent Councilwoman Miranda Jones, 131 votes to 103. The council has another newcomer in Julia Roberts, who handily won the election in Ward 3 over Ted Simpson 193 votes to 73. In Ward 4, incumbent Councilwoman Carol Epps kept her seat, beating Shonte Byrd, 169 votes to 119.

Elwyn. M. Walls, 312 votes to 104. Epps was just barely elected in April 2016 by all of 4 votes (206 votes to 202) over Kellie G. Shelton, who did not run again on April 4. Epps ran first to complete the unexpired term of former Pine Lawn mayor Sylvester Caldwell whose prison term for extortion is what is now unexpired. He remains in federal prison in Talladega, Alabama with a release date set at December 20.

Flip a coin to see who wins

At least some of these places in St. Louis County, you have never heard of and will never need to hear about.

Hello, Country Life Acres, all of three streets immediate west of I-270 and south of Clayton Road, population 74. Of those,

there were 24 votes cast for three open trustee positions, which sounds like eight voters showed up at the polls. Two candidates tied for 8 votes, with another coming in just 1 vote short of forcing a three-way tie. All three were elected. That’s right: Eight voters elected three people.

Or take Champ, a bustling metropolis of 13, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, nestled in the southeast armpit of the I-270/I-70 interchange, which elected five trustees. It had a shockingly high voter turnout by percentage, with at least seven people voting, since someone got 7 votes. The other four candidates all tied for second with 6 votes. All five were elected. It’s quite possible that seven voters elected five people.

Ties are not unusual in elections where less than 10 people vote, though in these two micro-munis, enough seats were elected for the ties not to matter. Sometimes, ties do matter.

These were not the elections on April 4 where the fewest votes won. The only candidate for alderman in Ward 1 of Pacific, which has more than 7,000 residents out by Six Flags, won with only two votes.

Two votes also elected a new director of the Pacific Fire District (not the same person as the new alderman), with the only other candidate on the ballot losing with only his selfvote. Note to political hopefuls in Pacific: Don’t file unless you can line up one vote besides your own.

Then there was the open seat for Ward 2 alderperson in Velda City, some 1,400 (living) people just north of St. Peters Cemetery in North County. No one filed, but 10 people wrote in a candidate. The election authorities were still sorting that one out at press time. We won’t hold our breath any more than the denizens of St. Peters Cemetery (God bless the dead) are holding theirs.

A message was left with a number for Romine and emailed to a state Senate communications staffer requesting comment, but not no reply had been received 12 hours later.

$6 million superhero

Bruce Franks Jr. has embraced the concept of being a “superhero” (and encouraging others to embrace their own power). As the new state representative for Missouri’s 78th House District, Franks has leapt his first building in a single bound. As a freshman Democratic lawmaker from St. Louis in the Republicandominated Missouri House of Representatives, where Republicans control everything all the way down to keys to the restroom, Franks managed to restore funding for a jobs program that Gov. Eric Greitens wants to cut entirely. The amendment sponsored by Franks would put $6 million toward the state’s youth summer jobs program in St. Louis and Kansas City. “They come from the highest crime areas, who are the most at risk,” Franks told St. Louis Public Radio.

“There appears to be a tie in Flordell Hills Ward 1 and for trustee in Uplands Park,” Eric Fey, Democratic director of elections in St. Louis County, told The American. Flordell Hills (819 people just south of

Show-Me conflict of interest

This week, the Special Committee on Litigation Reform in the Missouri House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 43, which would

GOP House leaders and Franks found the money in another social services program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, which doesn’t need as much funding next year because of a drop in cases, according to St. Louis Public Radio. The funding measure still needs to make it through the Missouri Senate and the governor. There are more, taller buildings ahead that will need to be leapt over.

Beyond Housing moves headquarters to 24:1 footprint

Community development agency now based in former Normandy public school

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

n “It’s an indicator of hope. It shows good stuff is happening.”

Jeanine Watson was promoted to corporate director of Human Resources at Presbyterian Children’s Homes & Services, where she has worked since 2014. Watson earned her bachelor’s degree at Fontbonne University and her master’s degree in Human Resources Management at DeVry University. Now more than 100 years old, the social service agency offers a range of programs across Missouri for children and families in crisis.

Bernie Hayes was appointed director of the Wolff Jazz Institute at Harris-Stowe State University. His duties are to make the collection of jazz, art, videos and jazz memorabilia available to the public. He is a media professor at Webster University, founder of the National Black Radio Hall of Fame, and columnist for The St. Louis American.

Luz María Henríquez was named program director for the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” initiative at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. She serves as the William G. Guerri chair, a position funded by Thompson Coburn. She serves on the Juvenile Subcommittee of the Missouri Supreme Court’s Racial and Ethnic Fairness Commission. Most recently she was a litigation associate at Hogan Lovells in New York.

Beyond Housing has a new home. The community development organization, with an $18 million annual budget and $110

from

in the

in

in South St. Louis to a roomy former school building at 6506 Wright Way in

This places Beyond Housing in the footprint of its 24:1 initiative to collaboratively connect the 24 North County municipalities that send students to Normandy public schools. In fact, Beyond Housing is now headquartered in the former Normandy School District’s former Garfield Elementary School. Normandy elementary students moved to the newly built

– Beyond House CEO and President Chris Krehmeyer

Barack Obama Elementary School down the road in 2011, leaving the school building vacant. Beyond Housing bought it and six other Normandy school buildings, said the agency’s CEO and President Chris Krehmeyer, after the state dissolved the district to form the Normandy Schools Collaborative.

The new Beyond Housing campus consists

of the school’s original two-story building, the gymnasium, annex and a one-story preengineered metal building. The total area of the buildings is 38,996 square feet, and it took $7.5 million to make it over into office and meeting spaces, with J.P. Morgan the lead sponsor.

“It’s an indicator of hope,” Krehmeyer said of opening the new headquarters during an open house on Thursday, April 6. “It shows good stuff is happening.”

Rich Ryffel, a former Beyond Housing board chair and current board president of Normandy Schools Collaborative (NSC), pointed out that good stuff also is happening with NSC, which enrolls more than 3,500 students in preschool

Port Authority, STL County sued over Jamestown Mall

Joshua Media Ministries International claims plans to redevelop mall were thwarted

By Sandra Jordan

American

Louis

Of The St.

A lawsuit was filed in the 21st Judicial Circuit Court in St. Louis County against the St. Louis County Port Authority, its executive director Sheila Sweeney, St. Louis County, the County Council and Macy’s Retail Holdings, regarding the sale of properties at Jamestown Mall to the Port Authority.

The suit, filed on March 30 by plaintiffs Joshua Media Ministries International (JMMI), its president David E. Taylor and Michelle Brannon, claims prior to December 16, 2015, JMMI entered a purchase contract with Macy’s to buy its Jamestown store, which closed in 2014, for $1million.

The American reached out to parties involved in the dispute. The Port Authority stated it did not comment on pending lawsuits. Macy’s and JMMI did not respond.

The document states JMMI, which is based in Michigan, planned to create a religious center on the site – with further plans to redevelop the entire mall property with non-profit and other tax-exempt activities and programs. JMMI claims the county entities were against those plans, which was unbeknown to JMMI at the time. JMMI alleges it was advised to seek the support and cooperation of then Councilman Mike O’Mara regarding zoning changes. In the suit, JMMI claims O’Mara’s staff suggested legal counsel it could employ to assist with zoning changes based on its planned use, and advised

to contact the

intent to

the

Kyle R. Burton was selected as a Sheila C. Johnson Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Center for Public Leadership. He is on schedule to complete his Harvard Medical School – Harvard Kennedy School of Government MD-MPP dual-degree in 2019, after which he plans to embark on a lifelong dedication to clinical care and patient advocacy like his mentor Dr. James Whittico.

Linda Griffith was elected secretary of the Board of Directors of the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club. She has served on the board for eight years. A CPA, she is a director in the risk management group at KPMG LLP, the U.S. member firm of a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services.

Daniel L. Manzella graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland,

Jeanine Watson

Linda Griffith

Bernie Hayes

Daniel L. Manzella

Luz Maria Henriquez

Kyle R. Burton

JMMI

Port Authority regarding its

purchase

Macy’s property. The suit claims intentional interference by Sweeney to

Beyond Housing cut the ribbon on its new headquarters in the refurbished former Garfield Elementary School in Pine Law on Thursday, April 6. Left to right: Terry Wilson, annual giving manager, Beyond Housing; Tony Grandison Jr., staff for U.S. Rep, Wm. Lacy Clay; St. Louis County Councilwoman Hazel Erby; Ethel Byndom, director of the St. Louis County Office of Community Empowerment; Pine Lawn Mayor Terry Epps; Beyond Housing CEO and President Chris Krehmeyer; Jackie Hamilton, chief development officer, Beyond Housing; Scott Bush, managing director, J.P. Morgan; Rich Ryffel, Normandy Schools Collaborative board president; Ralonda Jasper, Beyond Housing board chair; Bob Cox, Beyond Housing Development Committee chair; Jacqueline Buck-Horton, community resident and volunteer.

Photo by Wiley Price

David E. Taylor, president of Joshua Media Ministries

Rental properties can make good investments, but come with risk

By Nathaniel Sillin

Maybe your financial house is in order. Your debt is manageable or paid off. You have an emergency fund and now you’re looking for ways to grow your wealth. Or, perhaps you’re planning ahead by learning about different investments options. Have you considered becoming a landlord?

Rent prices tend to rise over time, providing an inflationprotected income into your retirement years. You also might be able to cash in big later if the unit’s value increases. It doesn’t always work out that way, though. Some landlords wind up with a trashed property after evicting a tenant or lose their savings in a natural disaster. In between the extremes of easy, hands-off income and total ruin are the everyday concerns, benefits and risks that most landlords face.

separates the successful and sorrow-filled landlords? Luck certainly comes into play, but you can also take steps to get started on the right foot. Try to determine a property’s capitalization rate, the estimated annual return, before making an offer. To calculate the capitalization rate, divide the annual net income by the property’s purchase price. Your net income will be your rental income, which you can approximate based on rental prices for similar properties, minus your costs, such as maintenance, upgrades, vacancies and emergencies. You may need to consult an accountant to understand how your new tax situation can affect your costs. Cap rates tend to change depending on the area and type of property. But regardless of what’s considered “good” in your area, you can use this formula to compare different investment opportunities.

A few risks you could face as a landlord. Investment property mortgages tend to be a little more difficult and costly to secure than primary residence mortgages. It can also be harder to take cash out of investment properties – either with a cash-out refinance or a home equity line of credit. In other words, you might not have access to the money during an emergency. Owning a rental property outright can be risky as well. Especially if you’re placing a significant amount of your savings in a single investment, the lack of diversification could put you in a precarious situation. Those aren’t the only risks you could face when owning a rental.

MALL

stop the deal.

• Finding and keeping good tenants. Landlords learn from experience that it’s worth leaving their rental empty for a month or two rather than pay for an eviction or expensive repairs later. You can pay for professional tenant screening reports or credit reports and

call applicants’ references before offering a lease.

• Covering your expenses. Between taxes, insurance, repairs, maintenance and mortgage payments the monthly and one-off costs can quickly stack up. Some landlords lose money because their rental income doesn’t cover their expenses, but they won’t be able to attract tenants if they raise it. If the housing

and rental markets drop, you could be stuck losing money each month or selling the property at a loss.

• The time or cost of managing a rental property. Becoming a landlord is often far from a hands-off job. When the phone rings in the middle of the night because the roof is leaking, you’ll need to figure out how to solve the problem. You may be able to hire a

property management company to take on this work for you, but they often charge about 8 to 12 percent of your rental income or a flat monthly fee. Even with the risk involved, there are countless examples of successful landlords. Many find the experience so rewarding that they purchase additional investment properties.

Set yourself up for financial success. What

Bottom line: Many people focus on the positives of owning investment property. An extra income and potential to build equity with their tenants’ money seems too good to be true, and it just might be. If you’re going to be successful, you should acknowledge the risks that come with the territory and plan accordingly.

Nathaniel Sillin directs Visa’s financial education programs. To follow Practical Money Skills on Twitter: www. twitter.com/PracticalMoney.

“The closing of the sale was continuously and unreasonably delayed by O’Mara, Sweeney and the Port Authority’s failure to expeditiously rezone Macy’s to permit or allow the uses to which the Plaintiff JMMI intended,” the suit states. “Moreover, said delay also delayed financing of the purchase.”

After it received a letter of commitment to finance the project, JMMI said communications ceased with Sweeney, O’Mara, Macy’s and the Port Authority. The suit says sometime in September 2016, JMMI reps saw news reports that the Jamestown Macy’s had been sold to the Port Authority for one dollar. JMMI suit describes a similar outcome when it went it tried to negotiate purchase the former Dillard’s department store at Jamestown Mall. The suit alleges that Sweeney defamed them by falsely saying they did

not have the funds/financing to purchase the property, to make the property available for the Port Authority to purchase it.

continued from page B1 n The suit claims JMMI planned to create a religious center on the site –with further plans to redevelop the entire mall property with non-profit and other tax-exempt activities and programs.

In the 57-page court document, JMMI claims tortious interference by the Port Authority and by Sweeney in its expected business with Macy’s and Dillard’s, misrepresentations by the Port Authority and defamatory statements and intentional

interference by Sweeney. It seeks at least $3 million in punitive damages and other compensation. It is seeking a jury trial.

The lawsuit further alleges the Port Authority is engaging in activities beyond its district boundaries set forth by law, and seeks an injunction to halt any of its activities beyond those boundaries, including the purchase of Jamestown Mall.

It also wants the County repeal the 1978 ordinance that makes the Port Authority boundaries the same as the boundaries of St. Louis County and wants the County to enact an ordinance for port district boundaries that comply with Missouri law.

People’s earns community development award

Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers’ Project Hope - Children and Adolescent Center will receive the Public Improvement Project of the Year Award from the City of St. Louis and Community Development Administration. People’s will receive the award during a Community Development Week ceremony 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 19 at the Jewel Box in Forest Park. People’s broke ground on the new facility around this time last year and is near completion. It is designed to provide behavioral health services for urban children and their families in a dignified and respectful environment.

n “I thought winning is what this is about, period.”

– James Harden, on the NBA’s Most Valuable Player race

Track and Field noTebook

With Earl Austin Jr.

Hawks finish second at state

Hazelwood Central’s girls rolled to a secondplace finish at the Class 5 state championships in Jefferson City last season.

With several key performers returning, the Hawks are poised and ready to make another run to a team trophy, and possibly the state championship. The Hawks dominated the competition as last weekend’s Northwest Invitational, winning the meet with 156 points.

Hazelwood Central won 10 events en route to the meet championship while recording some impressive times in the process.

Deja Ingram and Brittany Johnson finished first and second in the 100meter dash. Ingram’s winning time was 11.82 seconds while Johnson was right behind at 11.92. Ingram also won the 200-meter dash in 23.81 while Danielle Frank won the 400 in 58.44.

The Hawks also swept the hurdles as Aisha Southern won the 100-meter high hurdles and Destiny Nash finished first in the 300-meter low hurdles. Central swept the sprint relays with some impressive performances. The Hawks won the 4x100-meter relay in 47.78 seconds, the 4x200 relay in 1:41.59 and the 4x400 in 3:57.11.

In the field events, Shauniece O’Neal won the shot put and discus with winning throws of 38 feet 11 inches in the shot put and 136 feet 10 in the discus. Kasandra Sanders finished first in the high jump while Taylor Ramsey was second in the long jump.

Edwardsville wins Norm Armstrong Invitational

The Edwardsville Tigers took home the team title at the very competitive Norm Armstrong Invitational at Belleville West. Defending state champion Travis Anderson won the 110-meter high hurdles in a time of 14.1 seconds. A.J. Epenesa won the discus with a throw of 187 feet 10 inches. Devonte Tincher won the long jump with an effort of 23 feet 4 ½ inches while Blake Neville won the pole vault by clearing 14-1.

Weekly Highlights

Valarie Whitted of Cardinal Ritter finished first in the 100-meter high hurdles and 300-meter low hurdles at the Skippy Keefer Relays at John

Kings of the court

Move over Oscars, for the first time in league history, the NBA will announced its individual award winners at a dedicated awards show. Though the red carpet won’t roll out in New York City until June 26, the deadline for voters is still April 14. As the regular-season comes to a close, here are In the Clutch’s picks as the NBA’s top performers of the year.

MVP: Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder My choice for the NBA MVP Award should come as no surprise. A few weeks ago, right here in In The Clutch I spelled out the reasons that Russell Westbrook was a no-brainer as the regular-season MVP. Since that article was published on stlamerican. com on March 29, Westbrook recorded triple doubles in five of the seven games he played to end the season. He also eclipsed 40 points four times during those final seven games, including a 57-point outburst against the Magic. Westbrook accumulated 42 triple doubles in this season, breaking Oscar Robertson’s historic record of 41, set in the 1961-62 season. His main competitor, James Harden, tallied 21. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 12-14 record since the All-Star Break should knock LeBron James out of the conversation. As great as Kawhi Leonard is as a twoway player, this season, his numbers just don’t add up. Runner up: James Harden Houston Rockets Rookie of the Year: Malcolm Brogdon, Milwaukee Bucks Rookie of the Year is a tough award to hand out this season as only one rookie really had a stellar season. Joel Embiid would have been a shoe-in for the award, had he not been limited to just 31

Earl Austin Jr.

Photo by Wiley Price

Joshua

and

Buchanan and

Burroughs’ Jake Bain and Derrick Miller lead the way out of the turn during

relay during

Skippy Keefer Relays at John Burroughs. MICDS boys and girls went on to win the meet.

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Black is back ‘in’ at Missouri

Heyward hot, Fowler not

No too long ago at the University of Missouri, those awful black football players supported those awful black students who were part of that awful Black Lives Matter movement. The threat to boycott a game and the resulting administrative changes led to an awfully lot of money being withdrawn by some boosters who supported Mizzou athletics. It was awful.

At about that same time, Mizzou basketball was beginning the first of two awful seasons. It was former black coach Mike Anderson’s fault for his awful decision to jump ship for his dream job at Arkansas. Then, that awful black Frank Haith left the program in shambles and under NCAA scrutiny. It just could not be coach Kim Anderson’s fault because he wasn’t an awful coach, he just inherited an awful mess and awful players and that led to an awfully lot of losses and empty seats at Mizzou Arena. It was awful.

lot to Mizzou boosters if the basketball team quickly becomes competitive and returns to the NCAA Tournament. It could help improve the school’s awful reputation it has with many black parents throughout Missouri who steer their children away from Columbia. The University of Missouri is not an awful place. Some of its students and boosters have just had an awfully hard time acknowledging that, as Harris said, it’s time for “a new generation.”

Small sample size, but…

Now, suddenly, things aren’t as awful on the campus. Black is back “in” at Mizzou.

The state can thank Cuonzo Martin and his maneuvers to hire Michael Porter Sr. as an assistant coach and sign the nation’s top-rated prep player, Michael Porter Jr. All three are awfully black. Blake Harris also was granted permission to waive his letter-of-intent to Washington after the school’s awful choice to fire Loronzo Romar. There is a chance that five-star forward Kevin Know could join them in Columbia. All three are awfully black.

A Missouri fraternity had their names on the antebellumstyle columns outside its house during last weekend’s recruiting visit and Harris told Dave Matter of the PostDispatch, Missouri students and fans gave him a welcome like no other college.

“I haven’t seen a fan base like that in my life,” he said.

“It was crazy. It was hard to walk anywhere and not get stopped every second. I’ve been on a few college campuses, but that’s never happened. That was shocking. … I know in the past (Mizzou) had a good basketball tradition even though things went bad the last couple years. But I know they used to be top team.

I guess they’re ready for a new generation.”

Harris will feel awfully discouraged if someone drops an N-word bomb on him while walking that same campus, but it’s all good for now. It would mean an awful

On May 3, 2016, PostDispatch online sports columnist Jeff Gordon began a season full of reminders that Chicago Cubs right fielder Jason Heyward, a St. Louis former Cardinal, was struggling at the plate and not living up to his mega-million-dollar free-agent deal. Gordon wrote, “It’s not easy to rain on the Chicago Cubs parade this season, since they could lock up the National League Central title by the Fourth of July. “But (I) will try put a cloud over this party. Jason Heyward just concluded an ugly 0-for-17 homestand that dropped his batting average to .211.”

In all fairness, Gordon mentioned that Heyward is known for slow starts – and his commentary came after a month of the season. A lot can happen in three weeks, but after one week Gordon could start preparing similar comments on St. Louis Cardinals free agent Dexter Fowler – former Cub. Fowler went 0-for-4 in Monday’s 14-6 loss to the Washington Nationals, dropping his average to .148 with no home runs and no RBI. Again, it’s way too early to condemn the effervescent Fowler to a season of underachievement like Heyward’s in 2016.

As for Heyward, he has adjusted his swing and it is apparently paying off for him and the Cubs.

After seven games, Heyward is hitting .292 with four RBI. He is spraying hardhit balls and line drives. It warrants a note that he still has not hit a home run, but he is for darn-sure off to a better start than last season.

As we all know, Heyward’s inspirational speech during the rain delay of World Series Game Seven helped propel the Cubs to victory over the

The state

Cleveland Indians. If he offers more offense in 2017, the Cubs will be uncatchable in the NL Central – which is probably the case regardless of his numbers.

Wizards open NBA playoffs at home

After a spirited run in the season’s second half, the Washington Wizards and St. Louis native guard Bradley Beal will open the NBA Playoffs at home with a series against the Atlanta Hawks.

With the Wizards locked in

to hire

as the No. 4 seed, John Wall and Otto Porter Jr., were given the night off on Monday as Beal led his team to a 105101 victory over the Detroit Pistons in the final game played at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

“I just wanted to get a good flow, good rhythm before the playoffs. Great game.

Especially their last game here, it’s historical,” Beal told the Washington Post.

“Coach kind of wanted to ruin (the) going-away party, so he threw me back out there to close it out.”

as an assistant coach and sign the

The Wizards were in control most of the game, but the Pistons clawed back to within two points late in the game. Coach Scott Brooks returned Beal to the floor, and to the chagrin of a Pistons fan heckling the Wizards bench, he put the game out of reach with a flurry of points – including an emphatic dunk. When he returned to the bench he pointed at the fan and said, “all for you!”

Oh, I love it! I love that,” Beal said.

“That’s part of the game.

That’s fun. Every bucket is for whoever is talking. Every bucket is for the man in the stands.” Beal is averaging 23.1 points and 3.5 assists per game, both career highs, as the Wizards head into the playoffs.

Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows, including Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box” on KFNS. His Twitter handle is @aareid1.

Jade Lawson

Lindenwood-Belleville – Women’s Lacrosse

The senior midfielder from Oakland, CA enjoyed a pair of big offensive performances as the Lynx split their two games last week. Lawson recorded back-to-back hat tricks last week against Marian University and Ava Maria. Her three goals led the Lynx to an 8-6 victory over Marian. Lawson came back to score three more goals in the loss to Ava Maria. For the season, Lawson has a total of 13 goals to lead the Lynx in scoring. As a junior in 2016, Lawson was also the team leader in scoring with 20 goals.

Dion Herron

Harris Stowe – Baseball

The senior left hander from Kansas City pitched the Hornets to a couple a victories against American Midwest Conference opponents last week. Lawson pitched eight innings in relief in the Hornets’ 3-2 victory over Lindenwood-Belleville. He gave up only one run and five hits while recording eight striketouts. Lawson also pitched seven innings in the Hornets’ 8-6 victory over Williams Woods, giving up five runs. Herron has compiled a 5-0 record this season for the Hornets. Harris-Stowe is currently 23-13 on the season.

Alvin A. Reid

can thank Cuonzo Martin and his maneuvers

Michael Porter Sr.

nation’s top-rated prep player, Michael Porter Jr. All three are awfully black.

St. Louis American Girls Fab Five

Lauryn Miller, Jayla Everett, Sonya Morris, Aijha Blackwell and Jadyn Pimentel

By Earl Austin Jr.

Of The St. Louis American

The members of the 2017 St. Louis American Girls Fab Five All-Star First Team are all familiar with winning championships of some kind this season.

Teammates Lauryn Miller and Jayla Everett of Kirkwood led the Pioneers to their first ever state championship in girls’ basketball. Sonya Morris of Incarnate Word led the Red Knights to the winner’s circle once again in Class 4. Aijha Blackwell led Whitfield to the school’s first ever appearance in a state-championship game.

Jadyn Pimentel of Parkway North led the Vikings to a district championship and a second consecutive appearance in the state quarterfinals. It’s plain and simple. Not only are these young ladies tremendous basketball players, but they are winners. Here is a look at the members of the St. Louis American Fab Five Girls AllStar First Team:

Aijha Blackwell (Whitfield): The 6’0” sophomore forward stuffed the stat sheet on a nightly basis in leading the Warriors to a second-place finish in the Class 3 state tournament. The versatile youngster averaged 20.5 points, 10.9 rebounds, three assists and two steals a game. She also blocked 51 shots. Blackwell is already on the recruiting radar of several top Division I programs.

Jayla Everett (Kirkwood): The 5’10” junior guard was a major cog in the Pioneers drive to their first state championship. While

teammate Lauryn Miller held it down in the low post, Everett was a force on the perimeter with her ball handling, passing and shooting. She averaged 17 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.3 steals for the Class 5 state champions.

Lauryn Miller (Kirkwood): The 2017 St. Louis American Player of the Year, the 6’2” Miller ended her brilliant career by leading the Pioneers to the Class 5 state championship. Miller was a dominant force in the low post, but she also had a versatile skill set which enabled her to go score on the drive and knock down 3-pointers. As a senior, Miller averaged 18.3 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks while shooting 52 percent from the field. Miller will play collegiate basketball

at UCLA next season.

Sonya Morris (Incarnate Word): The 5’8” junior guard returned the Red Knights to state championship glory as IWA dominated the field in winning the Class 4 title. A talented combo guard, Morris could score, handle the ball and play excellent defense. She averaged 15 points, three rebounds and two steals a game while shooting 42 percent from 3-point range. She will return as one of the top guards in the state next season.

Jadyn Pimentel (Parkway North): The 5’3” senior guard is one of the most fierce competitors in the state, the diminutive baller concluded a stellar career at Parkway North by leading the Vikings to the Class 4 state quarterfinals.

off-bound Bucks. While Saric is a liability on defense for the 76ers, Brogdon is a bright spot for the Bucks.

Runner up: Dario Saric Philadelphia 76ers

Defensive Player of the Year: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors Out of the NBA’s steals leaders, 14 out of the top 15 players are either point guards or small forwards. The exception? Warriors power forward Draymond, who tops the list. Green and perhaps the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only two players in the league who can guard every position on the court competently. With all due respects to Antetokoumpo, he’s nowhere near Green’s league as a defender (yet). Green is as disruptive as a defender as there is in the league. The versatility is what (slightly) sets him apart from Leonard and the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Golbert, the league’s other two premier defenders. Furthermore, Green has a penchant for coming up with steals or blocks at critical times in the game and is the reason the Warriors didn’t falter after Kevin Durant went down with his injury.

Runner up: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

Sixth Man of the Year: Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies

Zach Randolph could’ve sulked and pouted after being benched in favor of JaMychal Green this season. However, the Memphis fan-favorite and 15-year vet went out and did what he always does. He produced.

Randolph averaged 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in just 24.5 minutes per game for the Grizzzlies. The league’s runaway favorite, Eric Gordon of the Houston

PREP

Continued from B3 Burroughs.

Sophomore Lance Long of McCluer North won the 100, 400 and ran a leg on the Stars’ first-place 4x200 at the Timberland Wolfpack Invitational.

Sophomore Jade Moore won the 100 and 400 at the Timberland Wolfpack Invitatonal.

On tap this week

The two-day Henle Holmes Invitational will be held at Parkway Central. The Fort Zumwalt East Relays will be held on Friday, beginning at 4 p.m.

Rockets, needed 31.0 minutes per game (typical minutes for a starter) to put up 16.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Sure, the Rockets have the better record, but Randolph was more important to the Grizzlies’ success. Without him, the Grizz would be watching the playoffs from home.

Runner up: Eric Gordon Houston Rockets

Most Improved Player: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks If it weren’t for the absolutely ridiculous seasons by Westbrook and Harden, Antetokounmpo would be getting buzz as a possible MVP contender. The ‘Greek Freak’ averaged 23.1 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.9 blocks per game. With those numbers, he joined James, Dave Cowens Scottie Pippen and Kevin Garnett

as just the fifth player in NBA history to lead his team in all five major statistical categories in a season.

In how many of those categories did Antetokoumpo lead the Bucks last season? Zero.

He also helped lead the Bucks to the playoffs despite missing Khris Middleton for the first half of the season and Jabari Parker for the second half. Now he hopes to lead the Bucks out of the first-round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

Runner up: Harrison Barnes, Dallas Mavericks

Coach of the Year: Mike D’Antoni, Houston Rockets

Mike D’Antoni inherited a talented-but-underachieving team that was going through a lot of turmoil. Last season, the Rockets finished .500 and just snuck into the playoffs with the #8. Dwight Howard was on

Pimentel made it happen in all facets of the game. As a senior, she averaged 13.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.9 steals a game. She also blocked 21 shots.

Pimentel will play collegiate basketball at Lamar next season.

St. Louis American Fab Five Girls All-Star Teams

First Team Aijha Blackwell 6’0” Whitfield (Soph) Jayla Everett 5’10” Kirkwood (Jr.) Lauryn Miller 6’2” Kirkwood (Sr.) Sonya Morris 5’8” Incarnate Word (Jr.) Jadyn Pimentel 5’3” Parkway North (Sr.)

Second Team Leketor

his way out and nobody knew how good, or bad, the Rockets would be in the 2016-17 season.

The Rockets managed to take the league by storm as D’Antoni’s “Seven Seconds or Less” offense meshed well with his superstar guard’s skillset. The results have been incredible. Harden has had a spectacular season, averaging 29.1 points, 11.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game. Those numbers would’ve likely earned him a unanimous MVP Award in any season except this one. Furthermore, those 41-41 Rockets will finish the season with at least 54 wins this season and a #3 seed in the mighty west, behind the juggernaut Warriors and Spurs.

Unlike the Spurs, Warriors and Cavaliers, the Rockets don’t have any bona fide superstars playing behind Harden. However, D’Antoni has maximized the production of guys like Eric Gordon Ryan Anderson and Trevor Ariza. The Rockets’ 115.2 points per game is second in the league behind the Warriors.

Runner up: Brad Stevens Boston Celtics

Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk

D.J. Stewart

Most Improved Player Giannis Antetokoumpo led his team in all five major statistical categories this season. He is just the fifth player to achieve that feat in the history of the NBA.

May 12 deadline to apply for $100K in seed capital

Ameren, University of Missouri launch Ameren Accelerator

American staff

Ameren Corporation

launched the Ameren Accelerator, a public-private partnership with the University of Missouri System, UMSL Accelerate and Capital Innovators, that will assess, mentor and invest in energy technology startup companies.

Five to seven startup companies are expected to be chosen, and each will receive $100,000 in seed capital to participate in the Ameren Accelerator program, which will be located in Cortex, St. Louis’ innovation and technology district. The selected startup

HOUSING

continued from page B1 through grade 12. Voters approved a $23 million bond issue for school funding on the April 4 ballot.

“These are long battles we are fighting, and we can’t know whether or not we will win,” Ryffel said at the open house, “but if we quit we are giving up on kids.”

Jacqueline Buck-Horton, an assistant vice president in the Legal Department at Citi Mortgage, is an alumna of Garfield Elementary who also became a parent in the district. She remembered learning to play kickball on the playground that is now the walk-up to Beyond Housing. On the stage where she and others made remarks at the open house, she once

companies also will each receive intensive mentoring, technical assistance, facilities and networking connections from the Ameren Accelerator partners.

In July, the selected startup companies will receive seed funding and handson support throughout the 12-week program. Senior-level executives from a variety of companies will provide mentorship. Subject matter experts in the areas of energy, sales, marketing, pricing, technical development, operations, talent development and finance will also provide guidance. Based out of the CIC@4240 Building in

performed in a Christmas program. She embodied the “hope” described by Krehmeyer that a building where community children once were educated will not be left abandoned, but rather become a base for community development.

Krehmeyer – and a staff of 140 people, all eager to have an off-street parking spot and ample private places to meet with clients – celebrated the new space and showed it off in tours. But Krehmeyer reminded everyone that it was a celebration of their work “and, really, of the community.”

The building tour provided a good snapshot of Beyond Housing’s wide scope of work.

Benetta Ward, who works with Normandy schools as a wellness coordinator, was set up in a desk just down from “Doug the forester,” as

n “This forward-thinking initiative is expected to draw innovators, entrepreneurs and business startups from around the world to St. Louis.”

– Warner Baxter, chairman, president and CEO of Ameren

Cortex, participants will be able to network with likeminded individuals focused on innovative thinking and collaboration.

At the conclusion of the program, participants will be invited to showcase their efforts to both the mentoring teams and potential third-party

Doug Seely was introduced. Ward works on problems like childhood obesity, and Seely makes the community more beautiful and engages citizens with nature. The Missouri Department of Conservation recently recognized Beyond Housing for its work planting trees. “I pinch myself when I help here to make sure this is real,” said Daniel Moncheski, an amazed community forester with the state.

There are, as one would expect of an agency called “Beyond Housing,” many specialists engaged in helping people to find housing and stay in their homes. Beyond Housing has 458 rental houses and apartments available for low-income families and seniors in the 24:1 footprint and across St. Louis County. It also sells homes through its unique 24:1 Community Land Trust (CLT), which retains the

investors during Accelerator Demo Day this October. Ameren may select the most promising projects for ongoing mentoring and engagement beyond the Accelerator program.

Warner Baxter, chairman, president and CEO of Ameren Corporation, said the program

title to the land and guarantees a home buyer that it will buy back the home if the owner decides to sell. Brian Krueger, a project manager with CLT, said they have 41 new units of fresh construction in Pine Lawn, 31 for rent and 10 for sale. In August, he said, they will break ground on 41 new homes to rent.

Gloria Brainsby, a financial empowerment specialist with Beyond Housing, said they have taught more than 1,000 people about buying homes, counseled more than 5,000 people and help more than 200 people achieve ownership annually.

“We help people not only achieve homeownership, but maintain it,” Brainsby said. “We are trying to stabilize communities, not only in the 24:1 footprint but in the broader area.” She then added of Krehmeyer: “Of course,

is a key component of Ameren’s focus on innovative technologies to make the energy grid smarter, more reliable, resilient, and secure while also transforming how customers manage and use energy.

“As new energy technologies rapidly advance, it is critical that we take bold steps today to better position Ameren to meet our customers’ future energy needs and expectations,” Baxter said.

“This forward-thinking initiative is expected to draw innovators, entrepreneurs and business startups from around the world to St. Louis and to provide us with important

Chris always wants us to do lots here,” in the 24:1 footprint.

The 24:1 initiative, nurturing partnership between 24 of St. Louis County’s 90 municipalities, is a striking collaboration in a woefully fragmented region, and Krehmeyer orchestrated it before regional fragmentation came under intense scrutiny following the Ferguson unrest. Krehmeyer said that Beyond Housing has raised and invested more than $100 million in the 24:1 Community. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded the initiative its 2016 Culture of Health Prize.

Beyond Housing also was ahead of the regional curve on the importance of child college savings accounts, which was one of the Ferguson Commission’s recommendations for racial equity. At the open house,

insights and technologies to deliver long-term value to our customers and the communities we serve. At the same time, this initiative will enhance St. Louis’ already robust innovation and entrepreneurship community, attract top-level talent, educate university students and create jobs.” Applications will be accepted from interested entrepreneurs and energy technology companies through May 12. To apply or to learn more about Ameren Accelerator, visit amerenaccelerator.com.

Krehmeyer noted that 1,400 children in Normandy schools have college savings accounts through their program. Going to work in the heart of the community where much of Beyond Housing’s mission is targeted is sure to have intangible impacts on staff and community. Bob Cox, a retired Emerson executive, serves on the Beyond Housing board and chairs its development committee. As such, the much more tangible bottom line is his primary responsibility. Having all Beyond Housing employees under one roof, he said, will be “a great improvement in efficiency and in our ability to serve clients.”

But a development committee chair’s work is never done. Cox reminded open house visitors, “There are still funds to raise.” For more information, visit http://www.beyondhousing.org.

Living It

Chris

Hayes dissects white fear in ‘A Colony in a Nation’

By Dawn Suggs Guest columnist

Chris Hayes’ new book “A Colony in a Nation” was largely inspired by what the MSNBC journalist experienced in Ferguson when he reported on Michael Brown Jr.’s police killing and the movement it propelled. It’s his response to Ferguson and a protest of the ways in which counties and cities police African Americans and occupy black neighborhoods.

“A Colony in a Nation” is a phrase Hayes borrows from a 1968 convention speech given by then-candidate Richard Nixon. In an effort to broaden his appeal to African Americans while inveighing against government programs, Nixon urged, “They don’t want to be a colony in a nation.” Hayes uses the term as a concept for delineating contemporary American life in the nation, which is predominantly white, from the colony, which is primarily black and brown.

“In the Nation, there is law; in the Colony, there is only a concern with order,” Hayes writes. “In the Nation, you have rights; in the Colony, you have commands. In the Nation, you are innocent until proven guilty; in the Colony, you are born guilty.”

The injustice of being

“born guilty” is one of the most poignant insights of Hayes’ book. As a white American man who experienced racial hostility as a child, he recognizes that “childhood innocence” has a shorter lifespan for African Americans. Mistakes, minor infractions and rowdy behavior that can be brushed off when you’re a white teenager – as partying after a game or acting out as a college student – continue to have different ramifications and sometimes deadly consequences for African-American youth. Hayes is concerned with two distinct impulses: the American impulse to punish, and white fear that supports politicians and the criminal justice system in maintaining the occupation of the Colony. (There is no comparable analyses of gender, sexuality,

Remembering Redd Darius

Bradford bringing big laughs to The Pageant in honor of a legend

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“Comedy is turning a new page again,” said Darius Bradford. “And we have a whole new generation of trying to come up in the game from right here who really don’t know the history.”

Bradford has been representing St. Louis on the standup scene locally and nationally for more than twenty years. When he takes the stage on Sunday at the Pageant, he hopes to hip the crowd – including rising comics – to our city’s hand in laying the foundation for urban comedy as we know it.

of the event’s namesake.

“When you listened to the comedy of Redd Foxx, you heard the beat of St. Louis in him –the language and everything,” Bradford said. “It’s something really inspiring about having proof that someone who is from where you’re from can make it.”

He hopes that through the show, audiences remember Foxx for an entertainment pioneer that he was.

“He was the Chuck Berry of grown folk’s comedy,” Bradford said. “I’m not just talking about in St. Louis. He changed the game of com-

A farewell fit for a rock and roll king

Life of music legend Chuck Berry celebrated at The Pageant

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

By 6 a.m. Sunday, April 9, fans had already begun to line up around the Pageant to pay their final respects to rock and roll’s original architect, Chuck Berry, who passed away in his St. Louisarea home on March 18 at age 90. They still had two more hours before the general public was allowed to walk through for a viewing before his Celebration of Life began at noon.

Once they were ushered in, many wept as though he were a family member or the closest of friends. After they exited, many immediately returned to another line that formed for one of the limited seats that became open to the public to attend his service. Berry was the patriarch of rock and roll. Everyone who stepped foot in the venue to say one last goodbye already knew as much, but the scene served as a final reminder.

n “When the Civil Rights Movement was awakening the nation to the struggle for justice and equality, Chuck used his music to break down the color barrier in popular culture.”

– U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay

The backdrop onstage was a larger-than-life image of Berry with sweat dripping from his hair and face as he riffed on a guitar strikingly similar to the one that was placed inside his casket.

A guitar-shaped floral arrangement from The Rolling Stones was placed immediately to the left of him.

“Thank you for the inspiration,” the card attached to the arrangement read. Variations of their words were reiterated over and over during the service – which carried on for more than four hours.

“Chuck Berry gave me a purpose in life,” his protégé Billy Peek said as he stood before a capacity crowd of mourners. “Chuck was a man

who loved his family, he loved his music and he loved St. Louis. He was my idol; he was my mentor and most of all he was my friend.”

Gene Simmons, front man of KISS, never met Berry. But he left an impression that had Simmons visibly emotional as he talked about how hearing Berry’s music for the first time was a defining moment in his life. He was an 8 yearold boy who had recently arrived in the United States from Israel. He didn’t speak English well, but he was forever changed when Chuck Berry’s music blasted through the speakers at his childhood home.

“My body started moving like I was in a Baptist church,” Simmons said. “He changed more little white boys’ and white girls’ lives than all the politicians with their big talk and stuff, just by grabbing hold of them and making them move like this.”

Simmons’ sentiments were echoed by many, including U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis).

“He combined his artistic genius with his enormous personal courage to help bring down the barriers of race, intolerance and bigotry in this country through his music,” Clay said. “At the same time that the Civil Rights Movement

See BERRY, C4

Not even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a tight black muscle shirt and otherworldly explosive special effects are enough to keep “Fast and Furious” fans from realizing the latest installment from the hit franchise is

Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Darius Bradford hopes that through the show “Laughin’ in the Loop: A Tribute to Redd Foxx,” audiences remember Foxx for an entertainment pioneer that he was.

Guest Columnist

Dawn Suggs

Charles Berry Jr. at the statue of his father.

How to place a calendar listing

1. Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican. com OR

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

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

concerts

Sat., Apr. 15, MJP welcomes Emily King, The Ready Room. For more information, visit www.thereadyroom.com.

Thurs., Apr. 20, 8 p.m. The Ready Room welcomes Leela James and Daley. For more information, visit www. thereadyroom.com

Sun., Apr. 23, 4 p.m., Soulful Sundays with Skeet Rodgers and the Inner City Blues Band. 615 Washington Ave., 63101.

Sun., Apr. 23, 6:30 p.m., Family Arena presents The Beach Boys & The Temptations. 2002 Arena Parkway, 63303. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sat., Apr. 29, 7:30 p.m., Memory Lane Concert feat. The Stylistics. Harris Stowe State University, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 4967751.

Fri., May 5, 8 p.m., Steve Litman presents Trey Songz, The Pageant. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Sun., May 14, 7:30 p.m., Mother’s Day Music Festival starring Anthony Hamilton and Joe, Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www.

ticketmaster.com.

Sun., May 14, 8 p.m., Chance The Rapper, Scottrade Center. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Wed., May 17, 8 p.m., The Pageant welcomes Travi$ Scott, The Pageant. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Fri., May 19, 8 p.m. doors, T.I.’s ‘The Hustle Gang’ Tour, Pops. For more information, visit www. ticketweb.com.

local gigs

Fri., Apr. 14, 5 p.m., National Blues Museum presents Howlin’ Friday with Jeremiah Johnson. 615 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, call (314) 925-0016 or visit www. nationalbluesmuseum.org.

Sun., Apr. 16, 12 p.m., America’s Greatest Composer: Duke Ellington. Gateway Arch Experience. For more information, visit www. gatewayarch.com.

Apr. 21 - 22, 8 p.m., Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival. Fri: Tribute to Louis Armstrong – feat. Wycliffe Gordon & Terell Stafford. Sat: Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie – feat. Jon Faddis and Friends with the UMSL Jazz Ensemble. Blanche M. Touhill

The Ready Room welcomes Emily

See CONCERTS for additional details.

Featured Event

Sun., Apr. 23, 6:30 p.m., Family Arena presents The Beach Boys & The Temptations. 2002 Arena Parkway, 63303. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Performing Arts Center, UMSL, 1 University Blvd., 63121. For more information, visit www.touhill.org.

Sun., Apr. 23, 6 p.m., Chuck: Up Close and Personal starring Chuck Flowers with special guests Sylvia Herron,

Street Artist Community 2701 N. 14th St., 63107. For more information, visit www. stlfreejazz.com.

Apr. 28 – 29, Lumiere Place presents Fabulous Motown Revue. 999 N. 2nd St., 63102. For more information, call (314) 881-7777 or visit www. ticketmaster.com.

May 9, 7:15 p.m., The Bach Society of St. Louis presents Bach at the Bistro, Ferring Jazz Bistro, 3536 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103. For tickets, or more information, call 314-652- BACH or visit BACHSOCIETY.ORG.

special events

Sat., Apr. 15, 6:30 a.m., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Edwardsville Collinsville Chapter presents Kappa 5K Run/Walk. All proceeds will be used to support the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and their Kappa Alpha Psi Guide Right mentoring Program. SIUE, North University Dr., 62025. For more information, visit www.ecnupes.com.

Sat., Apr. 15, 9 a.m., Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis invites you to Easter Egg Hunt with HOT 104.1 Egg hunt, prizes, and pictures with the Easter Bunny. City Garden Park, 801 Market St., 63101. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Leland Crenshaw, Bob DeBoo and Donald Williams, BB’s Jazz, Soups and Blues, 700 S. Broadway. For more information, visit www. artistcard.com/cflowers.

Fri., Apr. 28, 7:30 p.m., STL Free Jazz Collective. 14th

Sat., Apr. 15, 11 a.m., The Katherine Dunham Center for Arts & Humanities Easter Egg Hunt. Join us for face painting, games and prizes, arts and crafts, entertainment, and more. 1005 Pennsylvania Ave., East St. Louis, IL. 62201. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Apr. 15, 6 p.m., A Queen & Her Prince, A King & His Princess: MotherSon, Father-Daughter Gala. A night of dinner, dancing, prizes and just an all around good time celebrating with our children. Center of Clayton, 50 Gay Ave., 63105. For more information, call (314) 4800311.

Thur., Apr. 20, 10 a.m., The Glennon Guild invites you to Glennon Style. Please join us for our annual fashion show, silent auction, boutique and luncheon. Chase Park Plaza, 212 N. Kingshighway, 63108. For more information, visit www.glennon.org/ glennonstyle.

Apr. 21 – 23, Washington University in St. Louis presents Thurtene Carnival. 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, call (650) 452-4067 or visit www. thurtene.org.

Sat., Apr. 22, 6 p.m., The Center for Women in Transition invites you to Beautiful Transformations Gala and Auction. The center helps provide safe housing, treatment, financial stability, and support systems to fight recidivism. The Grand Hall on Chouteau, 2319 Chouteau Ave., 63103. For more information, call (618) 6550425 or visit www.cwitstl.org.

Sat., Apr. 22, 7 p.m., Opera Tastings at the Omega Center. Get the perfect introduction to opera with this culinary concert experience. Delight all of your senses as music from across the history of opera is paired with delicious food and drink crafted specially by Chef Jack and Mixologist Misha Sampson. 3900 Goodfellow Blvd.,63120. For more information, call (314) 9634296.

Sun., Apr. 23, 9 a.m., APA’s Fast & the Furriest. It’s time to lace up for our 5K run or

King.

1-mile walk. We’re upping the ante and taking this race to the Hollywood Casino. 777 Casino Center Dr., 63043. For more information, call (314) 6454610 or visit www.raceroster. com.

Mon., Apr. 24, 6 p.m., St. Louis Visionary Awards. Grammy Award-winning soprano Christine Brewer and St. Louis star Linda Kennedy will perform. The Sun Theater, 3625 Grandel Square, 63108. For more information, call (314) 584-6068 or visit www. vizawards.org.

Fri., Apr. 28, 11 a.m., St. Louis American Foundation’s 17th Annual Salute To Excellence in Healthcare, Frontenac Hilton. For more information, call (314) 533-8000 or visit www. stlamerican.com.

Sat., Apr. 29, 10 a.m., Jazz/ Blues Brunch And Silent Auction. Double Tree Hotel, 1973 Craigshire Rd., 63146. For more information, call (314) 313-5609 or visit www. stlouiscelebrityceniors.org.

Sat., Apr. 29, 7 p.m., Pazazz Performers hosts the Seventh Annual Drea’s Dream Gala. Come early to browse our silent auction, wine pull and more. Drea’s Dream, a dance therapy and expressive movement program for children with cancer and special needs. Edison Theatre, Washington University, 6465 Forsyth Blvd., 63105. For more information, visit www. pazazzperformers.com.

Sun., Apr. 30, 12 p.m., Gateway Classic Cars and Kaskaskia Corvette Club present the Cruise for St. Judes Car Show. The Weingarten, 1780 IL – 15, Belleville, IL. 62221. For more information, call (618) 5899952 or visit www.fundraising. stjude.org.

comedy

Sun., Apr. 16, 7 p.m., The Pageant presents Laughing in the Loop: A Tribute to Red Foxx with Darius Bradford 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, call (314) 726-6161 or visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Sun., Apr. 16, 8 p.m., Helium Comedy Club presents Ryan Davis. 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117. For more information, call (314) 7271260 or visit www.st-louis. heliumcomedy.com.

Fri., Apr. 21, 8 p.m., Festival of Laughs tour with Mike Epps,Bruce Bruce, Rickey Smiley and Felipe Esparza, Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

literary

Wed., Apr. 19, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books and Maryville Talks Books hosts former St. Louis Cardinal Rick Ankiel, author of The Phenomenon Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd., 63117. For more information, call (314) 367-6731 or visit www.leftbank.com.

Mon., Apr. 24, 6:30 p.m., St. Louis County Library presents Blackout Poetry Indian Trails Branch, 8400 Delport Dr., 63114. For more information, call (314) 9943300 or visit www.slcl.org.

Mon., Apr. 24, 7 p.m., And the Kitchen Sink Event Series presents author and motivational speaker Jen Sincero, author of You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth UMSL at Grand Center, 3651 Olive St., 63108. For more information, visit www.leftbank.com.

Tues., Apr. 25, 7 p.m., John Burroughs High School hosts author Julie LythcottHaims, author of How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success 755 S. Price Rd., 63124. For more information, visit www. laduefoundation.org.

Sun., Apr. 30, 7:30 p.m., Poetic Justice Open Mic feat. Tebe Zalango. 2720 Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

art

Through May 15, 6 p.m., Painting textures in watercolor, Art Unleashed, 13379 Olive, Chesterfield. For more information, contact www.artunleashed.org or call (314) 628-1024.

Through May 14, COCA presents Harlem Renaissance: Contemporary Response. Exhibition featuring works by emerging or young artists inspired by artists associated with the Harlem Renaissance. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www.cocastl. org.

Through May 20, Gallery 210 and Kranzberg Art Center present Taking it to the Streets: Grand Center. The artists featured in the exhibit address the stubborn problems of race, social injustice, and the politics of gender and sexuality using a wide variety of media. 501 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. kranzbergartscenter.org.

lectures and workshops

Thur., Apr. 13, 9 a.m., COCAbiz: Speak the Speech. Work with an actor to build

confidence, develop authentic presence, and manage nerves through breath, posture, and gesture exercises. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, call (314) 5614877 or visit www.cocastl.org.

Tues., Apr. 18, 7:30 p.m., Missouri History Museum presents What Figurines Can Tell Us: A Life of Traders and Enslavement on the Island of Jaina, Mexico. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Tues., Apr. 18, 6 p.m., Small Business Empowerment Center presents Looks Like Me Mentoring Program Meet and Greet. Become a part of the solution to increase the capacity of minority business owners, discuss what’s needed for minority business owners to succeed, and more. 2700 N. 14th St., 63106. For more information or to register, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Wed., Apr. 19, 7 p.m., The Happiness & Well-Being Project presents For the Sake of All: Translating Evidence into Health and Well-Being. Jason Purnell will discuss his research, which focuses on how socioeconomic and sociocultural factors influence health behaviors. Il Monastero, SLU, 3050 Olive St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 977-3159 or visit www. happinessandwellbeing.org.

Wed., Apr. 19, 7 p.m.,

Washington University presents the Henry Hampton Film Series with guest speaker Jon Else. The event includes a discussion of Else’s new book, True South: Henry Hampton and ‘Eyes on the Prize,’ a screening of an “Eyes on the Prize” episode and a look at previously unavailable excerpts of the series. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, call (314) 935-5495.

Thur., Apr. 20, 1 p.m., St. Louis County Library presents Job Seeker Series: Resume and Online Applications. 7606 Natural Bridge Rd., 63121. For more information or to register, call 994-3300 or visit www.slcl. org.

Sat., Apr. 22, 10 a.m., Forum: African/AfricanAmerican Relations in St. Louis. Come out to discuss our history as black people and our shared pain as well as to problem-solve and find ways to work together as a minority group to enhance our development. St. Louis University Center for Global Citizenship, 3672 W. Pine Mall Blvd., 63108.

Apr. 22, 12 noon, Public Town Hall Meeting with Representative Steven Roberts, St. Louis Public Library - Julia Davis Branch, 4415 Natural Bridge Ave., St. Louis, MO 63115. For further information, contact Representative Robert’s office at 573-751-1400.

Wednesdays Through Apr. 26, 7 p.m. The Missouri Bar Association invites you to the Spring 2017 Mini Law School for the Public

A six-week series covering various legal topics including The First Amendment, Hate Crimes, and more. St. Louis County Council Campus, 41 S. Central, 63105. For more information, call (866) 366-0270 or visit www. missourilawyershelp.org/minilaw-school.

theatre

Apr. 20 – 23, Ignite Theatre Company presents Willy Wonka Jr..Zack, 3224 Locust St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 533-0367 or visit www. ignitewithus.com.

Apr. 21 – 22, 6:30 p.m., Next Generation Theatre Company presents Night and Day: The Music of Cole Porter. Florissant Civic Center, 1 James J. Eagan Dr., 63033. For more information, call (636) 336-2599 or visit www.nextgenerationtheatre. company.

Apr. 21 – 30, UMSL Theatre and Cinema Arts presents My Country: A Devised Work. Delve into how we view our country as citizens of different races, creeds, religions, etc. 501 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.kranzbergartscenter.org.

Through Apr. 23, The Black Rep presents August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, Harris-Stowe State University’s Emerson Performance Center. For tickets or more information, call (314) 534-3810 or visit www.theblackrep.org.

health

Sat., Apr. 15, 6:30 a.m., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Edwardsville Collinsville Chapter presents Kappa 5K Run/Walk. All proceeds will be used to support the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and their Kappa Alpha Psi Guide Right mentoring Program. SIUE, North University Dr., 62025. For more information, visit www.ecnupes.com.

Sat., Apr. 29, 8:30 a.m., 2017 St. Louis Kidney Walk. Featuring Blackdog and the Rainmakers. St. Louis University, 3338 Olive St., 63103. For more information or to register, visit www. donate.kidney.org.

Sat., May 6, 9 a.m., Gateway Hemophilia Association presents Hemophilia Walk/5K. Forest Park, 1 Government Dr., 63110. For more information, call (314) 482-5973 or visit www. hemophiliawalk.donordrive. com.

Sat., May 6, 9 a.m., St. Louis HELP Medical Equipment Donation Drive. We accept tax-deductible donations of manual and power wheelchairs, shower chairs, canes/crutches/ walkers, grab bars, lift chairs, and more. For more information, call (314) 5674700 or visit www.stlhelp.org.

Sat., May 6, 12:30 p.m., Slaying Dragons’ Young Actors Theatre presents Losing Hope. A play focusing on depression and suicide within our youth. A mental health expert will do a Q & A following the performance. 829 N. Hanley, 63130. For more information, call (314) 596-1219 or visit www. slayingdragons.org.

Fri., May 11, 8 a.m., Project AWARE Youth Mental Health First Aid Training. Behavioral Health Response, 12647 Olive Blvd., Ste. 200, 63141. For more information or to register, call (314) 628-6229 or visit www.bhrstl.org.

Fri., Apr. 14, 12 noon, The Rev. & Mrs. Spencer LaMar Booker And The Cathedral at St. Paul AME Church present the “The Women View at the Cross,” St. Paul A.M.E. Church, 1260 Hamilton Ave., St. Louis MO. 63112. For more information, call (314) 385-8900.

Sat., Apr. 15, 10 a.m., Christian Believers Church invites you to their 2nd Annual Easter EGGstravaganza 1447 Burd Ave., 63112. For more information, call (314) 616-8785 or visit www. christianbelievers.church.

Sat., Apr. 22, 7 p.m., Community Gospel Choir of St. Louis 10th Anniversary Concert. Salem United Methodist Church, 1200 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, call (314) 329-4242 or visit www. communitygospelchoir.org.

Sun., Apr. 30, 6 p.m., Kennerly Temple Church of God in Christ invites you to One Night with the King... the Worship Experience. See Evangelist Gail Richardson in concert. 4307 Kennerly Ave., 63113. For more information, call (314) 535-0555.

Festival of Laughs tour with Mike Epps, Bruce Bruce, Rickey Smiley (above) and Felipe Esparza. For more information, see COMEDY.

Continued from C1

edy altogether by getting up on stage and saying whatever he felt like – which is so St. Louis.”

Much like many of those who will attend the show, Bradford became familiar with Foxx in his later years by way of the hit television show “Sanford and Son,” which starred Foxx as a St. Louis native who ended up in Los Angeles earning his living as the owner of a salvage yard.

“Redd Foxx is the only person that I thought lived in a junkyard and I said ‘ooh, I want to go over his house,’” Bradford said. “That goes to show what can happen when you make the best of your circumstances.”

As Bradford began his own journey in comedy, he became aware of Foxx’s standup. He found his own niche by finding the funny in life experiences.

“I never do punchlines,” Bradford admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever told a traditional joke in my whole career.”

He’s made a name for himself over the years. He opened for the Original Kings of Comedy Tour. He has become a favorite in his own right as a featured performer with a knack for teeing up crowds on the big arena shows that come through the city. He was a featured personality on the Rickey Smiley Morning Show during its early days of syndication.

He is also known for hilarious antics as a host of locallyproduced events and concerts – most recently Rockhouse Entertainment’s presentations of KiCi and JoJo and Jagged

Edge at The Pageant earlier this year. Bradford is still forging ahead on the path to follow the footsteps of Foxx, Dick Gregory – and later Joe Torry, Guy Torry Cedric The Entertainer and LaVell Crawford – as far as continuing the rich legacy of comedy.

“I’m still hungry, and I’m still growing after all of these years,” Bradford said. “I’ve gone from being silly and goofy to really honing my craft as a comedian – and I’m still looking to expand my horizon.” Bradford is one of the few comics – local or national – that can smoothly transition from family-friendly to explicit. While he certainly appreciates the rawness of Redd Foxx, he is hoping to catch fire with faithbased audiences. “I want to be the Tyler Perry

of comedy as far as capturing that particular crowd’s attention,” Bradford said. “I can go either way, but that’s what I really want to do.”

Those who stop through Sunday night should prepare themselves for the show to go either way – and to laugh regardless.

“They can expect to take a journey through St. Louis,” Bradford said. “We are going for a throwback travel through time that gives the flavor of our city.”

“Laughing in the Loop Easter Comedy Jam: A Tribute to Redd Foxx” takes place at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. doors) on Sunday, April 16 at The Pageant, 6161 Delmar. Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com or can be charged by phone at (800) 745-3000.

BERRY

Continued from C1

was awakening the nation to the struggle for justice and equality, Chuck used his music to break down the color barrier in popular culture. He was the first black artist to become as popular with white audiences as he was with black audiences.”

Berry was also, rightfully, the first inductee of the prestigious Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

According to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation president Joel Peresman, the Hall is the house that Berry built. “Chuck was the very first brick,” Peresman said during his remarks.

Continued from C1

or gender identification; and Hayes lays his cards out as a “straight white man” in a way that some might take issue with, particularly when he writes about campus rape.)

“A Colony in a Nation” portrays white people as almost a monolithic group in terms of their intransigent fear of the colony, and how this fear informs their political behavior. Scientific assertions are made: “White fear is both social fact and something burned into our individual neural pathway.”

Sure sounds a lot like racism to me, but I appreciate the

specificity of Hayes’ term. It doesn’t allow for the slippage and the inversion that some white people like to attempt when they speak of “reverse racism,” something divorced from political and economic realities, as if it could be. “Black fear” as an inversion of “white fear” is laughable, though “black pain” might have a little more cachet.

The focus of Hayes’ project is prudent, because a study of Black America as an occupied state isn’t exactly a novel idea – it’s pretty much imperialism and decolonization 101. The most cursory look at black nationalist literature and the literature on the “colonized mind” by black intellectual giants, such as W.E.B DuBois, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon

and Stokely Carmichael (all of whom Hayes astutely references), will familiarize one with this well-trodden subject.

Hayes also mentions the contribution of Michelle Alexander’s 2010 book

Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, spoke of witnessing the power of Berry’s musical legacy from the moment of its inception. Thanks in part to blues legend Muddy Waters, Berry signed his first record deal – and released his first single – with Chess Records.

“My life changed forever in 1955,” Chess said. “I was 13 years old, and I was there from the very beginning of rock and roll.”

“The New Jim Crow,” which discusses the mass incarceration of black people in recent times. She writes, “We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”

“A Colony in a Nation” shines a light on the thoughts and minds of white people in the Trump era and shows how collective white fear and America’s long-time obsession with punishment impact the ballot box. Hayes dreams of something better: white people leaning on humanism, reckoning with their fears, and making some sacrifices in helping unravel the great divide between the colony and nation. Such a movement could even reverse the growth of for-profit prisons and detention centers, which prey on the communities they promise to employ. It’s certainly worth the effort. BOOK

He spoke of the moment he knew something magical was happening because of Berry’s music.

“I’m driving with my dad in the car pushing buttons. For you young ones, radios used to have buttons you pushed to change the station,” Chess said. “All of a sudden I hear ‘Maybelline,’ and my dad flips and started to bang on the steering wheel. I said, ‘What is it?’ and he said, ‘That was the biggest white radio station and the biggest white disc jockey. We made it!’”

Fellow musicians, friends and family also offered musical tributes.

“These instruments are not here for decoration, we came to get down,” said Rev. Alex I. Peterson, who served as officiate for the services.

Billy Peek opened the musical tribute portion by nailing the instantly identifiable

opening riff of “Johnny B. Goode.” By song’s end he had borrowed another trademark of Berry, his signature duck walk, and brought the audience – that also included legendary bandleader Paul Schaefer – to its feet.

“My heart goes out to the family,” said Frances Johnson, widow of Johnnie Johnson, the fellow St. Louis musician who gave Berry his first big break and collaborated closely with him in the invention of rock and roll. “It seems like just yesterday we were here celebrating Johnnie.”

The voice of Berry’s friend, manager and Loop developer Joe Edwards cracked when he told the crowd that the funeral service marked the 209th and final time he would be

introducing Berry. Then his emotions got the better of him.

“I just lost my hero,” Charles Edward Anderson Berry Jr. said of his father. “He taught me how to be a musician, and he taught me how to be a man.” Nephew Dr. Henry W. Berry, III, who delivered the eulogy, reminded those in attendance that they were a part of a celebration, and his “Uncle Chuck” would urge them to participate just like he did with his fans during his shows.

“He was a mastermind of music, a lover of Cadillacs and a brilliant business man,” Dr. Berry said. “But he was a genius in getting people to come together and get involved. When I think of my uncle, I think of that – his influence and his passion in motion.”

Photos by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Celebrations

Birthday

Honored

Reunions

Beaumont Class of 1967, if you have not received a letter or e-mail, call 314-533-6087 or Beaumontclassof67@ sbcglobal.net with your contact information. Several activities are planned for the week of June 6-11, 2017. Meet & greet on 6-9-17, banquet on 6-10-17, church services 6-11-17 at Greater Mt. Carmel

Elnora Suggs (center), mother of St. Louis American publisher Donald M. Suggs (left) will celebrate her 104th birthday on April 16! She lives in South Holland, IL, near her daughter and son-in-law, Loretta (right) and John Johnson. She is a longstanding member of Faith Temple Church of God in Christ.

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) awarded the Hazelwood School District Board of Education one of its first place awards, in the 23rd Annual Magna Awards Program. The National Magna Awards recognize school districts across the country for taking bold and innovative steps to improve the lives of students.

and a brunch after services. Our scheduled meetings are 4-15-17 and 5-20-17 at the Normandy Library at 1:30 p.m.

Beaumont Alumni Class 1968 meetings in preparation for their 50th Class Reunion will be held at STL County Library, 7606 Natural Bridge, St. Louis MO, 63121 on Saturdays, 1-4 p.m. on April 22, May 20 and June 24. For more information email bhsco1968@att.net or call 314 869-8312.

Beaumont High School Class of 1972 is celebrating 45! Calling all classmates to mark your calendar for August 11 -13 2017 and celebrate our 45th class reunion. Activities have been planned for a fun illed weekend you don’t

St. Louis Symphony

National Champions

want to miss. Please direct all inquiries and registration request to Sharon Webb Steele at (314) 757-2799 or Linda Howard at (314) 397-5570. You may also use Facebook , BHS72 Reunion Committee.

Beaumont High School Class of 1977 will celebrate its 40year reunion Sept. 15–17, 2017. For further information, please contact: Karen Handley (314) 330-0129, Audrey Dixon (314) 413-9202, Lois Moore (314) 315-0474, Kelvin Ellison (314) 599-6733.

Beaumont High School, Class of 1978 will celebrate its 40-year reunion in 2018. For further information, please contact: Marietta Shegog Shelby, 314-799-5296,

The St. Louis Symphony raised $600,000 to support its community and education programs at its 2017 gala celebration on March 25. Pictured: Maureen Byrne, Joseph Hendricks, Terrence Abernathy and David Robertson.

madeshe@sbcglobal.net.

Cleveland High School 1980-84 is planning a reunion for anyone that attended Cleveland High School during the desegregation period on August 5-6, 2017 at the Renaissance St Louis Airport Hotel. For more information, please contact Babette PerkinsAnderson 314-345-0939.

Hadley Tech Classes of 1962-1963 are having their 55th year reunion on October 13-15, 2017 at the St. Louis Airport Marriott. For more information, please contact Hellon (Merritt) Jefferson at 314-307-3681, Ora (Scott) Roberts at 314-222-3662, Wilhelmina (Gibson) Baker at 314-630-9647, Pearl (Tillman)

Webster University’s chess team won its fifth consecutive national championship during the 2017 President’s Cup Collegiate Chess tournament in New York City. Webster University is the only university in the history of the President’s Cup to win five consecutive championships.

Holden 314-685-0466 or Virdell (Robinson) Stennis at 314-773-8177.

Soldan High School Class of 1977 celebrating its 40-year reunion on Friday June 2-4, 2017 at the Crown Plaza Hotel located at 11228 Lone Eagle Dr. in Bridgeton, MO. For further information, please contact Debbie Marshall at 314-831-8831.

Vashon High School Class of 1972 is planning our 45-year reunion for 2017. Meetings are being held every 1st Tuesday of the month at the new Vashon High School; 3032 Cass Ave., in the library. Please email your info to eufabya@sbcglobal.net, or attend the meetings.

Do you have a celebration you’re proud of? If so we would like to share your good news with our readers. Whether it’s a birth, wedding, engagement announcement, anniversary, retirement or birthday, send your photos and a brief announcement (50 words or less) to us and we may include it in our paper and website – AT NO COST – as space is available Photos will not be returned. Send your announcements to: kdaniel@stlamerican. com or mail to: St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315

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

Religion

Organist and soprano perform ‘The Spiritual Bach’

Also, NAACP statement on renewed Muslim ban

American staff

The Bach Society of St. Louis and Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church will present “The Spiritual Bach” 3 p.m. Sunday, April 23 at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church, 9450 Clayton Rd. This special collaboration is presented as part of The Bach Society’s “St. Louis Bach Festival,” which runs April 20-May 21 throughout the St. Louis area. This unique concert presents Bach’s organ works alongside African-American spirituals. Both genres of music have deep connection to the love of God at their core, which fuels them with the meaning beyond the music on the page and provides a common depth of sentimenta spiritual connection. The program pairs pieces of similar moods and rhythmic or melodic ideas. Featured on the program are award-winning organist Marvin Mills and soprano Marlissa Hudson, a St. Louis native. Tickets are $20. For more information, call Bach Society of Saint Louis at 314-652-2224 or visit www.bachsociety.org

NAACP statement on renewed Muslim ban

Target on believers

Organist Marvin Mills and soprano Marlissa Hudson, a St. Louis native, will perform in the Bach Society of St. Louis’ production of “The Spiritual Bach” 3 p.m.

Sunday, April 23 at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church.

Back in the day I remember Bishop T.D. Jakes preaching a sermon that still resonates with me today. He reminded those in attendance that a good portion of the Bible was written from a jail cell. Recollection has me thinking he was telling his followers about the church’s outreach prison ministry. I was struck by the reality of God’s Word and direction coming from the faith deep of those imprisoned. The concept of inspired revelation from jail has never left me. What is it about being a walking, talking believer that scares the heaven out of those in power so much that a jail cell is an inevitable and practical answer? History suggests that professing one’s belief in Jesus Christ as Lord can literally be a death sentence. The Bible teaches us that eventually our faith will be put to the ultimate test. Have you ever wondered why God’s teachings are so feared by those of other religions?

Now that I’m saved, I guess you could say I’m a candidate for assassination, if not literally certainly figuratively. I don’t view myself as a threat to anyone, never have, particularly when it comes to my belief in one God, the Holy Trinity and the truth of Jesus Christ. It’s sometimes difficult to realize that the world in which I live views me in this manner.

“Even though the new executive order purports to be rooted in national security interests, it cannot mask its true origins. The civil rights community is keenly aware of seemingly neutral laws that mask intentional discrimination. We have seen poll taxes and literacy tests being imposed as supposedly race neutral voter qualification measures. We continue to see voter ID laws that act as modern day poll taxes that rob communities of their vote. Regardless of the smokescreen of security justifications, this executive order is a continuation of the administration’s stated goal: the implementation of a Muslim ban.

“The new executive order restricting travel from six Muslim-majority countries is just the latest in a series of actions that threaten our nation’s values. In a few short months, this administration has withdrawn from voting rights cases, reversed course on private prisons, revoked guidance on transgender youth, intensified immigration raids, and announced its intention to limit investigation of abusive and discriminatory law enforcement. The message is clear: this administration is unwilling to protect and is in some cases actively targeting vulnerable communities,” the NAACP said in a statement.

“Just as we fight against voter suppression and police brutality, the NAACP continues to stand against discrimination based on racial identity, ethnicity, national

origin, or religion. We know that actions that rely on unfounded assumptions about dangerousness will always come at the expense of the most vulnerable populations. We have seen the results of the divisive rhetoric that forms the true rationale for this executive order. We are witnessing a record number of hate crimesincluding the death of an Indian student, Jewish cemeteries being defaced and community centers being threatened, and numerous attacks based on xenophobia and Islamophobia. We know that this hatred is poisonous and antithetical to the ideals that we fight to uphold.

“The NAACP is made up of Christians, Muslims, Jews, and more. Our members are individuals of many religions

and some of no religion. We stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters. We will join in protest of this ban. We will continue to fight for equal rights for all, for policies based on evidence and not on fear.”

State of Catholic education report

The National Catholic Educational Association will release and discuss “The United States Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools 2016 – 2017 Annual Statistical Report on Schools, Enrollment and Staffing” 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 at The America’s Center, Room 220, 701 Convention Plaza in St. Louis. Presenting will be NCEA President/CEO Thomas Burnford, Chairman of the

Columnist James Washington

A larger issue ought to be have I done anything that would land me in jail. The jail I’m referring to is defined by me as that spiritual place that present day Sadducees and Pharisees want to send people like me. If I haven’t said or done anything to get sentenced then maybe I better get going, stir some things up. In their day, the apostles were the threats to the establishment. That meant governments and principalities, as well as the church hierarchy of that day. Jesus was a quintessential revolutionary. It still amazes me how such principles like unconditional love for humankind got Him killed. And then it always hits me that this kind of “we’re all in this together” view of the world will be attacked and undermined by entrenched institutionalized power of all kinds.

That’s when I am forced to understand that if you are a believer in Christ, you are most certainly a threat to those who overvalue that which is of this world. Man craves power, and Christianity abdicates all power to Jehovah. We stand as representatives of that truth and stand trial every day with the world as judge and jury.

That explains that target on the backs of believers throughout history and the one on ours today. All I can encourage you to do in the face of all this is to stay the course and know that our defense attorney has already won this case. The prosecution lost. So when you’re in your cell all alone, remember the war is over. The verdict is in. The battle will pass. We won.

DRUG ANALYSIS TECHNICIAN

Drug Analysis Technician vacancy/ies, Eastern District of Missouri. Generous retirement/beneits package. For additional information including how to apply, see our website at www.moep. uscourts.gov. Vacancy Announcement 2017-04. Equal Opportunity Employer.

BENEFITS COORDINATOR

he Missouri History Museum seeks a Beneits Coordinator. Visit www. mohistory.org for position details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

HOUSEKEEPER

he Missouri History Museum seeks a Housekeeper. Visit www.mohistory. org for position details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

STAFF ACCOUNTANT

he Missouri History Museum seeks a Staf Accountant. Visit www.mohistory.org for position details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Webster University invites applicants for a 12-month tenure-track faculty at the rank of Assistant/Associate Professor in School Psychology. Please apply online at http:// webster.peopleadmin.com/postings/2111. No phone calls please. Webster University provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, age, protected veteran or disabled status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

ASSOCIATE NETWORK ANALYST

REJIS is currently seeking an Associate Network Analyst, to provide a wide range of services from installing, maintaining desktop PC’s, switches, routers and irewalls, servers, communication troubleshooting and support.

To see our beneits or apply for this or other jobs, please visit:www.rejis.org

EOE/Minorities/Females/Vet/Disabled/ Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity

he REJIS Commission has developed an EEOP Utilization Report as required by the United States Department of Justice. It is available for review on our website at rejis.org/employment.

GROCERY CENTER COOR-

DINATOR / ASSIST. CHEF

Food Outreach, FT Culinary/Nutrition

Degree/ServSafe Cert. Flexible hours, some evenings/weekends. Email resume to marysue@foodoutreach.org

PUBLIC BENEFITS STAFF ATTORNEY

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Inc. (LSEM), a non-proit law irm that provides free civil legal assistance to people living with low income/low opportunity, seeks a Staf Attorney to work in its Public Beneits Program. For more information including how to apply, please visit our website at www.lsem.org. his position closes April 9, 2017.

PERSONAL CARE ATTENDANT

MedStar Home Health Services CDS a Consumer Directed Services company seeking caring individuals that would like to earn up to $11.00 per hour taking care of their loved ones in their homes. To learn more about this opportunity contact us at (314) 782-7311 or via email at info@medstarcds.com.

SOUTH CITY GRAVIOS

DETAIL

Several Auto Detailers Needed Call & Ask for Dwight 314-776-6545

DEFINED CONTRIBUTION EDUCATION SPECIALIST

MOSERS is recruiting for a Deined Contribution Education Specialist. he position will be an integral part of a team responsible for the ongoing dissemination of customized retirement and investment education to Missouri State Employees in the form of live seminars and one-on-one consultation pertaining to the State of Missouri Deferred Compensation Plan employee beneit. Minimum requirements include a bachelor’s degree preferably in business, inance, marketing, or similar. Previous inancial planning experience, Certiied Financial Planner or Chartered Financial Consultant designation is strongly preferred. Candidates should possess strong presentation skills, knowledge of investment concepts, retirement and inancial planning, competency in all Microsot Oice products, and the ability to quickly learn web-based applications. his position works mostly of-site, regular day-trips and occasional overnight travel are required. Applicants must have a valid Missouri driver’s license and a reliable personal vehicle. Starting salary is $52,000-$57,000, dependent on experience. Apply at www.mosers.org, click “Careers”. Visit www.modeferredcomp. org for more information about the plan. Application deadline is Monday, April 3. EOE:M/F/V/D.

NORTHWOODS POLICE

DEPARTMENT

is now accepting applications. Applications can be obtained at 4608 Oakridge Blvd., Northwoods, MO 63121. Applicants must be P.O.S.T. Certiied to apply for this position.

PARENT

EDUCATOR

Parents as Teachers National Center has an opening for a contracted full time Parent Educator. he Parent Educator will provide personal home visits for a caseload of 18 families to complete developmental/health/ vision/hearing screenings and family centered assessments. For a full job description, requirements & to apply go to our website: http://parentsasteachers.org/jobs

ADMINISTRATIVE

ASSISTANT-HUMAN RESOURCES

Performs a variety of clerical, secretarial, and receptionist duties. Apply online: WWW.JFCSAPPLY.COM with cover letter and resume. Jewish Family & Children’s Service-St. Louis.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

he oice of the University Secretary at Webster University seeks applications for an Administrative Assistant to the University Secretary. Please apply online at http:// webster.peopleadmin.com/postings/2333. No phone calls please. Webster University provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, age, protected veteran or disabled status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

FIREFIGHTER / EMT TESTING

he Board of Fire & Police Commissioners for the City of Edwardsville, IL is now accepting registration forms from candidates interested in testing for the position of Probationary Fireighter/EMT. Hiring requirements, testing information and the registration form can be obtained at www. cityofedwardsville.com. Registration deadline is 5:00pm on May 8, 2017. EOE

LOCAL HISTORY

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

he Missouri History Museum seeks a Local History Program Coordinator. Visit www.mohistory.org for position details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

CHURCH

!

A Professional Organ Player/Accompanist, Piano, Pipe Organ, Teacher, Minister of Music is seeking an open Church Position. All churches of different faiths, Please make Inquiry: 314-652-1107

MIDDLE SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER

Marian Middle School, an all-girls, Catholic middle school committed to breaking the cycle of poverty through a life-altering education, is seeking a faith-illed, mission oriented, highly qualiied candidate for the position of 6th-8th grade social studies teacher for the 2017-2018 school year. he ideal candidate will be certiied, with two or more years of experience in instruction and classroom management with urban adolescents. Please send letter of interest and resume to broche@mmsstl.org. Applicants of all racial and ethnic backgrounds encouraged to apply.

non-proit law irm that provides free legal assistance to people living with low income/low opportunity, seeks a staf attorney in its Children’s Legal Alliance program. he staf attorney will be responsible for providing representation to children and families relating to all aspects of education law. For more information visit our website at www.lsem.org. Applications are due by March 27, 2017.

UNITED STATES PROBATION OFFICER

United States Probation vacancy/ies, Eastern District of Missouri. Generous retirement/beneits package. For additional information including how to apply, see our website at www.moep.uscourts.gov. Vacancy Announcement 2017-05. Equal Opportunity Employer.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. has an opening for a full-time Legal Administrative Assistant for our St. Louis oice. Our staf focus on teamwork & supporting each other to better balance workloads. herefore, strong teamwork & communication skills are highly desired. Qualiied applicants will type at least 70 wpm & have excellent attention to detail, grammar, proofreading & customer service skills. Law irm exp and/or legal study courses required. Apply online at www. greensfelder.com or at 10 S. Broadway, Ste 2000, St. Louis, MO 63102. EOE

ASSISTANT –LPT OPERATIONS AT SAFETY NATIONAL

Entry level staf position which supports the Loss Portfolio Transfer Department and staf. Works under immediate supervision. Understands basic knowledge of clerical and administrative support. Works within established guidelines. To apply, please visit: www.safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab.

SENIOR TECHNICAL LEAD

Vintech Solutions Inc has openings for a Senior Technical Lead w/ Bachelors degree in Engg (any),Comp Sci, Tech or rltd & 5 yrs of exp. to plan, direct, coordinate, analysis & dsgn of SAP HCM sys that meet spec , rqmnts of projects & overall buss needs. Ensure accurate implementation of SAP apps, sys to supp the environment that will provide up-to-date info to all areas & levels of the company. Review project plans to plan & coordinate project activity & ensure the timely completion of all assigned. Applies extensive SAP conig exp in time (WFM), payroll, across all HCM modules to accomplish projects & the overall buss needs. Consults with buss users, mgmnt, vendors, technicians who request assistance in understanding SAP system problems, assesses computing needs & sys rqmnts.

Work loc: Olivette, MO w/rqur’d travel to client loc throughout the USA. Mail resumes: 9715 Olive Blvd, Floor 2, Olivette, MO 63132 (OR) e-mail: legal@vintech. com

complete position description and information on how to apply, visit KeepArtHappening.org/makeyour-impact/jobs-internships. No phone calls please

TRANSPORTATION DRIVERS, OFFICE MANAGER, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

St. LouiS american Bids & Public Notices S

INVITATION FOR BID

Sealed bids for HVAC and Water Heater Replacement, located in St. Louis County will be received at the Purchasing Oice, Housing Authority of St. Louis County, 8865 Natural Bridge, St. Louis, Mo. 63121, until 10:00 A.M., local time, May 04, 2017 and then publicly opened and read aloud. A certiied or cashier’s check, or bid bond executed by the bidder and an approved Surety Company, in the amount of 5% of the total bid (refundable) shall be submitted with each bid. Speciications can be secured from address above, starting April 17, 2017 from 8:30 A.M. until 4:30 P.M. (Closed Noon – 1:00 P.M.)

A representative of the Authority will be at 9330 Rothwell Heights, St. Louis, MO 63132 on April 20, 2017 at 10:00 A.M. for a walk through. Bidders shall agree to comply with Prevailing Wage Rate Provisions and other statutory regulations referred to in the speciication. Section 3, MBE and WBE contractors are encouraged to participate. he Housing Authority of St. Louis County reserves the right to reject any and all bids, waive any informality, and to choose the bid most advantageous to the Authority.

SECTION 001116 ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDDERS

Sealed bids will be received by the Construction Manager, S. M. Wilson & Co. for the Work Packages described herein at S. M. Wilson & Company Jobsite Trailer, 1201 Warson Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63124 until 2:00 p.m. on April 27, 2017 (Bid Package #03A. Bids will be opened publicly and read aloud at that time. Bids must be hand delivered to the above address by 2:00 p.m. If you elect to mail your bid, it must be mailed to S. M. Wilson & Company Jobsite Trailer, 1201 Warson Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63124.

Attention: Mr. Vernon Pfeil

Subject: Bid Package #03A – Misc. Steel

here will be a Pre-bid Site Walk-through Meeting at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. he meeting will be held at Ladue High School, 1201 Warson Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63124 - We will meet in the South parking lot at the S.M. Wilson JOB-SITE TRAILER. he purpose of this meeting is to observe current existing conditions and to address any technical questions concerning the project from prospective bidders. All Contractors are highly encouraged to attend this meeting. hose Contractors who do not attend the Pre-Bid Meeting but wish to schedule a site visit must contact Vernon Pfeil, Project Manager at S. M. Wilson & Co at 314/791-0870. Contractors are not allowed to visit the site unless prior arrangements are made with the Construction Manager. he bid package will be available for viewing ater April 10, 2017 at the following locations: Smartbidnet https://secure.smartbidnet.com/External/PublicPlanRoom. aspx?Id=296473&i=1

he Construction Manager for this project is S. M. Wilson & Co. and the Project Manager is Vernon Pfeil, 314/791-0870 phone, vernon.pfeil@smwilson.com email.

S. M. Wilson & Co. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. S. M. Wilson strives to make our industry a more inclusive community and to sustain this model for future generations. Bidders agree to take all reasonable steps necessary to ensure Minority, Women and Disadvantage Business Enterprises have an opportunity to participate in the performance of this project. Consideration of subcontract award may be based on diversity involvement.

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

Seeking proposals from subs, suppliers & qualiied MBE & WBE irms for all constr. div. of River Bluf Manor, a new 46 unit apt. dev. In St. Louis, MO his project has minority participation goals and MWBE irms are encourage to bid. Interested irms should contact Fairway Constr. for a link to access plans and speciications.

Proposal Due: April 21, 2017 @ 5 PM CDT

Direct inquiries to: proposals@ fairwayconstruction.net. Fairway Constr., 206 Peach Way, Columbia, MO 65203, 573-303-3765. Fairway Constr. reserves all rights to waive any bid informalities and is an AA/EOE employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 631032555 until 10:00 a.m. on May 11th, 2017 to contract with a company for: Cisco Smart Net Services.

Speciications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). he bid document will be identiied as 8901 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

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

BIDS

Great Rivers Greenway is soliciting bids from irms competent in commercial or industrial painting to perform graiti removal and if needed painting over the graiti on the Iron Horse Trestle bridge over Interstate 70 in downtown St. Louis. Check www.GreatRiversGreenway.org/ jobs and submit by April 21.

WEBSTER GROVES SCHOOL DISTRICT

Is seeking an Environmental Contractor for a hallway looring abatement project at Steger 6th Grade Center . Request for Proposal submissions are due at the Webster Groves School District Service Center 3232 South Brentwood Blvd. Attention Mr. Robert Steuber, WGSD CPM no later than 2:00 pm on May 4th 2017. he RFP will be available online @ www.webster.k12.mo.us, (under RFP heading) April 24th, 2017 he owner reserves the right to reject any and or all proposals

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD

OF PUBLIC SERVICE

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for Professional Engineering Services for Up-Grading Security Doors, Locks, and Security Control Panels at Juvenile Courts Detention Center, 920 N. Vandeventer Avenue, St. Louis, MO. Statements of Qualiications due by 5:00 P.M., CT, April 27, 2017 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from website www.stl-bps.org, under On Line Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service 314-622-3535. 25% MBE and 5% WBE participation goals.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive sealed bids in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street until 10:00am, April 17, 2017 for Purchase of: LED Lighting

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for New Generator and Kitchen Flooring, Camp Avery Park Camp, Troy, MO; Project No. H160101 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/18/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for Replace Fire Alarm and Suppresion System, Various Buildings, Jefferson City, MO, Project No. O1602-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/11/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

INVITATION FOR EQUIPMENT BIDS

East-West Gateway Council of Governments is seeking bids for equipment: Mobile Surveillance Unit, SCBA Cylinders, Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, & Butyl Respirator Hoods. Bids are due on May 3, 2017. Funding provided by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security & U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services. MBEs / WBEs are encouraged to submit bids. Find details at www. ewgateway.org or by calling 314-4214220 ext. 208.

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for New Storage Building, J a c k s o n v i l l e Veterans Cemetery, J a c k s o n v i l l e , Missouri, Project No. U1601-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/11/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for Camp Clark Road and Parking Repairs, Highway 71 South, Nevada, Missouri, Project No. T171801 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/4/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for 2016 CRS Ultra hin Bonded Wearing Surface, Area A, St. Louis County Project No. CR-1658, will be received at the Oice of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 2:00 p.m. on April 12, 2017 Plans and speciications will be available on March 27, 2017 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 1449 Strassner Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, (314) 961-3800.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY www.stlamerican.com

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for CCC Restorations, Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln County, Troy, Missouri, Project No. X170501 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/11/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for Roof Replacement, Various, Missouri School for the Deaf, Fulton, Missouri, Project No. E160701 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/11/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that he Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Brentmore Pump Station (P-773) Replacement under Letting No. 12099-015.1, at this oice, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Tuesday, May 16, 2017, at a place designated.

Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualiied by the District’s Engi- neering Department for:

DEEP SEWER CONSTRUCTION – St. Louis County Drainlayer’s license

CITY OF

LOUIS BOARD OF

SERVICE REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for Professional Engineering and Field Survey Services, Tower Grove Park Neighborhood Access Enhancements, TAP5670(604), St. Louis, MO. Statements of Qualiications due by 5:00 P.M., CT, April 25, 2017 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from website www.stl-bps.org, under On Line Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service 314622-3535. 12% DBE participation goal.

Special School District will hold a public surplus sale on April 21, 2017. Available items may be viewed between 9 a.m. and noon at South County Technical School located at 12721 West Watson Road, St. Louis, MO 63127. Sealed bids will be accepted during this time. For additional information, please call (314) 989-7117.

Paric Corporation is seeking proposals for the following project: Washington University School of Medicine Mid Campus Center 10th Floor Fit Out.

he project consists of the build out of the 40,000 SF 10th Floor within a 13-story oice building.

A pre-bid walk-through will be held on Monday, March 27, 2017 at 10:00 AM. he meeting will be at 4590 Childrens Place, St. Louis, MO 63110 at the 1st Floor Lobby. Bids for this project are due on April 17, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. For any questions or would like to ind out more detailed information on this opportunity, please contact Grant Krueger at 636-561-9571 or gdkrueger@ paric.com.

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

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

PARIC CORPORATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Speciications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com - click on “MSD At Work”, then “Bidding on Projects”. he bid document will be identiied as 8858 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call (314) 768-6314 to request a copy of this bid.

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

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on April 10th, 2017 to contract with a company for: Roof Replacement Services for the Trickling Filter Building. Speciications and bid forms may be ob- tained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). he bid document will be identiied as 8841 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

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

link, (bid opportunities). he bid document will be identiied as 8873 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS FOR DEMOLITION, REMEDIATION, ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND RELATED SERVICES

he St. Louis Economic Development Partnership (the “Partnership”) is soliciting qualiications from experienced irms for demolition, remediation, environmental assessment and related services. his is an “Open RFQ” from which the Partnership may refer during the year, as projects become available. he Partnership will accept qualiications throughout 2017. Qualiications should include the information indicated in the RFQ, which may be found on the Partnership’s website at www.stlpartnership.com. Qualiications may be sent or delivered to 7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 2300, St. Louis, MO 63105, Attn: General Counsel, or by e-mail to jmontecillo@stlpartnership.com. DBE, MBE, and WBE irms are encouraged to bid. his RFQ shall not be construed as an ofer. Submission of qualiications does not obligate the Partnership or any of its ailiated entities to consider a responding irm for any project or contract. Any questions should be directed to Joe Montecillo, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership at (314) 615-7663 or jmontecillo@ stlpartnership.com.

St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropol- itan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 631032555 until 10:00 a.m. on May 16, 2017 to contract with a company for: LEMAY TREATMENT PRIMARY PARTS INVENTORY. Speciications and bid forms may be ob- tained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). he bid document will be identiied as 8900 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for the Replacement of Fan Coil Units, E m p l o y m e n t Security Central Office, Jefferson City, MO; Project No. O1610-02 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/11/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

BIDS & NOTICES (CONTINUED)

SEALED BIDS

Sealed bids for Interior/Exterior R e n o v a t i o n s , Coliseum, Womans Building, West C

, Sedalia, Missouri, Project No. F160101 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 5/18/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/ facilities

BID

Preclarus Mastery Academy located at 620 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63103 is requesting bids for IT, Student Transportation, and Food Vendor Services. Bidder’s conference is April 26, at 8:30am (IT), 9:30am (transportation), & 10:30am (food vendor). Final questions are due May 3, 2017 and the inal bid is due May 12 at noon. Please direct all question to our Finance and Operations Specialist, Denise Blanchard at rfpbids@preclarus.org.

Swag Snap of the Week

The return of Chris Rock. I’ve been waiting all year to see Chris Rock hit the standup stage again, and the moment finally arrived Saturday night at The Peabody Opera House when his “Total Blackout Tour” came through the STL. I wasn’t trying to get enjoyment out of someone else’s pain, but I knew once he and that wife split up, he would get back to slangin’ jokes for the sake of building his coins back up after she got done with his checkbook. After seeing what he wore on stage, she clearly won all of his good clothes in the divorce settlement too. What? Folks were saying he was quietly serving Pookie with that little casual outfit. I wouldn’t say all that, but he did look like he could at any moment break out and say, “How much for one rib?” He had some tuning up to do after being off of the road for nearly a decade, but I got my share of kee-kees. The general population was not the least bit amused when he started talking about the crisis between people of color and law enforcement – with a side of truth about how the odds are stacked up against black folks who get caught up in the criminal justice system. You had a better shot at hearing a secret whispered from inside an underground bomb shelter than the slightest cackle during that portion of the show. He won them back over when he got to talking about what a horrible husband he was and how he was addicted to the nasty movies. He had my undivided attention when he spilled the tea with more personal details than I ever thought he would about his side chicks. When he said he had extra marital relations with a “non-Beyoncé member of Destiny’s Child” as if he really needed to make that disclaimer folks were whispering amongst themselves about which one it could be. My money is on LaTavia. It could be Farrah, but would he even bother referring to her as DC alum? I was thrilled that folks got over the initial shock of having to go without their cellphones for two whole hours and got into the moment. I was sad that one of the opening acts was an undercover sociopath. Ardie Fuqua was cool, but Anthony Jeselnik had me ready for therapy. Seriously, he spent a nice portion of his performance promoting murder-suicide … and his finale was all about taking a friend to terminate a pregnancy. I know some people get a kick out of comedy with shock value, but hammercy!

The April Abominable Snowman starring Rocko. I thought I was going to have to light somebody up in here for doing the most at the door when I stopped through the Marquee to catch rapper Rocko Friday night, but my girl Melanie saved the day. I am absolutely loving the big wavy hair, girl. And is that y’all’s white Benz I saw Dre standing next too, because it is utterly everything thing as well. But on with the show … I must admit that I’m usually playing Candy Crush when the local openers bounce around and lip sync to their own tattered little tracks and bore folks to death just before the main attraction. However, when the rapper Buddy ripped the mic, I must say that he got my attention and kept it. Actually most of this lineup was decent – which is leaps and bounds above what I have to suffer through as I try to create as many color bombs as humanly possible. Rocko claimed that St. Louis was his “day ones.” Well, why did you make us wait ‘till 2 a.m. to sing along to your little songs then? Anyway, after claiming he was taking a shot of liquor for about seven minutes, he came out on stage looking like he had borrowed Diddy’s outfit from the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money, Mo Problems” video. I’ll never understand why he had a white Puffy coat with a fur hood so far into spring, but I never understood the real fascination with him either. It didn’t matter, because the crowd was beyond thrilled to sing along to his little hits and feature. I will say that “UOENO” remix with Usher is my absolute jam. Too bad they played the original version.

Jazzing it up with Keyon and Kimberly. Look, I already know that y’all don’t do jazz … I really do. But you might have had a change of heart had you checked out a couple of St. Louis’ own who came home to do big things at the Bistro this past weekend. For those of you who don’t know Trumpeter Keyon Harrold and drummer Kimberly Thompson have done some huge things with their musical talents. He’s played with Maxwell and Jay-Z – and recently won a Grammy for his work on the “Miles Ahead” soundtrack. She has beat the stage down on tour with Beyoncé. They came to town and tore it up on stage with Lawrence Fields and Adam Larson. It really had me super proud to be from the Lou to see such top notch musicianship come home and give us another taste of their talent during the two-day set.

Ratchetry and Rasheeda Rasheeda was the latest “Love and Hip-Hop” tart to hit the club in St. Louis – which was no shock since they stay in rotation between the hotspots. However, what threw me for a loop is how the entire city got dragged for dear life because of a group shot of her hosting duties at the Sundown Party at The Marquee Sunday night. Yes, it was a rough looking lot in the shot. I was there and some folks pressed to clamor for pics and up-close and personal time were a bit strong in the face. But I don’t understand why the whole city deserved to catch that “You’re not that cute, your hair is uneven…and you look dusty” speech from “Beyond Scared Straight.” Was there some inexcusable ratchetry happening that evening? Of course…that happens everywhere, every time you go to the club. We are certainly not alone in that – and it doesn’t define us as a city. And nearly all of the folks who flamed us had absolutely no room to talk. I won’t name names, but one of the girls going in especially hard needn’t worry about the eyebrows on the picture as much as that dislocated enclosed hair unit on your profile pic. At the end of the day, our city fell victim to a slow gossip day – and that’s the size of it.

Imani and Sue were caught up in the energy of the First Friday Gallery Walk @ Koken art Factory

Triky and his crew stood out for Lifestyle Saturdays @ Mood

Kim, Michelle and Mya made their way to Marquee for Element Saturdays

Artist Brooklyn and the Blk Swan Smino brought the cool kids to @ Koken Art factory for the First Friday Gallery Walk

Tammy, Bre and Kat came out to party @ Mood Saturday night

Local rapper Legend chopped it up with rapper Rocko, Friday night @ The Marquee

Bri and Monica began the weekend with a visit to Koken Art Friday night

Sam and T @ Koken Art Factory for The First Friday Gallery Walk

Corey and Herb hit up Marquee Saturday night

Ricki and Jaz were just some of the folks who had the Sundown party jumpin’ Sunday @ The Marquee

Michelle and KP were just a few of the fans who came through to catch comedian Chris Rock’s long awaited return to standup. For the St. Louis leg of “Chris Rock: Total Blackout Tour,” he enjoyed two sold-out shows on Saturday and Sunday at The Peabody Opera House.

Photos by John Scott