Trudy Busch Valentine’s campaign message citing improving health care access, support for abortion rights, and ridding Missouri of divisive politics played well throughout the state, not just the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. She prevailed over Democratic rival Lucas Kunce and four other candidates to win the nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Roy Blunt. Busch won 42.2 percent of the vote and Kunce received 38.4%. None of the remaining four Democratic contenders topped 5%.
Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Busch, along with likely independent candidate John Miller, will battle in November.
she enters the
at
after winning the
Cori Bush pummels Steven Roberts Jr.
By Ashley Winters
state Sen. Steven Roberts Jr. in the race for the First Congressional seat Democratic nomination.
Bush found herself challenged by a flawed candidate in Roberts, who continues to be beleaguered by two credible accusations of
sexual assault.
Voters in the district made it clear early that Bush, an unapologetic progressive with a zeal for activism and energetic representation of her district, was their choice over the upstart Roberts, a moderate Democrat dogged by scandal.
Bush greeted jubilant supporters at the House of Soul on Washington Avenue on Tuesday night and exclaimed that people thought she was not worthy of re-election, but
her emphatic triumph proved them wrong.
“[This win] was based upon the fact that we are unbought. It was based upon the fact that we are unbossed. It was based upon the fact that we will tell it like it is, tell it to your face, and still love you the same,” she said as the crowd roared.
“I am ready to return to Washington, D.C., and continue the celebration.”
S is for success
Voters overwhelmingly approve $160 million bond measure
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
Proposition S, which will not raise property taxes for city residents, passed with nearly 87% of the vote on Tuesday.
For Kelvin R. Adams, Superintendent for the Saint Louis Public School District, passage of the bond issue represents a strong message from the St. Louis community.
“The message is that they support public education, and they support the kids in the city of St. Louis,” Adams said.
Kelvin R. Adams
“They know that the old facilities are in desperate need of repair, and they see that. More important, if the vote is over 83%, it shows that they trust this board and the direction the district is headed.” Adams spoke with The St. Louis American at the Prop S campaign gathering at Molly’s in Soulard. With his expectations exceeded, Adams said the next step will be implementation.
n “The message is that they support public education, and they support the kids in the city of St. Louis.”
– Kelvin R. Adams
“We’ll soon announce a timeline for the public as to what they can expect to see. Of course, we want to be smart about where we put our dollars, but hopefully, by summer of 2023, they’ll actually see work starting,” he said.
Passage of Prop S will allow the school district to borrow $160 million in order to improve schools. Funds will be used to acquire, construct,
not be safe, until we address race, until there are enough good schools, good housing, good jobs,
The St. Louis American
Photo by Bill Greenblatt / St. Louis American
Errol Bush proudly embraces his daughter Congresswoman Cori Bush while celebrating her victory in the First Congressional District Democratic nomination primary on Tuesday night August 2, 2022, at the House of Soul in Downtown St. Louis. Bush trounced Steven Roberts Jr, garnering almost 70% of the votes cast.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Trudy Busch Valentine waves to supporters as
stage
her victory party
Missouri Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in St. Louis on Tuesday, August 2, 2022.
Chris Rock has no time for Will Smith’s victim act, or his apology
Will Smith said he was “fogged out” and that he’s finally reached out to Chris Rock to formally apologize for the infamous March 27 Oscars slap.
“It’s all fuzzy,” Smith said in an Instagram video posted on July 29.
“I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk. And when he is, he will reach out.”
Rock said he has no intention of reaching out now or in the future.
“Everybody is trying to be a (expletive) victim,” Rock said during an Atlanta performance following Smith’s seven-minute videotape apology, according to People magazine .
“If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims. Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith ... I went to work the next day, I got kids.” Rock was referring to convicted felon and former Death Row Re cords CEO Suge Knight.
Rock followed with his keen wit, saying “Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.”
Stage explosives on Lollapalooza stage leave Lil Durk injured
Lil Durk is on the road to recovery after suffering drastic injuries from being struck in the face by fireworks on Saturday, July 30, 2022, at Lollapalooza, a popular music festival in his hometown, Chicago.
“Due to the incident that happened at Lollapalooza in Chicago on stage, I’ma take a break & focus on my health,” Durk speaks out about the incident in an Instagram post, showing him sitting in a hospital bed wearing a face mask and an eye patch over his right eye.
Video of the situation has gone viral showing Durk approaching the stage before two clouds of smoke explode in his face. To protect his face he covers it with his t-shirt while the music cuts off.
He did finish his performance and asked for no more smoke to shoot out during his set.
Ne-Yo’s wife pens breakup letter addressing his unprotected affairs with sex workers
fans could infer he’s a “Good Man,” from the romantic love songs he’s penned over the last decade like the one previously mentioned, but his wife Crystal Renay thinks otherwise. She went to Instagram to blast her
husband, whom she’s been with for eight years, married to for six years for his “eight years of deception.”
“8 years of life and deception,” Renay wrote. “8 years of unknowingly sharing my life and husband with numerous women who sell their bodies to him unprotected … every last one of them. To say I’m heartbroken and disgusted is [an] understatement. To ask me to stay and accept it is absolutely insane. The mentality of a narcissist.”
The couple tied the knot in 2016. They share three children Shaffer, 6, Roman, 3, and Isabella, 1.
Beyoncé removes Kelis credit off Renaissance album
Beyoncé has removed Kelis’ credit for the interpolation of “Milkshake,” on her song “Energy,” off the recently released Renaissance album after her complaining of not receiving credit on it. Kelis was upset about Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo credited as the only composers for the song’s usage.
Kelis initially said she wasn’t notified that “Milkshake,” would be sampled on Renaissance
Kelis replied in the comment section of a Kelis fan page stating there’s a blatant level of disrespect and ignorance from all three parties involved. She continued her remarks: “I heard about this the same way everyone else did,” she said. “Nothing is ever as it seems , some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity and they have everyone fooled.”
She concluded her statement with the comment, “it’s not a collab it’s theft.”
Kelis wasn’t listed as a producer, lyricist or composer on “Milkshake,” per Tidal credits. The track’s producers are Hugo, Williams, Rob Walker, and The Neptunes. In addition to being the producers, Hugo and Williams are also listed as the composers and lyricists of “Milkshake.”
Instagram model linked to Chris Brown, Nick Cannon unaware of AIDS diagnosis of ten years
Gena Tew, an Instagram model, linked to multiple celebrities, recently shared her personal story of how living with AIDs over the last decade has changed her life. Tew told her TikTok followers how she discovered her AIDS diagnosis.
“I didn’t know I had AIDS,” Tew said. “I just got sick one day, started fainting and fevers, then I got really weak. I was going to the doctors, and no one knew what was wrong. They just kept assuming cancer, cervical cancer, lesions, and then I had some doctor say ‘no, you’re perfectly fine, there’s nothing wrong with you.’”
Before her AIDS diagnosis, she modeled for Chris Brown’s Black Pyramid clothing line in 2015. In 2015, she also connected with rapper Chief Keef and Nick Cannon for her birthday. She has also linked with rapper Dave East
Sources: TikTok, CBS News Page Six, ESPN, The Jasmine Brand, Pitchfork, US Magazine
“One
Center of attention
NDC Entrepreneurship Center opens in Urban League headquarters
St. Louis American staff
The Urban League of Metropolitan Saint Louis, Inc. and The National Development Council (NDC) got down to business on Monday, August 1, 2002 with the opening the NDC Entrepreneurship Center at the Urban League’s Regional Headquarters at 1408 North Kingshighway. The NDC’s annual board retreat was also held in St Louis August 1– 3. NDC and the Urban League are partnering on several initiatives designed to support minority entrepreneurs and real estate developers in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area.
Several focus on building local capacity and increasing investment in North St. Louis communities. The NDC Center will provide a wide range of services and resources for minority businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs, including training, counseling, mentoring, and access to capital to support minority business start-ups and to facilitate the growth and sustainability of existing BIPOC businesses.
“We are extremely proud to partner with NDC on this critical initiative,” said Michael McMillan, Urban League president.
“NDC is an organization with a stellar reputation and long history of
advancing equity by raising and directing capital to communities of color; having them as a partner will absolutely allow us to quickly scale up and begin training the next generation of minority entrepreneurs.”
Founded in 1969, the NDC’s first mission was addressing economic and social imbalances in society by increasing the flow of capital to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color [BIPOC] and low-income communities throughout the country.
For more than 50 years, NDC has helped localities and communities by providing capital for small business lending, affordable housing finance, and job creation.
Capital can be used to support development and preservation of affordable housing, creates jobs through small business lending, advances livable communities with social infrastructure investment, and builds capacity with firsthand technical assistance to local governments.
“Our success in identifying and strengthening minority and small businesses and realizing those businesses’ potential to benefit their community and inspire generations of entrepreneurs, depends on effective partnerships with local organizations,” said NDC President Daniel Marsh, III.
“The Urban League brand is very strong in St. Louis, so we know we have a trusted partner with a history of excellence in service delivery.” NDC contributed $100,000 to support the new center. However, raising additional loan and operating capital from the local lending community to support minority entrepreneurs is critical.
Joseph Gray, NDC senior director, reached out to local lenders and area philanthropists to “keep the funding momentum going.”
“The response that we have received from minority entrepreneurs and developers has been amazing,” he said.
“Local small business owners and community residents with aspirations to become entrepreneurs are the key to the revitalization of North St. Louis. The Entrepreneurship Center can play a major role in providing the training, support, and financial assistance necessary to build a solid foundation to support the regeneration of historic minority commercial corridors and surrounding residential neighborhoods.”
August is National Black Business Month, and The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and National Development Council snipped the ribbon in celebration of the NDC Entrepreneurship Center opening on August 1 at the Urban League’s regional headquarters at 1408 North Kingshighway. From left are Ann Finnegan, NDC Small Business Lending manager; Joe Gray, NDC senior director; Seth Bongartz, NDC board chair; Michael McMillan, Urban League president and CEO; Saundra Hudson, NDC board member; Michael K. Holmes, Urban League regional vice president – workforce; and Dan Marsh, NDC president and CEO.
Photo courtesy of The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
Kansas gives America a wake-up call
The largely unexpected and huge rejection in deep-red Kansas of an anti-abortion referendum may portend a silent segment of voters who are irate about the extreme majority Supreme Court’s decision in June that removed federal protection of abortion rights. Kansas voted for Donald J. Trump by almost 15 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election and they are the first state to vote over whether to retain or overturn abortion rights in their jurisdiction.
The turnout was almost twice the usual primary vote, an unprecedented number for a primary election, and an unfavorable outcome could have cleared the way for the Republican-controlled state legislature to pass strict antichoice legislation as states like Missouri have already done and many other state legislatures are poised to do. This election in Kansas could presage a dramatic change in election outcomes in nationwide elections November. This political awakening in this conservative Midwestern state may portend dramatic voter action across the nation.
Kansas sees the proposed extremist Republican legislation for complete bans on abortion around the country and declarations of intentions to enact a national complete ban by Republican anti-choice zealots to be a threat, so should the rest of the country.
“This is a straight up and down vote on reproductive health,” said Kathleen Sebelius, former Kansas governor. “It is a pretty clean test on how strong voters feel about reproductive health and constitutional protections.” She also stated “I think what it should do across the country is just make people more comfortable talking about this issue as a galvanizing issue in the way we have, as Democrats, talked about health care; talked about any number of things. It’s a big difference between Republicans and Democrats.”
n This election in Kansas could presage a dramatic change in election outcomes in nationwide elections November.
In any case this decisive victory, by nearly 20 points, in Kansas shows that supporters in that state of abortion were aroused and motivated to flood the polls because of anger and resentment of extreme anti-choice actions.
As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues
‘His Name is George Floyd’ a must read
By Ben Jealous
George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer just over two years ago. His killing sparked a movement to end unjustified police killings and racist law enforcement practices. Sadly, the killings have not stopped. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was blocked by Senate Republicans last year. The struggle continues in communities large and small.
During racial justice protests that sprung up after video of Floyd’s murder spread around the world, millions of people spoke his name as they demanded accountability and justice. Now, a remarkable book examines Floyd’s life and death in the context of our history and what one of the authors calls the “complex, tangled web” created by racism in this country.
“His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice” was written by Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa. It draws on the reporting of their colleagues and on intimate interviews with Floyd’s family, romantic partners, and circle of friends.
measure of justice for his murder. And it points to some important facts about policing in this country. One is the need for accountability. Chauvin had a record of violent behavior. When abusive cops are not held accountable, more people will be subjected to their violence.
Another point is that policing is a local issue requiring local solutions. National policies, like those in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, can help. But holding violent cops accountable, getting them off the streets, or better yet, preventing them from getting hired in the first place, all require change at the local level.
People For the American Way spent the two years since Floyd’s murder developing a road map for transforming public safety. We looked at the research. We talked to criminologists, public officials, clergy and other community activists, and members of law enforcement. “All Safe: Transforming Public Safety” is a guide for public officials and community activists seeking to make their communities safer.
Republicans have long used the issue of abortion as a defining feature of their political platform to help bring staunch support from evangelical Christians and Catholics and other anti-abortion voters to their ranks. This position has been a promise to their voters since Ronald Reagan pledged to change the U.S. Constitution to specifically forbid abortion as national policy. It has helped enable huge GOP political gains.
Now with the vote in Kansas on Tuesday, Claire McCaskill’s comment Tuesday night that, “[T]his should be a signal to every Democratic candidate out there” is an important wake up call. Certainly, if rural-dominated
This could mean that the conventional wisdom that Republican control of both houses of Congress is a foregone conclusion “ain’t necessarily so,” particularly in highly contested Senate races in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and maybe North Carolina, Florida and even in the three person race in Missouri.
Abortion rights can and should be a major determinant to voter decisions in November.
We agree with Senator Brian Sebatz of Hawaii that, “People are mad as hell about having these rights taken away” and Democratic strategists should not underestimate the electoral and political power of voters, particularly women, when their rights are withheld.
Commentary
Now
it’s time to turnout in November
By Denise Rolark Barnes
While right-wing conservatives celebrate their long-fought victory to overturn women’s reproductive rights to protect the life of an unborn child, liberal lawmakers continue to drag their feet by engaging in infighting over proposed gun laws aimed at protecting every American in danger of losing their lives in a mass shooting or gun-related violence.
The desperate response by way of legislation addressing gun violence and banning access to assault weapons used in more than 314 mass shootings this year couldn’t get a vote last week. House Democrats failed to compromise on gun laws that would also address funding for law enforcement and hold gun manufacturers civilly liable.
In June, President Biden signed the Safer Communities Act, a bipartisan bill that would prevent dangerous individuals from accessing weapons and increase funding for mental health programs.
The bill adds convicted domestic violence abusers in dating relationships to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and gun buyers under 21 will have to wait up to three days while their juvenile and mental health records, along with state databases and local law enforcement records, are reviewed. Lastly, the bill provides $250 million to fund community-based violence prevention initiatives.
police, must have legislative language that holds law enforcement accountable in cases of police brutality, according to The Washington Post.
Sentiments of the CBC were expressed in a statement released by CBC Chair Joyce Beatty (D-OH) following the killing of Jayland Walker in Akron, Ohio.
She wrote, “Far too many Black people in America are killed at the hands of police during alleged traffic violations, and we cannot remain silent. This is not an acceptable outcome, and we can no longer afford to be merely outraged and heartbroken. While we have seen action on police reform in recent months, it is clear there is more work to do.”
Guest Columnist
Denise Rolark Barnes
Despite the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, by an 18-year-old reportedly nicknamed “school shooter” who took the lives of 19 children and two teachers on May 24 — and, weeks earlier, in Buffalo, New York, a supermarket mass shooting by an 18-yearold white supremacist who took the lives of 11 people — Congress has not instituted a ban on assault weapons despite outcries across the country to do so.
Politics and the threat of not being reelected in the fall midterm elections is the stalemate that appears to preclude lawmakers from taking the necessary measures Americans are demanding right now. Measures would address the redirecting funding for police, police reform, and most critically, a ban on assault weapons, including those used in the Uvalde, Buffalo, and most mass shootings.
Black lawmakers, particularly members of the Congressional Black Caucus, expressed to House leadership that any package, including funds for
House Democrats appear optimistic that the proposed gun measures will be voted on in August when Congress returns from recess. But there remains the political tightrope many are walking on to gain enough votes among their colleagues seeking reelection against those who will attempt to characterize them as soft on crime. This is why voter participation is essential in the upcoming mid-term elections. Those who would instead not put in place stronger gun laws and police reform measures have the loudest voices and decide what lawmakers will vote on.
Answering the call to increase Black voter turnout this fall significantly is a coalition of 50 Black organizations calling the effort the National Unity 2022 Black Voting and Power Building Campaign, or Unity 22. National and local Black-led groups will be galvanizing their constituencies to outdo the 2018 voter turnout numbers and to do so by recognizing and fighting against many new laws put in place to suppress the Black vote.
Gun violence and police reform are among the host of issues facing elected officials, but a vote instituting stronger gun laws and a ban on assault weapons is needed now to save lives. The way to secure these laws so that Americans will feel safe in their homes and on the streets is to relentlessly express to our politicians what we want and that they will have our backs at the polls on election day this fall if they deliver.
We must speak bolder and louder than others who want to protect the rights of gun owners and police over the citizens victimized by both.
Denise Rolark Barnes is the publisher and second-generation owner of The Washington Informer,
At a time when politicians are making it illegal for educators to acknowledge that systemic racism exists, Samuels and Olorunnipa document in painful detail the ways in which racially discriminatory policies on housing, education, health care, addiction, policing and more contributed to “a life in which Floyd repeatedly found his dreams diminished, deferred, and derailed — in no small part because of the color of his skin.”
Among the essential steps to make policing more just and more effective at the same time: improving recruiting to weed out potentially dangerous cops, holding violent officers accountable, and getting unfit officers off the force. Also, importantly, restructuring public safety systems to reduce the unnecessary involvement of armed officers in situations where they are not needed and for which they are not trained is good for cops as well as communities.
“For example,” Samuels says, “you could not disentangle police departments’ disproportionate use of force against African Americans from the junk science that is still taught about Black people being more resistant to pain. We could not ignore that those same instincts led to the inadequate mental health treatment in George Floyd’s life, nor could we separate that society both encouraged George Floyd to bulk up to pursue his athletic dreams and then stereotyped him as dangerous when he was off the field.”
The book doesn’t try to make Floyd a saint. It doesn’t have to. He was a human being. He did nothing to deserve being murdered on the street by an abusive police officer who shouldn’t have been wearing a badge.
“His Name Is George Floyd” is worth reading for many reasons. It gives us a fuller picture of the person George Floyd was. It introduces us to many people who loved him and sought a
Letter to the editor
No trust in Opportunity Trust
In a recent commentary, Keith Williamson, Opportunity Trust chair, touted research showing a connection between the growth of high-quality charter schools and an increase in the performance of public education.
I invite you to read “Still Asleep at the Wheel: How Charter Schools programs results in a pileup of Fraud and Waste,” by the Network for Public Education. The Network believes that $1.17 billion in funding has been spent on charters that have either never opened or that have since closed.
A former Missouri school district superintendent recently wrote a commentary entitled, “It’s time to invest in our schools and reconsider what value charter schools bring”. The author strongly makes the case that more than $1 billion has been wasted on closed or failed charter schools and it is time to shut the waste down.
The authors of “His Name Is George Floyd” describe optimism in the face of our history as both a defense mechanism and a means of survival. I am optimistic that we can end unjust police killings. I am optimistic that we can build the uncomfortably large coalitions it will take.
“Our book makes the argument that if we can demonstrate step-by-step how this country’s history with racism continues to shape people today, then we can continue the good work of dismantling systemic racism,” Samuels told me in an email. “We have to connect the theory with the practice.” That job belongs to all of us. We know what kind of changes will make our communities safer. Let’s organize, city by city and town by town, to make it happen.
Ben Jealous is president of People For the American Way
All letters are edited for length and style
With the amount of public money available to charters, it is obvious why millionaires have invested $50 million into organizations like the Opportunity Trust. In my opinion, its sole objective is profit, not education. To make money, students must be enrolled in their schools, otherwise the State of Missouri will not pay. Often to enroll students, these companies will lure parents with TVs, bikes, iPads, and cash fellowship grants to enroll their children. However, Opportunity Trust would have us believe their activities are all based on altruistic feelings about African American children, not profit. Actions always speak louder than words. By not investing a single dime in the communities that their African American children come from the Opportunity Trust shows everyone who they really are.
Dr. Patrick Charles, Vice-President Political Education AFT 420
Columnist Ben Jealous
From left, Marty Lyons, Ameren Corp., president and CEO, Richard Mark retired president of Ameren Illinois, and former Olympian and philanthropist Jackie Joyner-Kersee recently received a $130,000 donation for the JJK Foundation’s Winning in Life Initiative. JoynerKersee surprised Mark at the presentation when she announced the center’s gym would be named the Richard Mark Gymnasium.
Ameren Illinois lifts JJK Foundation with $130,000 donation
Earmarked for Winning In Life Initiative
St. Louis American staff
Ameren Illinois has gifted $130,000 to the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation and its Winning In Life Initiative.
The JJK Foundation serves approximately 180 students in Pre-K through 12th grade throughout the year. After-school programs offer reading specialists and STEM activities, and athletic opportunities help children build team camaraderie and leadership skills.
For more than a decade, recently retired Ameren Illinois Chair and President Richard Mark worked with JJK and her Foundation. He was surprised and honored to learn on July 28 that the JJK Center gymnasium will carry his name.
[Richard Mark’s] impact on the Foundation and countless youth from the East St. Louis region will live on in the future. His leadership and Ameren Illinois partnership have meant so much to me and our Foundation,” said Joyner-Kersee.
“This is a special day. I recall talking with Richard at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the JJK Center years ago and seeing how excited he was for this
facility and what it would do for our city. Naming our gymnasium in his honor is the perfect way to recognize decades of corporate citizenship.”
Mark said he is “a strong believer that passionate leaders don’t sit on the sidelines.”
“The growth, education and development of young people is vital for our future. By investing in the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, Ameren is helping to build a stronger community.
“The additional resources we are providing today will truly make a difference in the lives of kids of growing up in East St. Louis and the surrounding region. I am humbled by the gym dedication and confident Ameren Illinois legacy of support for the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center will live on for years to come.”
Marty Lyons, Ameren president and CEO, said the gymnasium honor “is a wonderful tribute to Richard and the longtime partnership he and Ameren Illinois have with the Foundation and the East St. Louis community.”
“I know this contribution will continue Jackie’s commitment to help youth compete to win, not just in athletics, but in life.”
Is it good for the children?
By Marian Wright Edelman
I have a basic question that I ask related to policy making and leadership, and that basic question is, is it good for the children? Is it good for the children? If it’s not good for the children, we ought not be doing it.”
Barbara Sabol has been asking this question her entire life. From her early career as a registered nurse, through her service as Kansas’s first director of services for children and youth, executive deputy commissioner in New York City’s Department of Social Services, commissioner of the Human Resources Administration in New York City, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation program director, she has been dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable.
She was an inaugural member of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)’s Black Community Crusade for Children. Now, she is spearheading a project converting family land where her father was raised by his grandmother in Leavenworth County, Kansas, into a model community with affordable rental housing for young adults aging out of foster care. In her words again: “So we owned some property, my sister and I, and we said, ‘How can we best use this property to make a difference for children?’”
Sabol recently gave an interview for the Kansas Oral History Project and shared a story that took place before she was born:
Her maternal grandmother died early, leaving her young family behind, and her dying request to her husband was:
“Charlie, keep these children together.” Barbara said that story was passed down through their family, “and I heard it, and it meant something. It got embedded in the DNA.”
Now, she is part of the leadership team for Home Works USA, LLC, building 15 small houses on her family’s land along with community food gardens, public nature trails and other resources to create a nurturing, safe environment available for young people aging out of foster care.
In addition to providing stable, affordable rental housing, the community will provide access to health and mental health services and supports for education, job training, and employment. Home Works USA describes its mission this way: “Emerging adults ‘aging out’ of foster care often struggle to find housing as they transition to adulthood. This can set their lives on a difficult path, leading to unemployment and even homelessness. Affordable housing is a primary factor in avoiding these outcomes ... This intentional community will support emerging adults who have aged out of foster care as they prepare for adulthood. Our goal is to allow them the opportunity to imagine and realize their dreams in a setting built on the foundation ‘home works, nature helps, and services matter.’”
This is a deep need for the more than 20,000 young people who age out of foster care every year across our nation, and once again, Barbara Sabol is doing her part to make a difference. I am so grateful for the commitment of long-haul champions for children like her.
Rev. Shannon Daley-Harris recently shared Sabol’s example in a sermon at the Princeton University Chapel and concluded her remarks by asking questions.
“I wonder, what part of God’s grand building project is each of us called to? The answer will be different for each of us, but the question is for all of us,” she said.
“None of us has to build the whole thing single-handedly, none of us alone has to finish the job, but we do need to get back to work with the belief that we can make things better.”
This is the reminder we all need as we seek to keep doing our own part to make a difference and do what is good for children.
Marian Wright Edelman is the founder and president emerita of The Children’s Defense Fund.
Photo courtesy of Ameren Illinois
Marian Wright Edelman
Bush
Continued from A1
Bush turned a large advantage in fundraising and a strong grassroots campaign into a huge victory at the polls. It was a knockout.
She touted that she has brought more than $1 billion to the St. Louis area, and sponsored 15 pieces of legislation including a recent bill that seeks to protect abortion rights.
Bond
Continued from A1 renovate, repair, improve, furnish and equip school sites, buildings and related facilities.
True to her activist background, Bush most recently made headlines as one of 17 Democratic House members arrested after an abortion rights demonstration at the U.S. Supreme Court on July 20. With Bush’s victory secured early Tuesday evening, the music began blaring. Purple balloons surrounded the building and purple Cori Bush t-shirts covered nearly every inch of the club.
“We ready,” said Bush. During her celebratory
speech, she reminded her supporters of Roberts’ unsuccessful attacks, and that she has drawn the ire of white supremacist throughout the country that “don’t like that she became the first Black congresswoman of the state of Missouri.”
Mayor Tishuara Jones gave a stirring speech celebrating her “sister.”
“If you question whether or not you can be an activist and serve this country, this is proof [you can.] If you question whether or not you can be a
Funding will be used for facilities work including, but not limited to air quality, lead removal, security improvements, new playgrounds, HVAC, roof repairs and bathroom upgrades. According to proponents of the bond issue, every one of the more than 60 schools and buildings in SLPS will receive upgrades, improvements, and repairs in some way.
The $160 million bond issue won’t fix every problem existing in old school buildings.
School Board President Matt Davis, who has two daughters in the SLPS district, but said it will make a huge difference.
“If you took every project needed for every building in the
single mother like us and serve this country and government, this is proof. If you question if you can love the Lord and be a pastor and serve this country, this is proof,” Jones said.
“You don’t have to have a degree in political science to serve this country. All you have to do is give a damn, and you already know that your congresswoman gives a damn.”
Jones pointed out that Bush is the kind of leader voters deserve.
Bush’s father was front and
district on a list, we would need about $300 million dollars,” Davis said. “We’re obviously not going to be able to tackle every project on that list but with the $160 million that this bond issue will provide, it’s going to allow us to put a huge dent in so many of those projects.”
center the moment she was confirmed as victor, and he congratulated his daughter.
“She deserves to win because she has done the work for St. Louis city and county,” said Errol Bush.
Some of her supporters have been with her since the Ferguson uprising in 2014.
Mike Lhotak said “I’m feeling amazing, you know. I met Cori when I was a part of the Lost Voices in 2015, and to see her win in 2020, and now again in 2022, it’s just
The Prop S victory could also be a boon to minority owned companies and constriction workers.
we organized and put in the right person, to begin with.”
“The fact that she got re-elected tonight showcases the needs, the desires, the principles, and the values of St. Louis’ 1st Congressional District are a priority of Cori Bush, that’s why she got elected.”
In August 2010, St. Louis voters passed a bond issue also called Proposition S. The $155-million bond measure sailed to acceptance with nearly 75% approval. The district planned to fund 362 various projects, and all were completed under budget. In addition, the bond issue created 3,000 construction jobs, 39% went to minorities and women. On the 97 contracts, 42% went to minority owned business and 8% were awarded to women owned businesses.
amazing.”
Farrakhan Shegog, president and CEO of Young Voices With Action said, “This right here is evidence that in 2020
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones (right) shares a hug with First Congressional District US Rep. Cori Bush on
Tuesday night Aug. 2, 2022. Jones offered an impassioned congratulatory speech for her friend and political ally at the House of Soul in Downtown St. Louis after Bush prevailed in the Democratic Primary.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Cori Bush let go a bright smile after she hammered Steve Roberts Jr., in their battle for the Democratic nomination for the First Congressional District seat in Congress. Bush crushed Roberts in the lopsided contest.
good healthcare, good transportation, good childcare and good retirements for everyone regardless of which part of the county you call home,” he said.
“We’ve brought racial equity into every conversation that the government has, and we will continue,” Page said.
Page told his supporters it’s been a long campaign and he plans to take a couple of days off of the campaign trail.
But he also seeks to unite the Democratic party as a whole, often pointing to races outside of his own, even outside of the region, saying his party is going to send a Democrat to Washington. St. Louis County is the most populated in the county in the state. St. Louis County has been one of Missouri’s few bastions of Democratic Party dominance.
After his win over Dueker was official, he traveled to south St. Louis to congratulate Trudy Busch Valentine on her win in the Democratic Primary win senate race. Page said Democratic core issues were key to his win.
“Support for working families, support for abortion rights, a track record of support for environmental and conservation issues, support for public safety,” Page said.
“I think that’s a big difference in this race.”
The vanquished Dueker said, “I’m proud of our campaign, worked hard, it’s been four grueling months but I loved it.
“I loved talking to voters. Spent time probably at 20 polling places today talking to voters and have loved the support,” she said.
It was difficult for her to convince county voters to trust her, especially after her years serving at the behest of Stenger. As well as some of her other dubious relationships, many anathema to Black peoples’ interests and concerns in the county.
Continued from A1
During her victory speech at the Sheet Metals Union Building in south St. Louis, Valentine said it is time for a nurse to serve in the U.S. Senate.
“When I was young, I saw nurses take care of people, stay calm in a crisis, and solve problems. I became a nurse because I was inspired by their dedication to service. I brought that dedication to this campaign, which is why I am standing here as the Democratic nominee,” she said to cheers and applause.
“Missouri has been split apart by career politicians. They spend their time fighting each other and making names for themselves instead of focusing on solving real problems.”
On the campaign trail she was repeatedly asked why she entered politics. She answered following her win on Tuesday night. Her response on Tuesday was, “I was tired of seeing costs rise while families lose ground. I was tired of seeing the middle class get squeezed out, and thousands of Missouri families, including mine, are being dev-
astated by the opioid epidemic. I couldn’t sit on the sideline anymore. That’s why I ran,” she said.
Valentine lost a son to an opioid overdose.
“You believed in my vision for a kinder, stronger Missouri,” she told supporters and Missourians who voted for her.
“You saw what I saw; that our nation needs to heal. And that after hundreds of career politicians, it’s time for a nurse in the Senate.”
She called the summer campaign, “an incredible journey,” adding, “I have learned so much and we are just getting started.”
Valentine thanked the other Democratic candidates for running because “it is so good for our Democracy when people step up and run. Thank you.”
Kunce thanked his supporters on Twitter on Tuesday night, and said “Thank you for fighting. Never stop.”
Unlike Schmitt, whose victory speech was peppered with subtle insults, Valentine sought to reach out to all Missourians.
“I’m so grateful to every Missourian who believed in our campaign and our vision for a better Missouri,” Valentine said.
“Having your trust and support is something I will never take for granted. This moment is truly the greatest honor of my life.”
Terri Murray, a north county resident, graduated from Saint Louis University’s School of Nursing about a year before Valentine, and supports her because “she knows the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion and cares deeply about better healthcare for everyone.”
“She’s authentic, genuine, has a really good heart, and a heart for service. She’s included me in a lot of things that people of her status probably would not have.”
Darryl Jones, another north county resident, shared the
same sentiment as Murray about Valentine having a passion for helping others and making Missouri a better state. He’s gotten to know Valentine through their work together on various nonprofit boards.
Christopher Bedell, a real estate attorney who lives in West County, said he believed Valentine would prevail.
“As a lifelong St. Louisan born and raised, the Busches are the royal family to me,” he said. “Being able to see a Busch save Missouri from a very rightwing Republican, I think that’s something I could get behind. She’s the most serious candidate.”
Valentine also spoke to Republicans and Democrats
who did not support her.
“To the many people in the state who didn’t vote for me, or have never voted for a Democrat, my entire campaign is about putting politics aside and putting people first,” she said.
“That means finding solutions that work for all of us. Lowering inflation, bringing down the cost of basic necessities, making sure that everyone can afford to be seen by a doctor, protecting the ability of everyone to make their own health care decisions, and working to end the opioid epidemic that has devastated our communities.
“Whether you voted for me or not, I’m going to work hard
in the Senate for you every day. I’m going to approach politics the same way I approach nursing and my life. I’m going to treat others with compassion, respect and integrity. I’m going to put our differences aside and embrace what unites us. I’m going to do what every public servant should do; serve the people they represent and reach across party aisles so we can all work together.”
She then said the nation can be healed “with acts of love and kindness.”
“Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or independent, you are a Missourian and, in my book, you always come first,” she said.
Photo by Isaiah Peters / St. Louis American
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page was joined by his wife, Jennifer Page, and their three sons while delivering his victory speech at the Airport Marriott on Tuesday August 2, 2022, after easily defeating Jane Duecker for the Democratic nomination for the seat.
St. Louis American Foundation holds STEM camp for 4-6th graders
The St. Louis American Foundation recently held its sixth annual Summer Science Academy for high-achieving 4th - 6th grade students. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) camp was held at Little Creek Nature Area in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. Participating students were a part of The St. Louis American’s nationally acclaimed Newspaper in Education program and were nominated by their teachers as a “Science Star,” with a high interest in, and aptitude for, science. The intensive summer science program was free to the participating students, through a partnership with the Boeing Company, and featured guest speakers from organizations including Seed St. Louis, Robertsville State Park, Illinois State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge. This year’s program included a special field trip to The Boeing Company! Participating students experienced self-directed research, hands-on lessons, individual and group experiments, engineering projects, indoor and outdoor challenges and environmental education.
Boeing Day
All photos by Cathy Sewell and Sarah Hoolihan Special thanks to Little Creek Nature Area
Science campers enjoyed a day of scientific discovery at the Boeing Company’s St. Louis offices which included learning about careers as well as doing hands-on activities.
Mayor Jones appoints two SLPS board members
Now at full complement
St. Louis American staff
Dr. John A. Wright, Sr. and Brittany Hogan have been appointed to the St. Louis Board of Education following the resignations of members Joyce Roberts and Regina Fowler in April, Mayor Tishaura Jones announced last week.
“With backgrounds in social work, equity, as well as school administration, these two accomplished leaders represent these values well. I look forward to working alongside the full Board to improve schools and educational opportunities for families across St. Louis,” Jones said in a release.
“Continuity, diversity, and collaboration on the Board of Education are key to moving forward and providing a better future for St. Louis students.” Hogan is manager for the Center for Human Service Leadership, a partnership between Washington University’s School of Social Work and Delmar DiviNe,
and previously served the Rockwood School District for eight years supporting the district’s DEI initiatives. Her responsibilities included monitoring transportation and educational outcomes for more than 1,400 St. Louis City children utilizing the Voluntary Transfer Student Program (VTS), coordinating the district’s social workers, and promoting cultural competence in academics.
Hogan holds a master’s degree in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Hampton University.
“I am honored to be appointed to the Board of Education by Mayor Jones. I look forward to joining my new colleagues to help make sure every student in the SLPS community can succeed and thrive,” Hogan said. Dr. Wright is a longtime academic leader in the St. Louis region. His previous jobs include serving as Kinloch School District superintendent, and interim superintendent of St. Louis and Normandy Public School Districts. He has authored 17 books, and currently serves on the boards of the Mercantile
Library and St. Louis Missouri-Senegal Sister Cities Committee, and as Honorary Consul for the Republic of Senegal for Missouri.
Wright holds a PhD and MED from St. Louis University as well as a Bachelor of Arts from Harris Teachers College, now Harris Stowe State University. He is a St. Louis native and Sumner High School graduate.
“We are excited to receive these new volunteers and are ready to start their orientation and on- boarding as soon as possible,” Matt Davis, board president, said in an SLPS release.
It’s a relief to [the Board] to be able to move forward with a full board as there is much work to be done as we prepare to welcome students, staff, and families in the new school year. We thank Mayor Jones for her work in filling these very important roles and for her support in this process.”
Wright will serve out the remainder of Roberts’ term, which ends in November. Hogan will serve through Fowler’s term, which ends in April. The appointments bring the board back to its full number of seven members.
East St. Louis McDonald’s owner/ operator and distributor delivering resources to flood victims
Jimmy Williams, an East St. Louis native and McDonald’s Owner/Operator who owns Estel Foods, Inc. has responded to a call for action from Illinois State Representative LaToya Greenwood (114th District) to help East St. Louis flood victims. Williams and his wife Janet donated $10,000 Wednesday for flood relief in addition to having McDonald’s distribution center, Martin
Brower, donate a truck full of essential supplies. “I grew up in this community, and the devastation left behind from the floodwaters is heartbreaking,” Williams said. “But we are fighters in East St. Louis, and I’m urging others to do what they can to help affected families get their lives back on track. Together, we can accomplish so much.”
My grandfather’s brave exit from 1930’s Mississippi
Ira Smith Sr. is a name that probably means nothing to you. Yet, it means everything to me. You see, he was my maternal grandfather and the glue that held our family together until his transition in 1992.
He was born on August 2, 1913, in Columbus, Mississippi into a family of sharecroppers and received only a third-grade education. In those days, the racists of Mississippi placed a higher priority on “nigras” working in the field than providing them with an education.
My grandfather, “Granny” as we referred to him, detested the glorified slavery of the cotton fields and was determined that he’d find a way out of those hot Mississippi fields.
A few years before marrying my grandmother, Pearl Lewis, he put down his cotton sack and became the chauffeur and valet for a wealthy Mississippi cotton broker by the name of Gaston Therrell.
Therrell appreciated my grandfather’s easy-going personality, excellent driving skills, and dapper appearance. He hired him to drive his 1930 Cadillac V16 Fleetwood Roadster throughout the South as he conducted business in the lucrative cotton industry.
Their travels took them to New Orleans, throughout Kentucky, Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee as his boss entertained governors, mayors, and other dignitaries.
Many of those people would ride with Therrell while liberally referring to Black people as “niggers,” as if my grandfather were invisible.
I got a steady dose of these
vignettes, from my grandfather during my weekly Sunday dinners with he and my grandmother. Thankfully, I began to record our discussions, not thinking that I’d ever find them useful for anything other than reminiscing with family.
Granny would recall how Therrell would ask his racist business acquaintances not to refer to his chauffeur as a “nigger” but, rather, as “colored,” “darkie” or simply “Smith.”
Considering that in 1930’s Mississippi many Black men were lynched, that was a sign of relative respect.
On another occasion at the segregated Peabody Hotel in Memphis, my grandfather was told that he’d have to sleep in the basement with the domestics. Therrell, overhearing this, demanded to speak with the manager of the hotel and, after threatening to never conduct business with them again, a rollaway bed was taken to Therrell’s suite for my grandfather. That was the South of the 1930’s. Yet, my grandfather was blessed to travel, albeit as a servant, in a luxury auto. He wore freshly pressed suits and shirts, spit-polished shoes and ate well. But he never forgot that he was only one step removed from being a slave. That reality set in quickly after Therrell died. Therrell’s son, Gaston II hated my grandfather
and promptly told him that he’d soon be returning to the cotton field.
But that wasn’t punishment enough. After sending my grandfather on a delivery run to a female dorm at a Mississippi college, Gaston II, in conspired with Columbus, Mississippi police. My grandfather was arrested for reckless eyeballing of white females. He was promptly convicted and sent to a Mississippi work camp where his driving skills were utilized hauling rocks.
An empathetic work camp inmate who observed my grandfather’s work ethic suggested on more than one occasion that he should leave the camp. My grandfather planned his escape and hauled a load of rock outside of the work camp gates, swam across the Tombigbee River, went home, hastily packed some belongings and, with the help of family, came to East St. Louis. He later sent for his family. Sadly, there were many Black men who were railroaded by racists or otherwise, unceremoniously forced to leave their Southern homes. The alternative was, invariably, lynching or incarceration at the hands of racists who wanted nothing more than to see them remain glorified slaves. Ira Smith, Sr. was an unfortunate victim of that history and I’m proud to say that my tenacity and resilience is the legacy that he gave to me.
Among the messages made clear on Tuesday’s primary election day were: There is no longer room in St. Louis city politics for candidates with credible histories of alleged sexual assault and domestic violence.
We speak, of course, of the failed candidacies of state Senate Steve Roberts, Jr., and former governor Eric Greitens Roberts’ campaign for the First Congressional district, billed as “The Revenge of Lacy Clay,” ended in one of the largest electoral losses in St. Louis history. By 9:30 p.m., the race was called for incumbent first-term Congresswoman Cori Bush, who ended with a nearly 43-point lead over Roberts. In St. Louis City alone, Bush received 71% of the vote to Roberts’ pitiful 25%.
“ask for a Democrat ballot” -- something that Democratic voters usually don’t have to be told to do. Roberts’ campaign strategy also seemed to rely on drawing more Republican voters to cross over and vote as Democrats - somehow forgetting that the Republicans had their own contentious primary.
Who knows what drove his decision to challenge Bush, a formidable opponent. It seemed driven as much by personal angst and a need to try to restore some relevance to the Roberts’ brand in politics after several humiliating defeats of family members at the polls, as well as an attempt to purge young Roberts of any public stain. There were also urgings from self-interested parties anxious to find a possible path to return to political relevance. It was an ill-fated collaboration. When Roberts’ defeat seemed almost certain, there was very little full throated public support for him from his presumed political allies.
Among the miscalculations of Roberts’ campaign was an unforced error of his own doing related to his very public history of sexual assault and abuse allegations. Instead of focusing on issues important to voters, Roberts doubled down on his protestation of innocence of any misbehavior with women and spent weeks trying to smear an ex-girlfriend. The results of his claims gave him no traction with voters, and women voters in particular. Roberts relied largely on out-of-state and Republican financial support to fund his campaign - ultimately to his detriment. In addition, his father, former alderman Steve Roberts Sr., was also identified by a national publication as being the largest donor to “YACHAD PAC,” a rightwing, pro-Israel political committee that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Bush with racist attacks. His mailers in the last week included Republican talking points and instructed voters to
Perhaps an example of the futility and ineptness of Roberts’ campaign was the flaccid get-out-thevote (“GOTV”) effort on election day itself.
The campaign had very little presence at city polling places throughout most of the day, and the poll greeters who did show up ended up at locations in Bush strongholds. If Roberts had the once vaunted “Clay Machine” behind his campaign, as he touted, that machine, has become outdated, riddled with malfunctioning systems and broken parts.
Roberts simply failed to show any modicum of political astuteness or craftiness throughout his campaign. After Tuesday’s overwhelming loss, he also can’t feel too confident in the security of his state senate seat, where he is up for re-election in 2024, if he chooses to run.
the outcome of the race.
But for someone fighting so hard for custody of his kids, Greitens sought to center himself and to portray himself as a “victim” of the establishment who still holds a “grudge” against him. That’s apparently an easier pill to swallow than “voters don’t want to elect a violent person,” and even Missouri’s millionaire/cartoon villain Rex Sinquefield, alarmed by the possible loss of a “safe” Republican Senate seat, contributed to the campaign against Greitens’ campaign.
Similarly to Roberts, disgraced former governor Greitens (who had been leading in the polls for months) saw a steep decline in support after he became the target of ads depicting his wife Sheena Chestnut Greitens’ charges of domestic abuse. But after a well-funded anti-Greitens PAC started to run blanket ads, he lost his position as frontrunner and the likely recipient of Donald J. Trump’s endorsement. Also not helpful for Greitens? His pending family court battle in Boone County, where he accused Chestnut Greitens of “working with” Republican consultants from Washington, D.C., who had political vendettas against him. The insults and digs hurled at his ex-wife became vexing for the judge, who ordered Greitens to sit for a seven-hour deposition to discuss under oath the child and spousal abuse made against him. Last week, a Kansas City television station obtained a list of exhibits filed by Chestnut Greitens, including photographs taken and text messages after alleged instances of abuse. The press coverage of Chestnut Greitens’ quest for sole custody, for better or for worse, undoubtedly had an impact on
Ultimately, Greitens received less than 19% of the vote. He didn’t just lose the “Battle of the ERICs” - he landed in a humiliating third place, behind U.S. Representative Vicky Hartzler, a candidate who was given the thumbs down treatment from Trump. St. Louis voters made one clear, resounding declaration on Tuesday: political office is no longer a safe space for allegedly abusive and violent men. Voters do, in fact, care about the personal history and personal baggage that a candidate brings to the ballot because many voters, as well as their friends and families, have lived through the type of violence alleged against both Roberts and Greitens.
The EYE is greatly relieved that they will not have to write about these two vanquished candidates for a very long time.
Steve Roberts Jr.
Eric Greitens
“Taking Care of You”
Care of community
3rd Project O Opioid Walk set for Saturday, August 6
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
CareSTL Health will host the 3rd Project O Opioid Awareness Day Walk/Run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, August 6, 2022, in Forest Park on the Upper Muny parking lot. Project O was created to raise awareness about the devastating opioid epidemic, and the impact it is having on the community.
Opioid overdose deaths among Black people in Missouri is third highest in the nation (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2020) with deaths in St. Louis and St. Louis County driving up statewide rates. State data shows opioid-involved deaths among Black men increased 17%, and 47% in St. Louis County, respectively.
n Opioid deaths and addiction are ravaging all communities and age groups, according to a StanfordLancet study on the North American opioid crisis, released earlier this year.
“This is not new to the clinical staff at CareSTL Health. Our medical team has been assisting patients overdosing for years. It’s what we do but part of our mission is to fight for healthy outcomes for our patients and the community. That’s what we are doing by hosting the opioid awareness walk,” said
CareSTL Health CEO Angela Clabon.
“We must do our part to end the stigma that goes along with seeking mental health. People in our communities are suffering from trauma, self-medicating, and dying and families are ashamed. I’m not ashamed. I’m in pain. CareSTL Health is committed to helping families who are like mine, and so many others.”
Opioid deaths and addiction are ravaging all communities and age groups, according to a Stanford-Lancet study on the North American opioid crisis, released earlier this year. It found that without urgent intervention, 1.2 million people in the U.S. and Canada
Follow these ways to wellness
The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends a one-time screening of all asymptomatic adults, ages 18-79, for hepatitis C. Pregnant women should also be tested. Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis C virus which is spread from the blood of an infected person. Most people become infected with Hepatitis C from sharing needles.
For some individuals, infection with hepatitis C is brief but more than 50% of people have a chronic infection which could progress to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer. People with chronic hepatitis may not have any symptoms at all. For some people, symptoms may not occur until advanced disease. Avoiding behaviors that spread hepatitis C such as injecting drugs is one way to prevent disease. It is important to get checked for hepatitis C because if properly treated and caught early, the disease is curable in most people.
Another guideline recommendation for which most people are unaware, is a one-time abdominal aortic aneurysm screening via ultrasound for men with a history of smoking and between the ages of 65 and 75. An aortic aneurysm is a bulge or swelling in the aorta, the large artery that carries blood from the heart through the chest and torso.
n It is important to get checked for hepatitis C because if properly treated and caught early, the disease is curable in most people.
An aneurysm can cause the artery to rupture or dissect, which is a life-threatening emergency. Symptoms include a sudden, sharp pain in the upper back that spreads downward, shortness of breath, loss of consciousness, low blood pressure, and pain in chest, neck, or arms. Most aneurysms are small and can just be monitored but depending upon the size, some may need surgical intervention. Per the CDC, over 9,000 people died from aortic aneurysm dissection or rupture in 2019. Additionally, depression screening is also recommended. Initially, most providers use an abbreviated patient health questionnaire and if the answers to the questions are positive, then an extended version of the questionnaire is used. Depression is more than just feelings of sadness. Depression may interfere with work, familial and intimate partner relationships. Prior to the pandemic, roughly 9% of the US
Helping hold down hepatitis in Black community
Testing is key
By Alexa Spencer Word In Black
It’s estimated that millions of Americans are living with hepatitis. But while the inflammatory liver condition can affect anyone, Black people are more likely to die from it — and structural inequities have a lot to do with this.
ings in unlicensed facilities. This long-term type of hepatitis can lead to liver damage, cancer, and death.
Black folks were nearly twice as likely to die from hepatitis C than white people in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health
Adrienne Simmons, director of programs at the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR), says awareness of the virus begins with education, but many people don’t know what factors put them at risk for infection. People become at greater risk for hepatitis C when they share drug injection needles, have sex with infected people, and receive tattoos or pierc-
Just two years earlier, Black people were 2.6 times more likely to die from hepatitis B than white people.
“People need to understand what the risk factors are, and understand that even if you don’t know what the risk factors are, that everyone should be tested at least once in their lifetime for hepatitis C virus,” Simmons told Word In Black in See HEPATITIS, A15
CARE STL Health Executive Director Angela Clabon (left) was joined by St. Louis Health Director Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis during ground breaking ceremonies for CARE STL Health’s $25 million Ville Wellness Campus on May 4, 2022. The clinic will offer therapies designed to decrease opioid abuse and overdoses in north St. Louis.
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Denise HooksAnderson
Have partnered since 2006
St. Louis American staff
College Bound has received a grant for $50,000 from Bayer Fund to support the Bayer Fund College Bound Summer Institute (CBSI) at the University of Missouri St. Louis
“Taking Care of You”
Bayer Fund backs College Bound
(UMSL). Bayer Fund CBSI provides students with opportunities to earn college credit while in high school, free of charge. It has partnered with College Bound since 2006, and the support has allowed College Bound to grow to serve more than 400 students annually via its full-service program, To and Through. In 2021, CB students
earned 93 transferrable college credits, resulting in a savings of nearly $30,000 in tuition.
“Students who enter college with credits earned in high school are more likely to finish college either on-time or early, and with less debt – an increasingly important factor as the cost of college continues to rise,” said College Bound President and CEO Scott Baier.
There are 28 students are
enrolled in CBSI coursework on the campus of UMSL. In addition to offering students the opportunity to earn college credits in high school, Bayer Fund CBSI mitigates summer learning loss, increases reading competency, reinforces positive study habits, increases test-taking confidence, and exposes students to a variety of major and career options.
“Throughout the years,
the grants given through Bayer Fund have helped strengthen our communities across the United States,” said Al Mitchell, Bayer Fund president.
“We’re proud to be able to provide support to develop programs like College Bound, which has been critical in inspiring future generations for careers in the high-demand STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] field.” In 2021, Bayer Fund awarded more than $13.1 million to over 3,400 charitable and nonprofit organizations to help address essential needs in Food and Nutrition, STEM Education and Health & Wellness. Over the last five years, nonprofit organizations across the U.S. have received more than $75 million.
Enthusiastic participants headed on their way under the flag detail provided by the
walk is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday and begins on the Upper
Opioid
Continued from A14
will die from opioid overdoses by the end of the decade.
In CareSTL Health communities buying street drugs “is a game of chance,” says Clabon. Drugs or pills purchased in nonmedical settings may con-
Hepatitis
Continued from A14
a phone interview.
Though the Black community as a whole is affected by the hepatitis C virus, Simmons says it’s important for us to think about “which communities within the Black community might be disproportionately impacted.”
Despite making up only 12.4% of the U.S. population, Black people account for 38.3% of prisoners, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. People who are incarcerated and living with hepatitis C face serious barriers to accessing treatment.
“For a number of years, jails and prisons have not provided access to hepatitis C
Anderson
Continued from A14
population was depressed.
That percentage tripled during the early phase of the
tain fatal doses of fentanyl.
“We have been saving patients from overdosing since before COVID. Fentanyl is not new; it’s just become popular. Overdoses have dramatically increased because of Fentanyl,” said Demarsha Davis, RMA.
The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis launched a 30-day NARCAN distribution effort in partner-
treatment while incarcerated,” Simmons says. “And again, due to advocacy and litigation, we have seen more correctional facilities providing access to treatment now than we did 10 years ago, but we still have a long way to go.”
Simmons says the Black unhoused community is particularly at risk for hepatitis A, which is a short-term liver infection often contracted through contaminated food or water.
According to a 2020 report of national homelessess, an estimated 40% of people experiencing homelessness were Black. About a quarter of the unsheltered homeless community — people sleeping out in the open on sidewalks or on bus or park benches was Black, the annual assessment conducted by the
pandemic, and it is even worse now. Symptoms of depression include loss of appetite, overeating, lack of motivation, withdrawal, substance abuse, and feelings of suicide or wanting to harm others. There are multiple non-medicinal tools
ship with Americorps and B.A.S.I.C. [Black Alcohol/ Drug Information Center] in February. More than 200 vials of NARCAN per day were distributed for 30 days in areas where open drug use is prevalent.
Narcan is the brand name for naloxone, an FDA-approved prescription medicine nasal spray that can block the effects
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also noted.
“We’ve seen a number of outbreaks of hepatitis A among people experiencing homelessness. So again, thinking about health disparities and the fact that homelessness often disproportionately impacts the Black community, the Black community tends to be at risk for hepatitis A infections,” Simmons says.
of opioids, and that can reverse an overdose, according to drugfree.org
Lauiesha Plummer, RMA, said, “Narcan brings them back. But we were well aware of Fentanyl before COVID.”
“We see people get clean through the Medication Assisted Treatment [MAT] programs, then they get stressed out, relapse and overdose.
hepatitis.
As a coalition of patients, providers, community-based organizations, and public health partners, the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) is working to bring an end to global
to treat depression such as therapy, exercise, and meditation. However, some people may need medication. A few risk factors for depression include unemployment, victims of abuse, chronic illness, or substance abuse.
NVHR recently launched a collaboration with the National Alliance of State and Territorial Aids Directors and the National Association of County and City Health Officials that’s focused on people who use drugs.
“We’re approaching it with a health equity lens. And so there’s a focus on racial and ethnic communities who are disproportionately impacted by hepatitis B and hepatitis C…
We’re going to be providing technical assistance and training to those network members to help address any unmet need as it relates to viral hep-
These health screenings can easily be accomplished at routine visits. Therefore, scheduling a yearly physical is important and should not be overlooked. Wellness visits will also include blood pressure checks, weight assessment,
Unfortunately, it’s not unusual. It’s really heartbreaking.”
This year participants can walk or run a fun one mile or challenge themselves to a 5K in memory of an individual affected by opioids.
Prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place runners/ walkers and the largest group.
CareSTL Health’s Project O – Opioid Awareness Walk/ Run is powered by United Healthcare, Aetna, and BJC Healthcare.
“Opioid abuse is another public health issue that must be aggressively addressed. This year, we will expand our Project O efforts throughout the year with more events presenting resources for the community,” Clabon said.
atitis and substance disorder care in that community. And so the Black community is very much a focus of that new collaboration,” Simmons says.
In 2014, when a curative form of therapy called direct acting antivirals came to the market, Simmons said “insurance companies immediately put barriers into place…due to the high costs of those medications.”
While we’ve seen a number of the barriers come down, there are a lot that still remain in place…some examples of the barriers that we saw were that insurance companies would require that you have severe liver disease before they would treat your hepatitis C infection, which is something that’s a requirement that is very much unique to hepatitis C treatment. If you
and a routine blood profile. Healthcare should not be solely defined by disease. Prevention of disease should be the goal of everyone. Healthy diets, proper weight management, stress reduction, adequate sleep, and routine evidence-based screen-
think about cancer, we don’t tell people, ‘oh, you’ve got to wait until you have stage four cancer before we’re treated,’” Simmons says.
“We also saw an insurance company just require that patients be abstinent from drugs and alcohol. And so this continues to be probably the most widespread barrier that we’re seeing,” she continued.
Considering the barriers people living with hepatitis face, NVHR has made it its mission to fight to increase access to hepatitis C treatment in state Medicaid programs.
“We have data that shows that a large number of people who are living with hepatitis C receive Medicaid. And so that has been our focus over the last five years,” Simmons says.
ings are all tools to help our society achieve wellness. Your family doctor, Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D., FAAFP yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com
St. Louis Fire Department during the last CareSTL Opioid Walk in Forest Park. This year’s
Muny Parking Lot.
Photo courtesy of CareSTL Health
Dr. Adrienne Simmons
RBC, Urban League rise to occasion to help flood victims
United Way sets up Relief fund
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones looks on as James Clark of The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis discusses his organization’s effort to assist families and businesses impacted by historic flooding last week.
By Alvin A. Reid
The St. Louis American
The Regional Business Council has made a $100,000 contribution to the United Way of Greater St. Louis Flood Relief Fund to help families and business impacted by the recent flash flooding.
“This fund will provide necessary resources to engage and equip disaster-experienced nonprofits in partnership with local volunteers and government agencies working to assist and restore flood victims as quickly as possible,”
said Michelle Tucker, president and CEO of United Way of Greater St. Louis. “Collaborations and partnerships remain imperative in the deployment of our proven disaster relief approaches. Thank you to the local businesses, donors and volunteers who have stepped up to help many of our neighbors in need during this time.”
All money raised through the fund will be used in partnership with Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) and Long Term Recovery Committees (LTRC).
On Sunday, Mayor Tishaura Jones
joined staff members of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis at the 1408 N. Kingshighway resource center, which is assisting residents by accepting donations Monday through Friday and coordinating efforts to three mobile command centers throughout the city. Those mobile command centers are in the Ellendale neighborhood (2732 McCausland Court), Kingsway West (Intersection of Ashland and Norwood Avenue), and a new location in Walnut Park West at 6085 W. Florissant Avenue.
VP Harris says boosting Black businesses can help grow economy
By Alvin A. Reid
St. Louis American
The
While admitting that inflation
“is still too high,” Vice President Kamala Harris thinks the economy has a bustling future. Especially if minority owned businesses increase in number and size.
“After a year of record growth, our economy is slowing down, but our nation’s economic outlook remains strong,” Harris said while delivering the keynote address of the Economic Opportunity Coalition Event in Brooklyn, New York on July 28, 2022.
“We have near record-low unemployment, we have a strong job market, and consumer spending is continuing to grow. That said, we know there is still more work to be done. Inflation is still too high, and lowering costs remain a top priority of our administration.” Harris was joined by Isabel Guzman, administrator of our Small Business Administration, See HARRIS, B2
Jasmine N. Hall Ratliff named executive director
Vice President Kamala Harris said community lenders are often more in tune with the people and businesses they serve than major institutions. She announced more resources are going to the smaller lenders during the Economic Coalition Opportunity event in Brooklyn, New York on July 28, 2022.
Kyla Pollard named group manager/VP
Kyla Pollard has been named group manager for Commerce Bank, overseeing the operation and management of six branches in the St. Louis Region. Additionally, she is responsible for business development and customer service related to the bank’s consumer banking, lending, and small business services. She has previously held the positions of branch manager and assistant vice president at Commerce.
Jackson named president of Crisis Nursery board
The Saint Louis Crisis Nursery recently announced Keith Jackson has been installed as the new president of its Board of Directors. Jackson is field supervision director at Edward Jones. He first joined the Crisis Nursery’s Board of Directors in 2015. Originally opening its doors in 1986, the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery was the first Crisis Nursery in the state of Missouri, founded by the Junior League of St. Louis, the Coalition of 100 Black Women and Deaconess Hospital. Beginning with just one location, the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery has since grown to include five Crisis Nurseries and ten community-based Family Empowerment Centers across the Greater St. Louis, St. Charles, and Jefferson County Region.
Rochelle named board president Missouri Foundation for Health named Jasmine N. Hall Ratliff as executive director of its 501c3 nonprofit, Build Missouri Health. She returns to MFH after working at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and with Keecha Harris and Associates, Inc. for the past two years. During her 10 years at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she led various projects, including the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project and the New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids. She also secured funding for a national initiative to decrease childhood obesity among American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Jackayyn Olinger Rochelle
Jackalyn A. Olinger Rochelle, partner at Bailey Glasser LLP, has been named president of the Board of Directors at the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition. From a young age, she has been dedicated to the Coalition, first as an event volunteer, then as a junior board member, as a governing board member, and now as its president. As an advocate for foster children in the St. Louis area, she is dedicated to governing the Coalition as they work to fulfill their mission of recruiting homes for children in foster care and supporting foster/adoptive families.
Photo courtesy of Urban League
Kyla Pollard
Jasmine N. Hall Ratliff
Photo courtesy of The White House
Flood
Continued from B1
“City leaders and staff are working every single day to get residents the support, help, and information they need following this week’s heart-wrenching floods,” Jones said.
“Our community partners are stepping up too, from churches to businesses to civic leaders. The biggest donation needs at the moment are food, dehumidifiers, cleaning supplies like mold remover, gloves, water, bug spray, clothing, and toiletries; keep an eye on stlouis-mo.gov/flood for ways to help.”
Urban League Vice President James Clark said volunteers have gone door-to-door in some of the hardest hit areas, delivering food, PPE, and toiletries.
“We provided hotel vouchers to over 55 families whose homes were lost to this historic flood,” he said.
A list of needs is listed on the City’s website at stlouis-mo.gov/flood, and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis will be accepting dona-
Harris
Continued from B1
Isabel Guzman, and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Don Graves.
“America is a nation powered by the ambition and the aspiration of her people. The ambition and the aspiration to turn dreams into reality, including the aspiration and dream to start a business, to own a home, to get an education. That is the energy and the ambition that has always been a driver of America moving forward. It creates jobs, it sparks innovation, it expands the economy, and it makes our nation more competitive,” Harris said.
“But achieving that success requires a number of very specific things. And, it requires access to capital. For what?
tions Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm, at their headquarters at 1408 N. Kingshighway Blvd.
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) urges those who experienced flood damage to contact their flood insurer as soon as possible to start the claims process.
“Residents who have been impacted by the recent flooding should reach out to their flood insurer as soon as they can safely do so to report the damage and file their claim,” said Hilary Segura, assistant vice president of state government relations for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA).
The Association offers these tips:
• Shovel or scrape mud off floors, furniture, and walls before the mud dries. Then hose down the walls with clean water, starting from the ceiling.
• Major appliances, such as refrigerators and stoves, can be washed and dried completely. In most cases, they will not be damaged unless they were operating at the time the water covered them.
• Diluted chlorine bleach can
Well, for example, to buy inventory, to make a down payment, to hire employees. And it requires access to financial services — services like checking and savings accounts, home and auto loans, financial education and advice.
“And what we know is not everyone in our nation has equal access to this essential support.”
The vice president shared the fact that Black entrepreneurs are three times more likely to report they did not apply for a loan for fear of being turned away by a bank.
“That fear being based on the stories and the experiences of their family, friends, and neighbors,” she said.
“Black and Latino homeowners are rejected by traditional financial institutions at a higher rate when applying for home loans. And this is the
be used to clean household items, appliances, walls, and floors and will help control odors.
• Wood furniture should be dried outdoors, but not in direct sunlight. Remove drawers and other moving parts before they dry.
• Food utensils and equipment should be washed thoroughly and sterilized before using. Any food that is open and exposed to flood waters should be discarded. Donations to the United Way Fund can be made online at HelpingPeople.org/ FloodRelief or individuals can make an offline donation by mailing a check to: United Way of Greater St. Louis, 910 N 11th St., St. Louis, MO 6310. Make checks payable to “United Way of Greater St. Louis” and on the memo line of the check, indicate that the donation is for “July 2022 Flood Relief Fund.” Additionally, volunteers are needed to help with response efforts in the region. Anyone interested in volunteering can learn more at StlVolunteer.org/ DisasterHelp
case even when they have credit profiles that are similar to other applicants.”
Harris saluted community lenders, saying they are “uniquely positioned to fill the gaps that traditional banks either cannot or will not address.”
The folks who run these institutions — many of whom I’ve met and some of who are here — often work and live in the very community that they serve. They see clearly their community’s needs and its challenges. They understand their community.
“They also then see their community’s strengths and its opportunities. And when they make a loan, they then see firsthand the positive impact of that loan.”
Over 20 private sector organizations, representing large consumer banks and investment firms, technology companies and philanthropic interests, attended the conference.
“These organizations [and the Biden administration], will invest tens of billions of dollars to provide capital to community lenders; to support entrepreneurship, in particular for women-owned and minority-owned businesses; and to expand access to financial services; and create affordable housing and protect affordable housing,” Harris announced.
“You know, these days, we talk a lot about the economy. Well, let us understand: We all do better as a nation when all our communities do better. It’s that old saying about ‘the rising tide lifts all ships.’ And so that is the spirit with which we do this work.
“The mission of our coalition and the mission of our administration is to match potential with opportunity in every community across our nation.”
Mayor Tishaura Jones [right] and a volunteer inspect damage in Walnut Park during recent floods.
Photo courtesy of Mayor’s office
n “I’d rather play against Tom Brady every day of the week than go against Peyton Manning. I believe that’s how everybody feels.”
– Bart Scott, former NY Jets linebacker and ESPN NFL analyst
Sports
InSIdE SportS
By Earl Austin Jr.
Bill Russell, basketball and civil rights icon, passes at 88
The greatest winner of all time
The basketball world lost a giant with the passing of iconic Hall of Fame center Bill Russell. The former Boston Celtics great died on Sunday, July 31, 2022, at the age of 88.
Plain and simple, Russell was the greatest winner in the history of American team sports.
As a player, coach, pioneer, and civil rights activist, he was a larger than life figure whose legacy touched all facets of our society.
He was the cornerstone of a Celtics dynasty that won 11 National Basketball Association championships between 1956-1969.
As a collegian, Russell led the University of San Francisco to back-to-back NCAA Tournament championships in 1955 and 1956, respectively, while also leading the Dons on a 55-game winning streak. He was also the captain of the USA Olympic team that won the gold medal at the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Australia.
That same year, the St. Louis Hawks actually drafted Russell. He was then traded to the Celtics in one of the most famous deals in NBA history. The late Celtics coach Red Auerbach brought Russell to Boston in exchange for St. Louisan Ed McCauley and Cliff Hagan. The rest, as they say, was NBA history. Russell revolutionized the game with his defensive prowess and rebounding. He was an uncanny shot blocker who also finished his career with an average of more than 22 rebounds a game. The best attribute of Russell’s game was that he was all about the team. He impacted winning.
The numbers and statistics mattered little to him. The only statistic that mattered was wins and losses.
A number that stands out to me is 21. Russell participated in 21 winner-take-all games in his playing career, which included college, Olympics, and NBA. His record in those games was 21-0, which included 10 Game 7s in the NBA.
Russell’s accomplishments on the court put him in a conversation of best players to ever play the game of basketball. As great as he was on the court, he was just as giant off it as a pioneer and civil rights leader.
Russell became the first Black coach in the NBA in 1967. As the player-coach of the Celtics, he led the franchise to back-to-back world championships in 1968 and 1969.
When Auerbach tabbed Russell as his successor as head coach after his retirement, the franchise became the forerunner to hiring Black head coaches. In fact, a Black coach, Ime Udoka, led the current edition of the
Celtics to the NBA Finals this past season.
KC Jones, who was Russell’s former teammate at USF and Boston, guided the Celtics to titles in 1884 and 1986, while Glenn “Doc” Rivers led Boston to its last championship in 2008. Tom “Satch” Sanders and M.L. Carr also patrolled the sidelines at Boston.
Russell was also a powerful voice in the civil rights movement as he was uncompromising and dignified in his activism. Racism and bigotry were bigger opponents to him than the Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks or Hawks.
He attacked them with the same voracity as he would the layup of an opposing player who would dare dribble into his area with the game on the line.
After unspeakable acts of racism greeted him and his family in the city of Boston, where he put up championship banners, he never wavered in his convictions.
As America’s most prominent Black athlete of the time, he spoke out against racial injustice. In that climate he was putting his safety at great risk. In those days, it wasn’t about losing a shoe endorsement. He could have lost his life. It didn’t matter. He stood just as tall in the civil rights movement as he did in a Game 7 in the NBA Finals. Imagine leading a boycott of a basketball game in Lexington, Kentucky because a hotel restaurant refused to serve Black players. Yeah, Russell did that in 1961.
SportS EyE
With Alvin A. Reid
How ridiculous is the Deshaun Watson six-game suspension as punishment for his alleged miscreant behavior?
I’m urging the NFL to appeal disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson’s embarrassingly light so-called punishment. Stick to your original position, which is a season-long sit down. Watson did not a play a down in 2021 but was paid as if he did not miss a snap from center. Injury did not keep him off the field, his own alleged behavior was the culprit. At least 25 civil lawsuits were filed against Watson. Plaintiffs’ claims include that he conducted in inappropriate
Imagine marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and participating in numerous demonstrations. He did that, too. He was part of a prominent group of Black athletes who supported Muhammad Ali when he refused induction into the armed forces. He was part of the iconic picture featuring Ali, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and other Black athletes, which was taken at the Cleveland Summit in 1967. In 2011, Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award by President Barack Obama.
Don’t back down NFL, appeal Watson’s six-game suspension
behavior, all the way to sexual assault during massage sessions.
The NFL and NFL Players Association agreed on Robinson to rule on the case and administer punishment after hearing arguments from both sides. During settlement talks, the NFL came down from its full-season suspension request but said it could be no less than 12 games. Watson’s side countered with acceptance of a suspension of just six-to-eight game suspension.
With having to reach a settlement, Watson got what he desired, a paltry six game so-called punishment. It is
simply outrageous.
The NFLPA immediately announced it was happy with the verdict and would not appeal. Ya, think? Think what you want of the union and its shaky reputation with its own members, this is a big win for its future. However, the NFL could take the contest to overtime. It can appeal Robinson’s wayward judgement and should do so forthwith.
The league should not settle for 12 weeks now, go for the season-long suspension. Robinson, the NFL, NFLPA has heard the swift condemnation of Monday’s chilling
announcement.
The NFL should throw its full weight, and fortune, into winning this case. Watson was never judged guilty or innocent. It isn’t the point.
As of Monday, he settled all but two of the cases, didn’t take the stand, and will miss less than half of the 2022 NFL season. Just flat icky. And icky is enough for a league to suspend you a lot longer than six games. Just ask former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer. MLB suspended him for two years, for violation of the league’s domestic violence
and sexual assault policy. Bauer said all his actions with a woman who made allegations were consensual. He was never charged with a crime.
Do you know how some people feel about attorney Ben Crump? That’s how I feel about Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents the plaintiffs.
The fact he has been involved in this matter since its inception, bothers me. Some of the lawsuits might be shakedowns. Again, it does not matter. Watson deserves more of a punishment.
Lastly, I did not think was possible for me to have empathy with Houston Texans owner Cal McNair and his family. His late father, Bob McNair, shared his ultra-conservative views several times
and we will leave it at that. The reached settlements with 30 women who were prepared to make claims against the organization for its alleged role in «enabling Watson›s behavior,” Buzbee announced in mid-July. The team settled and said it was not admitting any guilt. It just wanted this sordid episode over. I believe it. I’m giving the Texans the benefit of the doubt, and I’m refusing to do the same for Watson. It does not make me a bad person. I don’t know that Watson is a bad person. I think he did some bad things. Robinson’s decision is really bad. Don’t back down, NFL.
Alvin A. Reid
Imagine going down to Mississippi in the wake of Medgar Evers’ assassination to participate in the first inter-racial basketball camp for kids. Yeah, he did that too in 1963.
Earl Austin Jr.
President Barack Obama awarded the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom to basketball great Bill Russell during a ceremony at the White House in Washington on February 15, 2011.
Deshaun Watson
Photo courtesy of Boston Celtics/NBA.com
Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP (PwC) awarded HarrisStowe State University (HSSU) a $15,000 Digital Enablement Award recently.
HSSU’s AnheuserBusch School of Business (ABSB) applied for the funds in May 2022 and will use the funds for faculty professional development. Learning opportunities will include hands-on bi-monthly training sessions focused on trending teaching and learning technology.
HSSU’s ABSB Dean,
Harris Stowe receives funding to provide faculty with tech skills
Dr. Stacy Gee Hollins, and Assistant Dean, Dr. Shelitha Peppers, believe this funded opportunity will help increase technology use in the classrooms and enhance learner engagement.
“Digital enablement funding from PwC is providing our faculty with technological skills and tools necessary to teach our scholars in this digital world,” Hollins said.
They are looking forward to measuring the impact and success of the program through the level of incorporation of the
Urban Expo Career Fair set for Aug. 5
More than 60 companies will be hiring at the Urban Expo Career Fair. It’s Friday, Aug. 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at America’s Center. Bring plenty of resumes and dress professionally.
It’s part of the Urban Expo Back to School & Community Empowerment Festival sponsored by the Urban League in conjunction with St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS).
And on Saturday, Aug. 6, the Urban Expo Back-toSchool event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at America’s Center. Free transportation is available. 27,000 residents are expected to attend. Call 618-212-9167 for more information.
new tools moving forward. “This is great because there are not a lot of grants or funding opportunities developed solely for faculty,” Peppers said.
Faculty members will receive meals and necessary materials while participating in the program and have the opportunity to earn badges. Potential training could include LinkedIn Learn, Canvas, and course-specific sessions.
Training sessions will begin in September 2022 and end in April 2023.
911 dispatchers needed
The City of St. Louis is looking for 911 dispatchers. Trainees earn $1,512.00 every two weeks, as you serve in a working test period. The job involves receiving and evaluating telephone calls in the police division’s 911 call center, dispatching police units, redirecting calls
to EMS dispatch, fire equipment dispatch or other agencies, and performing REJIS (Regional Justice Information System) and MULES (Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System) searches for missing and wanted/warrant vehicle and person records.
St. Louis American staff
East St. Louis Mayor Robert Eastern III has announced that the city will remain in a State of Emergency until further notice.
“We want to make sure that our citizens are safe and treated with dignity and compassion.
To date, we are estimating that over 50 families were affected,”
Refuse drivers are also needed
The City residency requirement may be waived for this position. This job pays a minimum of $36,868 per year. You’ll operate heavy automotive vehicles that lift and load refuse, yard waste and recycling containers into trucks and then drive them to a landfill.
Visit https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/ for more information.
East St. Louis, state continue helping flood victims
he said, Gov. JB Pritzker also said it will continue aiding flood victims.
“The flooding [has] continued in East St. Louis (St. Clair County) and resulted in life safety shelters for the displaced residents are being established East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Washington
County, and their residents continue to struggle to repair the damages and recover from the flash flooding incidents,” he said.
“Based on reports received by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, local resources and capabilities have been exhausted and state resources are needed to respond to and recover from the effects of the flash flooding,” he said.
Impacted residents are encouraged to contact the United Way at 2-1-1 to report any flood property damages they have incurred. Flood survivors are also encouraged to take photos and document their property damages prior to clearing the damage.
East Side Health District Director Elizabeth PattonWhiteside encouraged residents to clean their homes according to CDC guidelines to maintain safety. The CDC guidelines for Cleaning Mold after a flood can be found at https://blogs.cdc.gov/ publichealthmatters/2016/11/ cleaning-mold-after-a-flood/
There is a Multi-Agency Resource Center event which will
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
Where there’s a Will there’s a way
DJ, artist graced by gospel legends, blogs for gospel/hip-hop instrumental mixes
By Danielle Brown
American
St. Louis
The
Don’t sleep on the power the internet has. One can be locally known today and a national superstar tomorrow.
William “DJ TeamLilWill” Martin, a local artist and DJ, attains viral popularity and success from his hip-hop-fused gospel mixes on social media, especially TikTok. Some of his most viewed videos are Tasha Cobbs’ ‘Put A
Centenarian milestone
By Danielle Brown
St. Louis American
Centenarians are a rarity, it’s not every day you see a person who is more than a century in age. Miss Jessie “Dollye” Trice O’Bryant, a sassy, jovial senior resident at Christian Extended Care & Rehabilitation continues to beat the odds turning 108 years old on July 23, 2022. In honor of her birthdate, the center hosted a zoom call and in-house party for some of the staff family members, and church members of East Union Baptist Church to celebrate her amazingly long life. Karan Henderson, O’Bryant’s great-niece who lives in Tampa, Florida, and visits her monthly, said her aunt had been anticipating her big day for a while.
“She had been waiting for this day and leading up to it she’d often ask if it was my birthday yet,” said Karan.
Stylish as ever and proving old age doesn’t mean you can’t look the part, O’Bryant wore
DJ TeamLilWill’s new acclaimed fame has kept him
pel rapper 1K Phew’s official DJ, he has the
soon to cities near and far, and he’s also been booked by the Black Christian Influencers for a retreat in Panama this month.
n “I always said if I go viral, I want it to be for something good.”
- DJ TeamLilWill
Praise On It,” mixed with Crime Mob’s “Rock Ya Hips,” Kirk Franklin’s “Love Theory,” mixed with Choppa’s “Choppa Style,” and Mary Mary’s “Heaven,” mixed with Travis Porter’s “Bring It Back.”
His journey with mixing instrumentals of known rap songs with celebrated praise & worship music started around 2014 when he would only receive about 20 likes and 120-something views on his Facebook videos. Defeat didn’t get the best of him with the initial reception. He flipped the low engagement into motivation, remained consistent, and continued to apply pressure.
His life changed for the better on December 31, 2021. Before driving to Alabama for a wedding, he uploaded a video mixing Big Boogie’s “In Session” with Vashawn Mitchell’s “Nobody
north St. Louis County celebrated her 108th birthday Saturday July 23, 2022
zoom birthday celebration with family and friends.
as family members prayed for her, honored her with a saxophone rendition of “Amazing Grace,” and affirmed her with endless birthday wishes and words of encouragement. “I will lift up my eyes into the hills,” one family member said. “108 years of blessings, See 108, C8 Jessie O’Bryant a resident at the Village North Retirement Community
A star’s trek ends
Nichelle Nichols’ trailblazing role as Lt. Uhura inspired actors, astronauts
By Danielle Brown
The St. Louis American
Groundbreaking actress Nichelle Nichols, who inspired Black actors worldwide, died of natural causes on Saturday, July 30, 2022. She was 89.
When Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise fulfilled its weekly promise on the NBC television series Star Trek ‘To boldly go where no man has gone before,’ there was a Black woman entrusted with one of the ship’s most important roles -literally and figuratively.
The late actress, singer, and dancer became the first Black woman to play a lead role in an American television series. She portrayed Lt. Nyota Uhura, a communications officer on the original Star Trek series (1966-69).
Local artists reacted to Nichols’ impact on the entertainment industry.
“As a role model on television, she set a high bar for us being a Black woman in a leadership role on Star Trek, but I was much more impressed with her background in the theater as a triple threat who sang, danced, and acted on stages in Chicago and on Broadway,” said Ron Himes, founder and producing director of The Saint Louis Black Repertory Company. Mariah Richardson, playwright, filmmaker, and actress, said Nichols as Uhura in Star Trek shows Black people anything is possible.
n The late actress, singer, and dancer became the first Black woman to play a lead role in an American television series. She portrayed Lt. Nyota Uhura, a communications officer on the original Star Trek series.
“Even though it’s a tv show, we’re still dreaming and thinking about what life can be,” said Richardson.
“Star Trek made us feel like everyone was included and important because she was on the show.
In 2016 during an interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson for the Archive of American Television, Nichols shared that she considered leaving “Star Trek” after its first season because of an opportunity to perform in a Broadway musical. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the series and persuaded her to remain in the role because it was a doorway for other Black actors to play lead television roles.
Seven months after King’s assassination in Memphis, Nichols and Star Trek provided America with a landmark moment in television history. While it was not television’s first interracial kiss, on Nov. 22, 1968, Nichols and William Shatner, who portrayed Kirk on the series, kissed in the episode “Plato’s Children.” Nichols wrote in her 1994 autobiography “Beyond Uhura,” that the kiss was real. NBC insisted that the episode would be with and without a kiss. However, Nichols and Shatner purposely “flubbed” every one of the fake kiss scenes so NBC
Nichelle Nichols
The
Photo courtesy of King Yella
booked and busy. He’s now gos-
Saved But Ratchet brunch tour coming
in
with
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Expanding the African American history initiative
By Dr. Jody Sowell, Missouri Historical Society
St. Louis history is Black history. You cannot understand St. Louis history without understanding its Black history, and I would argue that you can’t fully understand the Black experience in the United States without understanding St. Louis history. My name is Jody Sowell, and I am the new president of the Missouri Historical Society (MHS). It always sounds funny for me to introduce myself as “new” because I have been at MHS for 16 years and have lived in St. Louis for 19.
I know this community. I love this community. I’m invested in the future of this community. Because of that, I’m passionate about sharing the rich, diverse, and complicated history of this community.
I’m proud of the way MHS has expanded the history that is told of St. Louis and how we have told a more complete story than is found at most history museums, but we must do more. And we will.
In the years ahead we will share more Black history than we ever have before.
A big part of that effort will be through our African American History Initiative, established in 2015 thanks to a generous endowment gift from Emerson Electric. This initiative has been an important tool in creating new programming and tours and in helping the Missouri History Museum host important conversations including those around the killing of
George Floyd.
In the years ahead, the initiative will be even more visible. We have plans to collect more Black history through photographs, films, artifacts, and oral histories. We have plans to create a regular social media series examining Black history that will include recurring features about inspirational figures who launched their careers in St. Louis. We have plans for new exhibits that will wrestle with issues such as how St. Louis became one of the most segregated cities in the country and that will feature important neighborhoods—both ones that have been demolished and ones that remain.
To help tell these stories, we will expand the staff dedicated to the African American History Initiative. But we will do more than just diversify our staff.
MHS should also be a leader in diversifying the museum field as a whole. One of the major ways we will do that is by creating a new African American History Fellowship open to college students in St. Louis and across the country. We will invite Black students interested in history or museums to spend their summers in St. Louis to learn about this city’s history and learn from MHS professionals about museum work. We hope at least some of these students will decide to become curators and historians. We know all of them will leave with a better understanding of Black history and a deeper appreciation for the power of public history.
As you can see, we have big plans that will help us fulfill
the promise of showcasing more Black history than we ever have before, but you do not have to wait to find that history. In just the last week I have attended everything from a program about a Buffalo Soldiers unit that in 1897 traveled by bike from Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis to a tour of the Ville neighborhood that featured the national leaders who got their start right here.
Our St. Louis Sound exhibit features Black musicians who launched their careers and made a name for themselves in St. Louis. Those artists include Scott Joplin, Josephine Baker, Henry Townsend, Oliver Sain, Tina Turner, Miles Davis, Fontella Bass, Chuck Berry, Willie Mae Ford Smith, and Nelly. Just try to imagine American music history without those entertainers.
Black history is a regular feature of our Thursday Nights at the Museum series. Upcoming evenings in this series include stories of prominent Black women from St. Louis on August 18 and stories of Black architects and builders on September 8
We believe all of this history—the history we are currently sharing and the history we plan to share in the future—is about much more than the past. We believe connecting visitors to St. Louis’s Black history will encourage St. Louisans of all races to think more deeply and invest more fully in a more inclusive, equitable, and just future of this community. Above all, we believe in St. Louis—in the power of its past and in the possibilities for its future.
Dr. Jody Sowell is the new president of the Missouri Historical Society.
He Got It!
Pastor Mike Jr., has a Stellar evening, winning six awards
St. Louis American staff
The Rev. Mike McClure, who performs as singing sensation Pastor Mike Jr., has become a household name outside the gospel genre after dominating the 37th Stellar Gospel Music Awards on July 16 in Atlanta.
The 38-year-old pastor of Rock City Church in Forestdale, Alabama won in six of the eight categories in which he was nominated.
He scored wins as Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, and Contemporary Male Artist of the Year. His works
were honored as Contemporary Album of the Year and Urban/Inspirational Single or Performance of the Year, as well as Album of the Year for “I Got It: Single’s Ministry Vol. 1.”
McClure recently charted his third consecutive No. 1 song on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart with “Amazing,” a religious cover of the Gnarles Barkley’s 2006 hit song, “Crazy.”
He performed “Amazing” at the 2021 Stellar Awards, where he was named artist of the year. The song was at number one for two weeks in May 2022. He
Church, are you living in vain?
Froswa Booker-Drew Texas Metro News
This isn’t for all of you. I want to commend those of you who step up to the plate daily supplying the support that our communities need. This is for those who are focused on dealing with certain people because it’s easy and comfortable. As I witness you celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade, I want to challenge you. I want you to really consider the way you are currently supporting women and children in your congregation.
I hope that you will also embrace the young women who are single mothers without judgment and that your church has a ministry that caters to their needs offering both financial and emotional support beyond just the spiritual.
As churches, I hope that you are taking the time to address the needs of those who you are called to serve instead of just teaching them without the practical application of what they are hearing on Sundays and Wednesday nights. I hope that you are talking to those young men in your con-
also performed it during a 2022 Super Bowl Gospel concert broadcast in Los Angeles special with CeeLo Green.
gregation about what it means to be a man — that it is more than the ability to create babies but to be accountable and responsible for your actions.
My prayer is that you will show them what it means to be in a loving, committed relationship that supports your partner to fulfill their God-given purpose, too. I hope that instead of allowing the women to carry the responsibility of parenthood — since their conception was not a solo act — that you will hold the men in your congregation to a standard of being involved, even if they are not with the mother of their child/children. Church, if human life is so important to you then it must go
Pastor Mike Jr., took home an impressive six trophies from the 2022 Stellar Gospel Music Awards held July 16 in
McClure told the Christian Post his history is steeped in the church and gospel music.
beyond conception and pregnancy to life outside the womb. How do we care for the unborn but not their mothers or fathers? We do not fight for universal health insurance, livable wage jobs, housing, and other necessities so that children can come into the world healthy, safe and provided for. We do not question infant mortality and the rates of Black women who die in childbirth and after the birth of their babies. If babies are really important to you, you would be concerned about their educational opportunities. They would have quality childcare centers with teachers that are trained and paid well. We would care about their
Calvin Woods, was the president of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He added that he led worship at his father’s ministry and revival events.
“My entire life. I’ve loved God,” he said.
“I come from a family that was in rich tradition. My father was a pastor, so serving God and loving people has been embedded in my DNA.”
He said his goal is “push [people] to Jesus.
“Gospel music is the only genre of music where the message plus the melody equals a miracle. For me, the problem isn’t music. It isn’t the gospel. Sometimes, we have this weird way of making people feel unworthy of the Gospel,” he said.
CeCe Winans, Jonathan McReynolds, and Mali Music also had triumphant nights, winning three awards, respectively.
Winans’ album, “Believe For It,” helped her win Producer of
safety — children and their families would be protected from violence that exists in the home and outside of the home. They could be free to shop in grocery stores, go to the movies, attend parades or even go to school without the fear of being massacred in places that are supposed to be safe.
Just as Jesus listed several issues with the Pharisees, those same issues exist today within the Church. Matthew 23:14-36 lists seven woes to the Pharisees which are relevant today:
Teaching about God but not genuinely loving God (claiming you love God who you’ve never seen but hate your brothers and sisters you see every day (1 John 4:20)).
Preaching about God but you don’t live out what you are teaching.
Confusing what’s sacred and
the Year, Praise and Worship Album of the Year as well as Praise and Worship Song of the Year. Winans led all nominees with a total of nine nominations. McReynolds and Mali Music’s collaborative EP, “Jonny x Mali: Live in L.A. EP,” won Duo/Chorus Group of the Year, Contemporary Duo/Chorus Group of the Year and Special Event Album of the Year.
Tamela Mann and Ricky Dillard each won two awards.
Dillard received the James Cleveland Lifetime Achievement Award. Singer Candi Staton was given the Ambassador Dr. Bobby Jones Legends Award and producer Aaron Lindsey received the Aretha Franklin Icon Award.
The Stellar Awards will premiere at 7 p.m. Sunday, August 7 on BET, BET Her, and BET International. The broadcast will be syndicated in local markets between Aug. 13 and Sept. 11, 2022.
what is not.
Teaching the Bible but not practicing justice, mercy, and faithfulness to God. Getting caught up in the minuscule but not paying attention to what’s major. Appearing to be righteous but filled with a heart of greed and self-promotion.
Speaking about your love for Jesus but if He were alive today, many of you would condemn Him as well.
I hope that in your moments of celebration, there is time for true reflection and change. Without it, our witness to the world is filled with hypocrisy— like the Pharisees.
Froswa’ Booker-Drew is Soulstice Consultancy president and Texas Metro News religion writer
His grandfather, Bishop
Guest Columnist Froswa Booker-Drew
Atlanta.
Photo courtesy of BET
ARBORIST
The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for the position of Arborist $45,254 - 50,290. To apply go to https://richmondheights. applicantpro.com/jobs/
BUILDING INSPECTOR
The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for the position of Building Inspector $47,969 - 59,240 DOQ. To apply go to https://richmondheights. applicantpro.com/jobs/
GUARDIAN AD LITEM –FAMILY COURT -
DIVISION
preferably in juvenile or family law (additional years of trial experience and guardian ad litem experience are highly preferred), and completion of necessary guardian ad litem training as required by the Supreme Court of Missouri. Note: This position is subject to continued availability of funding. To apply, please send a current resume, along with a cover letter, to SLCCourtJobs@courts.mo.gov or to the following address (application materials must be postmarked by August 22, 2022): Family Court of St. Louis County, Attn: Human Resources Department, 105 S. Central Ave., Clayton, MO 63105. EOE. Please contact the Human Resources Department at 615-4471 (voice) or RelayMo 711 or 800-735-2966 if you need any accommodations in the application process, or if you would like this posting in an alternative form.
AVP & SENIOR COUNSEL
Under the direction of the Vice President & Assistant General Counsel (“VP & AGC”), manages business transactional support for the Company’s various business units, select corporate (non-Claims) litigation, and other legal affairs of the Company.
To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational. com/careers-page/
Provide technical support to Treaty Reinsurance (TRe) Department underwriters. Responsible for booking
and
approval processes, and adhering to daily and seasonal SOX compliance processes. To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational.
FULL TIME DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Seed St. Louis is hiring a full time Director of Development For more information go to seedstl.org
Mid-level non-exempt position responsible for providing technical assistance, user acceptance testing, and documenting end users processes for the policy administration systems and supporting software applications. Work performed adheres to established process procedures, guidelines and customer standards set by the organization.
To apply, please visit: https://www.safetynational.com/careers-page/
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Position is responsible for the development and implementation of an integrated communications and public affairs strategy to enhance the organization’s reputation and advance strategic goals. This position will be held by a self-starter who manages media relations and develops contacts with media members, influencers, and community leaders. The position is an expert in communications in all forms, from written press releases to speeches. Responsibilities include oversight of both external and internal messaging, including creating digital, video, audio, social media and print content.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: B.A. from an accredited college or university in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism or related field with high-level knowledge of communications and media relations required. 5 – 7 years of increasingly responsible managerial experience in public relations, corporate communications or marketing with a focus on media relations, publications, and digital communications. Salary: $85,000 - $104,903 Annually. Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Apply via our website www.slha.org. Position will be open until filled. A Drug Free Work Place/EOE.
BUILDING INSPECTOR SENIOR
The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for the position of Building Inspector Senior $64,193 DOQ. To apply go to https://richmondheights. applicantpro.com/jobs/
INSURANCE OPERATIONS ANALYST
Responsible for providing client / customer support to the operational functions of the Large Casualty unit. Responsible for the coordination, issuance and tracking of transactions and services provided to ensure customer service standards are maintained. Operates as a Subject Matter Expert for transactional issuance. To apply, please visit: https:// www.safetynational.com/ careers-page/
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION COUNSELOR
The state of Missouri is accepting applications for a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor in the St. Louis area. Application deadline is August 11, 2022. Starting salary is $43,848-$46,008. View job description and application instructions at: https:// mocareers.mo.gov/hiretrue/ce3/jobboard/5effe9b2-4b89-494b-ac76c45e25190768/ab407485-e6d6-434898d1-52c390635228?jb=true.
OUTREACH COORDINATOR
Great Rivers Greenway is hiring an Outreach Coordinator. Go to www. greatriversgreenway.org/ jobs-bids to apply.
FIREFIGHTER/ PARAMEDIC
The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for the position of Firefighter/ Paramedic $65,038 - 69,779 . To apply go to https://richmondheights. applicantpro.com/jobs/
PUBLIC WORKS LABORER
The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for the position of Public Works Laborer $37,996 - 40,765 . To apply go to https://richmondheights. applicantpro.com/jobs/
REPORTING
Ensuring the accuracy and reasonableness of monthly, quarterly, and annual financial reporting in accordance with statutory and GAAP requirements. Ensure the accuracy of information reported to rating agencies and other authorities. Oversee SOX compliance process. Coordinate interactions between internal auditors, financial examiners, and management. Research/analyze new business opportunities to ensure effective integration into existing operations. Analyze new business opportunities for capital model impacts. Responsible for the Company-wide incentive calculation and long term incentive plan calculations. To apply, please visit: https://www. safetynational.com/careers-page/
St. LouiS american Bids & Public Notices St. LouiS
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
Sealed bids for Bid No. 22-166 - Patrol Vehicle
In-Car Computer Systems will be received by the City of St. Peters, Purchasing Department, City Hall, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, P.O. Box 9, St. Peters, Missouri 63376 until 2:00 PM local time, August 16, 2022 and then opened and read aloud.
Contract Documents will be available on August 4, 2022, and may be obtained from the City of St. Peters, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, St. Peters, MO 63376 or requested in writing to Bids@stpetersmo.net under the subject line “Bid No. 22-166 - Patrol Vehicle In-Car Computer Systems”.
All questions regarding this project shall be submitted to the City of St. Peters Purchasing Department in writing to Bids@stpetersmo.net under the subject line “Bid No. 22-166 - Patrol Vehicle In-Car Computer Systems” or by mail to City of St. Peters Purchasing Department, One St. Peters Centre Boulevard, P.O. Box 9, St. Peters, MO 63376 before noon local time, August 9, 2022.
The City reserves the right to waive any informality in bidding, and to accept the bid most advantageous to the City.
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS
The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Apprentice and Training Program admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
NOTICE OF APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM OPEN ENROLLMENT
You may have what it takes to be successful in the construction industry if you are…
- Dependable
- Someone that enjoys hands-on work
- Someone that works well in a team environment
- Someone that is looking for a career with room for growth
- Someone that wants to help build their community Associated Builders and Contractors Heart of America is accepting applications for its Pipefitting and Plumbing Apprenticeship programs. All programs take place at our Eastern Missouri Training Facility.
To apply you must be 18 years or older, attend a scheduled orientation, and submit an application including the following documents in person: Valid Driver’s License High School Diploma or Transcripts or a GED Certificate DD214 – Veteran Documentation (if applicable) Please visit www.abcksmo.org for more information and to complete an interest form in your trade of choice. Staff will contact you to schedule a time for you to attend an orientation.
All minorities, including women, are encouraged to apply. The recruitment, selection, employment and training of apprentices during their apprenticeship shall be without discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, creed, disability or sexual orientation. All contractor members are Equal Opportunity Employers.
SEALED BIDS
Bids for Change in Scope Rebid: U p g r a d e F i r e Alarm and Security Systems, Center for Behavioral Medicine Kansas City, MO Project No. M1903-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, August 25, 2022. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities
SEALED BIDS
Bids for Replace E m e r g e n c y G e n e r a t o r , Missouri State H i g h w a y Patrol Troop H H e a d q u a r t e r s , P r o j e c t N o . R2112-01, will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 8/25/2022 via MissouriBUYS. Bidders must be registered to bid. For specific project information, go to: http://oa.mo.gov/
PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District Requests for Quotes, Bids and Proposals are posted online for public download. Please navigate to www.msdprojectclear.org > Doing Business With Us > View Non-Capital Bids (commodities and services) or >Visit Planroom (capital construction bids)
Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: SSD 113-22: NEW CENTRAL TRANSPORTATION FACILITY
Project Manual and drawings will be available through County Blue Reprographics beginning on August 9, 2022.
A $150.00 refundable deposit check made out to Special School District will be required for paper copies of plans, a $75.00 non-refundable fee will be required for electronic digital downloads. A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held at 2:00 PM on Friday, August 12 at SSD Central Garage 10022 Meeks Blvd, Overland, MO 63132 Bids are due at 2:00 pm on September 6, 2022 at Special School District Purchasing Department, 12110 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 63131.
NOTICE REGARDING TRAFFIC COURT COMMISSIONER VACANCY TO ALL ATTORNEYS RESIDING
IN ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI
The Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri, announces that it is soliciting candidates for the position of Traffic Court Commissioner of the Circuit Court of St. Louis County.
The Circuit Judges and Associate Judges will make the appointment for a term of (4) years, at an annual salary of (1/3) of an associate circuit judge and (1/3) the approximate time commitment, payable by the State of Missouri, pursuant to RSMo §479.500
Missouri law requires the Traffic Court Commissioner(s) to possess the same qualifications as an associate circuit judge, including those set forth in the Missouri Constitution, Article V, Section 21, to wit, they must be qualified voters of the state, residents of St. Louis County, Missouri, at least twenty-five years old, licensed to practice law in Missouri; and possess all other qualifications as required by law. (See RSMo §479.500).
Questionnaires and Candidate Instructions may be obtained by sending a resume and cover letter to St. Louis County Circuit Court, ATTN: Human Resources, 105 S. Central Avenue, Clayton, Missouri, 63105, or via email to SLCCourtJobs@courts.mo.gov
Completed questionnaires must be submitted in writing to St. Louis County Circuit Court, ATTN: Human Resources, 105 S. Central Avenue, Clayton, Missouri 63105, or via email to SLCCourtJobs@courts.mo.gov on or before August 31, 2022
The appointment is scheduled to take place upon a vote of the Court en Banc on or about September 7, 2022 or at such time as announced by the Presiding Judge. EOE. Please contact the Human Resources Department at 615-4471 (voice) or RelayMo 711 or 800-735-2966 if you need any accommodations in the application process, or if you would like this posting in an alternative form.
of Glasgow St. Louis, Missouri
Qualifications and sealed bids will be received by the Riverview Gardens School District Board of Education at the Riverview Gardens School District Central Office, 1370 Northumberland Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63137, until September 1, 2022 at 2:00 p.m., CDT. Bid proposals will be publicly opened and read aloud by the school administrative staff. Late bids will not be accepted and will be returned to the sender, unopened. Bids submitted via facsimile machine will not be accepted. A 10% Bid Security will be requires with each proposal. Bid Proposals will be firm for sixty (60) calendar days. The buildings will be made available for inspection during the mandatory pre-bid meeting. A mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on August 17, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. CDT. The pre-bid meeting will begin at Riverview Gardens School High School at 1218 Shepley Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63137.
Interested Contractors may obtain plans and specifications by visiting Riverview Gardens School District website www.rgsd.k12.mo.us
The Board of Education reserves the right to reject any and all proposals, to waive information and technicalities and to make the award in the best interest of the district.
PINE LAWN CITY SEEKS ASPHALT BIDS
Needed by Monday August 15, 2022 from licensed, bonded, insured
Asphalt Contractors to install Traffic Calming Speed Humps on Pine Lawn streets. Get job specifications @ 6250 Steve Marre Ave., Pine Lawn, Mo. 63121
INVITATION TO BID
New Construction of 31 multifamily units in Jennings MO. MBE/WBE/Section 3 subcontractors are encouraged to bid. (314) 292-6800 or office@housingplusllc.com
SOLICITING BID
Helix Realty is seeking proposals for bids for 28,000 sf of loft conversions. Scope of work includes Demolition. Carpentry, Drywall, Painting, Fire Protection, Plumbing, HVAC and Electrical and has diversity participation goal. Contact Stephen Levin 314 496-9150 slhelix@gmail
BID REQUEST
Great Rivers Greenway is requesting bids for Light Lantern Metal Screen Panels on Mississippi Greenway: Under I-70 Overpass .Go to www.greatriversgreenway. org/jobs-bids and submit by September 08, 2022.
NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS
Sealed bids for the Lackland Road
Culvert C-2-116 and Lackland Road
Resurfacing, St. Louis County Project Nos. AR-1714 & AR-1841, will be received electronically thru the County’s Vendor Self Service portal at https://stlouiscountymovendors. munisselfservice.com/Vendors/ default.aspx, until 2:00 p.m. on August 31, 2022.
Plans and specifications will be available on August 1, 2022 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouiscountymo.gov) or by contacting Cross Rhodes Print & Technologies, 2731 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63118 (314) 678-0087.
DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY
NORMANDY SCHOOLS
COLLABORATIVE
AUDIO / VISUAL SYSTEM EAST HALLS – NORMANDY HIGH SCHOOL REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
Normandy Schools Collaborative will be accepting bids for the construction of East Hall Auditorium A/V System Upgrades at Normandy High School. Estimated construction value: less than $250,000. Optional pre-bid meeting will be held at the school on August 18, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. Download the entire Advertisement for Bids at www. normandysc.org or contact Karen Huntington, with KAI 360CS, at khuntington@kai-db.com.
SOLICITING BIDS
Great Rivers Greenway is soliciting bids for Gateway Arch National Park radio system improvements. Check https://greatriversgreenway. org/jobs-bids/ and submit by August 23, 2022.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
> Proposal for City Block 177 Geotechnical Services
> Proposals will be received by City of St. Louis Treasurer UNTIL 3:00PM 8/23/2022
> For specific project information, go to > https://www.stltreasurer.org/ Request for Proposals/
PUBLIC NOTICE
Donald Maggi Inc. is accepting bids from Disadvantaged Business Enterprises for subcontracting opportunities on the PARKING LOT H - EXPANSION AND IMPROVEMENTS - PHASE II
PROJECT NO. RC000551
Bid Date and Time: 10:00 am Friday August 12, 2022
Plans/Specification is available via dropbox or www.adsplanroom.net
Contact Donald Maggi Inc. at 573-364-7733 or email maggiconst@gmail.com Donald Maggi Inc.
The Saint Louis Zoo’s Marketing Department invites St. Louis metropolitan area vendors with marketing-related skillsets — vendors that can provide B2B services regarding public events, printing, journalistic writing, electronic communications and membership marketing — to come to the Zoo for a “meet and greet” vendor fair August 25, 2022, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the McDonnel Center at River Camp at the Saint Louis Zoo. Members of the Zoo’s Marketing Department will provide an overview of B2B services needed now and in the future. WBE and MBE vendors strongly encouraged to attend. Visit stlzoo.org/vendor for more details. Register using the QR code.
SEALED BIDS
Bids for Interior & E x t e r i o r Renovations S
Barn, Missouri S
G
, Sedalia, MO, Project No. F2205-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1 : 3 0 P M , S e p
m b e r 8, 2022. For specific project i n f o
n and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/facilities
BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ADVISORY COUNCIL ELECTIONS
Manchester, MO., [August 1, 2022] – Aging Ahead will hold elections to fill two seats for the Board of Directors: one representing St. Louis County and one representing Jefferson County, and three seats for the Advisory Council representing Franklin County.
Elections will be held at the Agency’s senior centers located in St. Louis, Jefferson and Franklin counties on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, with early voting available starting Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022 at www.agingahead.org
If interested, reach out to your local senior center, call Chelsea Snorton at 636-207-0847, or email csnorton@agingahead.org for an Application for Candidacy and more information. The application is also available to download at www.agingahead. org. Completed applications are due to senior centers or at Aging Ahead’s central office, 14535 Manchester Rd, Manchester, MO 63011 by Monday, August 15, 2022 no later than 12pm via mail, email or in person.
In addition to operating 19 senior centers in its four-county service area of St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties, Aging Ahead provides supportive services to persons 60 and over, family caregivers and adults with disabilities.
To ensure safety against COVID-19, masking and social distancing guidelines will be strictly followed. Candidates are encouraged to contact their local senior center for more information.
PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:
Advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, imitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial\status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination.
“We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.”
would be forced to air an actual kiss. There is debate whether their lips touched, but Nichols says it was a true kiss.
“I am so sorry to hear about the passing of Nichelle,” Shatner said on Twitter.
“She was a beautiful woman & played an admirable character that did so much for redefining social issues both here in the US & throughout the world. I will certainly miss her. Sending my love and condolences to her family.”
The late Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek’s creator, and the producers and directors that followed realized the importance of the character and Nichols in the role.
She played Uhura in the first six “Star Trek” films. She was promoted to lieutenant commander in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and to a full commander in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”
“I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest Friend,” tweeted George Takei, who played alongside Nichols as helmsman Hikaru Sulu.
Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., praised Nichols for her representation.
“Representation matters. Excellence in representation matters even more. Thank you, #NichelleNichols.” she wrote. Rest well, ancestor.” Nichols wrote on her website that “When I was on those wonderful sets with all of the cast members, the universe of Star Trek began to feel not so much a fantasy but an opportunity to lay the groundwork for what we might actually achieve by the 23rd Century … a bold aspiration and an affirmation of
Uhura as we eagerly await her arrival.”
A decade after appearing on Star Trek, Nichols became involved with NASA’s diversity efforts in an attempt to recruit more women, especially Black women. She followed through with the initiative by appearing in a promotional film, and was featured in a 2019 documentary, “Woman In Motion,” which also highlights her recruitment involvement with NASA. In addition to those projects, she formed her own company, “Women In Motion,” centered on music, producing educational materials about it.
“I’m all about young people understanding and knowing their history on every level,” said Hatsephi Kushma, African American cinema teacher and independent filmmaker.
“Nichelle paved the way for us all.”
Nichols’s decision to represent Black girls and young women interested in STEM inspired Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to travel to space to pursue a career in science.
“Lieutenant Uhura was maybe one of the first women you saw every day, every week on television who worked in a technical field. … And she was African, which was a very different feel for television back then. So, I very much liked Uhura, and she was a very important person to me.” said
Jemison in an interview with C-SPAN. Nichols was born December 28, 1932, to Lishia and Samuel Nichols in Robbins, Illinois. Her father was a chemist and served as Robbins’s mayor, while her mother was a homemaker. Her paternal grandfather was a white southerner whose parents disowned him for marrying a Black woman.
She and her family’s move to Chicago inspired her to study dance at the Chicago Ballet Academy, starting at age 12.
Her professional career launched two years later as a singer and dancer for the revue College Inn at the Sherman House Hotel Chicago. She later toured with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton’s jazz bands throughout the US, Canada, and Europe in the early 1950s. She also appeared in the Calypso Carnival’s revue at the Blue Angel nightclub in Chicago and performed as a solo dancer and singer throughout the US and Canada.
After moving to Los Angeles, she was cast as a dancer in the film “Porgy and Bess,” which positioned her also to be cast as Hazel Sharpe in the original production of “Kicks & Co” at Chicago’s Arie Crown Theater.
Her singing career led her to release three studio albums “Down to Earth (1967),” “ Uhura Sings (1986),” and “Out of this World (1991)”. She performed a one-woman show titled “Reflections,” in honor of Josephine Baker, Billie Holliday, Lena Horne, and more. She leaves behind a son, Kyle, an actor, whom she had with her first husband.
“Her [Nichols] 60+ year career is unprecedented,” said Hana Sharif, artistic director, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
“Her work ethic, her passion, her activism, and her artistry are models for all of us.”
This article includes sources from Star Trek.com, The Guardian, NASA, and Woman In Motion.
Greater” on TikTok.
Once en route to the wedding, he noticed his notifications were blowing up nonstop. Unaware of what was happening, he called his wife and asked her to check the views on the video. When she called him, he learned the views went from 700 to 56,000, which caught them both by surprise.
He pulled to the nearest gas station to look at the views and was amazed by the ordeal.
“I said I might be onto something,” said DJ TeamLilWill. “I posted another video, and that same church invited me back to DJ their first service of the year.”
The support from the Boogie and Mitchell mix video has opened the doors to many incredible opportunities for DJ TeamLilWill, and he’s excited about it all.
“I always said if I go viral, I want it to be for something good,” he said. “The Shade Room, other blogs, and celebrities have reposted my videos. I was invited to DJ at The Stellar Awards, I’ve been invited on podcasts, etc.”
The Black church’s reception to his mixes has been positive. He said he thought he would receive backlash at first since the mixes incorporated secular music, but nothing but good things have been said about them.
“Initially, when it took off,
people said this is going to make me wanna twerk or go to church,” he said. “Every gospel artist’s instrumental I’ve used said they love it. I haven’t had anyone say ‘don’t do my song like that.’”
TeamLilWill said he lives by the motto “Saved but Ratchet.”
He said it means he believes in the gospel and teachings of God and lives according to his word, but he’s not perfect.
“We all have our own flaws and do different things, but that doesn’t mean you’re not “saved” or God doesn’t love you,” he said. “Saved but Ratchet is about giving people grace because we’re all living by a little grace. Imagine if all of us sinned one time and went straight to hell. That would be crazy. Everybody would be in hell.”
He grew up playing the drums, keys, and bass at church. His first DJing gig was for a wedding, but he didn’t take the profession seriously until 2014. In addition to DJing, he’s also
cake with chocolate icing.”
we are so thankful for you, and we wish you many many more birthdays if you want them.”
Another family member said,
“It’s an honor to be honoring you for your 108th birthday, Happy Birthday Aunt Dollye.”
Karan, Edward Henderson (Karan’s brother), Christian staff, and other family members that were at the in-person celebration sang Happy Birthday to O’Bryant and she blew out the candles on her favorite cake, a dark chocolate cake with chocolate icing, similar to the one her mother used to bake for her as a young girl.
“Whenever she baked a cake I would dance around,”
O’Bryant told The St. Louis American in an interview last year for her 107th birthday.
“Sometimes I would sit on her lap in a rocking chair and think of it. It was a dark chocolate
William “DJ
Will” Martin, a local artist and DJ, attains viral popularity and success from his hip-hop-fused gospel mixes on social media, especially
an artist. He released his first single, “Wave Check,” produced by DJ Cuddy, featuring East St. Louis’ Fresco Kane in 2019. He recently released “Glad For Me,” featuring St. Louis natives Bradd Young and Reggie Son.
“It’s a great feel-good song, and it’s being received very well,” DJ TeamLilWill said. His new acclaimed fame has kept him booked and busy. He’s now gospel rapper 1K Phew’s official DJ, he has the Saved But Ratchet brunch tour coming soon to cities near and far, and he’s also been
O’Bryant was born Jessie Washington on July 23, 1914, in Tunica, Mississippi to Arthur and Lillie Washington. She was raised in Clarksdale Mississippi. There’s a possibility that freed slaves once lived on their land. She grew up one of four children including Lillie, John, and Bennie. Her brother Bennie (now deceased), was ten years younger than her and he’s the one who coined her nickname “Dollye.”
“She wasn’t the nicest to him [Bennie] at first, but once she got used to him he started calling her Dollye and that’s how everyone started calling her that,” Karan said.
O’Bryant is a woman of many talents, which in the past include baking various cakes and working as a professional seamstress for more than 20 years at Linda Rose and Charlotte Better Dress Company. She even sewed Karan’s bridesmaid dresses for her wedding and another family member’s dresses when she
was 76. She learned to sew at home from her sister helping her then she brought those skills with her at school.
“My mom would save scraps she had laying around because she knew I would come looking for them and do something with them,” said O’Bryant in an interview last year with The St. Louis American She married twice and took on the last name O’Bryant from her second husband George O’Bryant. When she was about 19 years old she gave birth to a daughter Shirley, who later died at five weeks old. No cause of death was determined. She didn’t have any other children She lived alone until she was 103, then moved into assisted living. She’s been a resident with Christian for five years now.
Read The St. Louis American’s profile last year on O’Bryant on our website.
Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura on Star Trek.
TeamLil-
TikTok.
Photo courtesy of Amanda Adnama Royal Images Photography
