May 9th, 2013 edition

Speaking to the spirit of women

Lyah Beth LeFlore stages her mother’s poetry at Missouri History Museum.

From Bryan Cave

to 6th grade

Chris Shelton is Teacher of the Year

By Rebecca S.Rivas

Of The St.Louis American

When Chris Shelton went to law school, her family teased her that she’d be the only lawyer to turn into a kindergarten teacher. They weren’t too far off.

Two years ago, Shelton decided to enter the Teach for America program after practicing commercial litigation with Bryan Cave

By The Rev.Starsky D.Wilson

For The St.Louis American

On Mother’s Day, we celebrate the hand of God at work in our lives through the nurturing presence of a parent. As one of the 40 percent of Americans born to a single mom, this day means a great deal to me. But as the leader of a local philanthropy committed to serving our community’s most impoverished children, it disturbs me. It causes me to question our fitness as a “mothering” metropolitan community. The Kids Count in Missouri report released last month suggests we may not have earned our Mother’s Day flowers. The report – supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and produced by Partnership for Children, Missouri Children’s Trust Fund and the University of Missouri Office for Social and Economic Data Analysis – reveals a glaring disparity in the well-being of children in the St. Louis metropolitan

for four years. She became a sixth-grade math teacher at Westview Middle School in the Riverview Gardens School District. And this year, she was named the district’s Teacher of the Year.

“My true passion in life is helping children,” she said. “I absolutely love forming relationships

See SHELTON, A7

Park players

“My true passion in life is helping children.” – Chris Shelton, Westview Middle School

at the Grand Basin in Forest Park just downhill from the Saint Louis Art Museum on Tuesday afternoon.St.Louis weather finally started feeling like spring this week with temperatures in the upper 70s.

SLU medicine rewards diversity

Medical students recognized at 2013 John H. Gladney Awards

By Sandra Jordan

Of The St.Louis American

Diversity is the right thing to do. That was the message of the 13th annual John H. Gladney Diversity Awards, held May 2 by the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

“It’s been exciting for me to look into all the medical students’eyes and what I see is their futures as physicians and what they will do for society,” said Michael Railey, M.D., associate dean, Office of Multicultural Affairs at SLU School of Medicine.

The awards are given annually to fourth-year

Chris Shelton

See SLU, A6

Samir Neeley,2,and Cortney Gibson,4,played

Photo by Wiley Price

Wade Robson claims to have been molested by Michael Jackson

Choreographer Wade Robson is now claiming that he was sexually abused by Michael Jackson during childhood trips to Neverland Ranch.

The dancer, now 30-years-old, is now seeking compensation from Jackson’s estate for sexual abuse.

Wade was 5-years-old when he met Michael. By the time Wade was 7, he went for sleepovers at Neverland and MJ’s homes in L.A. and Vegas, according to TMZ. The sleepovers continued until Wade was 14.

Weitzman continues: “Now, nearly 4 years after Michael has passed, this sad and less than credible claim has been made.”

Sources connected with the case told TMZ that Robson is claiming he suffered from “repressed memory” and that’s why he didn’t file his creditor’s claim on time.

Robson went on to work with top names in pop music including Britney Spears, NSYNC, Usher and P!nk. He has also appeared on “So You Think You Can Dance.” Howard Weitzman, the estate’s lawyer, tells TMZ: “Mr. Robson’s claim is outrageous and pathetic. This is a young man who has testified at least twice under oath over the past 20 years and said in numerous interviews that Michael Jackson never did anything inappropriate to him or with him.”

Kenya wants Bravo to show her the money

Kenya Moore is reportedly holding out for more cash before signing on the dotted line for season 6 of Real Housewives of Atlanta. Insiders told TMZ that the raise is all but a done deal with Bravo – who is happy to up Kenya’s pay. According to reports Kenya’s cast mast NeNe Leakes will take home $1 million plus bonuses for RHOA season 6.

No end in sight for Nicki Minaj vs. Mariah beef

In a recent interview Nick Cannon spoke about the ongoing feud between his wife Mariah Carey and fellow American Idol judge Nicki Minaj.

“My wife foreseen all of this. She tried to

tell the network. She was like, ‘I don’t think this is going to work I’m afraid.”

Cannon told CBS show ‘The Talk.’

“She said ‘I don’t need this. I’m doing this for the brand of American Idol. I didn’t sign up to be on Love and Hip Hop.’” According to a source close to “American Idol,” Carey is so done with her fellow judge’s threats and nastiness she last week threatened not to come to the show this week, despite the show being down to its top three finalists.

Serena being a mean girl to former mentee Sloane Stephens

After rising tennis star Sloane Stephens upset her ‘mentor’ in the Australian Open quarterfinals, it turns out Serena Williams hasn’t spoken to the young athlete.

unfollowing me on Twitter.”

Not only did Serena unfollow her, but she also tweeted “I made you.”

“Like, seriously! People should know,” Stephens told the magazine. “They think she’s so friendly and she’s so this and she’s so that — no, that’s not reality! You don’t unfollow someone on Twitter, delete them off of BlackBerry Messenger. I mean, what for? Why?”

Lauryn Hill hit with jail time for tax evasion

Despite

“She’s not said one word to me, not spoken to me, not said hi, not looked my way, not been in the same room with me since I played her in Australia,” Stephens said in an interview with ESPN the Magazine that was conducted prior to the U.S. Fed Cup win over Sweden last month, when both were on the team. “And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all these nice things about me to

Mothers of Distinction

Seated:

Salute to Outstanding Mothers, May 11

Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc. Cardinal Chapter, will honor 23 outstanding mothers in the St. Louis metropolitan area at their 25th Annual Salute to Outstanding Mothers luncheon on Saturday, May 11 at the Frontenac Hilton Hotel, 1335 Lindbergh Blvd.

The honorees are Bernice Brooks, Sharon C. Caldwell, Diane Carroll, Alvinette R. Collie, Sharon Ellerson, Eddie June Forrest, Debbie Renee Foster, Myrtle Francis Garrett, Sherri Halk, Esther Hill Haywood, Corliss Huddleston, Shelia R. Jones, Emma Jean

Lane, Linda Logan, Beverly A. Madison, Betty Meeks, Gwendolyn Moore, Karen D. Moore, Frances Rich, Lynette Watson, Phyllis Troupe, Emma Washington, Gretel M. Williams and Marsha White Mattie Stanton is President of the Cardinal Chapter,

Ina Boon is the Chapter Organizer, LaTanya Robinson is the Recognition Luncheon Program Chairman, Patricia Foster is the Co-Chairman and Dorothy Fisher is the National Area III Director of Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc.

ACLU seeks info on militarization of police

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri and affiliates in 22 other states have simultaneously filed public records requests to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used overseas.

“Equipping state and local law enforcement with military weapons and vehicles, military tactical training, and actual military assistance to conduct traditional law enforcement erodes civil liberties and encourages increasingly aggressive policing, particularly in poor neighborhoods and communities of color,” said Kara Dansky, senior counsel for ACLU’s Center for Justice. “We’ve seen examples of this in several localities, but we don’t know the dimensions of the problem.”

The ACLU-EM filed public records requests with four law enforcement agencies (St. Louis County Police Department, St. Louis City Police Department, Columbia Police Department and Farmington Police Department), seeking information on the use of SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Teams and cutting edge weapons and technologies, and military weaponry, equipment, and vehicles obtained from or funded by federal agencies.

A separate request is being filed with the Missouri National Guard, seeking information regarding cooperative agreements between local police departments and the National Guard counter-drug

program and incidents of National Guard contact with civilians.

“The American people deserve to know how much our local police are using military weapons and tactics for everyday policing,” said Allie Bohm, ACLU advocacy and policy strategist. “The militarization of local police is a threat to Americans’ right to live without fear of militarystyle intervention in their daily lives, and we need to make sure these resources and tactics are deployed only with rigorous oversight and strong legal protections.”

Once the information has been collected and analyzed, if needed, the ACLU will use the results to recommend changes in law and policy governing the use of military tactics and technology in local law enforcement.

For more information, check out the Militarization of Policing in America page on the ACLU website.

Beverly Madison, LaTanya Robinson – Chairman, Esther Heywood, Mattie Stanton – Chapter President, Ina Boon – Chapter Organizer, Frances Rich and Dorothy Fisher – Area III Director. Back Row: Debbie Foster, Alvinette R. Collie, Emma Washington, Gwendolyn Moore, Sharon Ellerson, Corliss Huddleston, Sharon Caldwell, Betty Meeks, Gretel Williams, Diane Carroll, Karen D. Moore, Eddie June Forrest and Patricia Foster – Co-Chairman.

Editorial /CommEntary

The fall of Father Biondi

The unexpected news on Saturday that Saint Louis University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., announced he will retire was awesome, but not in the popular sense of the word expressed by the determined SLU undergraduates who, in tandem with faculty leaders, opposed Biondi relentlessly in recent years. It was awesome in the sense that Jesuits describe the divine: it struck awe in the heart.

Biondi’s announced intention to resign was almost unthinkable even a month ago. According to the executive chatter coming from SLU, as Biondi came under pressure from students and faculty leaders, the conventional wisdom remained status quo: that whenever Father Biondi is confronted, someone’s blood (so to speak) will end up on the ground and it’s not going to be his. But suddenly Biondi had backed down, in essence conceded defeat. The pictures and reports from SLU’s campus were akin to a democratic movement in Latin America celebrating the ouster of a tyrant. It would be exciting to imagine that liberation theology is newly empowered on St. Louis’ Jesuit campus, but it remains to be seen how far away Biondi is going and exactly when. There will be no abrupt disappearance like Bob Archibald decamping for northern Michigan the instant that the Post-Dispatch and two disgruntled ZooMuseum District trustees finally ran him away from the Missouri History Museum. The beautiful, transformed, richly endowed Saint Louis University that Biondi is leaving is one largely of his making, and it’s difficult to imagine that he will let anyone forget that. SLU announced that its Board of Trustees will launch a search for Biondi’s successor in the fall. Its new board chair, J. Joe Adorjan, has served two previous terms as board chair during Biondi’s 25 years of leadership at SLU. “I am committed to working with Father Biondi and all university stakeholders,” Adorjan said in the same release that announced Biondi’s pending resignation, so Biondi’s central role in finding his successor is as official as his resignation. The faculty and students celebrating the end of a divisive period on campus may find their celebration to be premature.

Part of what is awesome here – in the sense of inspiring awe – is that a campus would celebrate the departure of a leader who has objectively done so much to improve the institution, as well as its surrounding neighborhoods. Biondi not only achieved some lofty goals that put SLU on the map of major universities, he also completely

remade the map of St. Louis. As he raised the university’s stature, he also made SLU a much more prominent institution in St. Louis that has improved its immediate surroundings in Midtown immeasurably. Among other things, Biondi’s achievements helped to facilitate Dr. Henry Givens Jr.’s also impressive remaking of neighboring HarrisStowe State University.

But as the intelligent, focused faculty and students dedicated to SLU (thanks to Biondi’s transformative improvements of the institution) made plain for all to see, something went wrong with his leadership. A strong leader does not have to descend into being an autocratic bully, and when commanding strength gives way to autocratic bullying, resentful enemies are created. Bob Archibald’s detractors claim he suffered from the same fault, though we would disagree. We have often claimed that the Slay administration displays very similar autocratic and bullying tendencies that hamper St. Louis and create counterproductive animosity and distrust among ourselves. For this reason, St. Louis has much to learn from Father Biondi and his fall.

However, it would be ungenerous if we did not remind St. Louis, and Saint Louis University, that we have many reasons to commend and thank Father Biondi for his leadership that has made such a transformative difference for SLU and the community.

Obama wastes veto opportunity

President Obama had the opportunity last week to make an irresponsible Congress face the consequences of its own dumb actions. For reasons I cannot fathom, he took a pass. Rather than use the veto pen that must be gathering dust in some Oval Office drawer, Obama signed legislation that cushions air travelers from the effects of the crude, cruel budget cuts known as the “sequester.” The Federal Aviation Administration is now allowed to shuffle funds around to avoid furloughing air traffic controllers, thus avoiding flight delays.

Obama said he agreed to sign the measure because the alternative was to “impose a whole bunch of delays on passengers.” That’s true – and it’s precisely why the president should have vetoed this quickfix bill. Republicans in the House refused to compromise on a farreaching budget deal, insisting there had to be deep spending cuts but no new revenue. Both sides agreed to a package of across-the-board cuts that were designed specifically to be unacceptable. This Damoclean sword was supposed to provide an incentive for reaching a comprehensive deal.

Obama said he would not go along with attempts by Congress to selectively ameliorate the impact of sequestration. After all, the whole point was to make both sides so uncomfortable that they would fall into one

another’s arms in a desperate embrace of deal-making. The incentive disappears if either side is allowed to alleviate its sharpest pains.

A few weeks of long flight delays, frequent cancellations and crowded airports full of angry, frustrated voters might have concentrated the minds of even the most anti-government Republicans on Capitol Hill. But now, no worries. Meanwhile, Congress is offering no emergency legislation to restore Head Start funds for preschoolers. Nor is an urgent remedy being designed for poor people who will have to go without their Section 8 housing subsidies. The president could have told Congress that he will agree to make travel more convenient for their jet-set constituents – if and when they send him a companion bill restoring needed benefits for low-income citizens.

Obama noted that even in terms of air travel, the FAA bill was “not a solution.”

The money that will keep the controllers on the job was originally slated for airport improvements. If these projects are not undertaken, the president said, those who use our aging airports will suffer congestion and delays in the future. But he signed the thing anyway. A veto would have allowed Republicans to claim that the president was gratuitously making the American people suffer so he could score political points. But the gratuitous harm was done long ago when both sides agreed to this whole sequestration nonsense. It is truly absurd that our highest elected officials would agree to impose

What knowledge is good for

Because I majored in cultural anthropology, people always asked, “What are you going to do with that?” If you studied anything other than medicine, business, law, science, or engineering, many people probably asked you that too. This is actually a nicer way to ask, “What good is that?” But it can also be an indirect way of suggesting that “that’s not good for anything.”

This reflects a dominant trend in our country. Conservative ideologues increasingly pressure institutions like the university to determine the value of knowledge in terms of economic costs and benefits, not in terms of public and social or cultural good.

If you study an esoteric moment in the history of art, or become an expert on forgotten literature in some forgotten corner of the world, or are concerned with the ways that racism and inequality impact peoples on the marginalized edges of society, this view usually suggests that your knowledge is not good for anything. If it cannot be bought or sold, it has no value. This way of thinking erodes society. In better days, we deliberated the value of knowledge by sustaining public support for universities and

public debate over such issues. Yet this push to marketize or commodify knowledge is a form of privatizing knowledge. This push says that the market will decide what knowledge has value. Which is to say, only those with money will decide what knowledge has value.

This erodes society and erodes the social value that knowledge has for creating enlightened, informed, citizens, a “good” that the market does not necessarily value.

This market logic also erodes the critical value of knowledge – that is, our knowledge as a means to critique and reflect on society, one of our capacities as human beings. Knowledge is not simply a “thing” that can be assigned a monetary value. It is not simply about “discovery” of facts. Knowledge is a social practice – of making and creating. It emerges through social relationships, between people and between people and the world.

Relations between people raise moral and ethical questions such that knowledgemaking is never “pure and detached” science. Knowledgemaking is always socially and morally positioned. When we produce knowledge, we explore, reveal and speak about ongoing social life. In doing so, the pursuit of knowledge often reveals that which power would like to obscure.

Knowledge-making is not just counting and measuring some “reality” out there. It is an interpretative act that mobilizes the empirical and imaginary capacity of human-beings. It

Letters to the editor

Donate your child’s umbilical cord

the funds you entrusted us with in 2000.

engages and creates reality as a creative practice. It seeks to think the possibility of a world otherwise. So “what good,” they will still ask you, “is all of that?” When academics raise such points, it is not simply an expression of bias or opinion, but a moral and political exercise in public self-reflection, an exercise of making knowledge that is rooted in a commitment to truth No, you can’t sell it, patent it, turn it into a product or make money off of it. Certainly, power deems it troublesome. But precisely for this reason, it is socially invaluable. It is absolutely crucial. That is what it is good for.

The most valuable scholars are not those reaping millions from their “discoveries” but those using their skills to make critical and self-reflective “knowledge” with people, for people, to rethink our histories and our futures, and to work against violence and exclusion; against the obscuring work of power.

The privilege of academic employment, elite college education, and especially tenure, demands that we do so.

Edited from remarks made at the Senior Farewell Dinner of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship & Merle Kling Undergraduate Honors Fellowship at Washington University on April 29. Gustafson is an associate professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at Washington University.

measures that they knew were not in the public interest. But that’s what they did, and all who had a hand in making this uncomfortable bed should be forced to lie in it.

By agreeing to keep the planes flying on time, Obama keeps public opinion on his side, which should be an asset. But I see no indication that the Republican Party really cares what the public thinks.

About 90 percent of Americans support nearuniversal background checks for gun purchases, according to polls, but that legislation couldn’t even make it out of the Senate. Even prospects for immigration reform, which is clearly in the Republican Party’s interest, are uncertain in the House. At the moment, the typical Republican officeholder cares more about avoiding a primary challenge from the Looney-Tunes right than doing what the public wants and needs.

Looking and sounding like the one reasonable man on a ship of fools is good for Obama’s political standing, I suppose. But he’s no longer running for anything. Somehow, he has to govern until January 2017. In his quest to find a way to work with a hostile Congress, he might consider trying something new.

The next time Congress tries to undo one of the sequestration cuts, Obama should just say no. Let the Republicans jump up and down and call him names. Tell them to sit down and negotiate a proper budget deal, even a grand bargain – or else live with the pain.

The president should find that forgotten veto pen. And he should use it.

As Mother’s Day approaches, consider this: a mom’s gift of life can take on new meaning for thousands of patients fighting life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. Choosing to donate her child’s umbilical cord blood could provide a cure for patients whose only hope is a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. There is no cost to donate to a public cord blood bank and it is completely safe for both mother and baby. Cord blood is collected immediately after a baby is born and does not interfere with labor or delivery in any way. Donated cord blood units that meet criteria are listed on the Be The Match Registry, so they are available to any patient in need of a cord blood transplant.

I encourage everyone, especially those from diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds, to reflect on the gift of life this Mother’s Day and consider public cord blood donation. This simple act gives immense hope to patients around the world, and potentially offers someone a second chance at life.

For more information, contact the St. Louis Cord Blood Bank at 1-888-453-2673 and www.slcbb.org, or visit BeTheMatch.org/cord.

Drew Schumacher

outreach coordinator

St. Louis Cord Blood Bank St. Louis

Improving the quality of life

Thank you for your support of Proposition P and the work of the Great Rivers Greenway District. We are grateful to have partners like you working with us to improve the quality of life for our region. Thanks to your support, we will continue to connect communities to preserve nature to promote good health and to improve the quality of life in the St. Louis region and we will continue to be responsible stewards of the funds from Proposition P, and

Susan Trautman executive director

Robert Epstein, president Great River Greenway District St. Louis

Action on climate change

I saw the ad in The St. Louis American about the Clean Air Health Fair that was held on April 27 at Greater Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church. I attended the Health Fair, and I learned a lot!

Karl Brooks, the regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, explained that President Obama is serious about addressing climate change and the air pollution that is driving it.

A mother spoke out about how she must keep her two young children inside on bad air days because they suffer from asthma, which is triggered by air pollution.

Roger Lewis from the St. Louis University School of Public Health, said that air pollution is a public health issue, and it is time to address this problem.

As a Sierra Club member, I was gratified to see so many other St. Louisans getting mobilized to take action on climate change!

John Hickey, director Sierra Club, Missouri Chapter St. Louis

Bipartisan postal reform

The decision by the Postal Service to scrap their hurried, ill-considered plan to eliminate Saturday delivery is the right one, especially for communities across rural America for whom reliable postal service is so important. The fact is, we can put the Postal Service on sound financial footing while preserving its critical services and keeping rural post offices open—and the way we do that is by passing comprehensive,

bipartisan postal reform like the Senate did last year.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill Washington, D.C.

Guest Columnist Bret Gustafson

Father Lawrence Biondi

Freedom Fund Dinneron June 4

The St. Louis County NAACP

will host its 75th Annual Freedom Fund Fellowship Dinner on Tuesday June 4 at the Clayton Ritz-Carlton Hotel with the theme

“We shall not be moved.” The reception is 5 p.m. with dinner at 6:45 p.m. Vanessa Foster of AnheuserBusch and Melanie Dileo of Citi are chairing the Freedom Fund Campaign. The dinner chair is John Gaskin III, chair of the NAACP National Youth Work Committee. This year’s Margaret Bush Wilson Lifetime Achievement award will be presented to James Buford, retiring CEO of the Urban League of Metro St. Louis. The Commitment to St. Louis County award will be presented to Dr. Nathaniel and Sandra Murdock, and Patrick Sly, executive vice president of Emerson. The Organization of the year is Omicron Eta Omega Chapter Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Tickets are $85. For additional information, call 314-389-1552.

SLPS approves new calendar

Parents in the Saint Louis Public School District can now circle Monday, August 12 on the calendar as the first day of school for the 2013/2014 school year. Students will most certainly mark Friday, May 23 – the last day of school for the 2013/2014 school year – as long as there are no snow days.

All told, SLPS students are scheduled to attend school for 176 days during the next school year, for a total of 1,135.2 hours. Teachers are contracted for 210 days during the school year, which include six professional development days and two record-keeping days.

SLPS students will enjoy a twoweek Winter Break from December 23 – January 3. Staff members will participate in professional development days on January 2 and January 3. All SLPS schools will be closed for Spring Break March 17 – March 21.

Ready for the playground

City Academy students Deleon Smith and Shane Lobster looked on as the school’s new playground was dedicated recently.The project was made possible with support from donorsBill and

Cinema St. Louis hosts trivia night

Cinema St. Louis is hosting its tenth annual I Love Movies Trivia Night on Friday, May 24, at the Centene Center for Arts and Education, 3547 Olive Street (1/2 block east of Grand Blvd.). Doors open at 6 p.m. and trivia begins at 7 p.m. All questions and answers will have a movie-related theme.

Cost (if pre-registering) is $20 per person/$160 per table of 8. Admission at the door is $25 per person/$200 per table, if space is available. Pre-registration is highly recommended. Prize baskets will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd andlast places. There will be plenty of door prizes, a movie-themed silent auction and 50/50 raffle. Asheet of 10 mulligans will be on sale for $25 before the start of Round 1.

Guests are welcome to B.Y.O. beverages, liquor and food. Beer, wine, and soda will be available for a modest donation. Complimentary water and popcorn are provided.

All proceeds support Cinema St. Louis, presenter of the Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival,and its mission of promoting the finest in cutting-edgelocal, national and international film.

For reservations and additional information, contact Brian Spath at 314-289-4153 or brian@cinemastlouis.org.

Time to fight back

By Ruth-Miriam Garnett

For The St.Louis American

After President Obama’s reelection, I took a respite from commentary with a long-awaited sigh of relief, a renewed belief that all was well.Plus, I had an overdue novel to finish.However, the Republican response to Obama – prolonged disbelief, recklessness and rage – has brought my halcyon days to a regretful close. I have decided to joyously fight back against the nihilistic posture of Tea Party elected officials and other gutless members of Congress, paralyzed by threats of reprisal from the NRA. Continued availability of dirty money provided by this organization assures that America’s death culture will continue proliferating.

To make it plain, many members of the Party of No have doubled down on their previously stated intent to destroy President Barack Obama’s legacy (having failed to thwart his reelection), by any means necessary.

Increasingly, the means resembles the following:

1) Delimit the votes of persons likely to vote Democratic, or anything other than Republican (African Americans, Hispanics, other immigrants, the elderly, the young);

2) Block Presidential appointments, even though this is destabilizing for the legal system;

3) Block jobs legislation, despite continuing recession and persistent joblessness; and

4) Continue to assail big government, while making state government more invasive towards women and restricting specific groups’voting rights.

In the Republican bubble, big government is only bad when undertaken by Democrats.As reported about George W. Bush in a 2004 Cato Institute report:“The president hasn’t vetoed any spending bills, because he hasn’t wanted to. Each spending bill that has come to his desk has represented a new vote-buying opportunity, whether it was the big education bill in 2001, the big farm bill in 2002, or the even bigger Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003.”

The contemporary GOPbrings to mind Dorothy Parker’s infamous quote about Lillian Hellman:“Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie, including a and the.” Fiscal conservatism was unimportant when two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were started, based totally on falsehoods presented to frighten the American people into consensus with a bizarre coterie of buzzards poised to pick clean the 99 percent’s bones to make Dick Cheney’s Halliburton wealthier.

We have work to do.Follow the money – identify what politicians get from what corporations.And remember the MontgomeryBus Boycott Shuffle – don’t spend your cash with people who are contemptuous of your humanity.

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz stated in 2007 that the richest 1 percent of Americans own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. When 90 percent of Americans want gun background checks and are totally ignored by Congressional overseers, when voting and other rights are endangered, it can only mean one thing.

If we do not fight back, the dream is dead.America is over.

Ruth-Miriam Garnett is author of Laelia, a novel, and AMove Further South and Concerning Violence, poetry collections.A new novel, Chloe’s Grief will be published in fall 2013. Contact her at ruthm712@aol.com.

Ruth-Miriam Garnett

Tracey Marshall.

Photo by Robert Longyear

SLU medical students who have contributed significantly to the promotion and enhancement of diversity in the medical school and to expand health care in diverse communities.

George Hanna was the 2013 John H. Gladney Diversity Award recipient; Lauren Pommert was awarded Special Recognition and Saydra Wilson was awarded as a Diversity Champion.

The Student National Medical Association received the Leadership in Institutional Diversity Award. Damon Clines, M.D. was awarded the Community Services through Excellence Award. Duane Moore, M.D. received the Service and Dedication Award to the St. Louis Community.

The keynote speaker was James H. Buford, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. He spoke about the value of diversity, a concept with much broader qualities than race and gender.

“In the context of the workplace, valuing diversity means creating a workplace that respects and includes differences, recognizing the unique contributions that individuals with many types of differences can make, and creating a work environment that maximizes the potential of all employees,” Buford said.

He also made the distinction between diversity, equal

ST. LOUIS

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employment opportunity and affirmative action.

Affirmative action, introduced in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, began “to redress historic patterns of employment discrimination against minorities and women,” Buford said.

“Affirmative action is a federal regulation with goals and penalties.”

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 pro-

“What I see is their futures as physicians and what they will do for society.”

– Michael Railey,M.D.

hibited discrimination based on color, national origin, religion, physical or mental ability, medical condition (usually cancer-related), ancestry, mari-

tal status, age and sexual orientation. Title VI prohibited discrimination by programs receiving federal assistance.

Whereas affirmative action

and equal employment opportunity were government-mandated measures, diversity in the workplace is an aspiration of sound business practices.

“Diversity refers to human qualities that are different from our own and those of groups to which we belong, but that are manifested in other individuals or groups,” Buford said.

“Diversity is the end goal. It is where we want to be on our

unified children’s continuum.

own without penalty – without pressure. It’s the right thing to do.”

Buford said the dimensions of diversity include but are not limited to age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities and qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, parental status and religious beliefs.

Buford said diversity, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action together provide a strong foundation for efforts to achieve a fair and inclusive – and, therefore, more competitive – workplace.

“In at least 70 percent of all international companies, the workforce will be a mixture of diverse cultures, religions and races,” Buford said. “In such a scenario, it becomes important to promote ethnic, social cultural and gender-related diversity in the workplace.”

This provides for better approaches to problem-solving, he said, with better and more creative solutions, allowing the best ideas to emerge.

The Gladney diversity awards are named in honor of the late John H. Gladney, M.D., a nationally-known otolaryngologist and the first African American to chair a clinical department at SLU medical school. Gladney chaired the department of otolaryngology and practiced medicine for more than 50 years. He was professor emeritus at the school at the time of his passing in 2011 at age 89.

ties rank in the Top 20: St. Charles finishes second; St. Louis County comes in at 12; and Jefferson County 17. In the area of economic well-being, St. Charles County took the No. 1 spot with the lowest percentage of children qualifying for free or reduced lunch, a widely accepted proxy for child poverty. While less than 20 miles away, St. Louis city finished again in last place, with more than 85 percent of its students qualified. Considering children’s health,Jefferson and St. Charles counties tie at 37 in low infant mortality rates, while St. Louis city ranks 105. Violent deaths for youth ages 15-19 is a key indicator of Child Protection and Safety. HereSt. Charles County ranks 16 while St. Louis city ranks 106, a difference of 90 positions.

County ranks 49. St. Louis city teens were more likely to give birth, ranking 96, than their counterparts in St. Charles County, ranking fourth. Both of these rates increase teens’ risks of long-term economic insecurity.

And ineducation,St. Louis city has the state’s highest public high school dropout rate, ranking 115, while St. Charles

To be clear, these numbers are not a critique of our community’s kids. Rather they reflect some challenges in our approach to communal parenting. So what would a mothering metropolis look like?

First, a good mother works to build a home where all her children can thrive. The data illustrate that our region has the assets and access to the means to produce exceptional outcomes for children.What is lacking is a civic infrastructure to deliver for the children in the greatest need.

For a metropolitan area of 2.8 million people this means a

For years, we’ve studied cities like Atlanta, Cincinnati and Memphis who engaged this work with difficulty and reward. Now is the time for us to build.

Amother also affirms that her kids are unique, but refuses to accept disparities among them. Children in St. Louis city and Jefferson County face different life realities. But, children’s outcomes are directly connected to structural equality in their opportunities. This is to say, our region must affirm diversity in approach to children’s services, but come to unity regarding desirable outcomes.

Finally, a great mother speaks up when her kids are in trouble. Our community must actively mobilize public will to advocate for child-friendly policy and realize children’s inter-

ests are our region’s interests. The precipitous decline in the state of Missouri’s support for early childhood programs, higher education and health care for the indigent has had a drastic impact on our region. While kids don’t have or hire lobbyists, every legislator representing our region must recognize that children’s legislation is St. Louis legislation. And the public must work to assure accountability. Infrastructure. Equity. Advocacy. These make a mothering metropolis and build a better world for kids. Rev. Starsky Wilson is CEO of Deaconess Foundation and pastor of Saint John’s United Church of Christ in North St. Louis. Deaconess recently announced a round of grants to support non-profits engaged in children’s advocacy. Visit www.deaconess.org.

Future medical students attended the 13th annual John H.Gladney Diversity Awards Reception,held May 2 by the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Photo by Maurice Meredith

CHURCH

Continued from A1

the entire time,” said Charles Ransom.

“I met and married my wife there and raised three now adult children. The two boys are both ministers and preached their first sermons there. The oldest son now pastors a church in neighboring Centreville. The youngest son, who is also a former organist for Macedonia, now works as music coordinator for a church in Miami.”

Phyllis Rose Maston has attended Macedonia for even longer than Pastor Owens has been preaching there – 65 years.

Being the first black church in the community seems to attract members who also have been first at things. Maston was the first black IV therapist at St. Mary’s Hospital in East St. Louis (in 1978) and then the hospital’s first black quality assurance nurse coordinator (in 1980).

Associate Minister Rev. Adrian C. Hendricks became the first black arson investigator for the State of Illinois in 1974.

Pastor Owens himself was the first black science major at Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville. He has been in the ministry for a total of 56 years at five different churches. He has seen Macedonia through some changes.

“It may require some struggle to get where God wants us to be,” Pastor Owens preaches. “Sometimes we expect God to do everything for us. But some things, He empowers us to do for ourselves.” In 1973 members created a health literacy program under his leadership, which helped

SHELTON

Continued from A1 with my students, getting to know who they are as people, and learning about their aspirations in life. Seeing the smiling faces of my students is what motivates me to push harder and work to be better each and every day.”

This past fall, she initiated a Get Fit program for students who want to be active but aren’t necessarily into team sports. So far, she and two other teachers have rallied about 40 students, mostly sixth graders, to participate.

“I love working out, and I try to live a healthy lifestyle,” she said. “I wanted to bring that to my students as well.”

You don’t always have to run or join a sports team to exercise, she tells her students. They can hula hoop, dance or play other games. She herself loves “mud races,” which are obstacle courses that sometimes involve going through mud.

Through the Get Fit program, students can explore and find what form of exercise suits them best. The program leaders also talk to the students about eating healthy. Aside from Get Fit, Shelton also

to teach the neighborhood about the importance of organ donation and increased their understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. In 1978 the Women’s Ministry targeted families in need and put together Breakfast with Santa, distributing gifts around Christmas and

“Sometimes we expect God to do everything for us.But some things, He empowers us to do for ourselves.”

– Pastor Norman E. Owens

school supplies at the beginning of the school year. In 1980 the Sunday attendance at Macedonia had grown beyond the building’s capacity. Pastor Owens would lead as many as three services in order to accommodate everyone. In 1981 the church pur-

“Macedonia provided excellent religious training and nurturing for our family.”

– Charles Ransom

chased camera equipment and monitors and began showing the service via closed circuit television. Later they would take recordings to senior citizen homes and hospitals once a month to show the services to those who couldn’t make it to church on Sunday.

“Pastor Owens is open to what was needed to spread the word,” Hendricks said. In 1998 the church decided

teaches the girls’basketball team.

“The first year was tough,” she said. “The girls didn’t have much experience playing, and they had a losing season.”

However, the girls who struggled last year came back stronger and better, she said, and this year the team had a winning season. This year they also got uniforms, a change

“I love working out, and I try to live a healthy lifestyle.I wanted to bring that to my students as well.”

– Chris Shelton,Riverview Gardens School District’s Teacher of the Year

from the regular T-shirts and shorts they wore last year.

“When you look good, you play better,” she said. “The girls truly appreciated and loved it.”

Growing up, Shelton learned how to play basketball in the alleys with her male cousins, she said. But she didn’t start playing organized basketball until sixth grade, just like many of her students.

ASt. Louis Public Schools graduate, Shelton attended

to initiate a campaign to build a new edifice. The present structure was completed in February 2004. The congregation marched across the street to their new church home.

In December 2012, Macedonia members delivered $3,000 worth of food to the Lessie Bates-Davis Neighborhood House community.

Current ministries in the church include ministries for Women, Men, Deacons, Music, Usher, Health, Welcome, Video, Sound Recording, Education, Sunday School, Bible Class, Recreation and Youth. They also offer practical ministries such as teaching men in the community to be prepared when going on job interviews and providing business attire.

Macedonia is a member of the Wood River Baptist Association, the Baptist General State Convention & Congress and the National Baptist Convention. Pastor Owens has held offices at all three levels: Moderator of Wood River, President of the State Congress and Chief of Staff to the Dean of the National Congress.

“Macedonia provided excellent religious training and nurturing for our family,” Ransom said.

“Besides the regular weekly activities, there have been numerous opportunities to attend institutes and retreats to strengthen our Christian walks with the Lord. It is a tremendous blessing to be part of such a church family.”

Macedonia Baptist Church is located at 10 South Broadway in East St. Louis, IL 62201. Call 618-274-1373 or visit eslmacedoniabaptistchurch.com. See sermons at http://eslmacedoniabaptistchurch.com/sermons/.

Saint Louis University, where she studied business administration and played on the varsity women’s basketball team. She earned her law degree from Howard University.

After four years with Bryan Cave, she decided to she wanted to be a teacher. Some of her friends had told her about Teach For America, and the program made it easy for her transition into teaching, she said.

What she’s learned so far is that her students like active learning.

“I can’t have them just sitting down,” she said. “I have to show how the lessons apply to real life. They call me a big kid. I might role-play something out or dress up in a costume. They don’t know what Miss Shelton might do on a particular day.”

Riverview Gardens School District is currently unaccredited, and in order to be a highperforming district, teachers and administrators need to rethink their strategy, she said.

This year the district sponsored a trip for teachers to visit the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, a suggestion from another Teach for America instructor at Riverview Gardens. The teaching strategy at Ron Clark is centered on making school a place where

turn the district around.”

students want to be.

“The teachers and students sing and dance,” Shelton said. “There is a slide in the middle of the foyer. That is what the district is going to have to do –use out-of-the-box strategies to

In May, Shelton will complete her two years with Teach for America, but she said she will remain with Westview again next year. Westview’s principal Valeska Hill is end-

lessly supportive of the staff, Shelton said, and the teachers support each other as well.

“I am passionate about the work I do,” she said. “God has blessed me to allow me to do what I love for a living.”

The Rev.Norman E.Owens has been pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in East St. Louis (founded 150 years ago as the First Colored Baptist Church) for the past 46 years.

Photo by Wiley Price

Fredrick L. McKissack passes at 73

Aug. 12, 1939 –April 28, 2013

Civil engineer became renowned children’s book author

By Gloria S. Ross For The Beacon

“Col. Hardenbergh noted the birth of another slave with the same indifference he might have shown a calf or lamb.”

The line from Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman, the fictionalized account of the life of a freed slave who became an abolitionist, embodies the crisp, enthralling style of Patricia McKissack and her husband, Fredrick McKissack.

For more than 20 years, Mr. McKissack, a civil engineer by training, was the research half of an award-winning duet who produced a raft of children’s books that dispel the myth of an African-American history bereft of dignity and achievement.

Mr. McKissack had undergone several years of kidney dialysis. He died Sunday (April 28, 2013) at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield. He was 73. Together, the McKissacks wrote more than 100 books. They explored slavery and its offspring, Jim Crow, the upheaval of the civil rights era that they knew firsthand and the lives of African-American

martyrs, scholars, inventors and celebrities.

They set out to fill the void of missing AfricanAmerican history and to counter stereotypes of popular children’s books such as The Story of Little Black Sambo. “These images,” Mr. McKissack said, “last a lifetime.”

They were images he knew all too well.

Fredrick Lemuel McKissack was born in Nashville, Tenn., on Aug. 12, 1939. He was the son and grandson of “brilliant” architects that racism limited to designing small churches in the black community. He attended segregated schools. Nashville’s public facilities didn’t begin desegregating until 1960; Mr. McKissack had a hand in it. He entered the U.S. Marine Corps after high school and enrolled in Tennessee State University in Nashville when he returned. The Nashville student-led lunch counter sitins and marches were deemed among the most effective desegregation efforts of the Civil Rights Movement.

Mr. McKissack recalled his first sit-in in his 1990 profile in Lift Every Voice and Sing: St. Louis African Americans in the Twentieth

Century “I did not get arrested, but I will never forget a shotgun being pointed at me at Woolworth’s,” he said. In 1964, he married Patricia L’Ann Carwell, whom he’d known most of his life. Both graduated from Tennessee State. As a child, she had lived in St. Louis for several years. The couple decided to begin married life here.

Mr. McKissack worked as a civil engineer for the U.S. Army. He later owned his own general contracting company. She taught English and edited children’s books until they embarked on a joint literary career.

They wrote of bravery in Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts; the courage of union organizer A. Phillip Randolph in A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter, and of faith in Let My People Go: Bible

Stories Told by a Freeman of Color. Hidden glory was revealed in Black Diamond: Story of the Negro Baseball League, and they told the littleknown story of freedom on the high seas in Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers

In 2009, the two were named among the NAACP’s “100 Most Inspiring St. Louisans.”

In addition to his wife of 48 years, Mr. McKissack’s survivors include three sons, Fredrick L. McKissack Jr. of Fort Wayne, Ind., Robert McKissack of St. Louis, and John McKissack of Memphis; three brothers, Lewis W. McKissack and Joel McKissack, both of Nashville, and Moses A. McKissack of St. Louis; and five grandchildren. Memorials would be appreciated to the National Kidney Foundation, http:// www.kidney.org/, or the United Negro College Fund, http:// www.uncf.org/. Edited for length and reprinted with permission from stlbeacon.org.

Arvarh Strickland passes at 82

July 6, 1930 –Tuesday, April 30 Mizzou’s first tenured AfricanAmerican professor

American staff

Arvarh Strickland, the University of Missouri’s first tenured African-American professor, passed away Tuesday, April 30 at the age of 82.

“Arvarh Strickland was most well-known for the countless number of students he mentored over the years, both in their academic pursuits and in their personal challenges,” said Mike Middleton, deputy chancellor at MU. “Because of his contributions, MU’s history department is noted as one of the nation’s leaders for doctoral degrees granted to African-Americans.”

Strickland began his career at MU in 1969. Until he retired, Strickland, a nationally known historian, participated in curricular changes and directed undergraduate and graduate studies at MU, where he was largely responsible for increasing AfricanAmerican enrollment and for transforming MU’s culture.

Strickland, whose classes were often overbooked due to a high interest from students, taught at MU for 26 years until his retirement in January 1996 when he became

professor emeritus. He also served as interim director of the Black Studies Program on two separate occasions.

He completed his term as international president of Phi Alpha Theta, an honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history, in 1995 and his term as chair of the advisory board/nominating committee in 1997. Locally, in 1995, he completed his term on the University of Missouri Press Committee and as chair of the System’s Thomas Jefferson Award Committee.

In 1994, he received the University of Missouri’s Byler Distinguished Professor Award and the St. Louis American’s Educator of the Year Award. In 1995, he was awarded the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Faculty Award and was placed in the Tougaloo College Alumni Hall of Fame. In 1997, he received an Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and distinguished service awards from the State Historical Society of Missouri and Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society in History. In 1999, he received the Carter G. Woodson Medal from the Association for the Study of African-American History and

Culture. In 1998, the Missouri Endowed Chair and Professorship Program, established with the support of the state’s legislature, created the Arvarh E. Strickland Distinguished Professorship in African-American History and Culture. In October of 2007, MU renamed the General Classroom Building as Arvarh E. Strickland Hall. The building became the first named after an AfricanAmerican faculty member at MU. Arvarh Strickland was born on July 6, 1930, in Hattiesburg, Miss. He graduated summa cum laude from the historically black Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss., in 1951. He married Willie Elmore a couple weeks after graduation and the couple had two sons: Duane and Bruce.

After teaching at a black high school in Hattiesburg, Strickland began attending the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana for his master’s degree in 1953. After serving in the military, he returned to the University of Illinois, where he received his doctorate in 1962.

Soon after, he began teaching at Chicago State University on the south side of Chicago. In 1969, MU hired Strickland to teach a few courses in black history, and he became the first AfricanAmerican professor at the university. In addition to a classroom being named after him, Strickland also has a room named in his honor in the Memorial Student Union on MU’s campus.

“It can truly be said that Dr. Strickland’s presence on this campus has transformed the very culture of this institution,” Middleton said. Strickland is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Willie; his sons Duane and Bruce and their families; a great-granddaughter, Pearl; and many friends and MU faculty members.

Frederick L. McKissick

Arvarh Strickland

Obituaries

In Memoriam of William Wardell Brandon

December 23, 1936— April 18, 2006

Dear Brother, It’s hard to believe it has been seven years since your passing. We often reminisce and laugh. It’s difficult to let go, but memories are forever. We will continue to embrace yours and keep them alive in our hearts. You will always be remembered for “keeping it REAL”. You are out of pain forever.

Love, Your Baby Sister Wanda

Laurence J. Falwell

Laurence J. Falwell “Larry” died on March 26, 2013 at his home with his wife of 69 years, Georgia, surrounded by the Ascension Healthcare Link caregivers and Nurses from BJC hospice. Pastor Roy A. Ledbetter of St. Philips Lutheran Church had prayed from the book of Luke’s Chapter 2:29-32. Larry pledged his brain for autopsy to the Memory and Aging Research Project for

Alzheimer’s at Washington University Medical School. At his longtime request, no service was planned. Mr. Falwell grew up in Trenton, NJ and graduated from Trenton Central High School with an athletic scholarship to Indiana University at Bloomington. He was drafted into the army in WWII in May, 1942 and served 3.5 years before returning to complete his B.S. and M.S. degrees in the School of H.P.E.R. He married his college sweetheart in Fort Knox, KY on November 5, 1943. A consummate educator and coach who started at Md. State Teacher’s College at Bowie, he came to Vashon High School in January 1952 and stayed until June 1990. He taught P.E., Health and coached basketball, and later taught Social Studies. In the 70s, he opened Vashon to UMSL’s BRIDGE Program with Professor Erlich. In the 60s Mr. Falwell organized and directed the Lutheran Layman’s League Intramural Program of basketball and baseball for inner city youth, based at Transfiguration Lutheran Church with Pastor Hartmann’s permission and cooperation. Under Mr. Falwell’s guidance, the team became local champions in St. Louis and traveled to national tournaments at Valparaiso University for several years.

Mr. Falwell will be missed not only by his family, but by his many friends, former students and close neighbors, whose children thought of him as “Mr. Rogers” for his encouraging words and tasty treats. He was a member of the “I” Men’s Association, Indiana University Alumni, St. Philip’s

Men’s Club, National Urban League and NAACP and the Vashon Vigilantes (retired teachers). He was also a faithful founding member of THE OAKS.

Mae M. Bush

Sunrise: September 2, 1924

Sunset: March 26, 2013

Mrs. Mae M. Bush passed away March 26, 2013 in her sleep at the hospital. She leaves behind a large family and a host of friends. Mae was a special person inside and out. She loved life so much. She was always there when you needed someone to talk to, day or night. She was our “#1 person” and best friend. Now she’s up there with all the other angels, and we will not forget her. She joined her husband, Myles Bush, in heaven, along with other family members and in-laws. She is not in pain anymore. I know she is smiling down on us. It’s not going to be the same without her. We wish her a Happy Birthday, Happy Mother’s Day and all of the other holidays we’ll no longer share with her.

Calvin Miller

Calvin Miller was born August 4, 1949 in Crawfordsville, AR to the late

Richard and Jessie Miller. He was the sixth of 14 children.

Calvin accepted Christ at an early age and joined Philadelphia M.B. Church in Crawfordsville, where he was baptized. He later relocated to St. Louis, where he attended Mount Beulah M.B. Church under the leadership of Rev. E.G. Shields. He later became a member of Mount Nebo M. B. Church under the leadership of Rev. Dwight A. Davis, where he remained until his health failed.

Calvin united in holy matrimony to Betty Harris. This union was blessed with five children.

Calvin was a graduate of LeRoy McNeil in Crawfordsville. He was known by many as the “Alley Mechanic.” He worked on cars for many years as his side hustle. He also worked for the City of St. Louis Board of Education Commissioner for 10 years, until he was laid off. Then he worked for Brach Metal Processing Company for over 18 years, until his health began to fail.

Calvin Miller departed this life on April 6, 2013 at 6:05 pm. He was preceded in

Attention St. Louis American Readers

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

death by his parents, Richard and Jessie Miller and five siblings. He leaves to cherish his memories: his loving wife, Betty Harris-Miller; four daughters, CaVitta Miller/ (Calvin, Makaela, Caleb and Corion) of St. Louis, LaTonya (David) Slater/ (Michelle and Ashley) of Memphis, Ta”Keisha (Mark) Green/(Ray’Nysha, Antonio and Markayla) of St. Louis, Sha’Neatha Miller of Milwaukee and one son,

Calvin Jermel Miller/(Cayden) of St. Louis; eight siblings, John (Cleo) Dudley, Bertha Miller, Dan (Carolyn) Miller, Floria (Robert) Starks, Doris Odebunmi, Roy (Beverly) Miller, Ricky Miller and Geraldine Miller-Williams, all of St. Louis; two aunts, Emma Patterson and Mary Madison of St. Louis; father-in-law, Frank Harris Jr., and a host of in-laws, honorary family members, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Calvin Miller

William Brandon

Laurence Falwell

Citizens of the Year

James Buford, President and CEO of the Urban League of St. Louis, accepts his award after being named 2012 St. Louis Citizen of the Year from last year’s winner, civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman, in St. Louis on April 29. Photo: UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Speed cameras as scam

Nine area pastors protest

By concerned clergy

We have been looking into the legality of speed cameras for quite some time, and we sincerely believe that these so-called speed control devices are nothing short of a scam.

First, the placement of the camera is usually strategically located on a thoroughfare where there is no recorded history of major accidents or fatalities.

Second, many of these cameras have been placed in or on unmanned vehicles which have no trained police officers to vouch for the validity of the cameras, meaning whether or not the camera has been calibrated.

Third, there are no legal challenges in place other than the driver’s word versus the camera to argue the case in court, which tends to mitigate against those who can least afford to hire an attorney to represent them.

Fourth, the speed cameras allegedly are producing extra funds to help operate municipalities which are cashstrapped and in need of extra revenue just to stay afloat.

Fifth, the speed cameras have been ruled illegal in many cities and states across the country and should be illegal here. Again, they are nothing short of a “money grab” for municipalities that would be better served by combining adjoining municipalities for the good of the community as a whole.

Sixth, these cameras are producing tens of thousands of dollars that could be put to better use by the faith

community or to serve other important needs. We say to the state, the county, and country: outlaw the speed cameras scam.

Finally, if this issue is about public safety there would be a fine assessed to the driver and a report made to the insurance company, which would be the case if a certified police officer issued a speeding ticket. It is possible for a vehicle to receive 100 or more speed camera violation and not be assessed points against the diver’s license or have the driver’s insurance company contacted.

Speed cameras are about increasing revenue for local municipalities, thus using speed cameras as a cover up. It is a scam, nothing less.

From concerned clergy: Pastor B. T. Rice, Rev. Donald Hunter, Rev. Sam Jones, Rev. Ronald Bobo, Rev. Carl Smith, Rev. C. Jessel Strong, Pastor James Morris, Elder Ronald Davis, Rev. Charles Brown.

When struggle leads to a landmark case

May 14 is the 40th anniversary of Green vs. McDonnell Douglas. The case was the culmination of venerable activist Percy Green’s racial discrimination fight against McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Corporation).

Under the leadership of Percy Green, the organization ACTION busted loose jobs for black folks during the 1960s, especially for black men. Utility companies like Laclede Gas and corporations like Southwestern Bell (now AT&T) often went into siege mode when ACTION put them on “the list.”

Many people directly credit these efforts for how they received their own job. Sylvester Brown is one such person who rarely misses the opportunity to publicly acknowledge who was responsible for getting his job at Laclede Gas Company.

ACTION used aggressive and creative tactics in the 1960s to knock down the racist doors that led to more employment. There were sitins, stick-ins, paint-ins, chainins, walk-ins and whatever was necessary to make their point. For those who were around during this time, these are vivid memories.

Most people in St. Louis are unaware of Green’s tangle with one of the world’s biggest and most powerful multinationals. Those in the legal arena are most aware as it is a case that is likely

to turn up in a law school syllabus for mandatory study and gets written about in law review publications. Green filed a discrimination suit against the company in 1964 after he was laid off allegedly due to workforce reduction.

Green declared the layoff was retaliatory because McDonnell Douglas had been the target of ACTION for not hiring more black workers. When the company opened up Green’s former job and he

n Before this case, plaintiffs had to prove “intent,” which was nearly impossible to do.

applied for it, he was denied. Now the company’s motives were clear and Green declared them unfair and racist. He filed suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1964. Green’s case was heard in the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and ultimately before the U.S. Supreme Court. St. Louis civil rights attorney Lou Gilden argued the case before the High Court on March 28, 1973. Warren E. Burger was the Chief Justice. On May 14 of the same year, SCOTUS ruled in favor of Percy Green. The

decision was unanimous, 9-0. The decision was a landmark case because it completely changed the way racial discrimination cases had been viewed. It now put the burden on the employer to prove they had not been discriminatory in their policies. Before this case, plaintiffs had to prove “intent,” which was damn near impossible to do. Since its issuance in 1973, all the federal courts have subsequently adopted the framework set out in this opinion for all claims of employment discrimination that are not based on direct evidence of discriminatory intent. Green had no idea the case would go all the way to the top or that the case would be end up in the history books. While he was motivated to challenge an injustice that started off with his own employment, Green knew that the same racial discrimination was happening to many other black workers at the time. The fight was much bigger than him. At a time when workers’ rights are under assault in this country, it may feel like were going in circles. The United Mineworkers Union had to file a suit against Patriot and Peabody Coal companies when they tried to pull an okey-doke on workers’ benefits under the cloak of bankruptcy. Fast food workers are fighting for livable wages and better working conditions. The Green vs. McDonnell Douglas decision is affirmation that it is important for workers to stand up and for the community to stand with them.

Jamala Rogers

Mr. Virdure’s

5th Grade Class

Froebel Elementary School

Students Sharice Brown and Brandesha Duncan perform a STEM lesson that teaches them different ways of measuring certain objects.

SCIENCE CORNER

How To Make Compost From Scratch!

Composting is the process of recycling common waste products to create mulch or fertilizer. This results in healthier soil and plant growth and reduces the amount of waste in landfills. You can save table scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves, egg shells, and other items that might be thrown in the trash.

To start a compost pile, you will need a space that has access to sunlight. It is recommended to have an area of 3 foot by 3 foot. Your compost pile should be high in carbon and low in nitrogen. Items high in carbon are dry leaves, saw dust, paper, grass, etc. Items high in nitrogen include vegetable scraps, garden weeds, etc. It is important to avoid meat scraps, dairy products, and oily foods because they will attract rodents and cause your compost pile to stink.

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

When a seed begins to grow, this process is called germination. A fun, simple experiment to try includes observing how different types of seeds grow.

Materials Needed:

• Variety of Seeds • Fresh Potting

Soil • Containers to Plant Seeds In

• Water • Light

Process:

q Fill your containers halfway with potting soil.

w Add a seed to each container. Cover the seed with soil. Add water.

e Label the container to identify the type of seed.

MATH CONNECTION

When you think of gardening, do you think of math? Use your math skills to complete these activities.

q Calculate germination rate. Plant lettuce seeds in a flat, keeping careful count of the number of seeds planted. As the seeds begin to sprout, count the number of seeds that sprout. The germination rate is the number of seedlings divided by the number planted, multiplied by 100.

w Estimation. Estimate the number of seeds in a vegetable, such as tomato. Count the number of actual seeds and calculate the difference between the estimation and the actual number.

e Seed sort. Sort seeds by size, shape, or color.

r How much do I need? Use a formula to calculate the

DID YOU KNOW?

Blair

Henry Blair was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1807. Although very little is known about his personal life, he is assumed to have been free. Blair is the second African American to receive a patent. (The first was Thomas Jennings for the invention of the dry cleaning process.) Blair received two patents, one in 1834 for his seed planter and another in 1836 for a cotton planter. Blair signed his patent with an “X” because he could not read or write. In patent records, Blair is identified as a “colored man.”

A compost pile should feel damp, but not wet. You may need to cover your compost pile during rainy seasons and mist it during dry seasons. Oxygen helps to break down the compost materials, so you will need to stir the contents every 10 days to two weeks to allow the air to come in contact with your compost. In about 10 to 12 weeks, the compost will be ready to spread as a fertilizer on your soil.

To Learn More About Composting, Visit: http://www.benefits-of-recycling.com/compostingforkids/ http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/kindergarden/ kidscompost/cover.html

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for background information. I can discuss the benefits of composting.

Grow Plants From Seeds!

r Place containers on a window sill for sunlight. t Keep the soil moist (but not too wet) by watering daily.

y Record your observations as the seeds begin to germinate and seedlings begin to sprout. (This should take place in one to two weeks.)

Reflect: Which seeds were the first to show signs of germination? Do you think your seeds would grow more quickly with more or less sunlight? How do you think fertilizer would affect the growth of the seeds? Learning Standards: I can follow step by step instructions to complete an experiment. I can analyze the results.

Math In the Garden

amount of fertilizer needed per gallon of water. (Read the package carefully to find this information.)

t How many will fit? Estimate the number of pots that will fit in your windowsill. Calculate using different sized pots. Estimate the volume of soil needed to fill a window box.

y How does it measure up? Measure the height of several plants in standard and metric units. Calculate the mean, median, and mode for the heights measured.

u Create a planting schedule for your garden. First, determine the desired harvest date for each crop. Next, find the days-to-maturity for each, and count backwards from the harvest date to decide when each crop should be planted.

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

Watermelons are actually vegetables, related to pumpkins, cucumbers and squash. The world record-holding watermelon was more than 260 lbs.

These inventions made life better for farmers who depended on crops to support their families. A farmer himself, Blair understood the need to be efficient. Blair’s seed planter allowed farmers to plant more corn using less time and labor. Blair estimated the corn planter was equal to the labor of eight men. His cotton planter had two shovel-like blades which split the earth andt were pulled along by a horse.

In 1900, Henry Baker, an assistant patent examiner, dedicated his time to researching and publicizing the creations of early black inventors. He contacted patent attorneys, newspaper editors, company presidents, and prominent African Americans. Baker was able to publish four volumes of his research about early inventions of African Americans. Because of his efforts, inventors such as Henry Blair, are not forgotten.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography to learn about the history of a person who made contributions in the fields of science, technology, and mathematics.

Use the newspapers to complete these activities to sharpen your skills for the MAP test.

Pollution

42%ofAmericans liveincountieswith unhealthyairpollution

Find articles in your newspaper that discuss water and/or air pollution. Discuss the causes and possible remedies. Write a science fiction story telling how life could be in another 100 years if the pollution problem isn’t solved. Using the same articles, have a panel discussion on the effects of pollution.

Composting

Based on what you have learned about composting, you will write to inform and persuade. First, write a newspaper article that describes how to create a compost pile and how it will help your garden. Next, write a letter to the editor that encourages families to create a compost pile. Finally, create an editorial cartoon to accompany your letter.

Learning Target: I can write for a specific purpose and audience. I can understand and describe the benefits of composting.

Using

Some plants bloom at night to attract nighttime pollinators.

The tomato first grew as wild, cherry-sized berries in the South American Andes. The tomato as we know it today was developed in Mexico.

2ND AFRICAN AMERICAN TO RECEIvE A PATENT: Henry

Blair’s patent drawing for a seed planter.

Photo by Wiley Price

Sinquefield and local control –of schools

Four Missourians with expertise in public education filed a lawsuit against Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander and Missouri State Auditor Thomas Schweich last week. The lawsuit challenges the ballot and fiscal summary of what they call “billionaire extremist Rex Sinquefield’s latest attempt to amend the Missouri Constitution.” Sinquefield created controversy last year when discussing an education-related ballot initiative, claiming the Ku Klux Klan designed the public school system to ruin the lives of African-American children. Sinquefield, who must manage money better than he judges the written word, was suckered in by a newspaper parody that he took to be a statement of factual history.

In April, a bipartisan majority in the Republicandominated Missouri House of Representatives overwhelmingly rejected a bill (HB 631) similar to Sinquefield’s initiative by a 55-102 vote. Horse trading (not to mention vote buying) continues in Jefferson City to come up with a compromise version of the education bill before the session ends May 17. Filed in the circuit court of Cole County, the lawsuit charges that the ballot summary is unfair and likely to deceive voters because it fails to mention that the constitutional amendment would permit school districts to fire or cut the pay of public school teachers and administrators without

cause or due process, and it would create a burdensome “one-size-fits all” evaluation system mandating additional standardized testing of students.

The suit also charges that the fiscal note fails to include financial analyses provided by local school districts stating Sinquefield’s amendment would cost schools millions of dollars in the first year with substantial ongoing costs.

Paul T. Morris, Dana Ruhl, Kathy Steinhoff and Darryl Johnson (Missouri Teacher of the Year 2006-2007 who is being inducted into the National Teacher Hall of Fame next month) are filing the suit in their private capacity as Missouri citizens.

“Sinquefield’s initiative removes local control of how school districts evaluate teachers. It financially punishes districts for using proven locally developed evaluations,” says Morris, a retired teacher and second term school board president in the FergusonFlorissant School District.

“In Ferguson-Florissant, the board, administration and teachers have developed our evaluations. They are timetested and proven. From my perspective as a school board member, maintaining local control is very important. More high-stakes testing doesn’t lead to accountability, it wastes children’s valuable classroom time on test taking instead of learning. It’s critical the ballot language accurately reflects the harm this ballot initiative creates.”

Ruhl, business manager of Hannibal Public School District, says, “This initiative would change the Missouri Constitution by removing local control of how teachers are

compensated or laid off. It creates an unfunded mandate that costs schools millions of dollars without educating a single child. It’s important the ballot summary accurately reflects the costs of this initiative and the jeopardy to school district’s funding for failing to comply with unproven top-down mandates.”

Steinhoff, a National Boardcertified teacher in Columbia and winner of the Horace Mann Teaching Excellence Award, says, “One-size-fits-all testing approaches are not good for kids and cost our schools millions. It is time to stand up to special interest groups who are trying to destroy public education. Allowing teachers to be fired without cause takes away all their rights to due process and creates chaos in the schools. Parents have the right to know the real impact of Sinquefield’s plan, and that should be included in the language on the ballot.”

Transparency in budgeting

Last week, the new Ways and Means Committee Chairman Alderman Terry Kennedy and President of

State Rep. Kimberly Gardner and state Rep. Clem Smith recently supported Saint Louis Crisis Nursery at its annual Razzle Dazzle Ball at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet, which raised more than $300,000 to help children and families in need.

the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed announced a new hearing schedule which will allow for more citizen input and participation in the city’s budgeting process.

For the first time in several years, the Ways and Means Committee will hold evening meetings in order to provide an opportunity for citizens to receive information on the proposed new city budget for 2013-14 and to make public comment.

The first public meeting will be held 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 14 and will review the city’s budget process and give citizens an overview of the proposed new budget. The second public meeting held 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 15 and will allow citizens the opportunity to make public comment and suggest ideas. Both hearings will be held in the Kennedy Hearing Room (Room 208) on the second floor of City Hall 1200 Market St.

“For years Ways and Means Committee meetings related to the city budget review process have been held at times that made it a little difficult for working people to attend,” said Kennedy. “With this new hearing schedule, we are hoping to make the process

more inviting and conducive to taxpayer participation.”

Reed said, “The budget is, literally, the most important single piece of legislation that the board deals with every year. It sets our city’s spending priorities, and the decisions we make impact every city resident. The new schedule will open up our budgeting process to greater citizen involvement and allow citizens a greater voice in setting our priorities.”

An overview of the budget may be found online on the city’s website, stlouis-mo.gov/, under the Budget Division.

Written copies of the general overview of the budget will also be available at the Board of Aldermen on Monday, May 13 until Friday, May 17.

Citizens may provide written comments to the Ways and Means Committee Chair at the May 14 meeting or send comments to the committee through the city website.

Verbal public comments will be limited to five minutes or less for the May 15 meeting. There will not be public testimony at the May 14 committee meeting.

Communications breakdown

Reed also come out against the Mayor Francis G. Slay’s unexpected call to close the city Communications Department (including City TV) in response to the loss of a federal public safety grant. Reed pointed out that there would be other ways to plug the shortfall in public safety funds and keep cops on the beat.

“For many of our older citizens, the city’s cable channel is their primary way of knowing what’s going on in our city’s government, which is a vital public service,” Reed said.

Reed also said closing the Communications Department “would work directly against increasing transparency in government,” which Slay somewhat laughably (given his track record for sleight of hand) included in his goals for his fourth term.

When outlining his goals,

Slay acknowledged that he needed the support of Reed or Comptroller Darlene Green to accomplish much of anything, so Reed only needs the support of exactly one other person – the comptroller – to stymie Slay on his gambit to close down City TV and the rest of the Communications Department.

Appointed – and not

First Charlotte, N.C. beat out St. Louis for the Democratic National Convention. And now its mayor beat ours to a federal appointment. Last week President Obama nominated Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx as U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Current Secretary Ray LaHood is stepping down. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Foxx would join U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as the only African American currently serving in Obama’s cabinet. As for Slay, he has been pining for a federal appointment to a judgeship as long as he has been mayor. He has broken the heart of many mayoral hopefuls waiting in line behind him, as it’s perennially rumored that “Francis won’t even finish this next term” because that federal appointment for him is perennially pending ... and never happening.

Axelrod in STL

David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, will be in St. Louis to discuss the intersection of Transformational Branding and Politics on at noon Friday, May 10 at the George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology. Axelrod will talk with Obama media consultant Clifford Franklin of FUSE Advertising, facilitated by Benjamin Akande, Dean of the School of Business & Technology at Webster University. The talk will be held in the Community Music School, 535 Garden Ave.

BUSINESS

‘Understanding consequences and rewards’

Workforce Investment Act funds program to reach troubled young men

ByRobert Joiner Of The Beacon

When Edward Spann first heard about the Men on Deck tour, he had no idea it would mean beginning his day at a jail and ending it with an undertaker. These were among the extreme destinations that he and other young men journeyed to discuss the consequences of making good or bad choices in life.

In addition to visiting a funeral home and a jail on a recent Thursday, the men visited theBetter Family Life Cultural Center, People’s Health Centers, St. Louis Community College, theNew Life Evangelistic Center and the Father’s Support Center.

“You have the power and ability to transform your lives in the way that nobody could imagine.” – Malik Ahmed, Better Family Life Inc.

“I realize from this tour how decisions I make right now can make a difference for me down the road,” says Spann, 22. He says the cautionary tales he heard will make him work harder in his studies in computer technology at Vatterott.

Another participant, Rashad Gladney, 21, says, “Right now I’m in school to be a barber. But from what I’ve learned, I’m determined to use that to think about owning my own shop.”

Better Family Life runs the Men on Deck tour as part of a grant under the federal Workforce Investment Act. One of the program’s placement and retention specialists, Maukiesch Howard, says the tour amounted to “a reality check, pointing out the consequences of choices these young men make.”

Cecilia Ray, a program life coach, says those in the program often face challenges like being foster children, runaways or homeless. Many, she says, are school dropouts.

Norman Miller, another placement and retention specialist, hopes the tour will make young men “think through decisions and make better choices to change their lives in a positive way.” The idea, he says, is to offer them “an empirical understanding of the

Wateris serious business

By Caroline Pufalt Sierra Club, Missouri Chapter

Keeping all aspects of pubic water public is part of best practices to keep city water clean and affordable.

Water is serious business, and the citizens of St Louis are rightly concerned about a recent plan to change the operation of city water through a proposed contract with Veolia, Inc.Veolia is a private, multinational company which profits from management of municipal water systems. Concerned citizens fear the proposed contract with Veolia would disadvantage the city. In a recent editorial, Veolia spokespersonDavid Gadistried to counter those concerns by claiming the proposal is a public-private partnership through which the city would still own water infrastructure. That is true, as far as it goes.

See WATER, B6

Jeffrey Irons with Employment Connections talks to young men at the Father’s Support Center last week during the Men on Deck Tour sponsored by Better Family Life.This youth program,funded by the Workforce Investment Act,tries to guide troubled young men to think through possible life-changing decisions.

consequences and rewards of their choices.”

‘Not where you want to be’

At the tour’s first stop, the Pine Lawn jail, officers spoke to the young men about how to behave during a traffic stop, among other

things. Police Chief Rickey Collins concedes that some police officers do make mistakes, and he encouraged citizens to use their cell phones to record incidents and file complaints when they believe that they have

See ACT, B6

Push to preserve foreclosure assistance

PEOPLEON THE MOVE

Dr.Susan ColbertThreats

Dr. Susan Colbert-Threats was named to the Best Doctors in America List for 2013 by her peers and colleagues. Approximately 5 percent of doctors practicing in the United States are selected as a Best Doctor. Her practice is at Richmond Heights Internal Medicine in Richmond Heights with the independent physician group Esse Health. Anative of north St. Louis, she is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians.

Steven Hill has been elected to the Board of Directors of United Way of Greater St. Louis. Hill is the area mid-market sales manager for Microsoft Corporation for the North Central Small, Medium, Solutions and Partners based in St. Louis. He recently was appointed the Diversity Champion for the Midwest region and has been recognized by the Black Data Processor Association and the National Society of Hispanic MBA.

Tara Leigh Buckner has been elected president-elect of the National Alumnae Association of Spelman College.Previously, Buckner was the National Assistant Recording Secretary for the association, having also served as the Saint Louis Chapter Recording Secretary and President of the Twin Cities Chapter.She is the former Executive Director of the Greater Saint Louis Regional Empowerment Zone.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

SBADeputy Administrator visits St. Louis

Marie C. Johns, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, visited St. Louis on Monday to help kick-off Eastern Missouri Small Business Week and to deliver remarks at the Association for Enterprise Opportunity annual National Conference. She highlighted SBA’s microloan and lending resources for entrepreneurs in underserved communities at the conference.

Stylists, science teachers meet in St. Louis in May

Some 6,000 stylists gathered in St. Louis for the State Beauty Supply Show, May 5-6, at the America’s Center convention complex. The National Science Teachers Association Stem Forum and Expo will take place in St. Louis, May 15-18, at America’s Center. Other groups meeting in St. Louis in May include Junior Chamber International JCI Conference of the Americas, United States Lactation Consultant Association National Conference, and the Fraternity Communications Association Annual Conference.

By Charlene Crowell Center for Responsible Lending

Abroad coalition of state and national organizations is pushing to preserve a key federal program that has helped more than 1.1 million troubled homeowners and reduced mortgage payments by a median savings of $546 each month. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), created in response to the nation’s housing crisis, is set to close shop on December 31. In its remaining months, housing and consumer advocates are urging the U.S. Treasury Department to reconsider.

AMarch 26 letter to Jacob J. Lew, U.S. Treasury Secretary, was co-signed by 14 national organizations such as the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Urban League and

Home Affordable Modification Program set to expire by year’s end See CROWELL, B2

Nominations being accepted forNurse of the Year

the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). Additionally, another 22 state and local groups including the California Reinvestment Coalition, Mississippi Center for Justice and New York’s Empire Justice Center joined with their national colleagues to fight for more foreclosure assistance. The letter states, “Research has shown that foreclosure and delinquency rates have disproportionately impacted AfricanAmerican and Latino families, and median household wealth has dramatically declined. . . High foreclosure rates in communities of color have also impacted those homeowners neighboring foreclosed properties, and estimates show that these properties stand to lose $1 trillion in home equity as a result.”

The Missouri Chapter of March of Dimes is preparing to honor nurses who exemplify an extraordinary level of patient care, compassion and customer service. It will accept nominations for Nurse of the Year from May 6 to June 30. Exceptional nurses employed in Missouri and the Illinois counties of Jersey, Madison, St. Clair, Clinton, Monroe and Randolph are eligible. Nomination forms and more information are available at marchofdimes.com/missouri or contact Ann FisherJackson at 314-513-9962 or jfisher-jackson@marchofdimes.com.

Securities Division issues an investoradvisory

Secretary of State Jason Kander’s Securities Division has issued an investor advisory providing basic information on the types of financial services professionals and their obligations to investors. “It pays to understand the differences between a brokerdealer agent, an investment adviser representative, and a financial planner,” Kander said. For more information or to request a copy of the advisory, contact the Securities Division at 800-721-7996.

Steven Hill

Tara Leigh Buckner

Charlene Crowell

Marie C. Johns

Photo by Wiley Price

By Jason Alderman

Now that the long-debated estate tax rules have finally been settled, let’s get real: Despite all the hoopla raised, most people probably would never be impacted whether the lifetime estate tax threshold had stayed at $5.12 million or reverted to $1 million. In the end, it actually went up a bit to $5.25 million for 2013.

Even if your estate will only be a fraction of that amount, it still pays to have a plan for distributing your assets. If your finances are in good shape, there’s no reason not to start sharing the wealth while you’re still around to enjoy helping others. It also doesn’t hurt that you can reap

Share yourmoney before you die

significant tax advantages by distributing a portion of your assets now.

Before you start doling out cash, however, make sure you are on track to fund your own retirement, have adequate health insurance, can pay off your mortgage and are otherwise debt-free. You wouldn’t want to deplete your resources and then become a financial burden on others.

If you can check all those boxes, consider these options: Avoid the gift tax. You can give cash or property worth up to $14,000 per year, per individual, before you’ll trigger the federal gift tax. (Married couples filing jointly can give $28,000 per recipient.) You’ll probably never have to pay a

PERSONAL FINANCE

gift tax, however, since you’re allowed to bestow up to $5.25 million in gifts during your lifetime above and beyond the annual $14,000 excluded amounts before the gift tax kicks in – which for most of us means never. Read IRS Publication 950 (at www.irs.gov) for details. Pay for education. If college is still far off for your children, grandchildren or others, consider funding a 529 State Qualified Tuition Plan for them. Any interest the account earns is not subject to federal (and in most cases, state) income tax; plus, many states

CROWELL

Continued from B1

Launched in 2009, HAMP initially sought to lower monthly mortgage payments to an affordable and sustainable level through a uniform loan modification process. HAMP funding was a part of the $29.9 billion authorized for the Making Home Affordable Program. Later in 2012, program options were expanded to focus on principal reduction modifications, expand relief for unemployed homeowners and ease other alternatives to foreclosures, like short sales.

To date, $12 billion has been obligated to pay incentives for HAMPhomeowners already in the program. With the approaching expiration date, any unspent funds will ultimately be returned to Treasury’s general fund. Yet many communities have yet to economically recovery. For example, HAMP’s unemployment program offers a minimum of 12 months’temporary forbearance to allow

offer tax deductions for contributions made to their own 529 Plans. And don’t worry: If one child decides not to attend college, you can always transfer the account balance to another without penalty.

Roth IRAs for kids. If your minor children or grandchildren earn income (allowances and gifts don’t count), you may fund a Roth IRAon their behalf. You can contribute up to $5,500 or the amount of their taxable earnings for the year, whichever is less. Your contributions are made on an after-tax basis but the earnings grow, tax-free, until the

these homeowners to focus on securing new employment while still owning their homes. Depending upon homeowner circumstances, forbearance plans can be approved with some required payment or none at all. Thus far, over 30,500 homeowners have accessed this program. It is also relevant to note that AfricanAmerican unemployment is higher than most. According to recent U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, black unemployment at 14 percent is double that for white Americans.

account is tapped at retirement. Fund someone’s benefits. Many people cannot afford health or other insurance and so forego coverage, putting themselves just one serious illness or accident away from financial disaster. Many also can’t fund their 401(k) plan or IRA. Consider applying your tax-exempt gifts to help loved ones pay for these critical benefits. You’ll not help protect them from catastrophe, but also greatly increase their long-term financial self-sufficiency.

Charitable contributions. If you’re planning to leave money or property to charities in your will, consider beginning to share those assets now, if you can afford to. You’ll be

HAMP homeowners that received permanent mortgage modifications collectively were granted $9.2 billion in principal reductions.

The nation’s metro areas with the largest HAMPparticipation rates are Los AngelesLong Beach, New-York-New Jersey, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Chicago-Northwest Indiana, and California’s Riverside-San Bernardino.

Additionally, the most recent HAMPprogram per-

formance report shows that the program is working as it increasingly helps eligible borrowers by forgiving a portion of their mortgage debt. HAMP homeowners that received permanent mortgage modifications collectively were granted $9.2 billion in principal reductions. Additionally, another 114,000 homeowners avoided foreclosures through short sales or deed-in-lieu. Nationwide, the average nonHAMPmortgage modification reduced monthly payments by $389, while the average HAMPmodification reduced the same monthly payments by $558. Similarly, nonHAMPservicers reduced interest rates in 73 percent of modifications made in the fourth quarter of 2012. Participating HAMPservicers reduced interest rates for 81 percent of borrows during this same period. Of all HAMPtrial modifications, 80 percent of the

able to enjoy watching your contributions at work – and be able to deduct them from your income taxes. Read IRS Publication 526 for details. Before taking any of these actions, consult your financial advisor to make sure your own bases are covered. If you don’t have an advisor, visit www.fpaforfinancialplanning.org for help locating one.

Jason Alderman directs Visa’s financial education programs. To participate in a free, online Financial Literacy and Education Summit on April 17, 2013, go to www.practicalmoneyskills.com/summit2013.

homeowners were at least 60 days delinquent at the trial start. The chief reason – for 68 percent of the troubled homeowners – was financial hardship due to reduced income or unemployment. In 2012, CRLresearch found that among the 10.9 million homes that went into foreclosure between 2007 and 2011 over half of the “spillover” cost to nearby homes have led to a $1 trillion loss in home equity for African-American and Latino families. High concentration of foreclosures in neighborhoods of color perpetuated disproportionate burdens in America’s continuing foreclosure crisis. Coalition leaders agree: “Effective housing policies must recognize that neighborhoods with higher foreclosure rates and deeper foreclosurerelated impacts will take more time to recover.”

C harlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at: charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

“He seemed like a terrific young man.I told him I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

– President Barack Obama, speaking on Jason Collins after the NBA player revealed he is gay

IN THE CLUTCH

With Ishmael H.Sistrunk

Best at business

By Ishmael H.Sistrunk

Of The St.Louis American

Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s boxing skills are complete. His defense is impregnable. His accuracy is uncanny.

“Money” Mayweather’s performance versus the Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero last weekend was beautiful and brilliant. No, it wasn’t an exciting, rock ‘em, sock ‘em affair, but for those who appreciate the craft of boxing, the pound for pound king’s performance was nearly perfect. By the time the two combatants came into the “championship” rounds, Mayweather had put so many rounds in the bank, he could neglect to throw a single punch and still won easily on the

scorecards.

However, even with the impressive victory, in the words of MasterCard, “There are some things ‘Money’can’t buy.”

Late during the fight, as Guerrero desperately searched for the socks his foe had long before boxed off, a Mayweather fanatic at my fight party proudly boasted that Mayweather is the greatest fighter who ever lived. In today’s world of rampant hyperbole, his claim wasn’t particularly surprising. Look across the sports world and you’ll hear

the names of Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson and others proclaimed as the best ever. We often ignore the greatness of generations past due to the enchanting athletic gifts of those present.

As with most other cases of what I’ll call Hyper GOAT– Greatest Of All Time – syndrome (HGS), it’s simply not true for Mayweather - not even close.

My refusal to acknowledge Mayweather as the GOAThas nothing to do with hate, but rather history. I asked my HGS-suffering friend a simple question which puts the whole argument in context. Who was the last fighter

With Earl Austin Jr.

Last week was very eventful for me as I had the opportunity to participate in two special events that recognized our young people for outstanding achievement.

Earl Austin Jr.

On May 1, I attended the second annual St. Louis Public Schools Scholar-Athlete Luncheon, which was held at the Missouri Athletic Club. I attended the inaugural event last year, but this year’s luncheon was bigger and even better.

The purpose of the ScholarAthlete Luncheon was to recognize those young athletes at SLPS high schools who have achieved a grade point average of 3.25 and higher. There were 311 athletes honored at the first event. At the second one, there were 412 scholar-athletes honored, which was an increase of 101. Tremendous.

“The major goal of the luncheon was to promote the

With Earl Austin Jr.

Some serious jumping

It would be an understatement to say that the jumping performances at the St. Clair County Meet were outstanding. They were downright spectacular. The jumping pits at Belleville West High may never be the same.

The Cahokia High duo of senior Chris Moore and freshman Ja’Mari Ward continued their fabulous seasons, as both surpassed 24 feet in the long jump in the same meet.

Moore won the event with a record jump of 24 feet 8 ? inches. He was followed by Ward, who finished second with a jump of 24-2.

Moore came back to win the triple jump with an effort of 48 feet 10 ? inches. Ward turned in an excellent mark of 47-7, but that was only good for third place on this day.

Jamison Nash of Belleville West turned in a school record mark of 48-9 to take second place. That is some serious jumping, folks.

District meets

The postseason track series is now underway on both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the river.

Missouri Class 4 district meets will be held at Fox, Ladue, McCluer and Troy on Saturday. Class 3 meets will be held at MICDS and Lutheran North.

The top four finishers at each district meet will qualify for next week’s sectional competition on Saturday, May 18.

Illinois sectionals

On the Illinois side, the IHSASectionals will be held this week in the metro east area. The top sectional qualifiers will be heading to Charleston, Ill. to participate in the IHSA State Championships at Eastern Illinois University on May 17-18.

The Class 3Asectional meet will be held at Belleville East on Friday, beginning at 4 p.m. Defending state champion Edwardsville headlines the field. The Tigers have another talented unit, led by All-American Emmonnie Henderson in the shot put and discus.

Southwestern Conference schools Belleville East, Belleville West, Alton and O’Fallon also have talented athletes looking to qualify.

Area Class 2Aschools will be heading to Triad for the Sectional meet, which will be held this afternoon at 4 p.m. Headlining the

athletes

See TRACK, B5

Olympic great and East St.Louis native Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the keynote speaker at the St.Louis Public Schools Scholar-Athlete Luncheon at the Missouri Athletic Club. Joyner-Kersee is joined by Clarence Gaines, Board member,Les Snead,St.Louis Rams General Manager and Travis Brown,SLPS Director of Athletics.

Last weekend Floyd Mayweather Jr.easily defeated Robert “The Ghost”Guerrero – then dodged questions about his next fight.

Ishmael H. Sistrunk SLPS, Gateway Classic, Larry Hughes honor local talent

With Mike Claiborne

Stupidity, sourgrapes and summerhoops

The paths of stupidity and sour grapes cross each other in the latest saga involving former Wellston High School and Kansas University star Ben McLemore

Let’s start with McLemore’s Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) coach Darius Cobb

Like many AAU coaches, Cobb forgot about coaching and teaching the game in pursuit of potential dollar signs.

Cobb had to know that what was going on between him and Blackstock was an NCAA violation, if not worse.

Cobb was doing his best job as flesh peddler trying to sell his prize player to the highest bidder. KU ended up getting McLemore for one year before he opted for the NBA. Cobb allegedly found a partner in crime in another seedy character, Rodney Blackstock, the founder of a “basketball academy,” aka bag man. Blackstock has now been accused by Cobb of funneling money through Cobb to McLemore and family members. Here is where stupid makes its introduction. Cobb had to know that what was going on between him and Blackstock was an NCAAviolation, if not worse. If he did not, he is dumber than the law should allow and should not even own a driver’s license, let alone operate any heavy machinery.

Cobb alleges that Blackstock was providing the true hookup that included money, travel and access to McLemore – with the option, in return, of being involved in representing McLemore once he turned pro. Interestingly enough, in talking to several agents before the story broke, they said McLemore could go early in the draft but they had no interest in recruiting him, as it was too dirty and already a done

product,is

deal. So done that more than one “handler” could be seen on campus or at KU games, trying to isolate McLemore from potential rival agents. It had become a joke. It was hard for anyone to even call McLemore as his phone number was constantly being changed. Cobb was part of that hustle, until he was eliminated from the posse. Enter the sour grapes. Once Cobb had been eliminated from the deal by Blackstock and members of McLemore’s family, he began to sing like LutherVandross He started at the top with USA

Today, giving them a detailed account of how things went down, including dates and places. He claimed to have documentation to support his claims, and the documentation looks to be authentic.

It was really nice of Cobb to issue a statement through a middle person claiming that Kansas Coach Bill Self knew nothing about this. Gee, that is heartwarming to take Kansas off the hook. It’s not that easy. I guess Mizzou fans are now supposed to take Cobb’s word on that dubious claim. So now that Cobb was shortchanged, he wants to take down the whole ship of rats with him. One problem here. Cobb should be attached to the sinking anchor. His actions are what continue to give AAU

basketball its bad rep among college and high school coaches, not to mention parents and fans. There are not enough programs that are committed to kids for the right reasons. Fortunately, there are some quality summer programs here in St. Louis, like the Eagles. You have to wonder who pulled the plug on Cobb. Some have suggested that Cobb ran his mouth too much and the McLemore family was let in on it. Regardless, the McLemore posse had to know the difference between right and wrong. If Cobb did funnel money to them, surely they did not think this loot was from the winnings of a Family Feud episode.

Rodney Blackstock has disappeared. His website has

also on the field, court, track and in life.”

understanding that interscholastic athletics and activities are an important part of a comprehensive education,” said Travis Brown, SLPS Director of Athletics. “The Scholar-Athlete Luncheon also focused on the academic success of all student athletes and their commitment, self-discipline, honesty, dedication, teamwork and cooperation. These attributes are all valuable lessons they can impart not only in the classroom but

been shutdown and his whereabouts are unknown at this time. Rumors persist that there is more to the relationship between Blackstock and a member of the McLemore family.

I hope both Cobb and Blackstock are history when it comes to their involvement in organized basketball. Cobb probably got what he deserved for his role, and Blackstock will probably not be allowed to represent McLemore. They may not have a choice here, as the NCAAwill be watching their actions and the NBA Players Association is compelled to act if there is enough evidence.

The McLemore family is not innocent in this ordeal, and yet they will probably go

I had the opportunity to serve as one of the 47 table role models for the event. Each of us role models had our own table with a group of student athletes to break bread and fellowship.

I got a kick out of watching the student athletes getting their pictures taken by the “parents paparazzi.”

East St. Louis native and Olympic hero Jackie JoynerKersee provided a wonderful and inspirational keynote address to the student-athletes. She was followed by another

great speech delivered by St. Louis Rams General Manager Les Snead. It was a good time had by all. First, I would like to congratulate all of the kids for their outstanding achievement in the classroom and on the athletic field. Also, I would like to thank Travis Brown for allowing me to be a part of this special event once again.

On Sunday, I served as the Master of Ceremonies at the Larry Hughes High School Athletic Awards Banquet, which was held at the Hilton at the Ballpark. The event was presented by the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation. It was a wonderful banquet and always one of the

unpenalized. They will endure some embarrassment for a bit, but do you think they care? That is, unless someone presses the matter to see if any laws were broken.

This is a sad situation, for sure, but until the NCAAand the NBAand the players toughen up the rules, there will be another Ben McLemore next year, and for years to come there will be the likes of Darius Cobb ready to sing if he is not in on the deal. These AAU dirty deals have become more frequent and more seedy. Unfortunately, multiple rules (if not laws) are being broken on a regular basis under an unwritten code of silence, provided everyone gets their taste of the action or their reward for peddling flesh.

highlights of my sports season.

More than 60 athletes from all over the St. Louis metro area, representing 10 different sports, were honored. Jackie Joyner-Kersee was in attendance and gave some very inspiring words as did Hughes, the former CBC and Saint Louis U. star who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association.

The best part of the event was that the athletes had the opportunity to walk the red carpet before the event like superstars in the entertainment industry. I got a kick out of watching the athletes getting their pictures taken by the “parents paparazzi.” After getting their pictures taken, they were interviewed first by Meghan O of 104.1 FM and then by Maurice Drummond of KTVI-Fox 2. It was a cool scene.

Mike Claiborne

Ben McLemore (right) and KU teammate Jamari Traylor watch a KU women’s basketball game in March.Now McLemore,a Wellston High School

watching for fallout from his summer basketball

coach Darius Cobb’s allegations that a basketball academy operator,Rodney Blackstock,was funneling Cobb money in anticipation of representing McLemore in the NBA.

When it comes to legacy,it appears Floyd Mayweather is more concerned with retiring undefeated than defeating and retiring all comers in the ring like a true champion.

CLUTCH

TRACK

Continued from B3

Continued from B3 field at Triad will be the East St. Louis Flyerettes, who will be prime threats to win a state championship.

Mayweather fought who was seen as the best (or secondbest behind himself) in his division?

He thought long and hard before uttering the name of the late Diego Corrales. An argument could have also been made for Jose Luis Castillo but regardless, those fights took place in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Yes, it’s been more than a decade since Mr. Pound for Pound has taken on the best competition available.

Sure, fighters like Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley were big names and talented fighters. However, Hatton was a junior welterweight fighting outside his natural division. De La Hoya and Mosley were both at the tail end of their storied careers. It is said to be the best, you have to beat the best and Mayweather has repeatedly declined to take that challenge. Look back through the years at the top fighters who were somehow avoided by the fighter formerly known as Pretty Boy. Guys like Joel Casamayor, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams,

Kostya Tzyu and Manny Pacquiao all shared divisions with Mayweather at some point yet bouts never materialized.

Mayweather fanatics will blame boxing politics, promoters, drug tests, managers, contracts and anything else when the simple truth is that fighters have the power to make fights happen.

Others presume that a Mayweather victory against fighter X means that he would prevail over every person fighter X has ever beaten.

Someone go tell that to the late Joe Frazier, who was knocked out by George Foreman, who was knocked out by Muhammad Ali, who lost to Joe Frazier. Confused yet? So am I. The greats of yesteryear such as Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis and Henry Armstrong left no room for doubt while their held their titles. In the ‘80s, we saw Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns battle each other for supremacy. We didn’t have to guess who was better because they answered it in the ring. Mayweather’s claim to the iron throne is as shaky as the cowardly King Joffrey’s. When asked directly whether he

wanted to face Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the young fighter groomed to be “the man” at junior middleweight, in his next bout, the normally chatty fighter spoke vaguely about who he would target next. He wanted to rest, talk to his manager and figure it out later.

We’ve heard whispers that St. Louis’own Devon Alexander may get the call, or England’s exciting, but chinachinned Amir Khan. Like Guerrero, these are solid fighters with decent resumes, but not the best.

Of course, as long as he’s boxing’s top earner, there’s no need for him to take such risks, especially if he’s truly all about the Benjamins.

When it comes to legacy, though, it appears he’s more concerned with retiring undefeated than defeating and retiring all comers in the ring like a true champion.

That means it’s very likely that Mayweather will be remembered as the greatest boxing businessman in history, not the greatest fighter. You can bank on it.

Follow Ishmael on Twitter @IshmaelSistrunk. Also watch out for his weekly boxing Hangouts on Google+ and YouTube.com/stlamericanvideo.

From Principia to Jeff City

The Missouri Class 1 and 2 schools held their districts meets last Saturday. Area schools will be competing at the Class 2 sectionals at Principia on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. The top four finishers at the sectional meet will qualify for next weekend’s Missouri State Championships in Jefferson City.

Senior Aiesha IrvinMuhammad of St. Elizabeth was one of the top individual performers at the Class 2, District 2 meet at Principia. IrvinMuhammad swept the 100, 200- and 400-meter dashes. Muhammad was an AllState performer at the Class 3 state meet a year

ago. Essence Brewer of Maplewood finished second to Muhammad in all three events.

Defending Class 2 boys state champion Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC will rely on a talented group of sprinters once again. Junior Michael Wells was the district champion in the 100 and 200. Diamond Hodge won the triple

The jumping pits at Belleville West High may never be the same.

jump and was second to Wells in the 100. The Commanders’ 4x100-meter and 4x200-meter relays finished first and second, respectively. Devonte Kazee was also fourth in the 200.

Maplewood’s boys qualified athletes in 11 events for this weekend’s sectionals. The Blue Devils won the Class 2, District 2 championship at Principia. Lawrence Hogue qualified in three events as he finished first in the long jump, second in the 200 and fourth in the 400. The Blue Devils also finished first in the 4x200 and

second in the 4x100 as they battled Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC in the sprint relays. Kellen Ludwig also finished first in the discus.

Brentwood’s Sophia Rivera was a dominant performer in the throws as she won the shot put with a heave of 41 feet 4 inches and the discus with a throw of 139 feet 9 inches.

Metro’s girls will be led by Alyssa January who finished first in the triple jump and third in the long jump. The Panthers also finished second in the 4x100 and 4x200. Lutheran St. Charles ran away with the team championship as it swept all of the distance events and four relays.

McKinley’s boys will have a strong crew at Saturday’s Class 1 Sectional meet at Principia. Anthony Williams won the 400, triple jump and finished second in the 200 at the District 1 meet at Principia. McKinley also qualified hurdler Chris Maxwell, distance runner Darius Williamson and all three sprint relay teams to the sectionals.

The senior jumper turned in a spectacular performance in leading the Comanches to the championship of the St. Clair County Meet at Belleville West. Moore won the long jump and triple jump in dominating fashion. He won the long jump with a leap of 24 feet 8 inches, to break the old record by more than two inches. Moore followed up by winning the triple jump with an effort of 48 feet 10 inches. He also took home a second-place medal in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. As a junior, Moore finished second in the long jump at the IHSAClass 2Astate championships. He also finished sixth in the long jump. Moore was also a statechampion in the triple jump at the state indoor championships during the winter.

Chris Moore

Cahokia – Boys Track

Renter’s rights on security deposits

By Legal Services of Eastern Missouri

The recent Hazelwood tornado left many tenants homeless and with questions about the status of their security deposits. Some tenants could not find a copy of their leases in their now condemned homes, while others had their lease but spoke with a landlord who told them not to expect the return of a deposit. There are also special circumstances tenants should be aware of with regard to their leases

Continued from B1

been mistreated.

The chief then led them to the jail, a drab room containing five gray cells, each about the size of a small closet and all lacking a toilet.

“This is not where you want to be,” he tells the men. “But I’m showing you where you are going to end up if you are with the wrong guys.”

The next stop was the Better Family Life Cultural Center. Better Family Life Inc. started in 1983. It later bought

WATER

Continued from B1

Alarming questions were raised when a draft Veolia contract with St Louis was anonymously leaked to the media in January. That draft or template contract gave Veolia rights to intellectual property and to results from the consulting contract, which could also limit citizen access through the Sunshine Law. It would also

and security deposits after losing their home in a natural disaster. Legal Services of Eastern Missouri suggests the following advice. Remove everything from your dwelling unit when you vacate. Clean the dwelling. Take photographs to document its condition. Keep your photographs in a safe place in case you need evidence to challenge any damage claims. Schedule an appointment with your landlord to deliver the keys and possession of the dwelling. During the appointment, conduct a walk-through

the vacant Emerson Elementary School and received a loan and grants to turn it into a cultural, educational and business center. The nonprofit’s founder and CEO, Malik Ahmed, told the young men they can gain inspiration from the company’s rise.

“You have the power and ability to transform your lives in the way that nobody could imagine,” he told the men.

“We will teach you what it takes to become entrepreneurs, create your own jobs. It’s about moving us forward as a community, protecting this community and watching it grow.”

have virtually forced the city to move from consulting to a longer, costly implementation contract with Veolia. In March, a news item posted on Mayor Francis G. Slay’s website acknowledged confusion over the contract and stated a desire to clarify “what it is and what it is not.” That’s good, too, as far as it goes.

But there has been little or no public or written confirmation of parameters for the Veolia contract with the city.

inspection with your landlord to review the condition of the dwelling and to discuss any charges or deductions the landlord might add to your final balance.

You should make a written demand for the return of the security deposit, and keep a photocopy of your demand letter.

Your landlord does not have to return your security deposit before you move; your landlord has 30 days from the day you move out to either return your deposit or give you an itemized statement of any

Deborah Ahmed, the center’s senior vice president of cultural programs, says she hopes the tour inspires the men to embrace their cultural roots. “We firmly believe that when you have knowledge of self, you have the foundation on which to stand and to grow. If you don’t have that, you leave yourself open and vulnerable for others to imprint who they say you are.”

After People’s Health Centers, where the young men were urged to take better care of themselves through routine checkups and screenings, the next stop was the African American Male Initiative at St.

Aspokesperson for the mayor recently told our group that the contract will not limit access to information and it will not tie consultation with implementation. The spokesperson also stated that the choice of Veolia as a consultant was separate from approval of the details of the contract.

We think citizens deserve a transparent look at both. Water is too important for its citizens not to be fully informed. St. Louis city faces

amounts withheld by your landlord. Your landlord can apply your security deposit to unpaid rent and/or damages. Legal damage charges are only for damages caused by you that are beyond normal wear and tear. You should make a written demand for the return of the security deposit, and keep a photocopy of your demand let-

Louis Community College at Forest Park.Jason Parker, campus coordinator of the initiative, told them that college is a challenge for some male students. “Alot of time they lack a support system,” he said. The initiative offers intense tutoring, older student mentors and an academic alert system to track the student.

Following stops at New Life Evangelistic Center and the Father’s Support Center, the tour bus headed for the Ronald Jones Funeral Chapels. Jones talked about what causes so many young people to end up under his

real problems with an aging water infrastructure, leaking pipes, lack of efficiency and costly treatment materials.In addition the city’s population base has changed, and many citizens have limited income.

We face some tough choices ahead, but we are not without options.Water is increasingly recognized as a valued resource, and technologies for treatment and delivery are increasing and improving.

Our organization, the

ter as proof that you requested your landlord return the security deposit. In your demand letter, provide your landlord with an address to send you the security deposit. You are not obligated to give your landlord your new home address. Use a P.O. Box address or other address where you do not live or work. If the landlord refuses to refund your deposit or to give you an itemized statement of amounts withheld, you may file a Small Claims Court lawsuit against your landlord for up to two times the amount of the security deposit withheld. If your landlord believes you owe any money, your landlord may file a counterclaim against you in your security deposit lawsuit. Under the Missouri law, a landlord cannot legally charge you more than two times the monthly rent for a security deposit.

Make sure you obtain a receipt or any other type of proof of your security deposit payment to your landlord.

care.

“They’re victims, really,” he says, citing an example of one young man who got into a vehicle with two strangers because he wanted to go for a ride. What he didn’t know, Jones says, was that an AK47 was on the floor between the feet of one of the men and that they were on their way to a drive-by shooting.

The shooter ended up killing the wrong person, in addition to shooting several other people, Jones says. The young man who got in the car for a joy ride was the only one who was caught.

Sierra Club, opposes the choice of Veolia due to its questionable environmental record and concerns about the affordability and fairness of the services that might result if it manages city water.We also question whether the city even needs one far-reaching consulting contract to address all issues in water delivery.

The Water Division should seek to build as much expertise in-house as possible without falling dependent to outside consultants. Those con-

Jones says he reaches out to young men like those on the tour because “somebody saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I used to think that people were meddling, but they turned out to be people who cared. If I can help just one, it can make a difference.”

Edited for length and reprinted with permission from stlbeacon.org.

“He kept insisting he had done nothing wrong, not realizing that he was culpable because he was in the car,” Jones said. “They don’t understand that decisions that they make have a profound effect on their future.”

sultants will naturally also make a profit on their services. Keeping all aspects of pubic water public is part of best practices to keep city water clean and affordable. It’s time for definitive and complete information from the Mayor’s office as to why they support Veolia and exactly what would be the details of the contract.

Caroline Pufalt is conservation chair for Sierra Club, Missouri Chapter.

“Rivers of Women,” directed by Lyah

based on the poetry of Shirley

, will run May 16-19 at the

Museum.

Photo by Wiley Price

‘Baby Bird’ stretches jazz wings

Kendrick Smith Quartet has steady gig at Premiere Lounge

By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American

Kendrick Smith of East St. Louis is only 22 years old. Yet, his love of jazz and natural musical aptitude have led some to liken him to one of the most influential saxophonists in jazz history, Charlie “Bird” Parker, leading to the nickname “Baby Bird.” Kendrick and his band mates Micah Walker (drums), Ryan Coleman (piano) and Ryan Chamberlin (bass) have been lucky to score weekly gigs around St. Louis. Lucky because, Kendrick says, St. Louis is a tough market for jazz musicians due to a lack of strong support, particularly from the African-American community.

The Kendrick Smith Quartet formed as college students at Southern Illinois UniversityEdwardsville where Kendrick was pursing a degree in jazz performance. They have played at jazz venues throughout St. Louis like Robbie’s House of Jazz in Webster Groves, with Mae Wheeler at the Delmar Lounge in The Loop, and Spriull’s. It was at Spruill’s where Kendrick met local jazz historian

Richard Henderson, president of Crusaders for Jazz, during a sit-in with legendary local tenor saxophonist Willie Akins. Henderson recommended Kendrick and his band for their current gig at the Premiere Lounge.

“This young boy needs to be heard,” Henderson said of Kendrick.

Since early October 2012, the Kendrick Smith Quartet has played at the Premier Lounge, 5969 Martin Luther King, near Wellston. At that time, James Smith, father of Premier Lounge owner Curtis Smith, sought jazz artists with hopes to develop young talent and create a jazz following at the venue. Smith said attendance is increasing during jazz sets.

Kendrick’s mother, Gerria McAffee, rarely misses an opportunity to catch one of her son’s performances.

“I just expect Charlie Parker to walk up in here one day and just stand on stage with him,” McAffee said. “He plays like they played.” She can be found tucked away in a corner at the Premier Lounge

Speaking to the spirit of women

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“I just knew that I could not mess

her work,” Lyah Beth LeFlore said about bringing her mother Shirley

LeFlore’s poetry to the stage with “Rivers of Women,” which runs May 16-19 at the Missouri History Museum.

“I was very impressed,” Shirley said. “Lyah just has an old spirit. I never doubted or thought that she wouldn’t do it well. She knows my work so well, which means she knows her mother well.”

Lyah conceived and directs the production, but she didn’t do it alone, especially with the staging upgrade for the second presentation.

She enlisted the help of

See RIVERS, C4

Her ‘Moment in Time’

Rashidra Scott is eager to honor idol Whitney Houston with SLSO

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“You always have a song that hits that personal chord and so I’ll definitely be fighting that,” said singer/actress Rashidra Scott.

“Just imagining hearing the entire symphony and orchestra behind me playing this song … I just closed my eyes and let myself feel it and was just telling the story – almost to myself.”

As she rehearses to step into the musical shoes of Whitney Houston and perform selections from the iconic singer’s musical catalog with the accompaniment of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, emotions have gotten the best of her each time she performs the classic “One Moment in Time.”

“I was just talking to my mom about how the song really hit me,” Scott said. “As performers and people in general, you do all this work and you make all of these plans as far as creating a path, and then preparation finally meets opportunity and it’s your one moment. And that’s what this is for me.”

Like so many other female singers, Scott owes her career to Whitney Houston after hearing “The Greatest Love of All” blast through the radio as a toddler.

“The song would come on the radio and I just have memories of me hanging off the banister swinging

Sheila Forrest’s Afro World never sleeps on St. Louis. Sheila is committed to keeping St. Louisans in the know, whether it is politics or the latest in coast to coast fashion. Saturday May 4 Sheila hosted “Hattitude 2013”, two shows at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. On deck, the latest in bonnet fashions featuring the famous Rosebud of New York’s latest designs. Hat designer Harriett Rosebud was in town for the event and brought awesome original hat designs, collectible miniatures, bags and many other Mother’s Day-appropriate gift items.

KPLR/KTVI’s Bonita Cornute served as Mistress of Ceremonies. Actress/ Motivational Speaker Redina Medley was in the house along with Percussionist David A.N. Jackson, Comedian Lecia J. Rives and Recording Artist Tony Metcalfe. Proceeds benefited Forest Park Forever No doubt Harriett’s hats will be modeled by many after this year’s luncheon. Canned goods donated by guests were delivered to a local food pantry. Overall it was an exciting afternoon for See

“Hattitude” model Mrs. Zanetta Peterson

(First Lady of Monumental Baptist Church, where her

Photo by Sheila Forrest

Beth LeFlore

LeFlore

Missouri History

Rashidra Scott will front the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in “The Music of Whitney Houston” 8 p.m. Friday, May 17 at Powell Symphony Hall.

Kendrick Smith leads the Kendrick Smith Quartet every Saturday 3-7 p.m. at the Premiere Lounge, 5969 Martin Luther King. Photo by Wiley Price

How to place a calendar listing

1.Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican.com OR 2.Visit the calendar section on stlamerican.com and place your listing

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

concerts

Fri., May 10, 8 p.m., Archfront Media & Flightteam Entertainment present DMX. Coliseum Music Lounge, 2619 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 531-2920 or visit www.metrotix.com.

Through May 11, 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., Jazz St. Louis presents Lionel Loueke. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call314-289-4030 or visit www.jazzstl.org

Sun., May 12, 5:30 p.m., (3 p.m. dinner), The Sheldon Concert Hall presents Denise Thimes’17th Annual Mother’s Day concert and dinner. The dinner buffet will be served in the Spiering Room from 3pm to 5pm 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 533-9900 or visit www.metrotix.com.

May 12, 6:30 p.m., Life, Love and LaughterTourstarring Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill, LaVell Crawford, Don “DC” Curry and Angela Winbush, Scottrade Center. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com or call 1-800-7453000.

Fri., May 17, 7 p.m., The AmbassadorEvent Center presents Lecrae with guests Derek Minor, Thi’sl, and Json. 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.lecraeconcertstl.eventbee.com.

May 17 – 18, 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., Jazz St. Louis presents Great Guitarists 2013 feat. Tom Byrne, Shaun Robinson and Eric Slaughter with Montez Coleman & Jahmal Nicols. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call 314-289-4030 or visit www.jazzstl.org.

May 22 – 25, 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., Jazz St. Louis presentsFreddy Cole Quartet with Harry Allen. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call 314-289-4030 or visit www.jazzstl.org

Sat., May 25, 7 p.m., Peastain Productions presents From ADiva’s Point of View Concert feat. Tisha HanesKeys, Cheryl Brown, Anita Jackson, and more. Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Rd., 63117. For more information, call (314) 249-2336 or visit www.peastainproductions.org.

Sat., May 25, 7 p.m., Lumiere Place Casino & Hotels presents Lalah Hathaway. 999 N. Second St., 63102. For more information, call (314) 881-7777.

Sat., May 25, 7:30 p.m., Chaifetz Arena presents Fantasia with special guests The Bar-Kays. 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 977-5000 or visit www.metrotix.com.

May 27, 12 noon, Big Boi Memorial Day BBQ at Atomic Cowboy Complex feat. Big Boi & D?M-FunK. Atomic Cowboy. For more information, www.atomic-cowboy.com

local gigs

Fri., May 10, 9 p.m., AmeristarCasino presents Dirty Muggs. Ameristar Casino Pool, One Ameristar Blvd., 63301. For more information, call (636) 949-7777.

Sun., May 12, 7 p.m., Just Kickin’It: ATribute to R&B Girl Groups of the 90’s. Local St. Louis singers will perform songs by groups like TLC, Blaque, 702, Destiny’s Child and EnVouge. Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square, 63108. For more information, call (314) 534-3810.

Thur., May 16, 7:30 p.m.,

CALENDAR

TreG Music presents Tre’von “TreG” Griffith. Tre’von is currently a student at Berklee College of Music, and has been singing since the age of four. Audiences can also anticipate the introduction of TreG’s latest artist, Lauron Linnae’. The Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 533-9900 or visit www.metrotix.com.

Wed., May 22, 7 p.m., Donatelli’s Bistro presents Theo Peoples. 8653 Highway N, 63367. For more information, call (636) 561-6966.

special events

Thurs., May 9, 5 p.m., Come see the recommendations for a more vibrant and attractive Grand Center. Hear plans for community improvements in Grand Center – such as better lighting, parking, streets, landscaping and beautification, traffic, transit access and more. Reception 5:00 - 8 pm; Presentation and Q&A6 pm – 8 p.m. Cardinal Ritter College Prep, 701 North Spring.

Fri., May 10, 5 p.m., Annie Malone Community Night. Eat at McDonalds and a portion of the proceeds will go directly to Annie Malone. 1119 N. Tucker Blvd., 63106. For more information, call (314) 531-0120.

Fri., May 10, 7 p.m., ATM Muzik presents Let the Lou Stand Up. Entertainment for the evening will include HipHop, R&B, Live Band and Comedy. Plush, 3224 Locust Blvd., 63103.

Fri., May 10, 5 p.m., Annie Malone Community Night. Eat at McDonalds and a portion of the proceeds will go directly to Annie Malone. 1119 N. Tucker Blvd., 63106. For more information, call (314) 531-0120.

Sat., May 11, 7:45 p.m., Girls on the Run 5K. 1 Mile Fun Run and 5k run. Acommunity run benefiting the Girls on the Run St. Louis Scholarship Fund. Soldiers Memorial Plaza, Chestnut St. and N. 14th St., 63103. For more information, visit www.girlsontherunstlouis.org.

Sat., May 11, 10 a.m., The Aligning and Leveraging Leadership in Youth presents Photovoice Showcase. A glimpse of social justice through the eyes of St.Louis youth. Participants chose a social justice issue and created an art project that reflects their thoughts and feelings about how social justice appears in the St. Louis community. Grand Center Arts Academy, 711 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, call (314) 432-2525 or visit www.nccjstl.org

Sat., May 11, 6 p.m., Brides Against Breast Cancer pres-

of 80’s and 90’s trivia. 100 Black Men of St. Louis, 4631 Delmar Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 602-5772.

May 17 – 19, 30+ Promotions presents Memphis in May Round trip party bus from St. Louis to Memphis. $100 deposits due April 19th. For more information, call (314) 229-5267 or (314) 779-7655.

Sat., May 18, 10 a.m., 5th Annual Anthony Smith 3-on3 Memorial Tournament. Anthony Smith was a graduate of Kirkwood High School. He attended Loyola University in Chicago to continue his basketball career alongside his twin brother, Antoine. Anthony and Antoine both graduated from Loyola. Anthony was diagnosed with Leukemia, and battled courageously for 3 years. Concordia Lutheran Church Kirkwood, 505 S. Kirkwood Rd., 63122. For more information, call 9314) 337-4100 or visit www.keepwatching50.org.

ents Charity Wedding Gown Sale. We are bringing 7001000 couture and designer gowns with us at a discounted price. Brides-to-be will find their dream gown at a greatly reduced cost and help those impacted by cancer. Accessories also available for purchase. Layaway available. Sheraton City Center, 400 S. 14th St., 63103. For more information, call (877) 7214673.

Sat., May 11, 6 p.m., 3rd Annual Celebrating Success Sewing Seeds Fashion Show. Join “Project Runway” stars Laura Kathleen Planck and Michael Drummond, and students at Lift for Life Academy. During the show, students will walk the catwalk in their own runway-ready creations. The event benefits students at Lift for Life Academy, St. Louis’s first independent charter school. Windows on Washington, 1601 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 488-0912 or visit http://liftforlifeacademy.org.

Sat., May 11, 8 p.m., Fox Theatre presents Jillian Michaels Maximize YourLife Tour. Imagine. Believe. Achieve. No hype, no false promises: just results live on stage for the very first time. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, call (314) 534-1111 or visit www.metrotix.com.

Tue., May 14, 8 p.m., I Am A Woman First TV presents No SugarCoat Conversations Vol. IV. Come out and enjoy an intimate evening of some real adult conversation, enjoy a drink or two, mix & mingle and connect with real people. Nothing Is Off Limits (except religion and politics), and there is only 1 Rule: We Can Agree To Disagree. The In Spot Dessert Bar, 5854 Delmar Blvd., 63112.

Thur., May 16, 5:30 p.m., Read Between the Wines: A YMCAFundraiserEvent. A fun book and wine tasting to benefit YMCACommunity Literacy. Asommelier has paired six featured books with wines from around the world. Left Bank Books will have the featured books available for sale at the event and will donate a percentage of sales to YLiteracy. 3500 Winehaus, 3500 Watson Rd., 63139. For more information, call (314) 776-7102 or visit www.tinyurl.com/Yliteracy

Fri., May 17, 6:30 p.m., Howard U and FAMU Trivia Night. Join Howard U and FAMU Alumni for a fun night

Sat., May 18, 11 a.m., 11th Annual Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing Celebration. Watch local history come alive as Missouri’s first national Underground Railroad site is transformed into a Civil War military camp. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation come and learn the experiences recently emancipated black slaves had enlisting in the Union Army during the Civil War. The event will also honor Lincoln University, which owes its founding to contributions made by the Black 62nd and 65th regiments organized at Benton Barracks.28 E. Grand Ave., 63147. For more information, call (314) 2586532.

literary

Fri., May 10, 1 p.m., Dierbergs Des Peres presents author Cheryl Forberg of the Biggest Loser. Cheryl will be meeting customers and signing copies of her latest cookbook, Flavor First. 1080 Lindemann Rd., 63131. For more information, call (314) 238-0400.

Tue., May 14, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books CWE hosts author Rebecca Kanner, author of Sinners and the Sea Anovel about the story of Noah that blends biblical history, mythology, and the inimitable strength of women. 399 Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 3676731.

Mon., May 20, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books Downtown hosts author Amanda Doyle, author of 100 Things to Do in St. Louis Before You Die. 321 N. Tenth St., 63101. For more information, call (314) 4363049.

comedy

Sat., May 11, 6 p.m., Rock of Ages Baptist Church presents Pre-Mothers Day Dinner& Comedy Show. 2426 N. Union Blvd., 63113. For more information, call (314) 243-7988. Sat., May 11, 8 p.m., The Royal Comedy Tourfeaturing Queen of Comedy Sommore, alongside veteran comedians Bruce Bruce, D.L. Hughley, Tony Rock and Arnez J. Chaifetz Arena. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com or call (314) 534-1111.

Sat., May 18, 9:30 p.m., FreeTime and Jovan Bibbs present Class Klowns Featuring Kansas City’s King of Comedy/Twitter superstar Bobby J Comedy, St. Louis’ own Super Funny Frank Lyles, and headlined by Detroit’s hilarious Howie Bell. Plush, 3224 Locust Blvd., 63103. For more information, call (314) 397-4007.

theatre

Through May 18, The Black Rep presents Smash/Hit! Two best friends try to just get by in their poverty-stricken community and also make it in the

The Black Rep presents Smash/Hit! See THEATRE for details.

tumultuous world of hip-hop. 3610 Grandel Square, 63108. For more information, call (314) 534-3810.

May 24 – 26, Fox Theatre presents Rock of Ages. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, call (314) 5341111 or visit www.metrotix.com.

dance

May 10 – 11, 7:30 p.m.,

Dances of India presents Dance Festival Showcase. A feast of the best dance St. Louis has to offer, from established companies to rising stars. Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Blvd., 63130. For more information, call (314) 935-6543 or visit www.metrotix.com.

May 10 – 11, 8 p.m., Saint Louis Ballet’s Contemporary Series. This exciting mixedbill lineup features 2 world premieres by 2 former NYC Ballet principals. Renowned artist Christopher d’Amboise & Artistic Director Gen Horiuchi will highlight the dancers’artistry and technique in their upcoming new works for this series. It will also feature a comedic duet to Rossini’s William Tell Overture by Dance St. Louis Director Michael Uthoff as well as a revival of Horiuchi’s audience favorite, More Morra. Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, UMSL, 8001 Natural Bridge Rd., 63121. For more information, call (314) 516-4949.

Sat., May 18, 8 p.m., Afriky Lolo’s 10th Annual Dance Celebration. Guest Performers: Saint Louis Osuwa Taiko Drummers. Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Blvd., 63105. For more information, call (314) 276-1913.

Fri., May 10, 6:30 p.m., opening reception for Gundia Lock - Clay exhibit

LOCKED and LOADED (running through June 8), 10th Street Gallery, 419 N. 10th Street, St. Louis, MO 63101. For more information, call 314.436.1806 or visit http://www.10thstreetgallery.co m/

Thur., May 16, 6 p.m., The PulitzerFoundation forthe Arts and KDHX present Sound Waves - An Evening of Opera and Jazz. An evening of live opera and jazz in an eclectic bridging of the musical genres. Preview songs from Opera Theatre’s summer season, including Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo and contemporary composition, Champion by Terence Blanchard. 3716 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, call (314) 754-1589 or visit www.pulitzerarts.org.

May 25 – 27, 22nd Annual St. Louis African Arts Festival. The Festival draws the community together in celebration of the rich contributions of Africa and the African Diaspora (diaspora—people settled far from their ancestral homelands).World’s Fair Pavilion, Forest Park, 5600 Clayton Ave., 63112. For more information, call (314) 9354531 or visit www.STLAfrican ArtsFest.com.

lectures

May 11, 3 p.m., The New African Paradigm presents a lecture on “Spirituality and Rebuilding the African Family” by Professor James Small of “Hidden Colors II,” Pajoma Academy, 3935 Enright Ave., 63108. Please contact James Steward at (618) 977-8191 or Greg Harris at (314) 977-8191 for more information.

Thurs., May 16, 7 p.m. The Inventors Association of St Louis meeting featuring a special pre-meeting video beginning at 6:15 p.m. that will be shown on the renowned serial inventor Mr. Woody Norris, inventor of the “Acoustic Cannon,” main

auditorium at the Headquarters Branch of the St Louis County Library, 1640 S Lindbergh Blvd, St. Louis.

Thur., May 16, 6:30 p.m., Shaw Neighborhood Housing Corporation presents Foreclosure Education Seminar. This seminar will include a helpful presentation from Beyond Housing, which has been in the forefront of the foreclosure crisis providing intervention and counseling services to those at risk of losing their home. 4103 Shenandoah Ave., 63110. For more information, call (314) 773-7429.

Sat., May 18, 1 p.m., St. Louis African American History & Genealogy Society presents African American History and Genealogy Workshop: Gathering Information from Public Institutions. Michael Everman details how to access records from public institutions. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, call (314) 746-4599.

The Royal Comedy Tour featuring Queen of Comedy Sommore. See COMEDY for more information.

health

Sat., May 11, 9:30 a.m.,

Himalayan Family Healthcare Project presents Free Health Fair. Doctors and nurses from respected St. Louis healthcare institutions will be present to see patients. Services include nutrition consultation, various screenings, giveaways, referrals, and more. International Institute of St. Louis, 3654 S. Grand Blvd., 63118. For more information, call (770) 377-5578.

Sat., May 11, 10 a.m., Urban League Guild hosts Free Health Fair. Learn from health care professionals as they share health care programs and resources available for St. Louis citizens.They will provide information and answer questions to assist you with a healthier lifestyle.

Mercy Health Care Mammography Van is available to provide digital mammography, please call (314) 251-6300 to scheduleyour mammogram prior to the event, bring your insurance card and identification. Monsanto YMCA, 5555 Page

Blvd., 63112.For more information, call (314) 615-3604.

Sat., May 11, 6 p.m., Brides Against Breast Cancer presents Charity Wedding Gown Sale. We are bringing 7001000 couture and designer gowns with us at a discounted price. Brides-to-be will find their dream gown at a greatly reduced cost and help those impacted by cancer. Accessories also available for purchase. Layaway available. Sheraton City Center, 400 S. 14th St., 63103. For more information, call (877) 7214673.

Thur., May 16, 6 p.m., Thompson Foundation presents 7th Annual “It’s In the Cards” DinnerGala. Help raise support and awareness about the foundation and how it makes a difference for children and families affected by autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Members of the community are invited to join honorary chair St. Louis Cardinals Manager, Mike Matheny. Four Season Hotel St. Louis, 999 N. Second St., 63102. For more information, call (314) 3678118.

Fri., May 17, 6:30 p.m., Stifel presents 2013 Arthritis Walk. Build awareness for this debilitating disease and raise necessary funds to drive arthritis research, education and life improvement programs. Also help continue the Arthritis Foundation’s search to find a cure to the nation’s leading cause of disability. Logan College of Chiropractic, 1851 Schoettler Rd., 63017. For more information, call (314) 991-9333.

Sat., May 18, 10 a.m., A Charles Drew Blood Drive, Christ Our Redeemer AME Church, 13820 Old Jamestown Rd. 63033. Please call 314600-4065 for more information.

Sat., May 18, Community Health FairFree Event, 1325 N U.S. Highway 67, Florissant, MO 63031. For more information, call (314) 921-2311.

Sat., May 18, 6 p.m., Second Annual Congenital Heart Night at Busch Stadium Help bring awareness to the number one birth defect in the U.S. as the St. Louis Cardinals host the Milwaukee Brewers. Discounted seats are available at $40 each in the right field box and proceeds benefit the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA), The Children’s Heart FoundationMO and The Mighty Oakes Heart Foundation. 700 Clark Ave., 63102. For more information, call (314) 345-9600. Wed., May 22, 6 p.m., P90X in Forest Park. This class takes the comprehensive P90X workout and brings it to a class format. Resistance training, cardio, core, stabilizer work, mobility work and more. Enjoy this class for free and get ready to bring it! Sante Fitness and Wellness Center, Chase Park Plaza, 212 N. Kingshighway, 63108. For more information, call (314) 688-3018.

Sat., May 11, 5 p.m., Friendly Temple M.B. Church presents Mother’s Day Weekend Gospel Explosion. This concert will feature Tye Tribbett, Kiki Sheard, Cheneta Jones, LIVRE and more. This concert will feature a full band with more guest to be announced. 5515 Dr. Martin Luther King Dr., 63112. For more information, call (314) 367-9700 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com

Sat., May 18, 5 p.m., First Community Baptist Church of Pagedale presents Songs From AJourney. Special guest, Elder Ricardo Malone of the Bethel Church, Miami, will share his personal journey with God through the provocative truth of God’s Word and uplifting songs of praise. Cellist Kwadwo Gray and Violinists Josephine and MacArthur Moten will accompany. 6815 Page Ave., 63133. For more information, call (314) 644-4120.

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with her head bobbing away to the music. She is joined by regulars, mostly those fortunate enough to have heard jazz greats like Parker and John Coltrane play during the genre’s heyday. It’s a privilege, Kendrick says, that he doesn’t take for granted because they keep him musically on his toes.

“They know what it sounds like,” Kendrick said. “They

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many, and all thanked Sheila’s show for stopping the rain, albeit temporarily. Bravo to the St. Louis Black Rep on their upcoming run of Charlie Smalls “The Wiz” May 29th through June 30. This successful Broadway musical will end The Black Rep’s 2012/2013 season. The Broadway show debuted in 1975 and won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical. Black Rep Founder Ron Himes will direct the production.

Black Rep staffers anticipate high ticket demand for this offering, so contact them well in advance for tickets. Group rates are available. Call 314.534.3810 for information. www. theblackrep.org.

10th Street Gallery will host an opening reception for their new exhibit Friday, May 10th at 6:30 p.m. The show Locked and Loaded with Creativity by native St. Louisan Gundia Lock-Clay runs through June 10. Contact Patricia Smith-Thurman for reservations at 314.436.1806. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

St. Louis chapter Smart Set members enjoyed a

say, ‘You played that note wrong.’” Music is a family affair. Kendrick first began playing music at 13 when his mother put a clarinet in his hand, an heirloom that has been in the family for 20 years. The clarinet was given to his mother by her older sister, Kimberly Cannon, when she was a child. His father, Sirrendrick Smith, also plays the trombone.

“Music is inbred in him,”

McAffee said of her son, whom she says took to music like a fish to water. “It’s a God-given gift.”

scrumptious Sunday brunch at the History Museum on Sunday, April 28. Before brunch, members viewed the ongoing exhibit Question Bridge: Black Males, a transmedia art project that through dialogue will help to define past and present roles of black males in America. Hostesses for the afternoon were Thelma Cook, Kay Shaw, Joyce Price, Johnetta Craig Clements M.D. Lynn Kennedy, Billie Jean, Delores Roberts and Lisl King Watkins, Esq Grandmother JoAnn Adams is tickled that threeyear-old granddaughter Miss Emmanuelle Jackson was selected as a model in Eunique Jones Photography’s Black History and More campaign, Because of Them We Can. In the popular campaign, children portray positive, historical role models in the African-American community upon whose shoulders we stand. In this photograph, Emmanuelle portrays Maggie Lena Walker, the first female bank president and the first woman to charter a bank in the United States.

Emmanuelle is the daughter of Charles and Kymberly Smith Jackson, Esq. and also the Granddaughter of Susan and Wayman Smith, ESQ.

The St. Louis Housing Authority and Kingdom House

Henderson has taken on a mentoring role and has followed Smith’s musical career, watching him improve every step of the way.

“It’s not many young people out here trying to play the music to keep these people and their names alive,” Henderson said. “So, when I find a person like that, I can’t do nothing but take up a lot of time with him and try to help him as much as I can.”

The Kendrick Smith Quartet plays the Premiere Lounge, 5969 Martin Luther King, every Saturday 3-7 p.m.

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formed a partnership late last year to host a Cotillion supporting SLHA resident students scheduled for May 18. The hardworking committee’s latest effort was a Jazz Brunch held at the Omega Psi Phi House on April 27. The brunch featured Ron Wilkerson, guitarist Ron Cross and songbird Mesha Brown. The scrumptious brunch catered by Ronnie’s Catering was a sold out affair. Cotillion participants Alysha Bates Arlesha Moore Monique Edwards and Jamie Hollins were in attendance and are excited about the upcoming cotillion. The committee is still accepting ads for the ad book.

The Cotillion will be held at Antioch Baptist Church on May 18. The silent auction begins at 6 p.m. and the main event at 7 p.m.. Tickets are $35. Please call Trish Purham Lawal @ 314.241.8319 for ticket and ad information. Committee members who also have access to tickets are Kevin Robinson, Antwine Rook Hope Sims Linda Townsend Mesha Brown, Marissa Sims and Artie Hamilton

Happy 100th Birthday to our Publisher Donald M. Suggs’s fabulous Mother Mrs. Elnora Suggs! Count it all joy! Dana Grace: dgrandolph@live.

Air Slim

WHITNEY

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around and just screaming it from the top of my lungs,” Scott said.

“That’s how my mom found out I could even sing. I feel like she was the reason I was able to find my voice and start singing and start performing. There was something about hearing her voice and her gift that connected with me at three years old that awoke this gift in me.”

Her talent would take her from belting in the halls of her childhood home in Virginia all the way to Broadway, most recently as a featured performer in the musical Sister Act In what will certainly be among her most challenging career moments, Scott will now embody Houston through nearly 20 songs and two hours of music. There will be a hint of sorrow because of the singer’s untimely passing last

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choreographer Nicole “Pinky” Thomas, musical director Al Anderson and a cast of women that include dancer Brooke Boyd, singer/actresses Rochelle “Coco Soul” Walker, Adrienne Felton, Olivia Neal, Leah Stewart and national recording artist Monifah Carter (who is

year at the age of 48, but Scott says the performance will be more of a musical celebration than a memorial.

“I’m looking forward to reintroducing the time when America fell in love with her,” Scott said.

“It’s also so nice to revisit the time where there were great lyrics and songwriters. You go into the rehearsals, and you listen to the difference in the musicality of those songs. And you could tell a story, and it wasn’t just about repeating two lines for three and a half minutes – they came from the soul.”

Being selected from a pool of talented singers who auditioned for the opportunity, Scott calls her upcoming performance in the SLSO tribute to Houston “an unrealized dream come true.”

“I know what the task is and I know what the gig is, so I’m just preparing myself for that,” Scott said. “I haven’t really got into the nerves of that part of it yet. For me, the nerves will probably come about

experiencing a career revival thanks to the TV One Network hit “R&B Divas”).

“We have a five-person cast, which guest stars Monifah but also some of the most amazing unsung talent and sheroes within the city of St. Louis,” Lyah said. “And now we have a full-on band and we have a larger cast. If you enjoyed it before and it soaked you in, then this time it’s going to blow you out of the water.”

In rehearsal, the cast members sounded like a fullscale women’s choir as they harmonized selections that include original music by Anderson infused with classics, from Minnie Ripperton to Chaka Khan and Angie Stone, woven around Shirley’s poems about self-affirmation, beauty shop chatter and loving a man like nobody’s business.

They laughed, they danced and they shouted. And it was obvious that they genuinely spoke to each other’s souls, especially when singing Angie Stone’s “Happy Being Me.”

“It’s so important for women to see this because it celebrates us, it connects us and it tells our stories that we haven’t seen or heard,” Lyah said.

“And with plenty of women’s stories, it’s either ‘woe is me, I’ve lost my man’ or the downtrodden side, and this is really a celebratory experience.”

“I was impressed hearing my work and hearing me speak

halfway through the show. Once the preparation meets the opportunity, about halfway through the opportunity I’m like, ‘Oh crap, this is happening.’”

And to be backed by the Saint Louis Symphony is the icing on the cake.

“On Broadway there’s always that wonderful moment where you have those strings and the full orchestra, and I’ve kind of had that experience on the small scale, but I don’t even think my brain has grasped this,” Scott said.

“Actually, I’m starting to grasp it – which is why I’ve had such an emotional experience during the rehearsals of ‘One Moment in Time.’ I’m just excited, and I’m just ready.”

Rashidra Scott will front the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in “The Music of Whitney Houston” 8 p.m. Friday, May 17 at Powell Symphony Hall. For tickets or more information, visit http:// www.stlsymphony.org/ or call (314) 534-1700.

through other voices,” Shirley said. “It came from me, but it was also picking up from other women. I hope they take away bits and pieces of these women’s hearts and spirits. But mostly I hope that they can find somebody – themselves or someone else – through these women.”

Lyah has already benefited from the residuals of her mother’s artistry.

“It’s helping me to be a better artist and better creative mind,” Lyah said. “I feel like I’m being encouraged to be a better woman when I hear those lines within her poetry. As I’ve ventured into motherhood myself, I get it now. I get where the words come from.”

Not only the daughter, and not only black women, should be able to get where these words come from.

“Outside of the pieces that talk specifically about being a black woman, it really is a culmination of my mother’s work that speaks to all women – black, white, red, purple, yellow – it doesn’t even matter,” Lyah said.

“It breaks all of those barriers because it speaks to the spirit of women – old and young.”

“Rivers of Women” will run May 16-19 at the Missouri History Museum. For tickets or additional information, call (314) 746-4599 or visit www. mohistory.org.

Super promoter LooseCannon Slim was hoping for nothing but net when he jumped for the dunk on reality TV stars Stevie J from LHHATL, Tim from ‘Welcome To Sweetie Pie’s’ and teen heartthrob Prodigy, lead singer of R&B boy band Mindless Behavior, at Slim’s annual Celebrity Basketball Game Sunday at Chaifetz Arena.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Graduation runs in the family

Sutherlins to cross Harris-Stowe Commencement stage together

American staff Commencement

Convocation at Harris-Stowe

State University has always been a family tradition, bringing loved ones together to celebrate the academic accomplishments of their students. This year is no exception, as Executive Assistant to the President Lea Sutherlin, a 22-year employee of HSSU, walks across the stage with her husband Steve Sutherlin, who is also graduating, as members of the 2013 class.

Both Sutherlins had previously taken college courses years before, and it was in 2008 that they vowed to finish – together. Lea and Steve will earn their bachelor of science degrees in Business Administration, joining the ranks of their alumnae daughter, Tasha Sutherlin, valedictorian of the class of 2008.

Lea said, “When Tasha graduated, as soon as we got to her through the crowd at the end of the ceremony and told her how proud we were, she said, ‘Thank you – your turn!’”

Lea, with her military background, put off going to college to be a wife and mother of three daughters, while working full time at HSSU. Steve, also an Army veteran, supported his family as a bonding officer for the St. Louis County Department of Justice.

The Sutherlins put aside

their own aspirations of earning degrees to provide support to their daughters, Tasha, Angela and Tiffany. After completing her studies at HSSU, Tasha earned a master of arts degree in communications and an MBA, both from Lindenwood University. She is currently studying law at Case Western Reserve School of Law. Angela, the middle child, has dabbled with school off and on during her pursuit of an acting, singing and dancing career. Known as Dharma Jean to the St. Louis arts community, the junior education major had a brief stint on Fox 2’s “American Idol,” and frequently performs her original music around town. She also serves as a residential assistant in the Rev. Dr. William G. Gillespie Residence Hall at HSSU.

Tiffany, their youngest girl, completed her pre-requisite courses at Harris-Stowe prior to enrolling at Barnes Jewish/ Goldfarb School of Nursing, where she graduates this spring.

“Oftentimes, we found that pursuing higher education simultaneously has helped us to better define problems

and formulate solutions in a productive manner as a family,” Steve said.

The 2013 valedictorian is Matthew C. Wright, a fouryear starter on HSSU’s soccer team and four-time scholar athlete.

Kwame Building Group CEO and Chairman of the Board Tony Thompson will deliver the keynote address and be recognized with an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters.

Charles Hoessle, emeritus director of the Saint Louis Zoo and former member of the Harris-Stowe Board of Regents will also be awarded an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters.

Wayman F. Smith III, who will be the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree, has been an active member of the university Board of Regents for more than 20 years, and chairman of that body for the majority of those years.

Harris-Stowe’s commencement convocation will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, May 11, 2013 in the Emerson Performance Center’s Board of Regents Gymnasium.

Saggin’ consciousness

Are sagging pants a new form of cultural identity for some young African-American males? Are these young people so unreachable that they must drop their pants to attain a sense of belonging and become visible to their peers? Does it rally define the way an individual identifies or positions himself in a different cultural environment?

According to Judge Greg Mathis, sagging was adopted from the United States prison system where belts are prohibited. Belts are sometimes prohibited to keep prisoners from using them as weapons or in committing suicide by hanging themselves.

The style was later popularized by hip-hop artists in the 1990s. It has since become a symbol of freedom and cultural awareness among some youths or a symbol of their rejection of the values of mainstream society.

I believe young people have the ability to stop the sagging and create fashions that reflect their great culture and rich heritage. We have often been told that good leaders are made, not born and develop through a method of education, training and understanding. And we must understand that different people require different styles of leadership.

In every edition of The American we see and hear of young African-American achievers, both male and female. Other publications and organizations also focus on the many wonderful and progressive accomplishments

and successes of young African Americans. I am confident that there are millions of young individuals doing far greater things for us as a people than we can imagine, but it’s the ones that are not that is the center of my attention.

I am not putting down the phenomenon we call hip-hop, but a lot of the trends and styles for young adults stem from this way of life. I read that leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. What if some of the current rappers and popular singers would remember their roots, or were taught their history?

What if Snoop Dogg would begin writing about Marcus Garvey? What if Kanye West would teach about Malcolm X or Martin Delaney? Do you think Lil Wayne, Chris Brown or T.I. would sag if their lyrics were about Colin Powell, Thurgood Marshall or Jackie Robinson?

What if Bow Wow, 50 cent or Soulja Boy would dress in

n Would Lil Wayne, Chris Brown or T.I. sag if their lyrics were about Thurgood Marshall or Jackie Robinson?

suits and in their performance would give a shout out to

James

Parents are the first teachers. What are they wearing? A common aspect of fashion in African-American culture involves the appropriate dress for worship. It is expected in most churches that an individual should present their best appearance. Now you see parents attending church wearing slacks and loose shirts. Parents should be role models and provide and insist on a dress code for themselves, and not allow their children who live at home to wear sagging, revealing, low-slung pants. Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday night at 10 p.m. and Friday morning at 9 a.m. and Sunday Evenings at 5:30 p.m. on KNLC-TV Ch. 24. I can be reached by fax at (314) 8373369 or e-mail at: berhay@ swbell.net

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,

Meredith, Medgar Evers, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale or President Barack Obama?

Bernie Hayes

Lea and Steve Sutherlin

anniversary

Congratulations to Hattie and Barry Martin, who celebrated 50 years of marriage on April 29, 2013. To love for a moment is an easy thing, but to keep a love strong over the years requires a true desire to make each other happy.

Birthdays

ASpecial Birthday wish to Daisha Wise, who turns “Big 3” on May 9. Happy Birthday Sweetness! We Love You!

Reunions

All reunion announcements can be viewed online!

Beaumont Class of 1968, 45year reunion, June 14-16, 2013 at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in Westport. Please pass the word on to others who are out of town. Contact: Vanetta at 314869-5665 or Ruby 314-7410260.

East St. Louis SeniorHigh Class of 1974:The Steering

~ CELEBRATIONS ~

Mauri J. Brown celebrated her first birthday on May 7. After numerous tries, God finally blessed us with this little “miracle girl”. We love you bunches! Mommy and Daddy

Committee is diligently planning our special 40-year reunion in June 2014.Contact dyj54@yahoo.com to be added to the class Facebook page to stay informed.For additional information, contact:314-4065354 or 618-580-2006.

Northwest High School Class of 1973, planning is underway for the 40-year reunion! The reunion is planned for July 1921, 2013. Send your email address, phone and mailing address to northwesths1973@gmail.com Information has also been posted on Classmates.com and Facebook Group: Northwest High School 1973.If you have questions feel free to call Cornelia Clark Stephens at 314 580-1114. Stay Tuned! Saint Louis University & The

Commandress crowned

Edna Ruth Renfroe has been elected as the 91st Illustrious Commandress of Medinah Court #15, Daughters of Isis of St. Louis. Medinah Court #15 contributes to various charitable organizations and youth programs in the St. Louis area. Daughter Renfroe is a retired employee of more than 30 years with the General Motors Wentzville Plant and is a resident of St. Charles.

Black Alumni Association will host the 23rd Anniversary Ernest A. Callow Jr. Prayer Breakfast Reunion on Saturday, April 27, 2013, 9 am at the Busch Student Center: St. Louis Room (20 N. Grand). Honoring: 2013 Distinguished Black Alumni Award recipient Katie Harper Wright, Ed.D; Guest Speaker: Tishaura Jones, City of St. Louis Treasurer. Cost: $50/person. Register online: alumni.slu.edu/prayerbreakfast13. For more info contact: 314-977-2250 or alumni@slu.edu. Proceeds benefit the Dr. Celerstine Briggs Johnson Book Fund. SumnerAlumni Association: 6th Scholarship Luncheon, Saturday, June 1, 2013 at the Renaissance Airport Hotel, noon–4 p.m. This year’s lunch-

Happy 6th Birthday to Caron Hamilton on May 8! Love, Granny

eon will feature a Fashion Show. $50/person. For more information, please contact Betty Louis at 314.385.9843 or bettysumner76@yahoo.com Save the dates: June 15 or June 16, The Dick Gregory Show. 25% of ticket sales SOLD by the alumni association will benefit The Sumner Alumni Association’s Scholarship Fund. Contact person: B. Louis (314) 385-9843 or email: sumneralumniassn@yahoo.com *Date, Time, VIPSeating and Door Prices to be determined later.

SumnerHigh School Class of 1973 will have its 40th class reunion the weekend of June 7-9. If you have not received a newsletter please contact Marsha Joseph-Williams (314606-8701), Dorris Simmons-

Elizabeth Richardson (90) — May 3

Deion “Peaches” Gibbs — May 8

Jocelyn Redding (19) May 8

Rosalind R. Cage (47) — May 9

McGhaw (314-541-2462) or you can email your contact info to club73bulldogs@gmail.com Also, you can inbox Sid S. Shurn or Dorris on Facebook.

Vashon 1943 classes will celebrate their 70th reunion on June 21-22, 2013, at the Hilton St. Louis Airport, 10330 Natural Bridge Road. For more information, please contact Beatrice (Anderson) Bell: jaybee47@swbell.net; (314) 9185973; P.O. Box 31830, St. Louis, MO 63138; or Alonzo Bouie, (314) 385-1937.

WebsterGroves Class of 1973: 40th Reunion Celebration. Labor Day weekend. Contact Bruce Norman at 314-968-1048 or brucecnorman@charter.net.

OF CHARGE

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

Reunion notices are free of charge and based on space availability. We prefer that notices be emailed to us! However, notices may also be sent by mail to: Kate Daniel, 4242 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108. Deadline is 10 a.m. on Friday. If you’d like your class to be featured in a reunion profile, email or mail photos to us. Our email address is: reunions@ stlamerican.com

Religion

Isaiah 58 gives Joined In Ministry award

Plus, RSVP for free healthy food classes for churches

American staff

The Rev. Brenda Booth, executive director of Isaiah 58 Ministries, recently presented Lawrence Johnson, president of the Shaw Neighborhood Improvement Association, with the annual J.I.M. (Joined In Ministry) award at Isaiah 58 Ministries’ Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner held recently at Isaiah 58 Ministries, located in the basement of Compton Heights Christian Church on South Grand.

The J.I.M. award was created in memory of two men who were instrumental in creating long-term, committed relationships between their two churches and Isaiah 58 Ministries. Both men passed away in 2007, saddening both their communities and our ministry.

Jim Hofferth was a member at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church and worked tirelessly to develop their outreach center that today continues to provide fresh produce, sandwiches and other food items on a weekly basis.

Jim Ross was a long-time member at Bonhomme Presbyterian Church who served on the board of Isaiah 58 Ministries and provided direction and strong leadership to the ministry.

“These two men displayed through their daily actions what it means to be Joined In Ministry with others,” Rev. Booth said.

Free healthy food classes for churches

Three Saturdays in summer 2013, local faith community culinary staff and pastors, working with culinary and nutrition professionals, will learn to prepare healthy, affordable food that could change Sunday’s church dinner.

Through a collaboration of Operation Food Search and Faith Communities Joined for Health (funding provided by Missouri Foundation for Health), three free classes on healthy food preparation are being

offered at various churches throughout the city and county. Designed specifically for the AfricanAmerican faith-based community, where an increase in the prevalence of diabetes, heart disease and obesity is taking its toll, these classes aim to provide culinary staff and pastors a chance to learn new skills and techniques to prepare healthier versions of traditional favorites.

On a typical Sunday following church service, meals are a time to congregate and enjoy friends, family and foods such as fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, and other tasty yet calorie and fat filled foods. Through this training, culinary staff and leadership of local African-American congregations will receive tools and skills necessary to encourage their congregations to make healthier food choices and be able to set an example within the church.

Educational materials will be distributed on how to start health ministries, recipes will be prepared and sampled, and discussions will be held regarding the negative health consequences of unhealthy eating and how it is adversely affecting the African American community.

Two classes are currently scheduled, with a third to be announced.

• June 1 – Lane Tabernacle, 910 North Newstead, 63108 – RSVP no later than May 17

• June 8 – Coleman Wright Church, 9777 Halls Ferry Road, 63136 –RSVP no later than May 24.

All classes will be held Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Established in 1981 to tackle the growing problem of hunger, Operation Food Search is a St. Louis area food bank that distributes food free of charge to feed the poor and hungry. In addition to food distribution, Operation Food Search offers robust culinary-based nutrition education. Faith Communities Joined for Health are volunteers from faith communities, universities, health departments and community agencies who focus on AfricanAmerican churches to implement program to improve the health of members.

Individuals wanting to attend must RSVP to Monique Norfolk at 314-2860095 or fcjh2013@gmail.com. It is requested that church pastors and culinary staff attend.

I can remember that night like it was yesterday. How he touched me. How he tried to get me to come into his room. How he left me feeling worthless and guilty.

I remember lying on the bottom bunk weeping, praying and hoping he wouldn’t dare come into the room. I shivered laying there; my body was cold. I was a victim in my own skin not knowing if there was a God who actually cared enough for me, His child.

“God,” I cried out.

harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

“How could you let this happen to me? I’m just a child.”

But even in that moment where I was confused, scared and hated God, I also knew I needed Him the most.

I felt like my future had fallen apart. I walked around the world with my head held low because there was nothing worth seeing. Night after night, I cried because my dreams haunted me. So often I wanted to die so that I wouldn’t have to deal with my past or face my future, but God had other plans for me. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to

Though I couldn’t see Him, I felt Him; I began to hear Him and when I felt all alone, He was right beside me. God didn’t allow me to go through my situation because He was trying to punish me, but He allowed me to go through it to show me that He is still God, and no matter what I go through He is there holding me, molding me and shaping me into the person that He wants me to be. I learned to forgive the person who harmed me. I didn’t do it for the other person, but I did it for me, just like Christ has forgiven each and every one of us. One thing I always tell others is to trust God and believe in Him, because with Him is the only way you will get through your situation. I guarantee it. Because of my relationship with Christ, and really leaning and meditating on His word and being prayerful is the only reason that I am in the place that I am today. I am Free. To God be the glory.

The American is accepting Inspirational Messages from the community. Send your column (no more than 400 words) as a Word document and pasted text to cking@stlamerican. com and attach a photo of yourself as a jpeg ile. Please be patient; we will run columns in the order received.

Jasmine E. Smith

The Rev. Brenda Booth, executive director of Isaiah 58 Ministries, with Lawrence Johnson, president of the Shaw Neighborhood Improvement Association.

Celebrity Swagger Snap of the Week

A FREE trip to The ESSENCE FestivalTM anyone? That’s right, thanks in part to Verizon Wireless, The St. Louis American is suiting up for our biggest contest EVER! The prize package includes a vacation getaway for two to New Orleans with the opportunity to enjoy one of the best ESSENCE FestivalTM lineups EVER. Yes, you are reading this correctly… I said FREE ESSENCE FestivalTM tickets, AND airline tickets AND 3-nights accommodations for the winner and a guest. Don’t tell my bosses, but it makes me quietly wish I didn’t work here so I could enter to win my doggone self! And this has to be one of the best years we could have done so, because they are not playing as far as the talent for 2013. Maxwell, Brandy, Bilal, Jill Scott, Rachelle Ferrell, Chrisette Michelle, LL Cool J, Janelle Monae, New Edition…and the list goes on, and on, and on…and y’all know who it ends with, right? Yes, of course you do….B-E-Y-O-N-C-E. We will be working out the details, so check next week’s Partyline for the 4-1-1. I’m telling you it is going to be glorious – and you don’t want to miss out!

Jumpin’ and jivin’ with Jeezy. So, I stopped by the Ambassador to appease my ratchet-lite guilty pleasure by getting a sip of trap music icon Young Jeezy Friday night. I haven’t seen so many homemade tats hanging out of freakum dresses and expired quick weaves in all of my life. The show was supposed to start at nine – which typically means 11, but I’ve yet to see Jeezy take the stage before 1 a.m. in all (as in three) the times he’s been to a…let’s just say urban venue. And Friday was no different. Jeezy hadn’t even made it to the Ambassador by 11:15, so I made a side door getaway and hit up the Schnucks for a heads up on my Saturday morning grocery shopping. And by the time I got back the folks were still stalling on the stage. In the meantime, the guests were doing hoodrat stuff in VIP like nobody’s business. Can y’all tell your cousins that ‘tear the club up’ is a figure of speech? Because some of the esteemed patrons were tossing chairs and piddling around like they needed to be on somebody’s ADHD med schedule. And also tell them that popping bottles mean popping them open to drink, not tossing them at somebody, and if they have to stand up instead of sit down, why did they have to get on top of the tables? Okay, now that I’ve sent out that PSA I feel like I can carry on. At 12:30 a.m. they were acting like Jeezy was in the wings, but he must have been eating some wings because he didn’t hit the stage until 1:08. The folks were so worn out from waiting and being misled that he was coming out any minute that they barely wanted to clap for him. But once he hit the stage in one of his glorious leather blouses and that raspy tone was blazing through the microphone, all was forgiven. He put on a show like he was at Wembley Stadium! And the love affair between Jeezy and the Horseshoe, Kinloch, East St. Louis and all of the regions of the city (and metro east) that folks tend to shun, continued. Y’all might be giving me the side-eye, but believe me when I tell you that I had a fantastic time.

Fight night at the Coliseum. Since I’m on the topic of what’s poppin’, the Coliseum on fight night should have been asked to put a little something on Money Mayweather’s purse by the way it was packed from front to back –and side to side up in there. I ran into everyone I’ve ever met since about the fourth grade up in there. It would be pointless to try and name names, but Topher, Stage, Bae Hollywood, Tim from Sweetie Pie’s to name a few. You know a party is on and crackin’ when the lights come on and the people keep kickin’ it like the show ain’t over. And can anybody tell me who that white drop top Bentley belonged to? I wanted to ask the stable of miniskirts on standby waiting for him to roll out of the club, but I didn’t want them to think I was moving in on their territory and get nervous because of the competition.

Diggin’ the Day Party. Even though Mother Nature is still set tripping, the Day Party carried on indoors at Bar Napoli with all of the trappings of presummer fun – minus the weather of course. It was a who’s who of the Lou, with some of the city’s most fabulous folks getting it in to the sounds of DJ Reminisce. Of all the people in the place I’ve decided that he deserves the most props for the way he put it all the way down on the ones and twos. I haven’t had such an urge to move these hips on the clock since the Cupid Shuffle first came out. I can’t wait for next month’s Day Party and hopefully we will finally get some spring/summer weather that will allow the people to set things all the way off from the patio.

Celebrity Ballin’ with Slim. My weekend was capped off with LooseCannon Slim’s annual Celebrity Basketball Game on Sunday night at the Chaifetz Arena. And while I’m still waiting for the half-time performance and to see Pooch Hall’s beautiful face, I truly enjoyed myself. I really loved the fact that I saw families in there having fun together and the live energy that was in the building. And who’s uncle was that slow grinding the rail on the megatron? Mindless Behavior Stevie Steebie J proved to be quite the fan favorites. And while they are as cute as they can be – and can sing and dance – I feel confident that I could beat the whole group by myself if we were to face off on the court. But anyway, I must give props to Slim for doing something for the community every year and I hope that it grows and grows – and offer a shout out to the local and national stars (like DJ Cuddy, Larry Hughes, Tim, Mo Spoon, Fresco Kane and more) who came together to give us something to see.

Team Blue of LooseCannon Slim’s Celebrity Basketball Game just before the action Sunday

@ Chaifetz Arena

Soul singers JR and Kenny DeShields left their heart on the stage with powerful performances Thursday night @ Plush

Deja,Porcia and Jayde getting were getting their fight party on and doing a little pre-Cinco De Mayo celebrating at the same time Saturday night @ Ginger Bistro

Alex, Michelle, and Britthany were among the beautiful faces that came through for the kickoff of the Day Party series Sunday @ Bar Napoli

Jada,Tay and Keisha came to kick it with Young Jeezy Friday night @ The Ambassador

Lamar Harris a.k.a. DJ Nune and Melodie Bostic couldn’t help but feel the chillaxing vibe @ The fight party Friday night @ The Rustic Goat

Damion and Ashley were holding down the door as Super Smooth Promotions got in in with a fight party Saturday night @ Ginger Bistro Saturday

Model Stage and Makeup Artist Bae were among the capacity crowd that came through to experience the fight Saturday night @ The Coliseum

The gloom didn’t Rob, Tricky and Glen from having a successful day party Sunday afternoon @ Bar Napoli

Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta star Stevie J, Princeton of Mindless Behavior and STL super promoter Mo Spoon were balling for the city as part of LooseCannon Slim’s Celebrity Basketball Game Sunday night at Chaifetz Arena. Larry Hughes, Laurence Maroney, Shorty Da Prince, Fresco Kane were just a few of the celebrity ballers who came through to support.

Photo by Bruce Ervin

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN

PGAoutreaches to public schools

Improving lives – and grades – through golf

American staff

The majority of students at Clyde C. Miller Career Academy had never watched a game of golf, let alone held a golf club.However, thanks to a new partnership with the Gateway PGAFoundation, students are learning to drive, putt, and chip, but more importantly, they are learning how to improve their bodies, both physically and mentally.

Known as PGAReach, the initiative was developed by the PGAof America, the Gateway PGAFoundation, and the St. Louis golfing community, and looks to measurably improve opportunities for St. Louis area youth by focusing on the areas of recreation, education, awareness, community and health. Successes of the initiative are measured through:

1. Increasing classroom attendance

2. Lowering the high school dropout rate

3. Enabling healthier young men and women through education, activities, and recreational programs

4. Improving the economic opportunities available

“We are very excited to be working with the St. Louis Public Schools andClyde C MillerCareer Academy as the pilot school for PGAReach. Improving Lives Through Golf

– it’s what we believe and it’s what we do,” said Ali Wells, Foundation Operations Director, and Gateway PGA.

To achieve their goals, PGA REACH has partnered with the following organizations:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri (BBBSEMO): by utilizing BBBSEMO’s ABCToday! early warning system, PGA REACH is able to collect, track and respond to individual student performance measured through attendance, behavior, and classroom success in reading and math.

Urban K-Life (UKL): a Christian-based organization operating in the inner city of St. Louis, with a proven track record of working with the District to improve students’ academic performance and reducing the dropout rate.

Boys and Girls Club of

Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL): a long-established institution in the St. Louis region, with a proven track record of inspiring and enabling youth to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.

Clyde C. Miller Career Academy was selected to pilot the program for the St. Louis region. Students learned golfing fundamentals from Michael Brown, PGAgolf professional, and a mentoring team from Urban K-Life. For more information about PGAREACH, please visit the Gateway PGA’s website: http://gatewaypga.org

Student loan borrowers need enforcement

By Charlene Crowell Center for Responsible Lending

Earlier this year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) asked for public comments on private student loan debt affordability. By the April 8 deadline, over 4,300 organizations and consumers answered. The volume of these requests suggests that the more than $1 trillion of

debt already incurred by student loans, is on the minds of many Americans. Clearly consumers want repayments to be manageable; but there are also concerns for fairness and when needed, enforcement.

As a nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting family wealth and working to eliminate abusive financial practices, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) had strong advice to offer CFPB.

According to CRL, “First, no student loan modification or

refinancing program should take the place of enforcement actions against predatory private student lenders. Some lenders have engaged in a variety of unfair, deceptive and abusive practices, trading on students’hopes to better themselves through education.”

In its call for strong oversight and enforcement action against private student lenders, CRLnoted that Sallie Mae recently issued private studentloan backed securities. This publicly-traded corporation originates services and collects on student loans. Currently, it manages accounts for more than 10 million borrowers and $180 billion in related debt.

CRLreminded CFPB that mortgage-backed securities, the secondary market’s purchase and bundling of subprime loans, was a major contributor to the housing crisis and the lingering Great Recession.

“This demand could drive increased originations of student loans and degrade underwriting standards, similar to mortgages in the early-and mid-2000s. The Bureau should stay vigilant as the private student loan market grows,” added CRL.

In CFPB’s own October 2012 report, the Bureau independently found that just like

with problematic mortgages, private student loan borrowers were complaining about servicers who placed their loan accounts in default – even though they were continuing to pay what they could. Further, if servicers of student loans are unable to process the volume of distressed borrowers, as in mortgage servicing, student loan borrowers will suffer again from the same lack of responsive by servicers, lost documents, and other dysfunctional errors.

For communities of color, the specter of a second major financial dilemma does not bode well. With a trillion-dollar loss of wealth due to foreclosures, and unemployment double that of the rest of the nation, consumers of color in many cases turn to student loans to finance much of college education costs. In many instances, students are encouraged to take out a higher-cost private loan even when they have not fully utilized their eligibility for cheaper federal student loans. In other instances, for-profit schools target low-income and minority students and steer them towards the higher-cost private loans.

If private student loans follow the same secondary market trends as that of mortgages, i.e. sold, packaged and serviced similarly to mortgage loans, it is conceivable that two generations of the same family will suffer long-term financial stress, shortchanging the older generation’s preparation for retirement; and delaying – if not denying the younger generation’s ability to buy a first home. Add to that looming likelihood, a recent research report funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation advised that public colleges are going to find it difficult to keep raising tuition in response to reduced public funding of public institutions. Statistics from the Center on Budget Policy Priorities recently found that state spending on higher education from 2008-2013 declined 28 percent nationwide.

Additionally, the states of California, Florida, Washington and Georgia had public tuition rates rise from 60 to 72 percent. In a March address before the National Newspaper Publishers Association, Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education noted that black college enrollment has grown by 15 percent from the fall of 2008 to the fall of 2011. It would be an agonizing loss if these young peoples’ pursuit of higher education only brings a lifetime of debt.

Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at: Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

Golf pro Michael Brown from the Gateway PGA Foundation teaches the fundamentals to students from Clyde C. Miller Career Academy as part of its outreach initiative PGA Reach.

Charlene Crowell