November 21st, 2019 Edition

A wonderful abbreviation

Metro Theater’s play adapted from classic film captures holiday magic

See page C1

St. LouiS AmericAn

Jennings Schools buys minivans to transport homeless kids

Enterprise Holdings Foundation funds district purchases that also cut costs, boost attendance

By Ryan Delaney

Jennings school students who are homeless and need a ride to school are arriving the way many suburban kids do: by minivan.

n “We got a van, we get there immediately on day one of school, and those make the difference between one to two points of attendance.”

The small North St. Louis Country district of about 2,500 students began using minivans this fall to transport about two dozen homeless students to school. In the past, Jennings ordered up a fleet of taxi cabs. By switching to vans it owns, the district cut its transportation budget in half, improved

– Superintendent Art McCoy

attendance and reduced the stigma of showing up to school in a cab, administrators said.

Superintendent Art McCoy said now those students will “not be seen as different because they’re coming in in a yellow cab versus everybody else who’s coming in by a parent. Now you look like everybody else because you’re coming in in the same type of model — nice, new Dodge minivan — just like other parents are.”

“That’s the real benefit, that the kids are kind of inconspicuous,” he said. The district owns only one school bus

See JENNINGS, A6

Team turkey drawing

City picks three sites for Cure Violence

‘We can’t do this alone. We need help,’ says city health director who will lead project

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Many elected officials and organizers now agree that violence is a public health concern. On November 8, Mayor Lyda Krewson announced that the City of St. Louis Department of Health will lead the violenceprevention program Cure Violence, which is set to receive $8 million in city funds over the next three years. The Cure Violence model — which treats violence as an epidemic outbreak and therefore a public health issue — is active in more than

25 cities throughout the world. The idea is to employ local residents who have respect on the streets (often ex-convicts) to prevent gun violence by de-escalating potentially violent situations before they happen.

Supporters of the program have been waiting to hear where the Cure Violence sites — which target areas of about 15,000 people — will be located and how many there will be. On November 8, the mayor also announced that there will be three sites in three areas of the city. The sites will focus on crime within approximately 10-by-10 blocks in the Wells Goodfellow/Hamilton Heights, Walnut Park

and Dutchtown neighborhoods.

The sites were selected using crime data, said Fred Echols, MD, director of the city’s health department, who is now leading the Cure Violence effort.

“The sites that had the highest number of incidents were the sites that were selected for the violence prevention project,” Dr. Echols said.

The goal is to have the program up and running in the second quarter of 2020, he said.

Dr. Echols said the community and stakeholders must be involved in the planning over the next few months in order for the program to be sustainable. A big part of the planning is making sure that all those involved understand the history of St. Louis, he said.

“What we are seeing now is just a

See CURE, A6

Dr. Laurie Punch and Thomasina Hassler have records of community advocacy

By Chris King Of

Louis County

Page appointed two North County AfricanAmerican women with track records of community advocacy to the St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners on Thursday, November 14. His appointees are Laurie Punch, MD, an associate professor of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, and Thomasina Hassler, an assistant professor at HarrisStowe State University and a scholar in residence at University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Pending County Council approval, they would replace current board members Bishop Lawrence Wooten and Art Johnson. Dr. Punch, who lives Ferguson, focuses on resident education in gun violence management and prevention.

Deaconess Foundation sparks conversation about preparing for 2020 election

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

What can civil society do to sustain and strengthen American democracy in the next year before voters go to the polls to choose a president? This was the core question posed by the Deaconess Foundation in its most recent Just for Kids Community Conversation at the

Raya Slater, Kendrae’a Dupree and Tony Hayes, 2nd grade students at Bryan Hill Elementary in the Saint Louis Public School District, worked as a team on a turkey drawing on Tuesday, November 19.

Photo by Wiley Price

Of St. Louis Public Radio

Dr. Laurie Punch

Thomasina Hassler

Mo’Nique files pay discrimination against Netflix, streaming service vows to fight back

On Friday, comedian and actress Mo’Nique announced publicly via Instagram that she was suing Netflix for gender discrimination for offering her much less for a comedy special than her male and white female comedy peers.

“Hi my loves. I can confirm that today I filed a pay discrimination lawsuit against Netflix,” Mo’Nique wrote in the post. “I had a choice to make: I could accept what I felt was pay discrimination or I could stand up for those who came before me and for those who will come after me. I don’t have any further comment at this time, but I appreciate all of your love and support.”

Netflix didn’t let the weekend go by without issuing a statement that they plan to fight back against the legal action.

“We care deeply about inclusion, equity and diversity and take any accusations of discrimination very seriously,” Netflix said in a statement.

“We believe our opening offer to Mo’Nique was fair — which is why we will be fighting this lawsuit.”

Omarion breaks his silence on Apryl Jones’ relationship with Lil Fizz

Over the summer, “Love and Hip-Hop: Hollywood” co-star Moniece Slaughter spilled the tea that her child’s father, Lil Fizz, was in a relationship with Apryl Jones the mother of his B2K bandmate two children. Fizz and Jones later confirmed the rumors by way of their social media accounts.

Omarion has kept quiet about the whole ordeal, but he recently opened up about the situation during an interview with DJ Vlad for VLAD TV.

“The optics surrounding this are crazy, “Vlad said, comparing the new relationship with a hypothetical situation of seeing Cardi B Offset breaking up only to see Cardi link up with another member of The Migos.

“I don’t feel any way about it. If they are happy, then they should be

happy,” Omarion said. “Live your life. People should do whatever make them happy. But they should change the narrative. If it is their so-called happiness, then I shouldn’t be a part of it.”

The interviewer then referred to comments Fizz reportedly “waiting his turn” to be in a relationship with Jones.

“Do you see how crazy this looks from the outside looking in,” Vlad asked.

“For sure,” Omarion responded.

Vlad then goes on to ask Omarion if he and Fizz were still friends.

“What we established as kids – the B2K brand coming back 15 years later and have one of the biggest tours of the year, there’s nothing that can touch that. That’s history,” Omarion said. “If we are speaking personally, I don’t’ think it matters. We were able to give the fans what they wanted for so many years. That’s what’s up right there.”

Kodak Black gets jail time, facing new felony charges

Black to three and a half years in prison. Normally a change like this would have drawn probation.

And according to the Miami Herald, Black is facing additional felony charges.

“The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office on Friday formally charged the 22-year-old with two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon,” according to the newspaper.

“He faces up to 30 years in prison on each count as a “habitual violent offender.”

Jay-Z camp dismisses rumors of his ‘disappointment’ in Kaepernick

The NFL and Colin Kaepernick clashed regarding the terms of the workout they offered to him in front of a vast majority of NFL teams organized by commissioner Roger Goodell. A story later went viral that claimed sources said that NFL business partner Jay-Z was “disappointed” in Kaepernick for how things played out regarding the workout on Kaepernick’s end with his change in location and livestream demand.

Over the summer, rapper Kodak Black pleaded guilty to two counts of knowingly making a false and fictitious written statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm. This week, a Florida judge sentenced Kodak

Representatives from Roc Nation tweeted that Jay-Z had not spoken to ANY sources regarding the workout.

Sources: TMZ.com, Instagram.com, VladTV.com, Miamiherald.com

Omarion

Kodak Black

Mo’Nique

Clay, Waters

co-sponsor resolution affirming importance of Civil Rights Act of 1866

By Chris King

St. Louis American

The

Of

Civil rights matters – that’s the message sent by U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri) and House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman

Maxine Waters (D-California) as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to reexamine the applicability of Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. They cosponsored a resolution in the U.S. House reaffirming the vital importance of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1866, specifically the impact that Section 1981 of the act has had on ensuring equitable and equal contracting among businesses and individuals.

“I am honored to join with Chairwoman Maxine Waters to assert our strong belief that systematic racism is still pervasive in American life and American commerce,” Clay stated, “and as such, it is essential that Congress reaffirm its original intent for enacting this law, namely, protecting the most vulnerable from all forms of discrimination in our nation’s business places.”

In the aftermath of the Civil War, African Americans suffered through a tumultuous integration in which they were systematically and routinely subject to laws, such as the

Boys &

Girls

Clubs

of Greater St. Louis raises $525 at Great Futures Gala

American staff

Danielle Kain was recognized as the 2020 Youth of the Year for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis at the Great Futures Gala on November 8, the largest fundraising event for the clubs which raised $525,000 for its youth. The award celebrates the recipient’s contributions to his or family, school, community, and club.

Black Codes, designed to restrict African American’s freedom and keep formerly enslaved persons from thriving in society. In response, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to accomplish three primary objectives: to establish that all persons born in the United States were to be considered citizens; to clearly define the rights guaranteed by American citizenship; and to make it unlawful for any person to deprive another of these

rights based on race.

The law’s Section 1981 is an extension of these objectives, specifically enumerating protections for citizens when contracting and crafting a legal avenue for the racially discriminated to seek justice.

This resolution acknowledges the history of Section 1981, its significance, and its integral role as a key pillar of civil rights jurisprudence.

Kain, age 16, is a junior at MICDS and has been a member of the Ferguson Club for eight years. In addition to winning the Youth of the Year title and honor to represent the club as a teen ambassador, she received the Michael & Wanda DeHaven $5,000 Scholarship, the Missouri State University Youth of the Year $4,000 scholarship, a celebratory dinner courtesy of the Saint Louis Club and a car provided by Frank Leta Honda.

At the club, she enjoys working in the Music Studio or Robotics/STEM programs. She has won the BGCA Hank Aaron Scholarship Award, allowing her to purchase STEM materials and equipment for elementary, middle, and high school club members. She participated as a teen panelist at Harris Stowe State University’s Spark the Mind Advancing the

Agenda for African Americans in STEM event, which led to her meeting Aprille Ericsson, aerospace engineer for NASA. She competed for the nationwide 2019 STEP Ahead Awards and won 1st Place in the high school division. She also received the Joan Ellyn Silber Award for Volunteerism and Leadership.

Kain plans to become an aerospace engineer after college.

Kahalia Adams of the Herbert Hoover Club was the 2nd Place winner, receiving the $2,500 Emerson Scholarship is member. Alex Mugisha of the Roosevelt High School Club won 3rd Place, receiving a $1,000 scholarship. Fatuma Euli of the Roosevelt High School Club was the 4th Place

winner, receiving a $500 scholarship.

“The Youth of the Year program honors our nation’s most awe-inspiring young people on their path to great futures and encourages all kids to lead, succeed and inspire,” said Flint Fowler, president, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.

“All of the honorees are shining examples and living proof that great futures start at the Boys & Girls Clubs. All possess the ability and ambition to be successful, and should be recognized for their leadership, service, academic achievements and commitment to live a healthy lifestyle.”

For more information on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, visit www.bgcstl.org.

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri) and House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-California)

2020 Youth of the Year Danielle Kain

Editorial /CommEntary

‘No one can sit on the sidelines’ in 2020

Richard von Glahn, policy director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, spoke to a very real challenge in a public forum convened by the Deaconess Foundation on Monday, November 18. “Both the economy and democracy are not working for people,” von Glahn said to a sizable crowd of mostly non-profit leaders and community organizers. “At the same time, we are asking people to invest more in processes that are not producing for them.” He was speaking about the challenges of community organizing in the United States leading up to the presidential election of 2020, when President Donald Trump will ask voters for four more years in power. More specifically, von Glahn was assessing the task of collecting signatures for two ballot initiatives. One such initiative, to expand Medicaid in Missouri, is underway, and indeed signatures were collected that morning at the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being. The other initiative has not been announced formally but apparently would institute automatic voter registration in Missouri and expand the window to vote wider than just on election day. The St. Louis American emphatically endorses Medicaid expansion, automatic voter registration and expanded days to vote in Missouri. The history of voter suppression in the United States is complicated and continues today in varied forms, including voter intimidation. Anything we can do to empower voters – all voters – must be done. We will do everything in our power to support these important initiatives in participatory democracy. As von Glahn said, a ballot referendum levels the power in politics. On a ballot referendum, the vote of every state senator – indeed, every U.S. senator – has no more weight than any other citizen’s vote.

of the people, we learned in last year’s general elections, when Missouri voters passed a wide slate of progressive reforms – increasing the state minimum wage, legalizing medical marijuana, cleaning up the state political process – that the legislature would never pass and repealing an anti-union measure that it did pass.

Reed, whose first public organizing efforts happened under the heat of Ferguson protests, also knows what she is talking about when she says that foundation grants (though crucial and important) are not enough. “We need people to show up,” she said.

This sharpened one of the central points made earlier in the Just for Kids Community Conversation program by its keynote speaker, Joe Goldman, president of the Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice in Washington, D.C. “The next 12 months will help to determine the future of this country,” Goldman said, “and no one can sit on the sidelines.” Goldman knew that much of his audience is invested in or directing nonprofit organizations whose political activities are severely restricted or forbid by the Internal Revenue Code.

This was another challenge that must be faced: how organizations can work for social change in a make-orbreak election year without being political in a partisan way. Justin Hansford, executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law, said in response to Goldman: “We should distinguish between non-partisanship and neutrality.”

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Stop the disappearing act by Missouri government

By Nicole Galloway Missouri State Auditor

A common magic trick is to make something disappear right in front of the audience. We know it’s just an illusion, but a good magician makes the act entertaining.

Some politicians in Jefferson City have perfected a far less amusing trick – making public records on their electronic devices disappear through self-deleting applications. Faster than you can say “David Copperfield,” the record of that public business is permanently gone.

Public business conducted in secret prevents taxpayers from holding government accountable. And as we’ve seen from the ongoing lawsuit about the use of the Confide app by former Governor Greitens, such secrecy also can cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills.

As state auditor, I work to ensure the proper use of public funds and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Missouri government. I believe the public’s business should be done in the open, and my audits point out when a government entity isn’t following the Sunshine Law.

Let’s be clear: from the governor’s office to the village board of aldermen, self-

deleting apps have no place in government.

I recently sent a letter to local and county governments across Missouri, encouraging them to follow the guidelines adopted last May by the State Records Commission and prohibit the use of applications that automatically destroy or delete public business communications. As a member of the records commission, I was joined by the secretary of state and the attorney general in a bipartisan vote approving the guidelines and supporting greater transparency. My letter has generated a positive response from local officials looking for clear direction on these apps.

For example, the county council in St. Louis County has begun work to draft an ordinance banning selfdestructing programs. Now it’s time for state lawmakers to act. The guidelines set out by the State Records Commission are the first time Missouri governments have had clear direction on self-deleting applications. But unlike the Sunshine Law, the guidelines are not legally enforceable.

Last month, I formally asked the five other statewide officials – the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer – to join me in encouraging the legislature to strengthen the Sunshine Law by banning the use of self-deleting apps for public business. Legislators return to Jefferson City in January, and this should be one of their priorities. A bill prohibiting the use of self-destructing messaging technology passed the House in the last legislative session, but the measure died in the Senate. Transparency in government is a non-partisan issue. The Sunshine Law needs to keep up with changing technology, so that public officials can’t hide the public’s business. Missourians expect – and deserve – government to be honest when conducting public business. Banning self-destructing messaging by public officials is another step to ensuring transparency and is the best antidote to any perceived or actual government impropriety. It is not only a best practice, it is just good common sense. Nicole Galloway, CPA, is Missouri state auditor and a Democratic candidate for governor.

Further, we commend the Deaconess Foundation (under the dynamic leadership of Rev. Starsky Wilson) for choosing Missouri Jobs with Justice and Action St. Louis as its 2020 policy partners. The two grass-roots organizations will share a $100,000 foundation grant to work on “Medicaid expansion and democracy reform,” apparently in the form of these two ballot initiatives. “In the political climate of this state, the ballot referendum is especially important,” said Kayla Reed, leader of Action St. Louis.

She knows what she is talking about. The Republican super-dominated Missouri Legislature cannot be trusted to vote in the name

Goldman offered some direction that we would like to emphatically second. “We need to make sure the electorate is represented in the election,” Goldman said. “This is the future of our country,” Goldman said, “and our country has to be represented at the ballot box.” It is time to make sure our neighbors are registered to vote and that their electoral records are in good standing with local and state election authorities. It also is time to make sure that our election authorities are prepared to handle historic levels of voter turnout. One way citizens can help is by volunteering as poll workers; employers should be supportive by offering paid time off work to serve in this way. Finally, he said, we all are challenged “to prevent misinformation and fear mongering.” Now more than ever, we should all substantiate facts before broadcasting or sharing reports and opinions.

Choosing your political religion in 2020

By Mike Jones Of The St. Louis American

If you use mass popular media as your primary source of information to make decisions then you’re severely limited in understanding what a presidential election is all about is. Mainstream media treat presidential politics like a high school race for student council president – basically, a popularity contest. That’s reflected in the way we talk about presidential campaigns; we ask, “Who do you like?” or say that “voters seem to like candidate X or Y.”

You should think of presidential candidates the way professional sports teams think of athletes: not as people or even personalities, but as talent you need in order to build a championship team. If you happen to like them, that’s a bonus but not a requirement. Coaches and general managers cut players they like every day. Before you can decide what kind of talent you want or need, you have to know what kind of team you’re trying to build, and that depends upon your theory about how you want to play the game. You pick political talent based upon what you believe government should be trying to get done for you. Based upon that, certain players get eliminated from the jump, while others get careful consideration because they fit into your political game plan. Then you can consider: Do they

have the talent to compete and win?

This where the black community has a major political weakness. Like bad owners of professional sports teams, we have no consensus theory on how we believe the game should be played, so we regularly make bad personnel decisions. It’s ludicrous for us to want the choice for president in November 2020 to be between two white political leftovers of the Baby Boomer generation, one who is actively ignorant, recklessly incompetent and morally vacuous and the other who is a marginal political mechanic on best day who has already failed three times to win the Democratic nomination. With the clock running, we’re confronted with having to make a political personnel decision. So, who should it be? It depends on what you want done if you win, and that depends upon what you believe the government ought do in promoting and protecting your interest in the general welfare. There are three things a lawyer takes into court for every case: the facts, the law and the theory of the case. Of the three, the most important is

the theory of the case, because the trial, whether it’s decided by a judge or a jury, is all about who has the best theory of the case supported by the facts and the law. If a lawyer who goes into court without a theory of the case, his client will not be saved by the facts or the law.

That’s a good way to look at politics from a tactical standpoint. What is the narrative that supports a specific public policy decision or initiative? It’s not the way you should think about your overall political philosophy. Your political philosophy is much more like your religious faith; in fact, you could argue it’s the secular version of religious faith and, like your religious faith, it’s a categorical imperative. And like all categorical imperatives, it’s true before the fact and it’s true at all times. This is where the rich, the powerful and the privileged have a political advantage over those of us who are not rich, powerful or privileged. They treat politics like religion while encouraging the average citizen to be at least a political agnostic, if not an outright political atheist.

So what does this have to with picking the best white political nominee if you’re black? Shouldn’t you first pick a faith before you pick a preacher?

To be continued.

Letters to the editor

Parson treated cows better than people

A candidate for a full term as governor (after Greitens’ departure in disgrace), Mike Parson has been a successful cattleman for decades. That fact makes one wonder. No owner of cattle would fail to provide health care to his animals. To do so would invite disease that would diminish their value. So, owners know that it is essential to keep animals healthy with ready access to professional health care.

Governor Parson has failed to extend common-sense animal husbandry to humans in the State of Missouri that he now supposedly governs. Parson has shown no concern as 120,000 Missourians, including tens of thousands of children, have been removed from Medicaid rolls. Lack of access to care will mean needless death and suffering. It also will cause a significant increase in emergency room visits, a cost all Missourians will bear, unnecessarily.

Parson and his “health” director have done everything they (and the state) can to obstruct and deny health care to younger Missouri women, almost resulting in closure of the state’s only Planned

Parenthood facility. (A federal court ruled that the state’s case was inadequate, so health care still may be delivered to women at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic in the Central West End, despite Parson administration efforts.)

Does Parson believe that cattle deserve access to health care but that people, particularly poor people and women, do not? Apparently.

Arthur Hoffman St. Louis

Step in the right direction

Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s hiring of Ronald Johnson as her law enforcement liaison is seemingly a step in the right direction: the right direction being the establishment of a good working relationship between Gardner’s office and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

All letters are edited for length and style.

The St. Louis P.D. is a patchwork of various groups of officers who hold allegiance to particular individuals who in turn garner influence by doing the bidding of other folks higher in the established metropolitan pecking order. Though unwritten, it’s the P.D.’s well-established go-along-to-get-along operational procedure. Any officer who has gained promotion or other favor (job assignment, etc.) within the department is beholden to someone within one of the established groups. Thus, group leaders influence members who in turn set forth the parameters of behavior of those in the group.

Given these circumstances, it’s a reasonable to wager that Ron Johnson’s new career with the Circuit Attorney’s Office will be short. But – maybe –some of his professionalism will rub-off on those he interacts with and St. Louis law enforcement and citizens will be better off for having employed Ron Johnson.

Michael K. Broughton Green Park

While Johnson, Missouri Highway Patrol captain emeritus, will be liaison to other St. Louis area law enforcement, his greatest challenge will be working with city police officers. Having the public blessing of Chief John Hayden will get Johnson in the door at police headquarters, but the actual value of that sanctification is dubious at best.

Photo by Wiley Price

Rev. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation, set the agenda for its public forum at the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being on Monday, November 18.

Dellwood recognized for Exemplary Accomplishment

The City of Dellwood received an award for Exemplary Accomplishment by a Local Government Jurisdiction, Agency or Individual from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments. “Dellwood overcame limited resources and significant challenges to substantially improve quality-of-life for the city’s residents,” the council stated. “By uniting the community behind a common vision, the city implemented a raft of infrastructure upgrades and made progress on a variety of important community development initiatives.”

City of St. Louis expands hours for posting bond

As of Thursday, November 14, any person housed in the City of St. Louis’ Corrections Division who has been deemed eligible for release by the court can post bond Monday through Thursday between 8:30 a.m. and 10 p.m.

and any time between 8 a.m. Friday and 11 p.m. Sunday, excluding holidays. Previously, hours for posting bond were restricted only to Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Crossroads Hospice seeks volunteers

Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care in St. Louis seeks volunteers to help support its Gift of a Day program, which brings to life a hospice patient’s personal vision of what a perfect day might be.

One teen-aged volunteer and her Bichon Frise recently joined five other dog owners and their pets to pay a special Gift of a Day visit to a patient who loved dogs and missed keeping them. Volunteers also are welcome to share their favorite activities like reading, playing cards, listening to music, or arts and crafts. They might help create a Life Journal for a patient and his/ her family. Or they may choose to run errands, assist in the office, or make companion visits.

Crossroads Hospice volunteers must complete an application, TB skin test, and training session.

Potential volunteers must wait a minimum of one year after the death of an immediate family member or loved one before applying. For more information or to sign up as a volunteer, contact Taishai Starks at 636-735-2000 or Taishai.Starks. Christopher@crossroadshospice.com, or visit CrossroadsHospice.com/Volunteering.

Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care is committed to being at the forefront of the hospice care industry, to continually shape the way end-of-life care is viewed and administered. The mission of Crossroads is to provide highly unique, comprehensive, and compassionate hospice services to persons experiencing a lifelimiting illness and to their caregivers. Visit CrossroadsHospice.com for more information.

Democracy can’t wait

By Jamala Rogers Of The St. Louis American

For months, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi was reluctant to move forward amidst calls for impeachment before, during and after the Mueller investigation. Pelosi’s reasoning seemed to be that impeachment would be divisive for the country and support was lacking from the American people. Her choice would’ve been to delay impeachment and wait for the 2020 elections. Our democracy can’t wait.

Trump’s brazen abuse of power became too public to avoid. The Democrats finally stepped up to initiate the impeachment inquiry.

It took the phone call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump to push the Democrats over the neon line of indecision. The intent of the call was clear: Trump attempted to extort trash on the Biden family in exchange for a $400 million aid package already approved by the Congress.

Democrats have been missing a big opportunity to have national civic lesson with the entire country. We need to understand what it means to use one’s public office to advance one’s personal political ambitions and business interests and thereby put national security at risk.

The GOP has ignored the consequences of Trump’s actions. Yes, the Republicans say, the call to Zelensky happened — but it’s not that serious because he got his aid package. No harm,

no foul. Wrong! A brotha attempts to rob a bank, and in the middle of the act he gets busted without getting the money. Don’t think for a minute that brotha is still not going to get arrested, charged, convicted and caged. Without a dollar from the bank tiller! This president is not above the law. As part of the inquiry, key witnesses are being called to give public testimony. Top diplomats like William Taylor, George Kent and Marie Yovanovitch have direct information (not hearsay) on the infamous phone call. Their testimonies have collaborated the whistle-blower’s accusations. More testimonies are coming. The inquiry has exposed Trump’s bribery and bullying. Trump allies have already been indicted on several charges. Some, like Paul Manafort, are serving time. I am not optimistic that there will be an impeachment. The Senate must vote on the matter even if the House votes to impeach. There must be some acknowledgement of Trump’s open and brazen efforts to use foreign powers to influence U.S. elections. Pelosi has been careful to center the impeachment inquiry on Constitutional grounds. Even if her efforts fail in the House of Representatives, a record of the process will be an important documentation of this period and an indictment of the Trump presidency. History must show that the defenders of democracy went down fighting even if we didn’t win.

Invites You To Attend A

Community Wellness and Resource Fair

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers

5701 Delmar Blvd.

5701 Delmar Blvd. 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

9:00 am to 1:00 pm

5701 Delmar Blvd.

Intake, Assessments, and Referrals

9:00 am to 1:00 pm

Health Insurance Marketplace Assistance

*Preventative and Blood Pressure Screenings

* Health Assessments * How to Grow A Backyard Garden.

*The first 250 households will receive a turkey and produce after receiving enrollment assistance, a health assessment/screening and nutrition/cooking skill workshop.

One turkey per household (Must be at least 18 years old and over) will be awarded on a first come first serve basis while supplies last!

*The first 250 households will receive a turkey and produce after receiving enrollment assistance, a health assessment/screening and nutrition/cooking skill workshop. This program is funded at $31,200 at 80% by nongovernmental

*The first 250 households will receive a turkey and produce after receiving enrollment assistance, a health assessment/screening and nutrition/cooking skill workshop.

Must bring valid ID and proof of income

Must bring valid ID and proof of income

Must bring valid ID and proof of income

of

Jamala Rogers

JENNINGS

Continued from C1

and doesn’t provide regular transportation routes for students. Many walk or are dropped off by parents.

McCoy approached Enterprise Holdings Foundation, which then gave the school district $300,000. With the funds, Jennings purchased seven used minivans and hired drivers. The district will spend less than $100,000 on transportation for homeless students this school year.

Three years ago, Jennings was spending more than $200,000 getting about 30 kids to and from school daily in taxi cabs. Federal education law requires schools to take several steps to ensure continuity and stability in education for students who have unstable housing. That includes providing transportation, be it through regular school buses, public transportation passes or taxi cabs, as Jennings had been doing.

“We don’t want gaps in the education, but we are held

hostage by the transportation companies because there are a lack of drivers,” said Veronica Macklin, Jennings’ director of student services. “That spills over into the school district.

We can’t get the kids to school because of the challenges of the shortage of drivers.”

Jennings opened its first of two foster homes in 2015.

The two Hope Houses each provide housing for a handful of students within a block or two of the junior and senior high schools. Overall, there are more than 30,600 homeless children in Missouri, most commonly staying with friends or family. Getting to school while not having a stable home can be a major challenge for some children. Missing school or being chronically tardy adds more instability and negatively impacts educational outcomes.

There are about 215 children in Jennings covered by the federal Students in Transition law known as McKinney-Vento. The number of students riding the minivans every day has hovered around 25 students, including some who live

in Jennings but attend a neighboring district.

Of the two dozen children who have consistently ridden a minivan to a Jennings school, their attendance is up about 2 percent through the first quarter of the school year, according to district records. With a fleet of vans at the ready, district officials say they are more nimble than when working with cab companies.

“Maybe it may take three days to set up (a taxi) versus we just jump in, we got a van, we get there immediately on day one of school, and those make the difference between one to two points of attendance,” McCoy said.

There have been hiccups in using the minivans, such as navigating the best routes through rush-hour traffic and coordinating after-school activities. Sometimes Macklin or a fellow staff member hops in a van to pick up a student or take one home.

“We do what we have to do,” Macklin said, “with all hands on deck.”

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ rpatrickdelaney.

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

CURE

manifestation of the decisions and the policies that have been implemented over the prior decades,” Dr. Echols said. “It’s important to understand how we got to where we are.”

The health department’s vision is to implement an equitable health system, he added.

“Addressing violence is one way to do this,” Dr. Echols said. “We can’t do this alone. We need help from the entire health system, including numerous agencies, academics, community members, religious organizations, and law enforcement. We need the community to be engaged and empowered to make healthy choices.”

On October 4, the Board of Aldermen passed a bill to approve $5 million for Cure Violence over the next three years. On September 17, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment approved $1.5 million for the program, and the Board of Aldermen approved $500,000 in July as part of the regular budget process. Board President Lewis Reed said the city will have a couple of years to secure the last $1 million — for a total of $8 million.

The Cure Violence funding bill states that there have been 138 homicides in 2019, and there were 186 murders in 2018 — 93.6 percent of them were committed with a gun.

“Cure Violence is proven to reduce shootings and killings dramatically in urban settings in just one year,” the bill states.

Cure Violence leaders will be guiding the implementation of their de-escalation model in St. Louis and training staff. All staff will come from the specific neighborhoods where they will be working, said Marcus McAllister, an international trainer with Cure Violence.

He testified at an aldermanic hearing that the $8 million will pay for about 50

employees over a three-year span — and those are people who come from the affected neighborhoods.

In June, two community organizations — Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) and the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression (CAPCR) — paid thousands of

n “We need the community to be engaged and empowered to make healthy choices.”

– Fred Echols, MD

dollars for McAllister to come to St. Louis and complete an assessment. They organized a week-long agenda of meetings with community members, Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards, leaders of the city Department of Health and other city officials. While these community groups paid for the assessment and have led the effort on bringing the program to St. Louis, they felt left out of the site-selection process.

“The sites that had the highest number of incidents were the sites that were selected for the violence prevention project.”

– Fred Echols, MD

“Cure Violence sites are selected based on a number of criteria including crime statistics,” according to a statement from CAPCR to The American. “The mayor is circumventing the communityled process established since Cure Violence was first considered as a health-based violence prevention model. Community buy-in and subsequently involvement is key to the success of any program like the Cure Violence model. This cannot be a topdown initiative where the people most impacted by violence are not at the table.” The group said that they didn’t have an issue with the sites selected, just the process. The mayor’s spokesman responded, “It was not the mayor’s sole decision. Working with Cure Violence, the police department used their statistical information to offer the locations and that’s what we ended up going with.” Echols said his team is working on creating an application process for hiring staff and the group will soon be publishing that information, along with more about the upcoming process.

incredible generosity of the Divine 9 fraternities and sororities raised more than $300,000 for our region through United Way’s Charmaine Chapman Leadership Society Thank you all for helping people live their best possible lives.

Jennings School District social workers prepare a recently purchased minivan. Enterprise Holdings Foundation funded the district to buy vans to transport homeless students, which has cut costs and improved attendance compared to paying for taxi cabs. Photo by Ryan Delaney/St. Louis Public Radio

DEACONESS

Continued from A1

Fund and Democracy Fund Voice in Washington, D.C., set the agenda in a keynote speech based on four claims: If you care about justice, you have to care about democracy. American democracy is in crisis, and all Americans need to feel some responsibility for it. The next 12 months will help to determine the future of the country, and no one can sit on the sidelines. And whatever the outcome of the election, the work to repair American democracy will continue. Before the audience was asked to respond and strategize, Justin Hansford, executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law, offered his response. Hansford, who was a professor at Saint Louis University School of Law in 2014 and active in Ferguson protests, added the perspective of Ferguson. He argued that the Ferguson police killing of Michael Brown jolted many people in the St. Louis region into action in August 2014 much as the election of Donald Trump would do to the nation in November 2016.

Justin Hansford, executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law, and Joe Goldman, president of the Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice, spoke at the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being on Monday, November 18 in a conversation moderated by Rev. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation.

Photo by Wiley Price

Democracy Fund Voice) said none us can afford to sit.

Hansford offered perspective: “We should distinguish between nonpartisanship and neutrality.”

Though voter engagement was a dominant theme in the discussion, so were the problems that voter engagement pose for election systems in processing elections with high voter turnout, as is projected for November 2020. Goldman described work that the Democracy Fund is doing to prepare election officials for various scenarios – which are expected to include attempted acts of sabotage.

“The people who lived through the Ferguson moment could be an asset for the nation,” Hansford said. Rev. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation, then asked a sizable crowd of mostly non-profit leaders and community organizers to respond to any “tension” they felt in response to the remarks.

BOARD

Continued from A1

She also runs Stop the Bleed STL, a non-profit collaborative of health professionals working to reduce the impact of violence, trauma, and injury in the St. Louis region. Along with performing artist

Becky James-Hatter, president and chief executive officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, said she was provoked to consider how the agency might do a better job of teaching voter engagement to the youth that it pairs with mentors. She also said she would consider offering staff paid time off on elections days to vote and to volunteer as poll monitors – a notion that spread around the room, as Susan Katzman, president of the National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis, and Halbert Sullivan, president and CEO of

Marty K. Casey, Dr. Punch will present a Stop the Bleed and Un-Gun Workshop at a town hall meeting organized by state Rep. Alan Green (D-67) from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, November 21 at Black Jack Fire Protection District building, 5675 N. Hwy 67 in Florissant.

In May, her work was featured in a TED talk entitled “How Bullets Go Deep,” a

Fathers and Families Support Center, said they would do the same.

Several community leaders, including James-Hatter, addressed the tension between fostering voter engagement and remaining non-partisan to preserve their organizations’ tax exempt status. Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations “are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” according to the IRS.

Richard von Glahn, policy director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, addressed this tension. His organization is a 501(c)

powerful personal statement on the damage caused by gun violence and the need for sensible gun control.

Hassler, who lives in Black Jack and is a former classroom teacher in the Saint Louis Public School District, wrote about the Ferguson unrest in a September 2015 commentary in The St. Louis American “The bitter fruit of planned inequality has come into full

(4) social welfare organization, which “may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity,” according to the IRS, but may not intervene “in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.” As such, he said, his organizers wage campaigns around issues, rather than candidates, but that does not solve the problem.

“The response to issue work is predictably partisan,” von Glahn said. “So, since they know the response will be partisan, many organizations stay on the sidelines” – on the sidelines, where Goldman (who leads both a 501(c)(3) organization in Democracy Fund and a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization in

bloom,” she wrote. “When decades of policies and legislation have been enacted to structure and maintain a society that benefits some at the expense of others, it should come as no surprise that volatile responses will come from oppressed communities. She has a PhD in Education with an emphasis in social justice from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and

Several current and former election officials were in attendance, including Eric Fey, Democratic director of elections for St. Louis County; Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, who preceded Fey in that position; and Robin Carnahan, former Missouri secretary of state, the state’s highest election official.

Carnahan seconded Hanford’s insight that the Ferguson unrest has potential as a successful example of participatory democracy.

“People do things when there is a connection between their actions and results,” Carnahan said. “Through Ferguson, things changed.” She challenged elected officials and civil society to design creative ways “to bring new voices in during governing – beyond the crisis – to stay connected to voters.”

Carnahan also said to expect a ballot measure for 2020

that would institute automatic voting registration in Missouri and expand the window to vote wider than just on election day. If enacted together, these policy changes would make it both easier to vote and easier to process elections. Though that ballot initiative is not far enough along to discuss in specific terms, it appears to be one part of the Deaconess Foundation’s new policy partnerships for 2020, which Kiesha Davis, its director of partnership and capacity building, announced at the end of the conversation. Deaconess’ partners for 2020 – to work on “Medicaid expansion and democracy reform” – are Missouri Jobs with Justice and Action St. Louis, who were awarded a $100,000 grant. The signature-gathering campaign to put Medicaid expansion on the 2020 ballot in Missouri is already underway.

“The ballot amendment process allows the community to dictate: what do we need and how are we going to get it?” von Glahn of Missouri Jobs with Justice said.

Kayla Reed, leader of Action St. Louis, reminded the audience that grassroots organizations need more than money. She said, “We need people to show up.” For more information: Action St. Louis (https:// actionstl.org/), Missouri Jobs with Justice (https:// www.mojwj.org/), Deaconess Foundation (Deaconess. org), Democracy Fund (www. democracyfund.org).

serves as the director of Social Justice Ministry at West Side Missionary Baptist Church.

“Dr. Punch and Professor Hassler will make a great addition to the police board as we continue this critical transition period,” Page said in a statement. “Change in the police department begins at the top and, in St. Louis County, that is the police board. We will continue making changes in a thoughtful manner to ensure a welcoming work environment for our police employees while providing the high-quality police services that keep our residents safe.” If confirmed, Dr. Punch and Hassler will join Michelle Schwerin to form the first majority-female police board in county history.

Luther Hall and being an undercover cop while black

Sept. 16 lawsuit against the four officers indicted in his beating: Dustin Boone, Christopher Myers, Bailey Colletta and Hays. In federal record, Hays has admitted that he and his colleagues saw Hall standing on the street — doing nothing criminal or suspicious — thought he was a protestor, threw him to the ground and beat him. Hall is permanently injured, according to Hays’ guilty plea. And according to Hays’ text message included in the agreement, he told Boone the next day, “if it was a protester it wouldn’t be a problem at all.” Hays’ plea mentioned two unnamed officers, labeled Officer A and B. Federal prosecutors plan on going to a grand jury sometime before Thanksgiving or early December to seek an indictment of others related to the beating, according to the Post-Dispatch Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Winfield told the judge about the plans to indict others during a recent hearing in the case against Boone and Myers, the Post-Dispatch reported. Both have pleaded not guilty and were scheduled to go to trial Dec. 2. It should be noted that Hall’s lawsuit names three officers that haven’t yet been

indicted, Joseph Marcantano, Steven Korte and Jaimie Pitterle, as well as then-interim chief Lawrence O’Toole Insiders believe the upcoming indictment will include Marcantano, whom O’Toole promoted in December 2017, and Korte. And we can’t forget that the Hall’s lawsuit names Mayor Lyda Krewson who allegedly told Hall, “Oh, they messed up your cute face,” after Krewson’s driver transported Hall to a triage center to have his injuries treated and then back to the police headquarters. Hays’ plea is powerful validation for those who have been protesting police officers’ use of excessive force on the community.

Heather Taylor, president of the Ethical Society of Police, said every officer and commander who knew about Hall’s beating should receive the maximum sentence for the crimes they committed and/ or tried to cover up. O’Toole and other commanders allowed the behavior, and they have escaped consequences, she said.

“This is a small glimpse of what they did,” Taylor said.

“There’s no telling how many protestors they beat and haven’t been charged for.”

The guilty plea

Here are the facts that Hays agreed with and admitted to in his plea agreement, edited minimally:

Protests had been going on since September 15, 2017, when former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department

Officer Jason Stockley was acquitted of a murder charge in an officer-involved shooting. The police department and city officials had advance notice of the impending verdict, planned their protest response, and organized police officers into response teams.

Hays was among many officers who were assigned to the Civil Disobedience Team (CDT). Hall, a 22-year veteran officer of SLMPD, was assigned to work in an undercover capacity during the protests and was tasked with documenting protest activity and property destruction. CDT officers were aware that there were fellow officers working in an undercover capacity, though they did not know

which officers were specifically assigned to that role.

During the evening of September 17, 2017, two days after the protests began, Hall was working undercover and ended up around the St. Louis Public Library at the corner of 14th and Olive streets. At around the same time, Hays and other CDT officers were walking north on 14th Street toward Washington Avenue. The officers were walking in a line, in pairs of two, ultimately to get to a location where they would stand in formation, sideby-side, to engage in crowd control. While the team was walking on 14th Street, and as shown on pole camera video, there was very little protest activity at the intersection of 14th and Olive streets. Hays was situated close to the front of the line. Boone was next to him. Myers and another officer (“Officer A”) were walking in front of Hays and Boone.

During their walk on 14th Street, city SWAT vehicles began shooting pepper balls at individuals who were near the St. Louis Public Library. As a result, several of these individuals began running. At that time, Hays did not

witness anyone committing a crime nor did there appear to be probable cause to arrest anyone. Nonetheless, they began running toward those individuals who were fleeing from the pepper balls.

Hall had been standing on the corner of 14th and Olive streets, between a portable generator and the curb. At no time did Hall appear to be committing a crime, and Hays did not witness anything that gave the officers probable cause to arrest Hall. Nonetheless, believing that Hall was a protester, the aforementioned four officers, as well as other officers, took Hall into custody, and in so doing, assaulted him, using physical force that was both unnecessary and unreasonable.

Hays saw “Officer A” kick Hall squarely in the face, without reason or provocation, which was inconsistent with when it is appropriate for an officer to use such physical force. When “Officer A” kicked Hall, the undercover cop was prone on the ground, compliant, not posing a physical threat, and not saying a word.

In addition, a cell phone recording captured Hays and

St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers restrain a man in downtown St. Louis on September 17, 2017, the night Officer Luther Hall was viciously beaten by his colleagues while working undercover.

“Officer A” giving orders to Hall to put his hands out. At that time, Hall was wedged in a small area between the portable generator and the curb. Several officers were pinning Hall down in that small area, such that Hall could not move. Boone had his knee on Hall’s shoulder and was continually pushing down Hall’s head, while telling Hall not to look at him — thus making it difficult for Hall to comply with the order to put his hands out. Hays delivered three to five strikes to Hall’s body with his riot baton, and Hays forcefully shoved Hall to the ground. Throughout the encounter, Hall did not do anything to warrant arrest or the use of any physical force, and remained silent. Nonetheless, Hays, Boone, “Officer A” and other officers used unreasonable force against Hall, which resulted in bodily injury.

The following day, after roll call at the Electrician’s Hall, a member of the SLMPD command staff requested that all officers involved with Hall’s arrest meet him outside. Hays, Boone and Myers, as well as “Officer B” and a few others, went outside. “Officer A” did not go outside. While meeting with the member of the command staff, the CDT officers learned that the arrestee was Hall. Myers admitted that he intentionally destroyed Hall’s cell phone. Similarly, “Officer B” admitted intentionally destroying Hall’s camera. The plea also documents the following text exchange between Hays and Boone the day after.

Boone: “Everyone seems to think that we r ok. Still don’t like it hanging over me tho!” Hays: “Yeah, me either, just told [another officer] the ass whooping can be explained. The camera thing can’t and we weren’t apart of that.”

Boone: “Yes, trust me, I am WAY more alright with what u and I did than what the others did! I don’t like that we put our hands on another cop, but the situation was a little [expletive] too, wasn’t JUST us.”

Hays: “Wasn’t just us, I don’t like the beating the hell outta a cop, but the department put him in that spot, he could’ve announced himself any time. And he wasn’t complying. The camera thing is just ignorant, nothing we all haven’t done and if it was a protester it wouldn’t be a problem at all.”

Boone: “Correct.”

(According to Hall’s lawsuit, Hall did not identify himself because he didn’t want to blow his cover to “other demonstrators.”)

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Art collector and donor Ronald Ollie Speaks at Art Museum

Back by popular demand, the Saint Louis Art Museum welcomes St. Louis-born arts patron Ronald Ollie on Saturday, November 30 at 2 pm.

Offered in conjunction with the exhibition The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection, Ollie will discuss his influences and the individuals who were pivotal to his development as an art collector. His talk will feature artworks in the collection of 81 works of art by Black artists that he and his wife, Monique McRipley Ollie, donated to the Museum.

Ollie visited the Saint Louis Art Museum frequently as a child with his parents, Bert and Thelma Ollie, who instilled in him and his siblings a deep appreciation of art. His youthful fascination with abstract art grew into a dedicated pursuit when, as an adult, he began to purchase abstract works by artists he admired, often befriending them and forming long, collaborative relationships. Over the years, the Ron and Monique assembled an impressive collection of artworks by contemporary African American artists, including Benny Andrews, Chakaia Booker, Ed Clark, Nanette Carter, Sam Gilliam, Norman Lewis, Jack Whitten, and many others. In late 2017, the Ollies announced the donation of 81 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by five generations of Black artists who have revolutionized abstract art since the 1940s. The donation the to the Saint Louis Art Museum is named the Thelma and Bert Ollie Memorial Art Collection, in honor of Ron’s parents. Nearly half of the donated gifts in the

Lecture: Abstract Art by Black Artists: A Collector’s Journey

Saturday, November 30 2:00 pm Saint Louis Art Museum, The Farrell Auditorium, $5/Free for Members

Ronald Ollie

collection are on view through March 22, 2020 in the exhibition The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection. Join us as we welcome Ronald Ollie and honor Black abstract art at the Saint Louis Art Museum. This program is supported by a grant from the Trio Foundation of St. Louis. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Museum’s Information Centers or through MetroTix at metrotix.com or 314.534.1111. All tickets purchased or reserved through MetroTix incur a service charge; the service charge is waived for tickets purchased or reserved at the Art Museum.

More than 830,000 people in Missouri qualify for energy assistance—and many don’t know it. We’ve partnered with Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) agencies to help you restore or maintain your home’s heating this winter.

If you don’t qualify for LIHEAP or DollarHelp financial assistance, Spire offers a variety of ways to stay warm during the colder months, including payment plans, appliance repair programs and more.

Apply for assistance at your nearest LIHEAP agency or give us a call at 800-887-4173. We’re always happy to help.

Mya Davis wins two St. Louis Public Radio

Photojournalism prizes

Open letter to Trump on removing Stephen Miller

November 18, 2019

Dear Mr. President:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States, and the undersigned entities, we write to demand the removal of Stephen Miller from his position as your senior advisor.

Supporters of white supremacists and neo-Nazis should not be allowed to serve at any level of government, let alone in the White House. Stephen Miller has stoked bigotry, hate, and division with his extreme political rhetoric and policies throughout his career. The recent exposure of his deep-seated racism provides further proof that he is unfit to serve and should immediately leave his post.

In his role as your senior advisor, Stephen Miller has promoted hate speech spewed from neo-Nazis, bigots, and white supremacists. His advancement of white nationalist ideology has resulted in policies — and violent acts — that actively harm immigrants, people of color, and marginalized communities. These policies include the devastating Muslim ban, efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a ban on transgender people serving in the military, and the family separation policy that has led to the cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrant families in detention centers throughout our nation.

The heightened antiimmigrant and anti-minority sentiments driving the policies of this administration are

undoubtedly linked to the alarming rise of hate crimes and the highest number of hate-fueled murders in recent history. Stephen Miller’s racist, deadly agenda is contributing to this violence and must be stopped.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

n

Miller’s

Cosigned by: Advocates for Youth, African American Ministers In Action, American Atheists, American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Center for Community Self-

Help, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Center for Popular Democracy, Center for Responsible Lending, CHIRLA – Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues, Coalition on Human Needs, Council on AmericanIslamic Relations, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Equal Rights Advocates, Equality California, Faith in Public Life, Families Belong Together, Farmworker Justice, Hindu American Foundation, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, Matthew Shepard Foundation, Muslim Public Affairs Council, NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., National Action Network, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Council of Jewish Women, National Council on Independent Living, National Education Association, National Hispanic Media Coalition, National Housing Law Project, National Immigration Law Center, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, National LGBTQ Task Force, National Organization for Women, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, One Fair Wage, People for the American Way, Population Connection Action Fund, Public Citizen, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Silver State Equality-Nevada, Southern Poverty Law Center, Take on Hate (A Project of ACCESS), Texas Progressive Action Network, The League of United Latin American Citizens, Transformative Justice Coalition,

Stephen Miller, senior advisor to President Trump

Mya Davis,

Mya Davis, a student at McCluer North High School, accepts her awards in two categories for St. Louis Public Radio’s inaugural St. Louis Public Radio Photojournalism Prize. Photo by David Kovaluk, St. Louis Public Radio

Mya Davis’ winning photograph in “Best in Show.”

Photo by Mya Davis

The Audacity of the Status Quo

By Blake Strode For The St. Louis American

Earlier this month, ArchCity Defenders commemorated its tenth birthday with a celebration including many of our dearest friends, partners, and supporters who continue to make our work possible. We were especially honored to be joined by clients that have entrusted us to stand alongside them as they navigate crushing obstacles—poverty, homelessness, state violence, and deep structural racism— and manage not only to survive, but to do so with their dignity and humanity intact.

In reflecting on this unique moment, one theme keeps returning to me: audacity.

If there is a word that encompasses the spirit of American public life over the last decade and a half, it just may be this.

In 2008, the country had a whirlwind affair with a charismatic leader who swept into office on “the audacity of hope.” In our current media and social media culture, the most rewarded, in both attention and treasure, are often the most audacious among us. Even the current occupant of the White House—let’s call him “45”— frequently exhibits his own brand of reckless audacity to ever-more-adoring fans.

But there is a different kind of audacity that concerns me. It is the kind that we see exhibited daily by those in power to maintain the very systems which are the source of their power. This, too, we see in 45; the same way we saw it in tobacco companies that blatantly lied about the deadly effects of their products for decades; the same way we see it in fossil fuel companies who shamelessly pretend that there is an active debate about the science of climate change.

This is the audacity of the status quo, and it is not just a problem among presidents and multinational corporations. It is a problem right here in St. Louis.

Earlier this week, Mayor Lyda Krewson sent out a

tweet lauding, purportedly, a group of grand jurors who described the Workhouse and City Justice Center jails as “professionally run,” “clean,” and “transformed.” Through the notes the mayor attached to her tweet, we learned that “it was explained”—by whom, we do not know—“that the MSI [Workhouse] and courts had worked hard to cut the number of inmates in half…”

No mention, naturally, of the continuing national embarrassment that the Workhouse represents, the many formerly detained people who have repeatedly exposed the truth, the ongoing efforts to bail out as many people as possible from its cages, the two separate lawsuits challenging the continued caging of poor people in inhumane conditions

n It is not hard to understand how one— many—can become frustrated to the point of disillusion. But what would it look like if we tried another way?

on unaffordable bail, or the two-year-old campaign to close the hellish jail for good.

Alongside Action St. Louis, the Bail Project, other community partners, and a growing contingent of members who have been directly impacted by the Workhouse, ArchCity Defenders has been proud to take part in the campaign calling for its closure. We have re-learned countless times from our clients and others of the misery imposed by this jail and the system it represents. But is that what the mayor and her team chose to tweet about?

No, it was all about the city’s successful efforts at cleanliness and “[w]ork opportunities for the inmates” that pay pennies on the dollar in a jail that remains open largely because

the mayor and her allies choose to keep it open. That takes some serious nerve, and such nerve is required to make acceptable an unacceptable amount of injustice and human suffering.

Not only is this phenomenon not unique to Mayor Krewson; it is emblematic of public policy across the board. So many in this region have been brazen in what they are willing to say and do, or not do, to maintain the status quo. Every year, various departments approve and the Board of Aldermen passes a budget that spends a majority of general funds on police, prosecution, and jail while hundreds of families go hungry, lack habitable housing, and send their children to failing schools. We should be outraged by such obvious neglect, but instead we have come to expect it.

This is not just a city problem. More than four years ago, the Ferguson Commission set forth a work plan for the region with 189 calls to action. On most, those who control the levers of power have responded with bold inaction. Jason Purnell and his Washington University research team, alone, have authored two reports—“For the Sake of All” and “Dismantling the Divide”—outlining the extreme state of racial health disparities and residential segregation. Few of their recommendations have been implemented fully. And every year we carry out

a ritual around the Missouri Attorney General’s Vehicle Stops Report in which we decry the fact that basically every police department in the region (and the state) targets black drivers for stops, searches, and arrests, and yet precisely no police budgets get slashed and

no chiefs or other brass get fired.

The audacity of it all. It is not hard to understand how one—many—can become frustrated to the point of disillusion. But what would it look like if we tried another way?

A few months before ArchCity Defenders’ 10-year celebration, our organization completed a months-long process that resulted in a clarified vision among our team of the region and world we are seeking to build: “a society liberated from systems of oppression where the promise of justice and racial equity is realized; communities where our approach to public safety prioritizes investment in well-being, health, and transformation without relying on criminalization and incarceration; and people living freely in their communities, thriving regardless of their race or income.”

I could not be more proud of the role that ArchCity Defenders has played over the past ten years in our work with clients, partners, and the communities we serve. Yet, I am struck by the immeasurable distance left to travel before those who are committed to justice reach the St. Louis that we envision. And if we want to have any chance of surviving the journey, and overcoming the forces of status quo, we are going to have to muster up some audacity of our own.

Blake Strode is executive director of ArchCity Defenders.

ArchCity Defenders President Blake Strode interviewed activist and actor Danny Glover at the civil rights firm’s 10th anniversary gala on November 8.

Stopping the bleeding

Rep. Green brings Un-Gun, Stop the Bleed workshop to North County

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

A St. Louis emergency surgeon and performing artist are partnered to educate community members on how violence takes a toll on health and wellness beyond those individual acts. They are also teaching potentially lifesaving steps you can take to assist an act of violence occurs in their immediate vicinity.

Emergency trauma surgeon Laurie Punch, MD, of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, leads Washington University’s initiative of the national Stop the Bleed campaign to reduce preventable deaths due to bleeding. She works with performing artist Marty K. Casey, founder

n Knowing how to stop bleeding could save a life, but unfortunately most people don’t know what needs to be done.

and artistic director of the Show Me Arts Academy, to present the Un-Gun workshop to disarm negativity and trauma held in the mind, body and spirit. “She really validates what we are doing,” Casey said of Dr. Punch. “She adds the purpose of really helping people to understand that we all hold some sort

of trauma in our bodies and what happens when we’ve experienced certain things and how important it is for us to address it immediately.”

Dr. Punch and Casey recently presented their Stop the Bleed and Un-Gun workshop to young people as part of a “St. Paul Saturdays” session at St. Paul AME Church in St. Louis. State Rep. Alan Green (D-67) and his grandson attended and participated that workshop at St. Paul. Now Green is bringing the program to his constituents in North St. Louis County as part of his town hall meeting on Thursday, November 21 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Black Jack Fire

and not optics

How we can increase the number of African Americans in medicine

By Kenneth Poole Jr., MD For The St. Louis American

n African Americans account for just 6 percent of graduates from U.S. medical schools and 3 percent of U.S. medical school full-time faculty.

I am the lead author of a peer-reviewed manuscript that details how U.S. medical school diversity initiatives are leaving us behind. This is a summary of the article, which was published in Academic Medicine, and a call to action to improve our representation and the health of our communities U.S. medical education diversity initiatives were born out of the Civil Rights Movement in an effort to increase the representation of African Americans in the physician workforce. Over the last 50 years, these efforts have evolved to include other minority groups that are underrepresented in medicine, and efforts to specifically identify and recruit AfricanAmerican students have become obscured. African Americans thus remain significantly underrepresented in medicine, accounting for just 6 percent of graduates from U.S. medical schools and 3 percent of U.S. medical school fulltime faculty. Further complicating matters, demographic shifts resulting from recent immigration of black people from Africa and the Caribbean have both expanded the definition of “African-American medical students” and shifted the emphasis from those with a history of suffering under U.S. oppression and poverty to anyone who meets a black phenotype. Thus, while the majority of blacks in this country are African Americans – defined as blacks born in the United States whose ancestors suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws – over half of black students entering medical schools are members of other black subgroups, i.e.

Missouri’s first black midwife advocates for accessible maternal care

Brittany Kellman: ‘We want to make sure black women are prioritized at every level’

By Xander Negozio

Brittany Kellman was 13 when she became pregnant.

“They pumped me full of Pitocin the whole night until I hyperventilated,” she said. “I almost lost my life. My baby’s heart tones dropped; he almost lost his life. And the whole time no one made eye contact with me.” Kellman was told she would need an emergency cesarean section to save her baby. She said she was asked, “Do you want your baby to die?” Afterward, she found out her doctor had induced an early labor to go on vacation the next

day. “I didn’t see her after she cut me on Thursday morning,” Kellman said. “I saw other doctors because she was gone.” Kellman, Missouri’s first black certified professional midwife, spoke to a diverse group of about 30 students and professors recently as the keynote speaker for the University of Missouri’s Annual Black Studies Fall Conference.

“In the 1920s black women were safer during delivery than they are now,” Kellman said, citing a 2000 study by Collins and Thossoman.

See KELLMAN, A13

Of the Columbia Missourian

Dr. Laurie Punch, left, teaches a Stop the Bleed STL participant how to use a tourniquet to control severe bleeding.

Photo: Stop the Bleed STL

Brittany Kellman, founding director of Jamaa Birth Village, a Ferguson-based nonprofit, laughed at the technological difficulties delaying her recent keynote address Friday at the University of Missouri’s Annual Black Studies Fall Conference. Kellman is Missouri’s first black midwife.

Kenneth Poole Jr., MD

Photo by Xander Negozio / Columbia Missourian

Kellman

Continued from A12

Black women are twice as likely to lose their babies as white women in Missouri, and the state’s maternal mortality rate is 50 percent higher than the national average, according to past Missourian reporting Kellman advocated for riskappropriate care, saying women in high-risk pregnancies should have access to facilities equipped to handle that.

“But it should also go the opposite direction,” she said. “If you have a low-risk woman who is in your care, then she should be referred to a low-risk provider and not a high-risk provider. That is one of the very reasons why we have unnecessary interventions that are taking the lives of black and brown women today.” Home births were the norm until the early 20th century when federal legislation like the Sheppard Tower and Infancy Protection Act criminalized midwifery.

adequate prenatal and perinatal care may be localized birthing centers that employ doulas and midwives.

“It is equally important to keep women in the care of the birthing facilities in their communities unless risk factors or comorbidities evolve such that the indicated level of care needed is beyond the capabilities of those birthing facilities,” according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists August Obstetric Care Consensus In 2015, Kellman opened Jamaa Birth Village, the state’s first nonprofit black birthing center, in Ferguson.

n “We’ve all been lied to. We’ve all been told that midwives are unsafe, that their hands are unclean, that they cause deaths and that they harm people.”

– Brittany Kellman

“Prior to the 1920s, midwives were pillars of the community,” Kellman said. “They were known to feed and nourish their prospective clients. They were known to be healers outside of maternal care.”

Kellman acknowledged current negative attitudes about midwifes.

“We’ve all been lied to,” she said. “We’ve all been told that midwives are unsafe, that their hands are unclean, that they cause deaths and that they harm people.” But Kellman viewed midwives as important advocates in allowing women to make choices about their births. She cited a study that found that 92 percent to 94 percent of pregnancies are considered lowrisk.

“When you’re sedating a women, you remove her right to speak up about what she would like to happen to her body,” Kellman said. For rural areas, the solution to

StopBleed

Continued from A12 Protection District building, 5675 N. Hwy 67 in Florissant. The town hall and workshop is for all ages.

Poole

Continued from A12

African, Afro-Caribbean, and mixed race. African Americans have now become underrepresented amongst the underrepresented. Besides being emblematic of a glaring scholastic achievement gap, why does all of this matter?

African Americans have a higher age-adjusted death rate than whites for 9 of the 15 leading causes of death in this country, and the life expectancy for African Americans (74.8 years) continues be lower than white Americans (78.5 years). The life expectancy for AfricanAmerican men is 71.5 years.

Medical literature has consistently shown that black patients rate their healthcare experience as higher when paired with a black physician. This in turn has been proven to yield greater utilization of health services and improved compliance to plans of care. It can thus be asserted that the underrepresentation of African Americans in healthcare is a public health problem, and any health disparity initiative

“I began to educate myself about true women’s wellness, indigenous and traditional maternal techniques, and then I decided to allow my passion to shine through and assist other families in having those services,” Kellman said.

Jamaa, which means “family” in Swahili, accepts patients from across the state, regardless of ability to pay. In addition to birthing, the center provides chiropractic care, alternative therapies, breastfeeding education and resources, babysitters, food, diapers, clothing and even taxis for those who lack transportation.

“We want to make sure black women are prioritized at every level,” Kellman said. “We want to invest in the time and expertise of black women-led organizations and community based reproductive and maternal health work, and we want to apply an intersectional lens to policy development.”

Cultural congruence training, which addresses implicit racial bias, is necessary because bias can affect the treatment women of color receive, she said.

“Care starts with the person who is on the phone, who is checking you in when you come to the office,” Kellman said. “There is a difference between congruence and competence.”

Reprinted with permission from The Columbia Missourian

Green said Dr. Punch increases the understanding about trauma, in addition to what to do if someone is shot in front of you. “Look around and, if you’re not safe, run; if you are, then check the person,” Green said. Knowing how to stop

aimed at improving the health of African Americans should include African American physician pipeline programming at the core. Diversity initiatives in U.S. medical school need refocusing. Educational environments with students of varying experiences and a myriad of backgrounds are certainly valuable, but identity-oriented initiatives that seek to improve AfricanAmerican student presence and right societal wrongs should be underscored. In doing so, medical school admissions committees must consider and contextualize the genealogical heritage and ancestral legacy of minority students, particularly blacks. Additionally, the corrosive effects of financial and social deprivation of African Americans should be considered, including those from high-income, two-parent homes. Simply competing for any phenotypically black student that clears lowered academic thresholds is incomplete and contributes to African Americans being underrepresented in medicine. The responsibility should not fall solely on medical school admissions committees,

By Rebecca Rivas

Dental and pediatric care resume at CareSTL Health

Facility was closed in August due to water damage from heavy rains

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

CareSTL Health reopened its Walnut Park facility located at 5541 Riverview Blvd. this week on Monday, November 18. Currently, the health center is open during normal business hours for dental and pediatric health services only.

A spokesperson said water damage to the building from heavy rains and flooding in late August forced the facility to close while repairs were made. And while repairs were made, CareSTL Health restructured some areas to better serve patients by putting Pediatrics on the first floor.

Chief Executive Officer Angela Clabon said they are

bleeding could save a life, but unfortunately most people don’t know what needs to be done, Green said. The workshop will provide attendees techniques of packing wounds, how to use a tourniquet that they will receive at the workshop –

which are largely white. The African-American community also needs to be called into action to adequately prepare African-American students to compete in the mainstream. Here are some detailed solutions. Academic expectations for African-American boys and girls need to be raised. The bar needs to be much higher than staying out of trouble and having good manners. Strong classroom performance, high standardized test scoring, and achievement of professional and STEM-based graduate degrees should be routine and normalized as opposed to seeming foreign. We need to start educating African-American boys and girls outside of traditional school systems, which have largely proven to be insufficient in terms of helping us make collective academic progress. Just as athletic teenagers rely on AAU and club sports teams alongside their high school teams for

and how to make a tourniquet if they don’t have one available.

Green said Casey uses storytelling to get her message across.

“The best way to get someone’s attention who has gone through something is

n Medical literature has consistently shown that black patients rate their healthcare experience as higher when paired with a black physician.

preparation and showcasing of talent, schools should simply augment the academic efforts of African-American children. This is not uncommon amongst many Indian and Asian populations in the United States. Parental efforts and programs that teach and stretch the core academic potential of AfricanAmerican youth should be created and prioritized. AfricanAmerican youth need immersion into the language of U.S. standardized tests. Once thought to be primarily related to economic status, race has become a greater predictor of SAT performance than parental education and family income. Blacks continue to lag behind all minority groups in ACT and SAT scoring, the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), and other graduate school entrance exams.

Reading assignments for African-American adolescents and teens should routinely include publications such as Time Magazine and the Wall

reopening in phases because they recognize not having services at the center on Riverview is a burden to the community.

“We are encouraging patients who need immediate care to walk in and they will be seen that day. I personally guarantee that,” Clabon said.

“This is the time of year patients are scrambling to get their annual exams completed or other forms of care. We want them to know our doors are open regardless of their ability to pay and they can walk-in and receive care.”

Adult Medicine returns Monday, December 2 and Women’s Health returns on Monday, January 2, 2020. For more information, visit www.carestlhealth.org.

to take the attention off of the hurt and basically put it in a place through the arts, where they can dig a little bit deeper – beyond that bullet wound, beyond the witnessing of someone being shot,” Casey said. Casey said of the

Street Journal. Familiarity with National Public Radio and related content should also be incorporated.

Collegiate selection needs to be more intentional. Parents and high school students need to look towards schools that have a proven track record of successfully preparing African-American students for academic success. The medical school application process is very complex, and medical school admissions committees look for specific scholastic and extracurricular profiles.

The American Association of Medical Colleges lists the institutions with the highest numbers of African-American applicants to U.S. medical schools each year. Parents and high school students should reference this regularly in looking for and selecting the right institution of higher learning.

Finally, African-American students should be guided, mentored, and supported through college, medical school, residency, and beyond.

Pre-medical and other students destined for graduate and professional school require nuanced financial support and experiences to be successful applicants for the next level.

workshops, “It’s the best medicine that I think anyone can be prescribed.” View Dr. Laurie Punch’s TEDxGatewayArch talk, “How Bullets Go Deep,” on You Tube at https://tinyurl. com/u4py5f6.

Pipeline programs should include parental education on the type of support African Americans need to clear hurdles along the way. These are simple solutions, but they require a deliberate investment and collective effort. None of it is showy. None of it looks good on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn. It does not make for good pictures or hashtags. It’s not magic. Much like medical school admissions committees, our communitybased efforts need to be about impact and not optics.

Dr. Kenneth Poole Jr. is the medical director of Patient Experience for Mayo Clinic Arizona, chair of the Mayo Clinic Enterprise Health Information Coordinating Subcommittee, and a member of the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine admissions committee. He is a North St. Louis County native and a product of the Mathews Dickey Boys and Girls Club, Hazelwood Public Schools, Lutheran North High School, and Tennessee State University. The views expressed above are his own and do not represent those of the Mayo Clinic.

Photo

“We are encouraging patients who need immediate care to walk in and they will be seen that day,” CareSTL Health Chief Executive Officer Angela Clabon said of the Walnut Park facility located at 5541 Riverview Blvd. “I personally guarantee that.”

Healthy Kids

Careers

Sensible Thanksgiving Eating

Nutrition Challenge:

Thanksgiving is a day that we take a moment and remember the things/people that we are thankful to have in our lives. But let’s be honest, many Thanksgiving celebrations also include food – and a lot of it! But if you remember just a few simple tips, you can enjoy the day without the extra calories (and uncomfortably full stomach).

Follow the Meal

With a Walk!

Being Thankful WALK!

Why not start a new tradition this year? After your Thanksgiving dinner, have your family take a walk around the neighborhood. This is a great way to spend time with your relatives, see who’s in town for the holiday, and can help prevent the all-too-common post meal stomachache. Walking aids digestion, keeps you away

Thanksgiving is a great time to remember all of the people/things that have had a positive impact on your life. Why not have each person around the table say one (or two or three!) thing(s) that they are

> Remembering week seven’s divided-plate lesson, try to fill at least half of your plate with healthy vegetables/fruits.

> Eat slowly. That way you’ll know when you’re full before you’ve overdone it.

> Limit desserts; choose just one. Or if you want to try a few different kinds, ask for a small “sample” of each.

> Can you think of any other tips?

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

from the dessert table and even helps with that after-dinner slump that affects many people after a big meal. In addition, getting up and moving will get your body back into calorie-burning mode. What are some other ways to be “active” after your Thanksgiving dinner?

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

thankful for, before you begin eating? You could even make a game out of it: each person writes down what they’re thankful for on a small card. Someone then reads each card as the group guesses who wrote it.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, NH 4

Carrot Fries

Sonya Patterson

Where

educate them about what it is like to work at Anthem.

Why did you choose this career? I chose a career in healthcare because I wanted to help make people’s lives better. By helping people learn how health insurance works, I can do my part to make sure they get the care they need so they can live long, healthy lives.

What is your favorite part of the job you have? I love working with others and sharing the knowledge I have about the healthcare industry. I also like learning from the people I work with. No matter how much I know, I can always learn more, and my job gives me the opportunity to do that.

Learning Standards: HPE6, NH3

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

The St. Louis American’s award winning NIE program provides newspapers and resources to more than 8,000 teachers and students each week throughout the school year, at no charge.

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

Woerner

Elementary teacher

Mrs. Freddie M. Johnson shows students Xzavior Jaimson, Mohammed Alhadrawi, Bryant Thomas, and Zaid Saadi challenging STEM lessons found in the newspaper.

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT SCIENCE STARS

African-American Sociologist Cora Bagley Marrett

Sociology is the study of human societies or groups. Sociology often includes anthropology.

(See last week’s STEM page for information on anthropology.)

Sociologists analyze how gender, age, race, religion, and environmental factors affect human behavior and interaction. The studies may be as small as the interaction between two people, to as big as the interaction between countries and nations. Sociologists often study such details as how the economy, crime

Look at the map above: Where are the Elvis Fans? Here you find each state in the U.S. color–coded according to its inhabitants’ tendency or inclination to purchase Elvis memorabilia. Do you notice a pattern, or are the colors randomly distributed? What accounts for these findings?

rate, or technology affects a group. Sociologist will also study marriage and divorce rates, and will evaluate trends

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

in substance abuse and health issues in a community. These studies are helpful to people who are interested in resolving problems and creating rules and procedures. Examples of these people are educators, lawmakers, administrators, etc.

For more information, visit: http://www. kidzsearch.com/wiki/ Sociology.

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details. I can make text-to-text connections.

Deliver A Message

In this experiment, you will use critical thinking and problem solving strategies to solve a problem.

Materials Needed:

• Paper & Pencil for writing a message

• Stuff From Around Your Classroom or House to build your message delivery system, ex: string, scissors, straws, balloons, plastic tubing, empty water bottles, corks, paper cups, masking tape, rubber bands, cardboard boxes

Your Goal:

Use your imagination and design a delivery system that gets messages from one place to another. The catch is, you can’t throw your message to the other team, and you can’t just get up and walk over with it.

MATH CONNECTION

Process:

Use materials you find around the classroom or house to build your message delivery system. Then, write a message and test it out. If the other team can receive and read your message, the design was successful. If your design was not successful, try again.

Evaluate: What designs worked and what designs did not work? What techniques were most effective? Why?

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

Problem Solving

z If there are 98 students at an orchestra concert, and there are 3 seats open in each row, how many rows of seats will they need? ___________

x A restaurant is hosting a birthday party for 37 guests. If each table seats four people, how many tables are needed?

c 25 summer campers plan to take a boat ride on the lake. If each boat holds 5 passengers, how many boats will be needed? __________

People Do Amazing Things Every Day. Check Out These Facts...

James Earl Jones has one of the most wellknown voices, but as a child, he had a very bad stutter.

v A politician is ordering campaign posters. If the politician has $750 to spend and each poster costs $2.00, how many posters can he/she buy? ___________

b There are 358 students attending a field trip to the zoo. If students need to be in groups of 6, how many groups should they form? __________

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

Bill Gates began programming computers at age 13.

W.E.B. DuBois (civil rights activist and sociologist) said, “Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.”

Early Life: Cora Bagley Marrett was born in Virginia in 1942 and was the youngest of 12 children. Her parents only had a 6th grade education and they encouraged their children to get more education so they could have a better life.

Education: B.A in Sociology from the Virginia Union University, M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned her Ph.D., which focused on the study of races, in 1968. In 1996, she received an honorary doctorate degree from Wake Forest University. Her research has been published in many academic journals.

Teaching: Marrett was a sociology professor at Western Michigan University, the University of North Carolina, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

National Science Foundation (NSF): Marrett is best known for her work with the National Science Foundation, where she has held many different leadership positions. In 1992, she was the first Assistant Director for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. She then served as the Assistant Director for Education and Human Resources, where she promoted STEM education. In 2009, she became the Acting Deputy Director, and from 2010-2013, she served as the NSF Acting Director.

Committees: Marrett has served on many committees, lending her advice and expertise. She has worked with the United Negro College Fund, the National Institute of Health, the National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Congress.

Awards/Honors: Marrett was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She won the Distinguished Alumni Award Honoree in 2012 from the University of Wisconsin; she was nominated for a University Teaching Award at Western Michigan University, and earned the National Science Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award. Awards: Jackson won the Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award at the University of Maryland and the Ernest E. Just Prize in Medical and Public Health Records.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography about a person who has made contributions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. I can make text-to-world and text-to-text connections.

MAP CORNER

Enjoy these activities that help you get to know your St. Louis American newspaper.

Activity One —

Elected Officials: are the qualifications a person should have to hold public office? Make a list, and then see how the current office holders of candidates stack up. Use articles from this paper and other sources to find out about previous jobs, experiences, and other factors that make each candidate or office holder prepared to serve as an elected official.

Activity Two — Nations in the News: Scan the international news stories in the newspaper. Consult a map to determine what nations in the news have geographical features (rivers, oceans, mountains, etc.) that form their political boundaries. Are these geographical features related to why that particular nation is in the news?

Learning Standards: I can use a newspaper to locate information. I can make text-to-world connections. I can analyze data.

Photo by Wiley Price/St. Louis American

Snoop Dogg made a rap song with astronaut Buzz Aldrin about landing on the moon.

From beats to business

Local students create songs and learn the industry with Mentors In Motion

By Chad Davis

For the past couple of months, 10-year-old Gregory Boyce, a fifth grader at North Side Community School, has gladly stayed after class — to learn the basics of music production. Using music production software, Gregory has been experimenting with drum patterns. He hopes to add vocals to the mix soon.

“I like how it’s smooth,” he said of the tune he was working on. “But sometimes you got to concentrate and focus.”

That kind of attitude is exactly what the music professionals from Mentors In Motion are

n “If I’m not educated [on copyrights], somebody could just take my beat, use it, and I don’t have any paperwork to back it up.”

– Mentors In Motion founder and CEO Alandon Pitts

Kelvin R. Adams was inducted into the National Alliance of Black School Educators’ Hall of Fame. He is superintendent of Saint Louis Public Schools. He accepted the award “on behalf of the students, staff and families of the Saint Louis Public School District community.” He added, “I recognize the challenges many of our students navigate every morning before they start the school day. My goal is to clear a pathway for each of them to achieve academic and personal goals.”

Paulette IsaacSavage was inducted in the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame Class of 2019 in Belgrade, Serbia. She was the only person of African descent and one of three U.S. adult educators to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. She is a professor of adult education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The Hall of Fame honors leaders in the fields of continuing education and adult learning.

Raul Banasco was named the director of the Department of Justice Services by St. Louis County Executive Sam Page. He has been the jail administrator at county jails in Fort Worth and San Antonio, Texas, and also spent a part of his career working in the Florida State Department of Corrections. In 2016, the American Jail Association named Banasco the Jail Administrator of the Year.

Nichelle Orange joined the Board of Directors of the Ferguson Youth Initiative. Founded in 2010, the Ferguson Youth Initiative empowers teens from Ferguson and surrounding communities to become productive, positive, and contributing members of the community. She is a Talent Acquisition specialist with SSM Health with a Bachelors of Science degree in Healthcare Administration from University of Michigan.

Eighty-seven students in the St. Louis area are participating in a music program where they learn how to create music and how to monetize their songs.

The students are taking part in the Awareness Lab, a 12-week extracurricular club where elementary, middle and high school students are

See MENTORS, B2 looking for.

Harris-Stowe convenes Presidential Search Committee

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

The Harris-Stowe State University (HSSU) Board of Regents has convened a Presidential Search Committee, chaired by Board of Regents Vice-Chair Vanessa Cooksey and comprised of HSSU board members, faculty, a student, administrator, staff, and alumni, as well as representatives from the business and civic community.

“This is a critical search, not only for Harris-Stowe, but also for the State of Missouri,” Cooksey said in a statement.

The university has retained AGB Search, which was founded by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) in 2010, to provide executive search consulting services. It claims to be “the only firm that specializes in all aspects of executive search exclusively for higher

B2

Michael Morgan was selected by FOCUS St. Louis as one of 33 talented young professionals for the Fall 2019 cohort of Emerging Leaders. This competitive program provides participants (ages 22-35) with an increased sense of engagement in the region, as well as the tools to take an active role as the next generation of St. Louis regional leaders. He is Project Graduation coordinator for the Little Bit Foundation.

Melanie Randels joined St. Louis County’s first Ethnic and Racial Disparities Committee, established to address barriers to equity for brown people affected by the judicial system. It is also operating the pilot Court Watch Program for Color of Change, educating and empowering everyday community members to be engaged within the courts. While operating her small business Nubian Stone LLC, she also serves as the youngest black woman appointed as the Ferguson Human Rights Commission Chair. On the move? Congratulations! Send your good professional news and a color headshot to cking@stlamerican. com

Paulette IsaacSavage

Nichelle Orange

Kelvin R. Adams

Melanie Randels

Raul Banasco

Michael Morgan

Of St. Louis Public Radio

Monique Hines (left) teaches Janiaya Hubbard (middle) and Taniah Woods (right) the basics of music production in the Awareness Lab, run by Mentors In Motion.

Photo by Chad Davis/St. Louis Public Radio

Clay demands public vote on airport privatization

Warns that private operator may not be eligible for millions in federal funds

By U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay

n “There are serious questions regarding whether a private, forprofit entity, put in charge of the airport via a longterm lease, could continue to legally receive federal funding.”

– U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay

I am today demanding that the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and the Board of Estimate & Apportionment authorize a binding public vote on any future recommendation to privatize St. Louis-Lambert International Airport.

While I remain skeptical of any net community benefit that might result from such an agreement, I am deeply troubled by the lack of transparency and the obvious conflicts of interest that have tainted the current airport study process, including the involvement of individuals who retain a direct financial interest in its outcome.

As the St. Louis region’s senior member of Congress, I annually advocate for, and bring home, millions of dollars in federal transportation grants to fund Lambert Airport improvements for runways, terminals, security screening equipment and other vital functions.

The Federal Aviation Administration has stated that there are serious questions regarding whether a private, for-profit entity, put in charge of the airport via a long-term lease, could continue to legally receive federal funding, potentially putting tens of millions of dollars in future federal grants at risk.

St. Louis-Lambert International Airport is the City of St. Louis’ single most valuable and profitable asset. The people who own it, namely the citizens of the City of St. Louis, should have the opportunity to express their will about Lambert’s future, and elected officials should respect that decision.

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri) represents Missouri’s First Congressional District.

Divine 9 raise funds for United Way

United Way of Greater St. Louis’ Charmaine Chapman Leadership Society (CCS) hosted its annual Divine 9 Soiree on October 23 to raise money for United Way’s annual campaign.

Nearly 200 members of local National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities attended the event, held at Jazzy 159 in Fairview Heights, that featured the music of BK Jackson. Divine 9 members have so far

raised over $290,000 for the 2019 United Way campaign. The local Charmaine Chapman Society is celebrating its 25th anniversary and has become one of the top African American philanthropic giving groups in the nation. To learn more or to donate to United Way, visit Helpingpeople.org/donate.

Divine 9 fraternity and sorority members can still make a donation online at https://uwgsl.tfaforms.net/46.

United Way’s annual campaign raises $76.3

million

More than 100K residents and 1,200 companies contributed

American staff

The United Way of Greater St. Louis raised $76,302,000 through its annual fall fundraising campaign.

More than 100,000 residents and 1,200 companies made contributions through United Way’s campaign. It is the organization’s largest source of funding, which includes workplace giving, corporate giving, strategic investments, grants, issue-based funding and donor-directed investments. Fourteen companies, their

employees and participating labor unions were recognized for combined team gifts, including corporate and employee contributions, of $1 million or more.

At the $7 million or more level in team gifts were employees of Edward Jones.

At the $3 million or more level in team gifts were employees of Bayer U.S., Enterprise Holdings and World Wide Technology.

At the $2 million or more level in team gifts were employees of Ameren, Centene

Harris-Stowe

continued from page B1

education institutions.” The national search is underway and expected to conclude in the spring of 2020.

The committee will assist AGB Search in recruiting and evaluating a strong and diverse pool of candidates to succeed former president Dwaun J. Warmack. Warmack, who took office August 2014, left in July to lead Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina as its ninth president. Warmack’s successor will be HSSU’s 20th president.

The members of the search committee connected to HSSU include Cooksey; Ronald Norwood, HSSU Board of Regents chair, an attorney at Lewis Rice; James Fogt, vice president, HSSU IT Services; Lea Sutherlin, interim director of alumni relations, liaison to the Board of Regents and an HSSU alumna; Owolabi Tiamyu, associate professor

Mentors

continued from page B1 taught the fundamentals of music, including how to create melodies, hooks and beats for the music they make.

The program is run by Mentors In Motion, a local nonprofit that offers science, art, math and reading resources to students in the St. Louis area. It has attracted as teachers professionals like Monique Hines, a St. Louis native who has co-produced songs for “Saturday Night Live” and Rihanna. Hines wants the students to have a good grasp of music history.

“I introduced the African polyrhythms, then I also introduced the Western thought of music,” she said. “Put the two together, and you have 20th-century music, you have modern music.”

Hines also is teaching music production to fifth graders at North Side Community School. Once the students learn the

Corporation and Spire.

At the $1 million or more level in team gifts were employees of Anheuser-Busch, BJC HealthCare, Emerson, Express Scripts, Nestle Purina, Schnucks and Wells Fargo Advisors

The St. Louis Regional Business Council, which represents more than 100 area firms, raised nearly $13 million this year.

Tim Wentworth, president of Express Scripts and Cigna Health Services, and Greg Smith, chairman of Husch

of accounting and former president of faculty senate for HSSU; Edwin Bailey, HSSU alumnus; and Reid Chunn, HSSU student in the College of Arts and Sciences from the Class of 2020.

The community members of the search committee

n “This is a critical search, not only for Harris-Stowe, but also for the State of Missouri.”

– HSSU Board of Regents Vice-Chair Vanessa Cooksey

include David Dawkins, managing director of diverse client segments, Wells Fargo Advisors; Michael Middleton, deputy chancellor emeritus, professor emeritus of law, University of Missouri; Kathy Reeves, assistant vice president of corporate community relations, Enterprise Holdings; and Donald M. Suggs,

foundation of music, they are taught how to use FL Studio, a computer program professional musicians use to create songs.

Hines said she teaches the students how to make their own drum patterns and to create a song by the end of the course. Students then participate in beat battles.

The program also aims to help students pursue careers in music by teaching them basic information like the importance of copyrighting songs.

Mentors In Motion founder and CEO Alandon Pitts said the program’s high school and middle school students learn how to use professional music distribution services such as TuneCore and SoundExchange.

The services allow artists to upload their own music online and receive royalties.

“If I’m a kid and my dream is to produce for a top-100 music artist — if I’m not educated on that, somebody could just take my beat, use it, and I don’t have any paperwork to back it up,” Pitts said.

The professional mentors talk to students about what

Blackwell, served as this year’s campaign co-chairs.

“The dollars that our region came together to raise will change many lives in our community and help even more individuals and families build the foundation for a good quality of life,” Smith said.

United Way of Greater St. Louis partners with local agencies, programs and services to support one in three people in a 16-county region throughout St. Louis.

publisher and executive director of The St. Louis American and president of The St. Louis American Foundation.

“In addition to following a very structured process that ensures confidentiality and respect for all candidates, the search committee is taking time to listen to a variety of people to determine what role HarrisStowe plays in the future of the St. Louis region,” Cooksey stated.

“We are being intentional about stakeholder engagement and casting a wide net for talent so that the next president will continue to advance the university in alignment with the needs of its students, faculty, staff and alumni and with clear support from business and civic leaders at the local, state, national and even global levels.”

Dwayne Smith, HSSU provost and vice president of Academic Affairs, is serving as interim president of the university.

happens when musicians use another artist’s work without permission and how money is distributed.

Pitt hopes the Awareness Lab helps motivate students in their school subjects, particularly in reading and math. He said students need to realize that success in the music industry starts in the classroom.

“Our goal in increasing literacy is through the performing arts,” Pitts said. “We’ll show them a nondisclosure agreement or some type of educational reading through music, a contract: What does that look like? Can you read it? If you can’t, this is why going to English class, on time, raising your hand to get answers corrected is important.” Pitts said he hopes to expand the Awareness Lab to more St. Louis-area schools in the next year.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ iamcdavis.

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

For The St. Louis American

From the eastside

With Maurice Scott Jr.

PreP FootBall NoteBook

Dragons scorch

as district champs Flyers soar over Bulldogs; move to semifinals

By Maurice Scott Jr.

the St. Louis American

Last weekend’s IHSA Class 7A state quarterfinal game between East St. Louis and Oak Lawn Richards was over before some fans ever sat down.

It took 14 seconds to be exact; the Flyers’ Kenneth Cotton returned the opening kickoff 71 yards, and East St. Louis never looked back as they trounced the Bulldogs 60-0.

Quarterback Tyler Macon was sensational once again on Saturday, completing 19 of 21 passes for 301 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for another score.

Macon had touchdown tosses of 28 and 54 yards to Dominic Lovett (six-catches for 119 yards) and one touchdown each to Antonio “A.J.” Johnson (five catches 72 yards), Lawaun Powell Jr. (four catches for 65 yards), and Keontez Lewis (four catches for 65 yards).

See East Side, B4

By Earl Austin Jr.

Of the St. Louis American

A tip of the cap this weekend goes to the St. Mary’s Dragons after winning the Class 4, District 2 championship in dramatic fashion last Saturday at McCluer. The Dragons defeated McCluer 18-14 on a last-minute touchdown pass from senior Cam’Ron McCoy to junior Adrian Forbes.

After being shut down for three quarters, the Dragons responded with three long scoring drives to take the district title and a 10-2 record into Friday night’s state quarterfinal game (Nov. 22) against visiting Farmington. Kick-off is at 7 p.m. Head coach Corey Bethany has put together a young and very talented group that will be a factor in the state playoffs in the upcoming years. At the controls is McCoy, who has thrown for 2,805 yards and 35 touchdowns this season.

The big gem of the team is sophomore Kevin

Coleman, who is one of the top prospects in the state. Coleman has 1,345 yards receiving and 22 touchdowns on offense and seven interceptions on defense. Another excellent two-way standout is senior Timmy Muxo, who has 660 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns on offense and six interceptions on defense.

On defense, senior defensive end Patrick Harris has 12 quarterback sacks.

The Dragons’ championship performance on Saturday completed an excellent weekend for the Archdiocesan Athletic Association as fellow members Trinity Catholic and Lutheran St. Charles also won district titles on Friday night in Class 3 while Christian-

O’Fallon was a district runner-up in Class 2.

Here is this weekend’s schedule for the

sPorts eye

With Alvin A. Reid

upcoming Missouri high school playoffs.

Class 6 (Semifinals)

DeSmet at Raymore-Peculiar, Saturday, 1 p.m. Joplin at Fort Zumwalt West, Saturday, 3 p.m.

Class 5 (Quarterfinals)

Eureka at Jackson, Friday, 7 p.m. Fort Zumwalt

Kaepernick takes control of suspicious NFL workout plan

By Alvin A. Reid

If there is one thing the sports world has learned during the past four years is that Colin Kaepernick is not afraid of controversy and will do things his way. Out of the blue, the NFL contacted Kaepernick’s representatives early last week and said it had arranged for him to work out in front of team representatives on Saturday, Nov. 16. There still remains no explanation why it had to be that day, and Kaepernick said he would oblige – if he could have a bit more time to prepare.

The stage was set for him at the Atlanta Falcons practice facility at Flowery Branch, Georgia, but Kaepernick decided to move the workout to an Atlanta high school and post the show on You Tube. Instead of 25 teams being on hand, just eight had representatives there. Kaepernick proved he can still throw NFL-ready passes and that he is in tremendous shape. The Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, Washington, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans had representatives at the workout. They should be applauded, even if none extend a contract offer to Kaepernick.

“No,” said the NFL. On top of that, the league would not tell Kaepernick and his reps who his receivers would be and it insisted that the entire workout be done in secrecy. Kaepernick’s camp was forbidden from videotaping the event. Kaepernick and Company knew it was a sham.

“I’ve been ready for three years,’” Kaepernick told reporters.

See EYE, B4

Instead of 25 teams being on hand, just eight had representatives there. Colin Kaepernick proved he can still throw NFLready passes and that he is in tremendous shape.

St. Mary’s Dragon’s Gabe Booker(23) holds off two McCluer defenders as Cameron Duncan (33) recovers a fumble during the

4 Dist 2 Championship at McCluer Sat. Nov. 16, 2019. The Dragons would win 14-12. Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American

With Earl Austin Jr.

Of

Of The St. Louis American

Alvin A. Reid

Earl Austin Jr.

Maurice Scott Jr.

EYE

Continued from B3

“I’ve been denied for three years. We all know why I came out here. Showed it today in front of everybody. We have nothing to hide. So, we’re waiting for the 32 owners, 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them, to stop running. Stop running from the truth. Stop running from the people.”

Kaepernick’s agent Jeff Nalley said on ESPN he is “pessimistic” about the chance of Kaepernick being signed.

ESPN’s Vaughn McClure reported that Nalley said “I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit pessimistic because I’ve talked to all 32 teams.

“I’ve reached out to them recently, and none of them have had any interest. I’ll tell you this: No team asked for this workout. The league office asked for this workout.”

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who did not send a representative, said the workout was not about football and called Saturday’s situation “unfortunate.” I’m not sure if he is blaming Kaepernick, the NFL or both.

My guess is that Kaepernick remains unemployed the rest of the season. Come March 1, the debate will begin again. I can’t wait.

The color of money

Colin Kaepernick says he want the NFL to “stop runnin.’

Maybe loudmouth, attention-seeking, click-chasing, self-serving Stephen A. Smith of everything ESPN will quit running his mouth now that he is being called an NFL shill

who turned on Kaepernick to protect is seven-figure annual income.

Smith immediately took the opportunity to trash Kaepernick, saying in an online video post, the black-balled quarterback would rather be a martyr than play again in the NFL, adding that he wanted to “control the narrative.”

“Guess what? It ain’t working this time, Smith said.

“All of us believe that Colin Kaepernick would have showed out, and if he had showed out, I believe he would have had a job inside of two weeks.

“But it didn’t happen, because he didn’t show. He wanted to show up at a high school in Georgia, not an NFL facility and then YouTube it live.”

Smith’s post immediately found its way to conservative websites including FOX News and Breitbart and he then faced a multitude of backlash from the African-American community – and Kaepernick’s close friend and confidant Eric Reid of the Carolina Panthers.

Reid responded on Twitter with a video clip of Daffy Duck tap dancing and said, “Tap dancing for the NFL like (Daffy Duck). Damn straight Colin wants to control the narrative! He supposed to trust the organization that blackballed him and has done absolutely nothing in good faith??? Born on Tuesday, just not last Tuesday.”

He continued saying Smith, NFL player Malcolm Jenkins (who is working with the NFL’s so-called social justice agenda) and Jay-Z “prance around doing the NFL’s bidding to try 2 burry Colin.”

Feeling the heat, Smith countered with another overthe-top response.

“When I spoke about how (Kaepernick’s) points are eradi-

cated, I’m not talking about the kneeling. I’m not talking about the protesting. I’m a black man, you idiots! You think I have a problem with a man that is kneeling and protesting racial oppression and police brutality?” he wrote on Twitter.

By Wednesday, Smith was silent on the Kaepernick affair.

I wonder why.

When I was senior editor at Emerge in Washington, New York Times sports columnist Bill Rhoden also penned a monthly column for the magazine. I was honored to work with him, as he is one of the most respected sports writers –of any race or gender – in the world.

Rhoden now rights for the ESPN website The Undefeated and I agree with his take Kaepernick’s Saturday moves.

“As a young player, Kaepernick beat teams with his arm and his legs. Today at age 32, Kaepernick can win with his mind as well. That is what he did Saturday,” wrote Rhoden.

“That’s what frightens the NFL.” Rhoden asked, “Why would

a man who meticulously constructed the image of a football activist, shunned by the league, validate a sham tryout by participating it?”

If the NFL’s hastily-arranged workout was a publicity stunt, Kaepernick responded with a stunt of his own, one that was far more effective in securing his imprimatur as a man of the people.”

I stand with Bill, not Stephen A.

Baseball skips black managers

Of the eight managerial jobs that were open when the 2019 Major League Baseball season ended, seven have been filled. None has gone to a black man. The Pittsburgh Pirates still have an opening, but no African-American candidates are rumored to have been/will be interviewed.

Gabe Kapler was fired after two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was gifted Bryce Harper in free agency and had a solid lineup

to begin the season. The team flopped in the season’s second half.

Kapler is such an oddball that it’s reported that several of his players detested him.

Phillies owner fired Kapler, regardless of what his general manager and other front office folks had to say. What does that tell you?

Kapler wasn’t unemployed very long. The San Francisco Giants hired him last week to replace future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy – and Giants fans have revolted.

Four years ago, when Kapler was director of the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system, a 17-year-old girl contacted him and said she had been assaulted by two women – and several Dodger minor league players were witnesses. He did nothing.

The girl later accused one of the players of sexual assault. He said he didn’t know and police were never contacted.

Kapler’s introductory press conference was tense and very little was said about baseball.

“I think this is the right time to say that I’m sorry that I didn’t make all the right moves,” Kapler said.

“Everything that I did I acted on from a place of goodness and from my heart and wanting to do the right thing, but I was naive. I was in over my skis and trying to do things on my own when it was very clear that I needed counsel.”

This guy has a job, and the honorable and successful Dusty Baker does not. Think about that for a minute.

The Reid Roundup

Of all weeks, Jay-Z is silent … Leave it to St. Louis’ own Sheldon Richardson to defend Cleveland Browns

East Side

Continued from B3

It must be noted that the Flyers’ defense on Saturday was also on point as well, limiting Richards’ highly touted running- back and Iowa recruit Leshon Williams to 26 yards rushing.

The Flyers were led on defense by University of Missouri recruit Kevon Billingsley with 8 tackles, Derrion “Tank” Perkins with six tackles and Kendrick “Klump” Scarbough with 3 sacks.

The Flyers will host Chatham-Glenwood in the state semifinals. Chatham-Glenwood advanced by whipping Providence Catholic 40-16 last Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. The Titans haven’t played in a state semifinal game since 2010, playing against a program in East St. Louis with a storied tradition that has the most wins in Illinois High football history with eight State Championships.

Chatham is led by quarterback/defensive back Luke Lehnen, who rushed for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns last week against Providence. In addition, he passed for 95 yards and a touchdown. The Titans offense totaled 379 yards against Providence Catholic. However, Titans coach David Hay was bragging about his defense last Saturday afternoon in Chicago.

teammate Myles Garrett for bashing Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in the head with Rudolph’s own helmet during a melee last week. “He was defending himself,” said Richardson … Former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is now a special assistant in baseball operations for the Los Angeles Angels. He’s back with Albert Pujols and working for former Cubs skipper Joe Maddon Suddenly, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is front-runner for NFL MVP … Syracuse students protested racist graffiti on a dormitory wall, compelling basketball coach Jim Boeheim to say during a postgame press conference, “We’ve been through a lot of situations here in 57 years (as a player and coach), and I think we’re very committed to something like that not happening at Syracuse University.” … Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford is “sick and tired of death threats” he received via social media after his team’s loss to Minnesota. Imagine how bad it would be if he was black … Chick-fil-A has axed donations to not-for-profit groups that campaign against gay marriage. Among them is Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which hosts youth sports camps at several HBCUs.

Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest and is a New York Times contributor. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and appears monthly on “The Dave Glover Show” on 97.1 Talk.” His Twitter handle is @ aareid1.

“If you’re going to win a quarterfinal football game on the road, you’ve got to be the most physical team and that’s what we asked them to do,” Hay said. It will be interesting to see what kind of pep talk he has in store this weekend when his team visits the highly touted Flyers in the “House of Pain” this Saturday. The way East St. Louis is clicking on all cylinders right now, I don’t think it’s going to be a problem at all for Darren Sunkett’s Flyers.

Scott’s Prediction: East St. Louis continues to roll.

East St. Louis 52-Chatham Glenwood 14

Flyer fans will be eating Thanksgiving desert in DeKalb, Illinois next weekend.

Scott’s Notes:

More than 5,000 people are expected for Saturday’s semifinal game against Chatham Glenwood. The IHSA has jurisdiction during the State playoffs and sets ticket prices. Tickets will be $8 and will be sold the day of the game.

* Congratulations are in order for Coach Melanie Davis and the East St. Louis Flyers Girls Volleyball team who won a Regional Championship a couple of weeks ago.

Gabe Kapler

in The cLuTch With Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Melo returns

Kaepernick’s comeback too good to be true

Just weeks ago, it seemed like Carmelo Anthony’s NBA career was over. Anthony hadn’t played a game since Nov. 8, 2018. It seemed that the modern NBA had passed him by. Not many people doubted that Anthony could still get buckets. The question was always whether his liabilities and attitude outweighed his offense.

After a disappointing 5-9 start, the Portland Trail Blazers decided to roll the dice. The team signed Anthony to a one-year, $2.15M non-guaranteed contract. Anthony made his debut Tuesday night versus the New Orleans Pelicans.

In his first appearance in more than a year, Anthony scored 10 points, on 4-14 shooting, and four rebounds. He also added one block, five turnovers and five fouls. After his extended time off, Anthony cannot be blamed for being a tad rusty. The real question is whether he can still be effective in today’s NBA.

teammates and hampered his success.

Still, neither of those is the real reason why Anthony’s game has been passed over by the modern NBA. Melo is no longer an elite NBA player because of his passing – or lack thereof.

Think about it. We are in the midst of an era where gunners are flourishing all around the league. However, Anthony’s game lacks two key components that he must possess to be effective – passing ability and pace. Iso ball is not extinct. In fact, players like James Harden, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James were among the league leaders in shot attempts last season. They also were amongst the assist leaders.

Harden, Westbrook and James can each get to the basket almost anytime they want. However, when they meet double and triple teams, they know how to find the open shooters.

in his 16th season, it’s largely because his extraordinary passing ability compliments his scoring prowess.

Anthony often slows the offense to a halt when he gets the ball. He dribbles and dribbles and dribbles until everybody else stops moving and waits for him to put up a shot. Today’s NBA is fluid and fast. Anthony will have to change his game if he does not want this season to be his last.

Too good to be true

I recently had a conversation with some bona fide “Melo Stans” who argued that he is still a “killer” and could average 25+ points in the right situation. I could hardly contain my laughter.

Anthony is undoubtedly a future Hall of Famer but his days as an elite player are well behind him for a few reasons. It’s no secret that Anthony’s defense is porous. It’s also well-known that Anthony’s ego has sometimes clashed with his

In 78 games with the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2017-18, Anthony averaged just 1.3 assists per game. In 10 games with the Houston Rockets last season, that number dropped to 0.5 assists per game.

For Anthony to remain in the NBA, he’ll have to learn to share the ball more. Yes, the Blazers brought in Anthony to bolster its scoring. But when you look at why James, who was drafted in the same class as Anthony, can be so successful

Last week, I wrote about Colin Kaepernick’s then-upcoming and unexpected opportunity to work out for NFL teams. The NFL’s offer came out the blue. I noted the NFL’s pettiness in regards to some of the terms of putting the workout together. Still, I honestly believed the workout would happen, Kaepernick would prove that he still can play and his NFL career would resume happily ever after. How naïve of me? One would have thought I would have learned better than to trust the NFL, even cautiously, after watching the league lie, cheat and steal to pave the way for the Rams to return to Los Angeles. The fairy tale ending Kaepernick deserves may only come to light on Disney+. By now, you most likely know that Kaepernick’s NFL-sanctioned workout was scrapped. After being unable to agree to terms, such as media presence, who would be allowed to film and the language in the player waiver, Kaepernick called an audible

have allowed him to sign the waiver, as written, it should have been considered “malpractice.”

“When you are talking about this waiver, you are asking Colin Kaepernick to give up everything, and I think that when you go into a negotiation you are not expected to give up all your rights,” Bryant said on ESPN’s First Take

and hosted his own workout an hour away. You can read more about the breakdown in my colleague Alvin Reid’s column. Let’s focus on the waiver, which was likely the biggest reason Kaepernick chose to ease on down the road. In a release expressing it’s extreme disappointment in Kaepernick (imagine that), the NFL stated that waiver sent to Kaepernick’s team was “a standard liability waiver based on the waiver used by National Invitational Camp at all NFL Combines and by NFL clubs when trying out free agent players.”

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports pointed out that the words “based on” in the league’s statement, were not placed there coincidentally. Robinson and many media outlets have described the waiver that the NFL demanded Kaepernick sign as a “Trojan horse.”

Why? The waiver contained several clauses that would have taken away Kaepernick’s rights to litigation for any past, present or future wrongdoings.

Attorney and ESPN contributor Howard Bryant stated that if Kaepernick’s attorneys would

Remember, though Kaepernick’s settlement with the NFL is well-known, The Root’s Michael Harriot pointed out that it was the result of grievance arbitration not an actual lawsuit in a court of law.

So it appears that the only way the benevolent brass of the NFL would allow Kaepernick to even try out, was if he signed away all of his employment rights.

That is why Kaepernick wore the Kunte Kinte shirt before the workout. Like he often did on the field with the 49ers, Kaepernick had the vision to see the blitz coming, rolled out of the pocket and connected down the field.

If Kaepernick never plays in the NFL again, it won’t be because he doesn’t have the skills. He proved in his workout that his arm is still legit. It will be because he is too smart, too woke and too revolutionary for the massas in the NFL.

Remember, it was former Houston Texas owner (now deceased) Bob McNair who said the NFL couldn’t “have the inmates running the prison.” McNair may have passed away in 2018, but it’s clear that his sentiments are still alive and well in the NFL.

Heavyweight showdown

Saturday night (Nov. 23), WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder will put his title on the line against Luis Ortiz. The bout is a rematch of a March 2018 bout that saw Wilder (41-0-1, 40 KO) hand Ortiz the first and only loss of his career.

The 40-year-old Ortiz (31-10, 26 KO) is hoping to avenge his prior loss and spoil Wilder’s plans for a high-profile rematch with Tyson Fury in 2020. An upset victory isn’t out of the question for Ortiz considering that the Cuban fighter is widely considered the more technically-skilled fighter. He also proved that he could hurt Wilder during the first fight by putting him on unsteady legs during Round 7. The problem is the sleep-inducing right hand possessed by the 34-year-old “Bronze Bomber.” Thus far, Wilder has proven too strong and powerful for most opponents to handle. He always shows up in immaculate shape. Even when Wilder has been hurt, he’s shown the stamina and will to survive. He has also shown an innate ability to make his opponent’s go night-night.

Like his rematch with Bermaine Stiverne, the first man to last a full 12 rounds with Wilder, I expect the rematch to be a little easier for the champ. No, he won’t knock Ortiz out in the first round. But at 40-years-old, expect Ortiz to look a little older, slower and more vulnerable. Therefore, I’m picking Deontay Wilder to defend his title via 5th round KO

Be sure to check In the Clutch online and also follow Ishmael on Twitter @ishcreates.

AmericAn

PreP AThLeTe of The Week

Darrius Jackson

Roosevelt - Football

Devin Willis

Mascoutah - Football

The senior standout receiver enjoyed a big performance in the Roughriders’ 48-43 victory over Borgia in the Class 3, District 2 championship. Jackson had 284 yards of total offense and scored four touchdowns in the victory. He caught five passes for 205 yards and scored three touchdowns of 51, 52 and 19 yards. He also rushed for 69 yards and scored on a 69-yard touchdown run. For the season, Jackson has 785 yards receiving and 243 yards rushing while scoring 14 touchdowns. On defense, he also has a team-high five interceptions. Roosevelt (11-1) will visit Kennett in the Class 3 state quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Carmelo Anthony

Dasha Kennedy presents GirlPreneur Expo at Vashon High School

n Participating business owners collectively brought in $30,000 in revenue at the Spring GirlPreneur Expo.

sales. Participating business owners collectively brought in $30,000 in revenue at the Spring GirlPreneur Expo with 850 millennial business owners, community members and influencers attending. The event also will provide a one-day internship to high achieving scholars interested in entrepreneurship. Students will be strategically placed with a female entrepreneur who is currently operating a business in their desired industry. Kennedy is a financial coach, author, and creator

of The Broke Black Girl, an online community of over 60,000 members, with a mission to connect, educate and empower minority women to achieve financial wellness. Kennedy used her experience as a double minority in the finance industry to fill in the gap for women of color who are often overlooked by traditional financial institutions. Kennedy said she “plans to dismantle the wealth and racial gap one social media user at a time.”

Nov. 29 deadline to apply for Food Desert Matching Grants

Those wishing to apply for grants of up to $25,000 to provide food in a local food desert have until November 29 to apply. Applicants must provide a minimum match of 25 percent of the grant in either a cash or in-kind contribution, and more than 50 percent of that 25 percent match must be in cash.

The funds from this competitive grant program may be used to increase food production and availability within a food-insecure area, demonstrate growth of local economic communities, increase local economic impact, and increase the availability of food to local residents. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a food desert using low-income and low-access thresholds: a poverty rate of 20 percent or greater, or a median family income at or below 80 percent of the statewide or metropolitan area median family income; in an urban setting, at least 500 people and/or at least 33 percent of a population residing more than a half mile from a supermarket; or low-income census tract where at least 100 households are more than a half mile from a supermarket and have no access to a

vehicle

“Not every Missourian has access to fresh, healthy groceries at an affordable price, but with this new program, we as a state are making a real commitment to ensuring that high-quality produce is more readily available to all in our community,” said Rep. Tommie Pierson Jr., a member of the House Budget Committee.

Apply for a Food Desert Agriculture Matching Grant by November 29 at agriculture. mo.gov/abd/financial/ food-desert.php. For more information, call Pierson’s office at 573-751-6845.

Financial Focus

By Ana Stringfellow

Dasha Kennedy

Woke jazz

Terence

Terence Blanchard’s

E-Collective plays the Bistro this weekend

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

When six-time Grammy winning jazz artist and Oscar nominated composer Terence Blanchard recruited the group of musicians for his E-Collective, using their music as a creative response to social injustice wasn’t top of mind. His art had informed the traumatic experiences of his people before – both in history and real time – with the scoring of Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” “4 Little Girls” and “When The Levees Broke.”

n Using his music as a rallying cry for social justice was a lesson Blanchard learned while in Europe many years ago.

But E-Collective was created to show the current generation of musicians in the digital age the importance of theory and playing at the top of their craft. As they played in Europe, unarmed teen Michael Brown was gunned down right here in Ferguson. Eric Garner was choked to death by New York Police a few days before. With the Black Lives Matter movement in full swing, Blanchard had to use his music to frame the moment. Their first record, a live album – named “Breathless” to commemorate the haunting final three words of Eric Garner, “I can’t breathe” – said it all. Blanchard, who has become an adopted son of sorts for St. Louis because of his groundbreaking work at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and his E-Collective will be the guest of Jazz St. Louis for a special engagement from November 20 – 24 at Ferring Jazz Bistro, sponsored by Noémi and Michael Neidorff. Using his music as a rallying cry for social justice was a lesson Blanchard learned while in Europe many years ago, long before the E-Collective was conceived.

He was a young trumpeter with jazz legend Art Blakey playing in Italy for a jazz festival. During his stay, David Chertok, a famed collector of jazz on film, would screen footage in an old opera house during lunchtime. Blanchard made it his business to attend. “This was before the internet,” Blanchard laughed.

He was sitting in a booth by himself when a clip of John Coltrane playing “Alabama” came across the screen. “I cried like a baby,” Blanchard said. “You could just hear his pain about what had happened to those four beautiful little girls. I said, ‘Wow, he’s not forgetting what’s going on in his community. He’s still a human being even though he’s a great musician.’ That kind of sparked a change in me.’” He began to see music a language that amplified the feelings of pain as a result of systemic injustice felt by those that many have chosen to ignore.

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged Blanchard’s native New Orleans, using his music to convey the pain of a people became a deeply personal expe-

See Jazz, C4

A wonderful abbreviation

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Not even the Hallmark Channel’s lock on the holiday movie lane with the steady flow of new films can keep Frank Capra’s Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” out of rotation each year.

St. Louis stage audiences who love the film have a special treat available to them thanks to Metro Theater Company’s staging of an abbreviated adaptation of the film with an added twist by St. Louis playwright John Wolbers. Metro Theater Company caters to youth, which puts them in a unique position of telling the story – adding new elements that pay homage to the good old days while being mindful of the attention span of their target audience.

It is a challenge they handle with ease, thanks to Wolbers. With the adaptation he conveys the heart and soul of a 2-hour, 15-minute film in 50 minutes on stage. It’s a talent that cannot be overstated.

And without shaving away from the story, Wolbers adds the drama within a drama to further drive the message of the movie and the spirit of the season. As opposed to an update that is mindful of a generation that has had the luxury of advanced

Blues you can use

Black abstract art matters

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

represented in this exhibition,” said

Photo by Wiley Price/St. Louis American

Blanchard featuring the E-Collective will play a special group of shows through November 24, sponsored by Noémi & Michael Neidorff.

New author Elson Williams III

Alexis Assam, 2018-2019 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow and co-curator of “The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection” just ahead of the exhibition’s opening at Saint Louis Art Museum back in September. A tour led by Assam and exhibition co-curator Gretchen L. Wagner, Andrew W. Mellon

Art,

Alicia Revé Like, Abraham Shaw and Mindy Shaw in Metro Theater Company’s presentation of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The play continues through December 15 at The Grandel Theatre.

Photo by Jennifer A. Lin

Marsha Evans and The Coalition brought the house down while providing a night cap for the St. Louis Association of Community Organizations (also known as SLACO) Blues Off Grand presented in partnership with the St. Louis Blues Society and the National Blues Museum on Saturday, November at The Grandel Theatre. Roland Johnson, Ms. HY-C, Renee Smith and Gene Jackson were among the evening’s many featured performers.

Photo by V. Lang

Alexis Assam, Saint Louis Art Museum’s 2018-2019 Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow and co-curator of “The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection,” discussing a work from the exhibit just ahead of the opening back in September.

Photo by Wiley Price/ St. Louis American

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.

holiday haps

Thur., Nov. 21, 5:30 p.m., Operation Food Search’s Holiday Rap ‘N Pack. Volunteers will enjoy upbeat music, appetizers, and adult beverages while helping sort supplies. 1644 Lotsie Blvd., 63132. For more information, visit www. operationfoodsearch.org.

Thurs., Nov. 21, 6 p.m., State Representative Steve Roberts of Missouri’s 77th District Second Annual Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway. Twohundred turkeys will be given away on a first-come first serve basis. YeatmanLiddle School located at 4265 Athlone Ave, St. Louis, MO 63115.

Through Nov. 21, Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker: Gift of Christmas Tour. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. fabulousfox.com.

Tues., Nov. 26, Fox Theatre presents The Hip Hop Nutcracker. Performed by a supercharged cast of a dozen all-star dancers, a DJ, a violinist, and MC Kurtis Blow. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.fabulousfox.com.

Tues., Nov. 26, 1 p.m., Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc.’s Annual Turkey Giveaway. Must bring picture ID, proof of income, proof of residence, and social security cards for household. Pickup sites at 935 N. Vandeventer, 63108; 8960 Jennings St. Rd., 63136; and 6755 State St., East St. Louis, IL., 62203. For more information, call (314) 6153600.

Thur., Nov. 28, 8:45 a.m., Ameren Thanksgiving Day Parade. 20th Street and Market Street, 63103. For more information, visit www. christmasinstlouis.com.

Fri., Nov. 29, 12 p.m., Black Owned Black Friday/Pop Up Market. Vendors include Sow Tea Company, Neo Zoe, All Props Deserved, Hop Shop, Butter Love by LC, and more. Cherokee St., 63118. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Nov. 29 – 30, Cirque Dreams Holidaze. The Fabulous Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand. www. fabulousfox.com.

Sat., Nov. 30, 7 p.m., 7th Annual Holiday Toy Drive. Hosted by Stephen Gray. Performance by Kenny Black, with special guests BJ the DJ & DJ D-Nice. Proceeds benefit the Alton Housing Authority & The Catholic Children’s Home. KC Hall, 405 E. 4th St., Alton, IL. 62002. For more information, visit www. purplepass.com.

Sat., Nov. 30, 8 p.m., Urban Vibe Entertainment presents the Thanksgiving Soul Jam feat. The Whispers, The Dramatics, Enchantment, Bloodstone and Blue Magic. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www. stifeltheatre.com.

Sun., Dec. 1, 5 p.m., Northern Lights Festival. Parade, carriage rides, holiday vendors, food, and more. Ferguson Citywalk, 501 S. Florissant Rd., 63135. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Wed., Dec. 4, 6 p.m., Disney Junior Holiday Party. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www.stifeltheatre.com.

Dec. 4 – 5, COCA presents a Joyful Vocal Concert Celebrate the holidays with a festive repertoire of musical theatre, from COCA’s vocal companies, Allegro & Adagio. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www. cocastl.org.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

Wed., Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m., Big Band Holidays: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For mor information, visit www.slso.org.

Sat., Dec. 7, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., Free Holiday Photo with Santa! Come meet Santa, enjoy some holiday refreshments, and enter to win a shopping gift card. Northwest HealthCare, Entrance B, 1225 Graham Rd., Florissant, MO 63031. To register for this free event, please call 314-747-WELL (9355) or register online at ChristianHospital.org/Santa.

Sun., Dec. 8, 8 p.m., Smino’s Kribmas Concert, The Pageant, 6161 Delmar. For more information, visit thepageant.com.

Mon., Dec. 9, A Very Postmodern Christmas starring Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, The Pageant, 6161 Delmar. For more information, visit thepageant.com.

Dec. 13 – 15, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra presents Mercy Holiday Celebration. Powell Hall, 718 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For

more information, visit www. slso.org.

Sun., Dec. 15, 2:30 p.m., Saint Louis Ballet presents The Nutcracker, proceeds to benefit Foundry Art Centre, Sheidegger Center For Performing Arts, Lindenwood University. For more information, visit www. foundreyartcentre.oerg/saintlouis-ballet

Tues., Dec. 17, 6 p.m., Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club Annual Kwanzaa Expo featuring an arts festival and poetry focusing on the “’1619’ Slavery Project.” Cafeteria of Building B, at the SIUE-East St. Louis Higher EducationCenter, 601 J. R. Thompson Drive, EStL, IL 62201. For more information about the EBR Writers Club, contact SIUE English Dept.: (618) 650-3991, email eredmon@siue.edu, or write EBRWC, P.O. Box 6165, EStL, IL 62201.

Thurs., Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus presents A Gospel Christmas starring Kennedy Holmes, Powell Hall. For more information, visit www.slso.org.

Fri., Dec. 20 – Sat., Dec. 21, 8 p.m., 11th Annual Holiday

Smino’s Kribmas Concert. See HOLIDAY HAPS for details.

Bass-Trava-Ganza, Delmar Hall, 6133 Delmar. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

concerts

Through November 24, Jazz

St. Louis welcomes Terence Blanchard Featuring the E-Collective, Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.jazzstl.org.

Sun., Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m., Urban Vibe Entertainment presents An Evening of Soul feat. Anthony Hamilton, Eric Benet, and Vivian Green. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www. stifeltheatre.com.

Dec. 4 – 8, Jazz at the Bistro presents Alicia Olatuja. Jazz St. Louis, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.jazzstl. org.

Sun., Dec. 22, 7 p.m. Ginuwine Live at Ballpark Village, Midwest Live Stage. For more information or tickets, visit https:// www.facebook.com/ events/2374869879289539/

local gigs

Sat., Nov. 23, 8 p.m., The True Facts of Life As Revealed by the Blues starring Uvee Hayes, Blue Strawberry, a new music venue at 364 N. Boyle in the CWE. Tickets and dinner reservations at bluestrawberrystl.com, or 314-256-1745.

Sat., Nov. 30, 8 p.m., A Smooth Evening with Jeanette Harris and Althea Rene. The Queens of Soul Jazz. Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information,

visit www.metrotix.com.

Dec. 10 – 11, Sheldon’s Coffee Concert Series feat. Charles Glenn. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sun., Dec. 15, 6 p.m., Ntegrity Presentz: Ty Brasel, 1kPhew, Torey D’Shaun & Ntegrity Music. .Zack, 3224 Locust St., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

special events

Thurs., Nov. 21, 11 a.m., World Wide Technology and the Steward Family Foundation present The St. Louis American Foundation’s 20th Annual Salute to Excellence in Business, Hilton St. Louis Frontenac. For more information, visit www. stlamerican.com or call (314) 533-8000.

Fri., Nov. 22, 6 p.m., Show Me Classic. Lincoln vs. Harris Stowe, and a battle of the bands. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. hssu.edu/showmeclassic.

Sat., Nov. 23, 1 p.m., The Girlpreneur Expo. Students will gain hands-on experience with operating a business, coordinating and operating an event, customer service and social skills, and more. 3035 Cass Ave., 63106. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Nov. 23, 6:15 p.m., Maryville University presents The Musial Awards. Stifel Theatre, 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit www.musialawards.com.

Tues., Nov. 26, 6 p.m., Generation Next presents HBCU Experience Tour 2020 – Skate Night Fundraiser Proceeds benefit the HBCU bus tour. Skate King, 2700 Kienlen Ave., 63121. For more information, visit www. shalomccop.org.

Sat., Nov. 30, 4 p.m., Grambling State University National Alumni Association STL Chapter’s 3rd Annual Bayou Classic Watch Party, Show Me’s in Florissant, 1792 N. New Florissant.

Mon., Dec. 2, 8 a.m., December 2019 Metro Reduced Fare Bus Passes. SLAAA will distribute Metro Passes to St. Louis City Residents 65 years and older. St. Louis Area Agency on Aging. 1520 Market St., 63103. For more information, call (314) 612-5918.

Tues., Dec. 3, 11 a.m., National Career Fairs presents St. Louis Career Fair Live Recruiting/Hiring Event. Doubletree Hotel Westport, 1973 Craigshire Rd., 63146. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Fri., Dec., 6, 12 p.m., St.

Louis County Library presents a Small Business/ Non-Profit Expo. Library

Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, visit www. slcl.org

Dec. 14, 6 p.m., 100 Black Men of Metropolitan St. Louis Inc. presents Winter Royale Fundraiser and Black Tie Gala, Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel, 800 Washington Ave. For more information, call (314) 367-7778 or visit www.100blackmenstl.com.

Saturdays, 8 a.m., The Ferguson Farmers Market Plaza at 501, 501 S. Florissant Rd., 63135. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

art

Fri., Nov. 29, 7 p.m., SLAM Underground, St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Dr., 63110. For more information, visit www.slam.org.

Sat., Nov. 30, 2 p.m., Abstract Art by Black Artists: A Collector’s Journey. Art collector Ronald Ollie will discuss his influences and the individuals who have inspired him. St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Dr., 63110. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Through Dec. 29, Art St. Louis presents Art St. Louis XXXV, The Exhibition. Featuring 52 artworks in all media, themes, subjects, techniques, and styles by 52 artists from Missouri, Illinois & Indiana. 1223 Pine St., 63013. For more information, visit www.artstlouis.org.

comedy

Nov. 22 – 23, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., Helium Comedy Club presents Michael Blackson. 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117.

Kenya Vaughn recommends

Sun., Nov. 24, 7 p.m., Rockhouse Ent. & Drip Ent. present Love & Laughter Holiday Comedy Explosion starring Jess Hilarious. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Dec. 5 – 7, Helium Comedy Club presents Godfrey. 1151 St. Louis Galleria St., 63117.

theatre

Through November 24, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Feeding Beatrice, Loretto-Hilton, 130 Edgar Rd. Tickets are

available at www.repstl.org or by calling The Rep Box Office at 314-968-4925.

Dec. 5 – Dec. 29, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, LorettoHilton, 130 Edgar Rd. Tickets are available at www.repstl. org or by calling The Rep Box Office at 314-968-4925.

Through December 15, Metro Theater Company presents It’s A Wonderful Life, The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square, St. Louis, MO 63108. Tickets are available now at 314-534-1111 or www.metrotix.com. For more information, visit www.

metroplays.org.

lectures and workshops

Thur., Nov. 21, 6:30 p.m., The New Negro: From the Combat Battlefields of France to the Urban Battlefields of St. Louis: The Colored Soldier and His African American Community of World War I. Maplewood Public Library, 7550 Lohmeyer, 63143. For more information, visit www. maplewoodpubliclibrary.com. Mon., Nov. 25, 6:30 p.m.,

St. Louis County Library presents Taxes & The IRS. The Foundation for Financial Education discusses where our taxes go, taxfree savings, and more. Registration recommended. Prairie Commons Branch, 915 Utz Ln., 63042. For more information, visit www.slcl. org.

Thur., Nov. 28, 7 p.m., John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics presents When Islam Is Not A Religion: Inside America’s Fight for Religious Freedom. A lecture by Asma Uddin, followed by a panel discussion. Knight Hall, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr.,

63130. For more information, call (314) 935-9345 or visit www.rap.wustl.edu.

Tuesdays in November, St. Louis Public Library presents Ready Resumes 1301 Olive St., 63103. For more information, visit www. slpl.org.

Thur., Dec. 5, 6 p.m., SWAT & Militarization of the Police. Come hear Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing. Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being, 1000 N. Vandeventer Ave., 63113. For more information, visit www. facebook.com.

Thur., Nov. 28, 7 p.m., John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics presents When Islam Is Not A Religion: Inside America’s Fight for Religious Freedom. A lecture by Asma Uddin, followed by a panel discussion. Knight Hall, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, call (314) 935-9345 or visit www.rap.wustl.edu.

health

Thurs., Nov. 21, 6 p.m., Harris-Stowe State University hosts a Mental Health Forum The Impact of Violence On Children: From The Bottom Up and Inside Out, Emerson Performance Center, 3026 Laclede. Through November 22, Washington University presents the 5th Annual Global Health Week. RSVP for all events. For more information or to register, visit www.eventbrite.com.

spiritual

Sun., Nov. 24, 10 a.m., Newstead Avenue Missionary Baptist Church’s Family and Friends Day. Elder Richard L. Pearson, Sr., Pastor. 4370 North Market St., 63113. For more information, call (314) 371-4436.

Jazz at the Bistro welcomes Terence Blanchard Featuring the E-Collective. For more information, see CONCERTS.

Fellow for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, provided scale for the massive gift that is the Thelma and Bert Ollie Memorial Collection. More than 40 abstract paintings, drawings and prints by black artists take up three rooms within the Museum. The exhibit represents just about half of the 81 works of art, educational material and related memorabilia that New Jersey-based collector and St. Louis native Ronald Maurice Ollie and his wife, Monique McRipley Ollie, gifted to the institution in honor of Ronald Ollie’s parents back in 2017.

Ronald Ollie will be on hand to discuss his journey into learning about the work of black abstract artists and building a collection in a talk entitled “Abstract Art By Black Artists: A Collector’s Journey,” at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 30 at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

“What’s so beautiful about Ron’s relationship to these works is that Ron recognized who the mentors were among these five generations,” Wagner said. “This is a story of artists passing along knowledge and friendships from one generation to the next. Ron was brought into the studios of many of these individuals and they taught him how to look at art and how to collect it. These artists were doing that with him, and they were doing that with each other.”

After an introduction to art advisor Joan Allen in New York and her Arts Alliance many years ago, Ron Ollie would accompany her on studio visits and art auctions.

The connection further fueled the lifelong appreciation of the visual arts, sparked by his parents who exposed him to works by black abstract artists. He learned about Herbert Gentry, Ed Clark, Al Loving and others. He immersed himself into learning everything he possibly could about the artists responsible for the type of art he was drawn to collect. The rich encyclopedia of research materials became a collection in their own right – and are also included in the collection and showcased in the exhibit, which runs through March 2020.

 To go to abstraction as a black artist was very meaningful. Abstractionists were more interested in representing the modes of abstraction.”

- Alexis Assam, Saint Louis Art Museum’s 2018-2019

Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellow

“He began collecting art books before he began acquiring art,” Wagner said. “Just as with many people – you are interested, so you want to learn more. Throughout this entire journey, he’s built up a library. And generously gave that to the museum as part of his gift. He continues to send us things.”

Wagner said that she and Assam knew that the exhibition would be a great opportunity to include some of those educational items and collector companion material Ronald Ollie picked up along the way.

“They are aesthetic objects

in their own right,” Wagner said. “But if we don’t have this, we don’t necessarily know the historical significance where different individuals fit into the larger fabric of the abstract art movement.”

The exhibition also gives context to the unique position of the black visual artists who made the decision to concentrate on abstract art.

“In the long trajectory of African Art, abstraction has a very important place,” Assam said.

She pointed out that abstract art within the black community in the 1960s and the time of black power and the black arts movement was a tense topic because many leaders thought that black artists should be making work that reflected and uplifted the African American community through figurative representation.

“This was the type of representation of people that others would be able to recognize,” Assam said. “[But]

To go to abstraction as a black artist was very meaningful. Abstractionists were more interested in representing the modes of abstraction.”

Pieces within the exhibition express that conflict, and in some cases, the compromise – as well as give a reflection of the talented artists that represented for their community through the work and contributed to the abstraction movement as a whole.

“A lot of these artists weren’t isolated from some of the mainstream abstract artists,” Wagner said. “They were working alongside them and talking and exchanging ideas.”

Ron Ollie will discuss his experiences learning about and collecting what ultimately became the Thelma and Bert Ollie Memorial Collection during the talk entitled “Abstract Art by Black Artists: A Collector’s Journey” at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 30 at The Saint Louis Art Museum. “The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection” will be on display through March 2020. For more information, call (314) 7210072.

technology for their entire life, Metro’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” goes completely analog to illustrate the power and importance of human connection and community around the holidays.

Set in a fictional radio station in the 1940s – at a time before television mass production, let alone cell phones – a team of radio station employees, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, must be extremely resourceful and fearless as they attempt to continue the station’s annual broadcast of the reading of “It’s a Wonderful Life” before a live studio audience. An unlikely ensemble lends their voices to make for one of the most special readings.

In Metro’s presentation of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” African American actors Abraham Shaw and Alicia Reve Like pair up as George Bailey and his dutiful wife Mary.

As the story goes, after a lifetime of putting the needs of others above desires for his own life, it puts George in a dark place just ahead of the holidays. The help of a guardian angel helps him see life as the gift that it is and that none of his sacrifices for the greater good of his community of Bedford Falls – a fictional city representing small town USA –are in vain.

The cast ensemble of actors

that also include Carl Overly Jr., Chris E. Ware, Roxane McWilliams, Nicole Angeli and Mindy Shaw, are a wellmeshed machine. Through chemistry and talent they effectively convey the story as well as give viewers insight as far as the lengths entertainers went to engage with audiences in an analog world – and how patrons had no choice but to use their imaginations to engage in the art that was presented to them.

The direction by Metro Theater’s artistic director Julia Flood gives the play a pace that squeezes in both storylines without leaving the viewer’s head spinning. That is no small feat when considering the minutes she’s given to work with.

Scenic designer Jamie Perkins and costume designer Lou Bird create charming visual elements that speak directly to the

era – particularly the black and white tile of the KMTC sound stage, the double-breasted suit worn by Carl Overly’s Chester Collins character and each of the women’s ensembles that effectively reflect their respective stations in life. Through the performances and the production value, St. Louis audiences will be gifted with a nostalgic experience that – like the film that inspired it –ushers all who see it heart first into the holiday spirit. Metro Theater Company’s production of “It’s a Wonderful Life” continues through December 15 at The Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. For a full schedule or to purchase tickets, call 314-5341111 or visit www.metrotix. com. For more information on Metro Theater Company, visit metroplays.org or call (314) 932-7414.

rience. “It hit a tipping point with Katrina, where I had to make a statement,” Blanchard said. “I had done the Malcolm X jazz suite, but Katrina was one of the things that helped tip it over the edge for me.” His longtime collaborative partner Spike Lee was working on a film to document the hurricane’s tragic devastation on the city as Blanchard was creating the score for Lee’s film “Inside Man.” Blanchard was working from an apartment in Los Angeles when Katrina hit. He was unable to reach his

as the composer of the score. Normally he meets with Spike Lee in New York. But Lee came to Los Angeles to request that Blanchard and his mother be a part of the film. “He came to L.A. and he asked my mom ‘Have you been to your home yet?’”

He then asked if Blanchard and his mother would allow his crew to film them as they see their home for the first time in the wake of Katrina.

“Yes,” Blanchard’s mother said without flinching. “People need to see what we are going through.” The world saw her unfiltered reaction as they arrived and saw the top-to-bottom water damage even before they opened the front door. “To see the pain on her face was one of the worst things,” Blanchard said. “Spike couldn’t even come in the house.”

The authentic moment of pain conveyed by the film –and Blanchard’s experience

as a subject and through his music forth the film – falls in line with the intention of the E-Collective.

After touring with the message in the music of “Breathless,” Blanchard simply could not put consciousness on the back burner in his music.

“I think it’s more of me being a part of a collective movement,” Blanchard said. “Because of all these events – events that are still happening every day – we are talking about criminal justice, criminal justice reform and social justice. My hope is that E-Collective does its part to keep those conversations

Photo by Jennifer A. Lin

Abraham Shaw and Carl Overly, Jr. in Metro Theater Company’s production of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Celebrations

Birthdays

To our mother, Deborah Howell—every year we crown you with the “Best Mother of the Year” award. There is no one who can come even closer to your winning ways. Congratulations on your retirement and Happy Birthday on November 19 to our great mom!

Reunions

Beaumont Class of 1970 is planning its 50-year reunion! We want to reach as many classmates as possible, so please share this info with other class of ‘70 alumni. Please email your current contact info to: Beaumontclassof1970@gmail. com.

Central High School Class of 1970 is in the process of planning its 50 year reunion in 2020. We are trying to

locate former classmates. If you would like to receive additional information as we plan this momentous occasion, please provide your contact information to either Lillian McKinney at mamajoyce314@ icloud.com or (314) 335-9760, Eric Armstrong at elarmstr@ yahoo.com or (918) 6503385, Sabra Morris-Pernod at Saboots@centurytel.net or (314) 703-0812.

Sumner Class of 1976

Annual Christmas Party, Friday, December 21, 2018, 7pm at DEJAVU II Cafe, 2805 Target Dr., St. Louis, MO 63136. 2 for 1 Drink Specials (5:30-7:30pm), free parking, band performs from 7:30-9:30pm. No cover charge; classmates and guest each pays $5 for the catered food served during intermission, whether you partake of it or not. Limited reserved seating available until 10pm. Doors open 5pm/close 1am. For

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

St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315 Pine

more info, call B. Louis at 314.385.9843.

Vashon High School Class of 1974 is planning for its 45th reunion. We are in the process of rounding up all classmates. To provide or update your contact information, please email ljbady@gmail.com or contact: Joe Verrie Johnson 314-640-5842, Jordan Perry 314-724-4563, or LaVerne James-Bady 314-382-0890.

Happy 100th Birthday to Essie Holly! Mrs. Holly was born November 25, 1919 in Dublin Georgia. Her parents were Cora and David Cobb, and she is the mother of Hatsephi Kushma and Bakha Malik. She has been a faithful member of Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church for 71 years, where she has served as a deaconess, member of several choirs, and is a current member of the Mother’s Board. Essie Holly was also featured in the documentary From Jim Crow to Barak Obama. She plans to celebrate at a party in her honor at the Northside Community Center on November 21.

Happy 86th Birthday to our beautiful mother, Joan A. Holman, on November 20. Love, Victoria, Karen, Noble and Lemartt. Enjoy your day!

9.

Welcome to the Brian McKnight gun show. If I’m being fully transparent, I was really torn on whether or not I felt like taking that drive down 55 South to see Brian McKnight and his crew of musicians were going to do on stage at River City Casino –especially after En Vogue’s homogenized performance there a couple of months back that would have lowkey been a waste of gas had it not been for Rochelle “Coco Soul”

Walker’s surprise performance in the club area of the casino. But I didn’t go for myself.

I knew as a person enlisted to beat these streets in the name of entertainment that y’all would be aching to know if he is still looking good and sounding good – even though he always is and does. Wednesday night was no different – well, there was the whole thing of him exposing his arm meat for all of his lusting fans. And those arms don’t look too shabby – even though I can’t say that his sleeveless hoodie blouse item was Delores Shante approved. But I’m so happy he seems to be over his dad jeans phase that I gave him a pass for what he had going on up top. And I was so caught up in the performance that I forgot about the Larry The Cable Guy inspired design. He billed the show as the Brian McKnight 4 because he had a trio of musicians backing him, but he was a one man band on the low with his keys and guitar game. I feel like I’ve come to know what to expect from a Brian McKnight performance, but he tossed in some surprise tributes and covers. I certainly wasn’t expecting covers of Sting, Prince and Whitney Houston! He put that falsetto to work with those covers of “Do Me” and “I Have Nothing.” And except for the cheesy raw seduction during the Prince tune, I wasn’t the least bit mad! The awesomeness of the Ivory Tour. My pre-weekend outings continued when I hit up Delmar Hall see Tobe Nwigwe’s Ivory Tour come to town Thursday night. I know what you are thinking, and no, Tobe is not the latest black British heartthrob actor to cross the pond and steal our hearts from the big or small screen. He is a rapper with roots in Nigeria, that’s straight outta H-Town. I’ve been checking for him since the “So Gone Challenge” was hot in these streets a few years back. I must say that aside from Monica herself and the shocking delight of a certain co-worker who shall remain nameless, Tobe gave me my favorite flow of that internet sensational moment. So, it goes without saying that I would see what his live show was talking about. I was not disappointed in the least with the self-proclaimed “Igbo boy from the Southwest side of Houston.” He represents for the woke folks and slays verses with his flow that focuses on intention and purpose. And his live show was pretty much everything I had hoped for. The tragic state of live rap shows means that he is already clocking most of his peers by not using vocal backing tracks. On stage, the best way to describe the energy that Tobe and his crew gives me is a male led, mellower version of Tank and Da Bangas. I know his lyrics are probably too deep for him to go mainstream, but if you want to prove the folks who feel like they can’t get down with any rap besides club tracks about twerking, drainkin’ (yes, drainkin’) smokin’ and stuntin’ – cue him up.

While the crowd wasn’t as robust as I’ve come to know for a Super Natural Anniversary, for the seventh year in a row James Biko and the squad had the party turnt (yes, turnt) so tough that if you didn’t enter the Ready Room as a natural on Saturday night, you certainly left as one. I actually enjoyed seeing the folks have room to spread out and make use of the whole entire dance floor. And with the exception for the space designated for vendors, they put every inch of it to use – from two stepping to pop-drop-and-locking. If Biko is curating the groove, it will not go to waste, because two or three will touch and agree to break it all the way down. I was also thrilled to run into a couple of my favorite local rappers – Lyfestile and Indiana Rome. I feel compelled to say again as a side note that Rome’s “Cloud Nine” is one of the most underrated rap records in St. Louis hip-hop history.

Shout out to SLIFF 2K19. Normally I don’t do this, but since I spent more time than usual hitting up the docs, shorts and feature narratives at Cinema St. Louis’ 28th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival, I feel like they deserve some of my ink. Between “St. Louis Superman” starring Bruce Franks Jr. to Alfre Woodard in “Clemency,” Michael B. Jordan in “Just Mercy” and filmmaker/producer Lisa Cortes’ docs “Hip Hop X Fashion” and “The Apollo,” I feel like I spent so much time perched up in movie seats that I missed some of the other nightlife happenings around town. I must say it was worth it. I felt like out of the lineup of films in this year’s roster, the “Race In America: The Black Experience” really spoke to me. It clearly spoke to everybody else as well, because “Just Mercy” took home the Best In Fest Audience Choice Award for Best Film. And let me say that Jamie Foxx gave an award worthy performance in “Just Mercy.” I’m talking “Ali” and “Ray” caliber. The festival honored Lisa Cortes with the Women in Film Award and Max Carlson’s tale of a little black girl and her father – a veteran suffering with PTSD – navigating through LA’s Skid Row –earned him the New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director Award. Cinema St. Louis always represent our culture on screen, but I felt extra represented in 2019. Black and classical music mashup. Black Violin, the Florida duo that blends black and classical music had a major upgrade in venue when they took their show to the Touhill Sunday night. Because of my training, I judge what they are doing a bit more critically than the casual fan. And by training, I mean second chair on violin in the sixth-grade orchestra at Twillman Elementary. Even with my ultra-critical ear, I must say that it was quite cute – especially seeing them and the young musicians they inspire share the stage with them. And I will say I absolutely love what they represent and how they inspire. Who knows? Had there been a Black Violin when I was coming up, I might be perched up on the Powell Symphony Hall stage with my chin cocked on an instrument instead of out here in these streets for Partyline. I’ll just charge it to the game of things happen they way that they are supposed to happen.

Jessica and Tameka were just a few of the natural beauties in the place as Biko celebrated seven years of SuperNatural Saturday @ The Ready Room

Black Rep interns mingled during the Sophisticated Ladies Giving Initiative kickoff Monday @ the home of Dr. and Mrs. Smith

Ron Himes and Rochelle Smith with Tony winner Trezana Beverley, the original Lady in Red for Ntozake Shange’s Broadway run of ‘For Colored

Brandy and Reagan were ready to see black and classical music collide thanks to the artistry of Black Violin Sunday night @ The Touhill

Veterans of the St. Louis hip-hop scene were on hand to give props to legendary local DJ and rap historian G Wiz as he screened his doc Friday night @.Zack

Angela stopped by Phil Hamer’s photo booth set up to say hello Saturday @ SuperNatural @ The Ready Room

Ivy Essence and Brianna caught the vibe of James Biko’s 7th Anniversary of SuperNatural Saturday night @ The Ready Room

Sherry and Betty assisted with Annie Malone’s 2nd Annual Legacy Gala to show some love Friday night @ Mahler Ballroom

Joy and Aaron were eager to enjoy the sounds of Black Violin when the duo played the Touhill Performing Arts Center Sunday night

Naturalistas LaKesha and Kendra kicked it with James Biko for the 7th Anniversary of SuperNatural Saturday @ The Ready Room

In Louisville, KY. Hamilton will hit the stage in St. Louis at the Stifel Theatre for An Evening of Soul along with Eric Benet and Vivian Green on Sunday, December 1.

Photos by V. Lang

JOB OPENINGS

St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund has job openings for the following positions: program officer and executive secretary. Interested applications should visit www.KeepingKidsFirst.org, and click on the link in the banner for more information, or contact KeepingKidsFirst@stlouisco.com with any questions.

FIRE CHIEF

The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for a Fire Chief. To apply go to https://richmondheights. applicantpro.com/ jobs/1248411.html

Applications will be accepted from November 12, 2019 through December 6, 2019.

ASSISTANT BRANCH MANAGER

The St. Louis County Library is seeking applicants for a full time Assistant Branch Manager at the Bridgeton Trails Branch. This position will assist the Branch Manager with the operation and maintenance of the branch to provide quality Library services to all Library customers. A Master’s degree in Library Science is required. Must possess excellent communication and organizational skills. Salary: $53,810 plus paid health insurance and vacation. Apply online at www.slcl.org. Equal Opportunity Employer.

PART-TIME PROGRAM MANAGER

St. Louis ArtWorks is seeking a part-time Program Manager (30hrs/week, August-May; 35hrs/ week, June-July) to oversee its year-round apprenticeship program for teens. Must have personal transportation for recruitment and community engagement. If interested contact susan@stlartworks.org with a cover letter, resume, and references.

CHIEF OF POLICE

The City of Berkeley is looking for an individual with a high level of professional ethics, integrity, and proven leadership skills to serve as its Chief of Police. Under general supervision of the City Manager, the Police Chief will manage the Department’s 48 employees, of whom 37 are sworn officers (including Police Chief). The City of Berkeley Department operates under the provisions of the State of Missouri “at will” policy. Annual salary is $85,000 and must reside in City of Berkeley. Our employment applications can be found at http://www.cityofberkeley.us/

JANITORIAL - HIRING

Full & Part-Time positions, 3 Shifts Background check. Steady work history preferred. Apply at 314 N. Jefferson at Olive. M - F, 9A to 5P. Must have two forms of I.D.

STARRS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

East-West Gateway Council of Governments has an opening for the STARRS Executive Director position. Starting salary is $83,652 annually. Resumes will be accepted October 29, 2019 through November 12, 2019. Please follow the link to view the post at http://www.ewgateway.org/careers/.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

TEACHERS

Teachers with current pre-school CDA or current pre-K CDA credential. Current infant/toddler CDA credential or experience in a Childcare Center. Please reply to Center Manager Linda Davis at (314) 679-5440.

LAW ENFORCEMENT POSITION

This is a responsible law enforcement position in the protection of life and property through the enforcement of laws and ordinances. Work involves responsibility for the protection of life and property, prevention of crime, apprehension of suspected criminals, and the enforcement of laws and ordinances. Work involves an element of personal danger in the pursuit of duties. Must have graduated from high school or GED, supplemented by the state-approved course of law enforcement training. Must have possession of a valid Missouri driver’s license and Certification as a Police Officer by the State of Missouri. Contact HR@Fergusoncity.com for full job description or to submit an application.

PROJECT MANAGER

Bayer U.S. LLC’s St. Louis, MO, office seeks a Manufacturing IT (MIT) Project Manager to provide project leadership and be responsible for the full end-to-end delivery of various Manufacturing System solutions to the business. Apply at www.career.bayer.us, #67244.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

The City of Jennings is accepting applications for the position of Administrative Assistant in the Building Department. Duties include assisting with administration of city programs, preparation of agendas and reports, transcription of minutes, assisting the public by phone & in person, understanding and interpretation of building and zoning codes and review of applications. Minimum 3 years office experience required, with excellent clerical, computer and customer service skills and attention to detail. Experience with building and zoning codes preferred. Starting salary $32,538 (GS-11-C). Applications available at Jennings City Hall, 2120 Hord Ave. or at www.cityofjennings. org. NO RESUMES ACCEPTED WITHOUT THE COMPLETION THE APPLICATION! Completed applications may be delivered to City Hall, mailed, emailed to jobs@cityofjennings.org or faxed to 314-388-3999.

Applications accepted until November 21, 2019 at 5 p.m.

POLICE CHIEF

The City of Richmond Heights is accepting applications for a Police Chief. To apply go to https:// richmondheights.applicantpro. com/jobs/1248423.html

Applications will be accepted from November 12, 2019 through December 6, 2019.

The City of Clayton is now accepting applications for the full-time position of Police Officer or Police Officer in Academy. To apply, go to www.claytonmo.gov/jobs. EOE

JOB POSTING

DIRECTOR OF HOUSING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The administrative & professional work in planning, organizing, directing, and supervising of the building department, including code enforcement, new construction, economic development, environmental, and public health and safety programs. Must have a thorough knowledge of City building, housing, zoning requirements and ordinances; considerable knowledge of safety and sanitation features and practices; working knowledge of the principles and practices of civil engineering, as well as of building construction and maintenance. Bachelor’s degree in planning or related field or five years equivalency in the field. ICC certified. Starting annual salary $55,897 (GS23). Applications available at Jennings City Hall, 2120 Hord Ave. or at www.cityofjennings.org.

NO RESUMES ACCEPTED WITHOUT COMPLETION OF OUR APPLICATION! Completed applications may be mailed, emailed to jobs@cityofjennings.org or faxed to 314-388-3999. Applications accepted internally until December 6, 2019 at 5:00 pm.

The Brentwood School District seeks to hire the following positions

Night Custodian-FT

Director, Maintenance and Facilities Position will plan, direct, supervise, and evaluate the maintenance and custodial staff of the school district.

Duties include:

• Building Maintenance and Repair

• Personnel Management

• Policy, Reports, and Law

• Budget, Inventory, and Administration

• Safety

For complete description and minimal qualifications, please visit our district website www.brentwoodmoschools.org Click on the Join Our Team tab at the top of the page, review the Q and A section and proceed to the link in the middle of the page, Employment Opportunities. Positions are open until filled, however interviews will begin once sufficient applications have been received. Only online applications are accepted. If you have applied previously for the Night Custodian position there is no need to apply again. Please No Phone Calls. EOE.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: SERVICE

CONTRACT-CLARIFIER ALGAE

SWEEPS 2020. The District is proposing single source procurement for this service because FORD HALL COMPANY is the only known available source for this service. Any inquiries should be sent to gjamison@stlmsd.com.

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

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Responses for St. Louis Community College on B0003884 for Disparity Study will be received until 2:00 P.M. (local time) on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at the Dept. of Purchasing, 3221 McKelvey Road; Bridgeton, MO 63044, and immediately thereafter opened and read. Bid documents can be accessed on our website at www.stlcc.edu/purchasing or by calling (314) 539-5227. EOE/AA Employer.

SEALED BIDS

BidstoModernize Elevator,Hoctor Bui

g, Southeast MissouriMental HealthCenter, Farmington, Missouri,Project No.M1814-01 willbereceived byFMDC,State ofMO,UNTIL 1:30PM, 12/19/2019via MissouriBUYS. Biddersmustbe registeredtobid. Forspecificproject informationand orderingplans,go to:http://oa.mo. gov/facilities

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR 3D MAPPING AND CREATION OF A 3D DIGITAL TWIN OF THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS FOR ST. LOUIS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

St. Louis Development Corporation (“SLDC”) hereby requests proposals for services to create a 3D digital twin of the City of St. Louis. For a copy of the RFP, please visit our website at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/ departments/sldc/index.cfm by selecting the RFP/RFQ link for a complete copy of the RFP, or contact:

St. Louis Development Corporation 1520 Market, Suite 2000 St. Louis, Missouri 63103 (314) 657-3700 (Phone) (314) 613-7011 (Fax)

Proposals are due no later than 4:30 p.m., Central Daylight Time, on Friday, December 27, 2019.

LETTING #8707

CHLORINE BUILDING MAKE-UP AIR UNIT REPLACEMENT AT THE CHAIN OF ROCKS AND HOWARD BEND WATER TREATMENT PLANTS

CITY OF SAINT LOUISWATER DIVISION

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on December 17, 2019, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps. org (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

A pre-bid conference for all contractors bidding on this project will be held on December 6, 2019 at 10:00 A.M. in Water Division Service Building Lunch Room, 10450 Riverview Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63137. Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies).

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

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive Sealed Proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 11:00 a.m. on January 7, 2020 to contract with a company for: SERVICE AWARDS.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 10218 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314-768-6254 to request a copy of this bid.

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

BID

L. Keeley Construction Company is seeking qualified, disadvantaged businesses (DBEs) for the Saline Creek WWTF Biosolids Project located in Fenton, MO. Project subcontracting opportunities exist in the following areas: construction of a new aerobic digester system, W.A.S. screen building, permeate pump building, decant pump station, and secondary clarifier, as well as the installation of new digester blowers, upgrades to the control system, and all site work associated with the project. All disadvantaged and other businesses should contact Nick Timmermann in writing (certified letter, return receipt requested) or by e-mail to discuss the subcontracting opportunities. All negotiations must be completed prior to 12/05/2019. Submittals must be mailed to: Nick Timmermann, 500 S Ewing Ave, Suite G, St. Louis, MO 63103. E-mail: ntimmermann@lkeeley.com

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for James S. McDonnell Boulevard Resurfacing, St. Louis County Project No. AR-1552, will be received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 11:00 a.m. on December 18, 2019.

Plans and specifications will be available on November 18, 2019 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 811 Hanley Industrial Court, Brentwood, MO 63144, (314) 961-3800.

BID

Great Rivers Greenway is seeking qualifications for real estate acquisition and relocation services. Check www.greatriversgreenway. org/jobs-bids/ and submit by December 20, 2019.

BID

Great Rivers Greenway is seeking bids for one (1) Four-door crew cab, mid-sized, 4x4 pickup truck and one (1) 7 passenger, hybrid mini-van. Check greatriversgreenway.org/ bids and submit by December 20, 2019.

NOTICE OF FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT AND NOTICE OF INTENT TO REQUEST RELEASE OF FUNDS

Date of Publication: 11/21/2019

City of St. Louis: Community Development Administration (CDA) 1520 Market Street St. Louis, Missouri 63103 314-657-3700 / 314-589-6000 (TDD)

These notices shall satisfy two separate but related procedural requirements for activities to be undertaken by the City of St. Louis (“The City.”)

REQUEST FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS

On or after 12/9/2019, the City will submit a request to the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) for the release of the City’s Federal CDBG Program funds under Title II of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990, as amended, to undertake the following projects:

Project Title: 2747-77 Rutger, 2831-35 Hickory, 1118 Ewing

Purpose: New construction of seven (7) single-family homes each containing three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.

Location: 2747-77 Rutger, 2831-35 Hickory, 1118 Ewing, St. Louis, Missouri, 63104

Estimated Cost: Total development cost of this project is approximately $2,068,660, with $600,000.00 of funding coming from St. Louis City’s Year 2017 Federal CDBG Program Funds— Grant # B-17-MC-29-0006.

FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT

The City has determined that these projects will have no significant impact on the human environment. Certain conditions will apply to this project. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) is not required. Additional information for each project is contained in the Environmental Review Record (ERR) on file at the City CDA, at the above address, where the ERR is available for review and may be examined or copied weekdays, 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Any individual, group, or agency may submit written comments on the ERR to Rachel Sobotka, Development Planner II, CDA, at the address listed above. All comments received by 12/7/2019 will be considered by the City prior to authorizing submission of a request for release of funds. Comments should specify which notice they are addressing.

SEALED BIDS

, CentralRegion, StateofMissouri, Projec

ZASIDIQ-0024, willbereceived byFMDC,State ofMO,via MissouriBuys UNTIL1:30 PM,Thursday, December 12,2019 For specificproject informationand orderingplans, goto:http:// oa.mo.gov/ facilities

RELEASE OF FUNDS

The City certifies to HUD that, Lyda Krewson, in her capacity as Mayor, consents to accept the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts if an action is brought to enforce responsibilities in relation to the environmental review process and that these responsibilities have been satisfied. HUD’s approval of the certification satisfies its responsibilities under NEPA and related laws and authorities and allows the City to use the City’s above-referenced HUD program funds.

OBJECTION TO RELEASE OF FUNDS

HUD will accept objections to its release of funds and the City’s certification for a period of 15 days following the anticipated submission date or its actual receipt of the request (whichever is later) only if they are on one of the following bases: a) the certification was not executed by the Certifying Officer of the City; b) the City has omitted a step or failed to make a decision or finding required by HUD regulations at 24 CFR

58; c) the grant recipient has committed funds or incurred costs not authorized by 24 CFR Part 58 before approval of the release of funds by HUD; or d) another Federal agency acting pursuant to 40 CFR Part 1504 has submitted a written finding that the project is unsatisfactory from the standpoint of environmental quality. Objections must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the required procedures (24 CFR Part 58.76) and shall be addressed to Ms. Renee Ryles, Acting Community Planning & Development Director, HUD, 1222 Spruce Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103 (314) 418-5405. Potential objectors should contact HUD to verify the actual last day of the objection period.

Lyda Krewson, Mayor Certifying Officer

INVITATION FOR BIDS

Sealed bids for Project No. STP-5402(615) “Bicycle Facilities Improvements, Phase 3” will be received by the City of University City in the Administrative Services Department, 1st Floor, 6801 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO 63130, until 10:00 A.M. CDT Tuesday, December 17, 2019. The bids will then be opened in the presence of a City official, and the contract will be awarded to the lowest, responsive, responsible bidder, subject to confirmation by the City Council. A 5% security in the form of cash, a cashier’s or certified check or an acceptable bid bond must accompany each bid.

Bid packages are available through Drexel Technologies eDistribution Plan Room web site (http://planroom.drexeltech.com). Log on using your email address as your Username, and first initial followed by last name as your password. If you do not already have an account, setting one up is easy and free. Once you are logged in, click on Public Jobs and then scroll down to the St. Louis Plan Room for this City of University City project.

The Scope of Work consists of furnishing all labor, equipment and materials to remove existing pavement markings where applicable and placement of new pavement markings and traffic signs at various locations within University City. Each prospective bidder shall have a fully responsive contractor questionnaire on file with the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission at least seven days prior to the bid opening date.

Special Needs: If you have a special need addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, please notify the Department of Public Works at 314-505-8560 or the Missouri Relay System, TDD 1-800-735-2966, at least five working days prior to the bid opening.

The City of University City hereby notifies all bidders that it will affirmatively insure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE) will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in consideration for an award.

The DBE Goal for this project is 0%

The City of University City, with Missouri Department of Transportation concurrence, reserves the right to accept or reject any bid and to waive any irregularities in the best interest of the City.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for Graham Road –St. Ferdinand Street Resurfacing, St. Louis County Project No. CR-1804, will be received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 11:00 a.m. on December 18, 2019. Plans and specifications will be available on November 18, 2019 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 811 Hanley Industrial Court, Brentwood, MO 63144, (314) 961-3800.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on December 20th, 2019 to contract with a company for: CCTV & Physical Inspection of Sewers Services.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 10219 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

BIDS

Soliciting bids on 3315 Berrywood-Medical Center Renovation, UMC, Columbia, MO. Bid date 11/21/19; bids due 11:00 a.m. Qualified disadvantaged subcontractors or suppliers contact Reinhardt Construction, Centralia, MO; 573-682-5505; fax 573-682-3322.

www.stlamerican.com

OF

The St. Louis County Department of Human Services, Homeless Services Program, is seeking proposals for the Housing Urban Development FY19 Emergency Solution Grant. The total funding available is $475,671.00.

posals

Please

the

be

Applicants may find the online submission page through the following link: https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/youth-at-risk/ For questions please contact Morgan Williams, Department of Public Safety, at WilliamsMor@stlouis-mo.gov . Proposals must be received by 4:00pm CST Monday, November 18, 2019.

2.

Louis, MO 63101 (314)335-2822 (voice)

Religion

COGIC closes out 112th

Holy Convocation in St. Louis

The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) brought back its 112th Holy Convocation to St. Louis from November 5-12, 2019 at the America’s Center in Downtown St. Louis, which was filled with 35,000plus attendees is being held. This was COGIC’s tenth year returning its annual meeting to St. Louis.

“The Church of God in Christ has been dedicated to providing aid and assistance to the under-served of St. Louis through community events and efforts such as: Christmas in November, St. Louis Community Clean-Up, free health and jobs fairs, free legal

advice through COGIC Law Day, a COGIC Reading Day at Cote Brilliante School and more,” Bishop Blake said. “We pray that our commitment to give back to the city in this manner can alleviate the burden of those we are blessed to reach. The Church of God in Christ is honored to serve.” The Church of God in Christ is the 4th largest Protestant group in the United States and the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world with 12,000 congregations in 105 countries and millions of adherents globally.

The Message

Toll road to hell

There is one sure way to absolutely get the devil’s attention and that is to begin to turn one’s life to Christ. You’ve probably heard many a pastor refer to a person’s lifestyle as an open invitation for the devil to gain access to his or her world. Supposedly, as long as you engage in the things and happenings of this world, Lucifer has no need to spend any energy dealing with the struggle for your eternal soul. Life’s trials and temptations alone are enough to sentence any one of us to an afterlife void of the Lord.

A life without spiritual purpose, a life without spiritual guidance, a life without faith is a life wandering aimlessly on a toll road headed straight to hell. The devil does not need to work to gain access to this life. He can merely wait at

the toll booth gate and collect unsuspecting souls on their way by.

Maybe some of us could at least make the devil sweat just a little bit while he tries to manipulate our life’s circumstances to his will. On the other hand, a life grounded in spiritual purpose, imbued with integrity and anchored in faith instantly becomes a target for his bullets. Prayerfully, hopefully consistently, we should be trying to make Satan’s work harder by appealing to the Lord everyday to allow us to do His Will instead of our own.

Satan is coming for anyone who tries to hear and respond to God’s Word. Remember…

Columnist

James Washington

“Some people are like seed along the path where the Word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the Word sown in them.” Mark 4:15. If we know this, then what are we doing to arm ourselves against the inevitable onslaught of the evil one?

“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of the light.” Corinthians 11:14.

As a believer, you have a neon sign that shines brightly in

all the kingdoms of this world and the next. It identifies you and alerts everyone around you about your soul’s true mission, which is to honor God.

Satan cannot stand the thought that your love for God supersedes his ability to wreck your world. I’m told that at one time he, too, loved the Lord dearly. He came, however, to love himself more. Now if the devil has his way, he wants us to love ourselves and our things, our addictions more than we love God. And then, like him, try to make us shine a light on ourselves instead of God. Just know if that ever happens, feel for that toll booth token, because you’ve just bought your ticket

dancers worshipped in motion at the Official Day service at the America’s Center on Sunday, November 10, part of the Church of God in Christ’s 112th Holy Convocation in St. Louis.

straight to hell.

“For as I have often told you before and now (I) say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their God is their stomach and their glory is their shame. But our citizenship is in heaven…” Philippians 3:18-20.

I hope that you recognize the next trial or temptation headed your way is but a speck on a windshield, a splattered piece of nothing standing in your way on your way to your place with the Almighty. Any other consideration would be a mistake and an insult to God. His highway is free. It doesn’t cost you anything to get on it.

Praised

Photo by Wiley Price