Many restaurants operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Shoppers in the United States expect this; however, this orderly approach to gaining access to service lost standing in Italy. As COVID-19 spreads throughout the Italian countryside, the demand for respirators and ICUs exceeds the…
Our nation faces the worst pandemic in decades. Urgent action is needed to address this unprecedented threat to the United States of America, and most importantly, the lives and livelihood of the American people.
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St. Louis and St. Louis County have recorded their first deaths in our region that are a result of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The region confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on March 10, with the first few cases that followed noted to have been contracted from r…
While much of the nation grapples with multiple adjustments attributed to the coronavirus pandemic, a rare bipartisan effort in recent days united lawmakers to reject an ill-advised Department of Education push against financial fairness for student borrowers. The lawmakers’ efforts were to …
The 2020 U.S. Census began collecting information on March 12, and it is important that everyone complete their survey. The Census, which only happens every 10 years, counts every adult and child living in our country. It helps our government figure out how much money each state gets for imp…
We write to you with utmost urgency to enact a statewide shelter-in-place order to help slow the spread of COVID-19 across Missouri. While we appreciate the recent actions to limit social gatherings and enact other social and physical distancing protocols, the rapid infection rate and rising…
How did this happen? How did we come to be in this place? Why are we so unprepared to deal with this?
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has marched across the globe and wreaked a path of death and debility that may soon eclipse the great Influenza Pandemic of 1918. COVID-19 is now present in every continent except for Antarctic…
The new coronavirus presents an opportunity for Americans to reconsider what it means to be part of a sick society. The virus’ spread is hastened by systemic poverty, as potentially expensive treatments, no national sick leave guarantee, and school closures disproportionately affect lower-in…
While unemployment numbers are low around the St. Louis area and some see nothing but good times on the horizon, there is another reality that some live with every day – a grinding poverty that eats away at our city and surrounding suburbs.
“One of my colleagues said to me, this is the first time I’ve seen a political billboard without a picture on it. Why isn’t your picture on it?” U.S. Rep. James Clyburn said.
It’s time for a come to Jesus meeting with all North St. Louis County elected officials. It’s time we put it all on the table and walk away with an understanding, strategy and agenda.
While we see a record number of 19 anti-LGBTQ bills in the Missouri Legislature this year, we are also seeing a record number of voices being shut out from testifying on issues that directly impact them. I was one of the parents who was stifled while fighting for my kid.
What is a pandemic? A pandemic is a disease outbreak that is global in nature. Pandemics are well documented in the recorded history of humankind. A brief review of other pandemics sets the stage for our current challenge with the coronavirus or COVID-19, while providing lessons to inform a…
“If our people are not counted, they literally do not receive the resources necessary,” said Stacy Abrams, founder of Fair Count and former Georgia gubernatorial nominee. “And as a consequence, we have weaker infrastructure, we have terrible hospitals, we have doctor shortages, we have overc…
For much of Black America, access to fair and responsible credit has been an elusive promise. Whether as consumers seeking the pride of homeownership or businesses seeking to begin or expand, securing credit remains an age-old, arduous and often frustrating pursuit – despite a slew of federa…
The situation with COVID-19 is worth watching for several reasons. The coronavirus has infected nearly 110,000 people and killed 3,800 people in 100 countries. Just recently, a case popped up in St. Louis County, so now our region is part of the growing global statistics.
Who cares for our babies? This question comes in the midst of conversations around school closures.
Should student leaders receive harsher punishment over acts of youthful indiscretion, while officials and politicians receive mere slaps on the wrists or awards for their alleged actions or actual convictions? That question arose from what has become a local high school altercation gone wron…
We are cautioned by our black and white sisters and brothers to be careful in how we speak about racism and politics to white acquaintance. Some of these are intelligent, educated white folks who say they do not understand the black people's plight because they have struggles just as black …
I want to you to ask yourself a question. Take your favorite African-American pundits on your preferred cable news outlet and ask yourself when you’ve ever heard them discuss or analyze how any policy proposals by a Democratic candidate for president specifically relate to the condition of t…
For consumers, businesses, organizations and governments alike, annual budgets typically reflect not only line items but priorities as well. As A. Philip Randolph reminded us more than 50 years ago with the release of the “Freedom Budget”, such documents reflect the morals of our nation. Esp…
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I have been involved in politics or civil rights since 1963.
I first met Alderman Sam Moore in 2007, when I was a freshman building preservationist tilting at windmills as much to learn how to tilt as to strike the windmills. Moore had just taken office and had pressed the city’s Land Reutilization Authority to demolish some 39 vacant historic buildin…
I admire St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s strategic moves to turn the tables on a cadre of powerful, well connected individuals she believes are complicit in a coordinated, racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her out of office.
According to the Thursday, February 13, edition of the Monitor, East St. Louis Superintendent Arthur Culver said, “We expect our teams to conduct themselves in a manner that will protect the safety of athletes, officials, coaches, and spectators at sporting events. We regret that our cheerle…
Barack and Michelle Obama are the most beloved couple that has ever graced the White House. The character, honor, and discipline of Barack Obama is beyond reproach. Michelle's status as a first lady is also above reproach, as shown by her grace, intelligence and character as a wife, mother…
Since 1976, every American president has issued a proclamation making February a month of celebrating the amazing contributions African-American men and women have made to our nation’s landscape. As the first black woman to be appointed district director for the Small Business Administratio…
Once again, the White House Budget Proposal slashes funding and programs that many low- and -moderate income consumers rely upon.
Throughout my political career, I have believed in second chances. I believe that people can change. I believe that your past shouldn’t get to define you.
As Missouri’s legislative session opens, this is a great time to discuss closing the pay gap, a public policy issue deserving urgent attention. Also known as Equal Pay for Equal Work, it addresses the fact that men, particularly non-Latino white men, make more money than women doing the same…
The recent acquittal of President Trump by the U.S. Senate has paved the way for an expansion of his anti-immigrant policy agenda.
This open letter was submitted by the undersigned 31 residents of St. Louis County.
I cast my first presidential vote in 1972, and I’ve never not voted. I’ve never consider voting for a Republican as a matter of principle: we believe completely different things about the role and purpose of government in civil society. It doesn’t mean we can’t coexist, as long as I have eno…
Once upon a time in Washington, Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act that also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). For the first time, a federal agency was charged to be the consumers’ financial cop on the beat. In its first four years, CFPB received 35…
When I was accepted to medical school coming out of Tennessee State University I knew very little about the long, arduous process ahead of me. Much like the community of HBCU collegiate faculty, family members, friends, and folks from my church home who were invaluable cheerleaders along my…
There are two questions for me to answer as a juror in the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump: whether President Trump is guilty of abusing his power as president for his own political gain and whether he obstructed Congress in their investigation of him.
In 1998, the women’s unit of the Organization for Black Struggle read a piece by feminist bell hooks as part of our political education session. It totally changed our outlook about being black women. Inspired, we named ourselves Sistahs Talkin’ Back. I’ve been thinking about hook’s “Talking…
In 2020, much of the hard-won rights championed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are under attack by the very governments charged to enforce both laws and regulations. Especially for Black America, rollbacks of much-needed programs jeopardize access to basic life needs such as nutrition, safe w…
A city divided. Tear gas. Flamethrowers. Angry faces screaming from crowds. Hate-filled, pain-filled marches. Suffering. All accumulating into one, unforgettable summer of hate.
This was not an exoneration, it was a spineless perpetuation of a dangerous cover-up. Republicans in the U.S. Senate turned a blind eye to the facts, refused to allow witnesses and documents that would have uncovered the whole truth, and surrendered congressional oversight to an amoral presi…
In the last election, voters in every state senate district approved Amendment 1 – also known as Clean Missouri – to increase fairness, accountability, integrity and transparency in Missouri politics. Thanks to Clean Missouri, our state constitution now includes nonpartisan redistricting ref…
I must have been 14 years old when I was arrested for shoplifting in the St. Louis Galleria Mall. I was a young boy from North St. Louis, we were poor and I wanted to have what other kids had. The encounter with police was terrifying, but what I remember most clearly are the judge’s words: “…
Political leaders who trade in falsification and distortions seem to ignore the fact that lying to the people they serve or deceiving others is wrong. So I wonder why U.S. Senators Roy Blunt and Joshua Hawley (R-Missouri) are so vigorously defending President Donald J. Trump despite the over…
We have a short-sided view of funding important functions provided by our state. It has been my lifelong experience that no one likes to pay taxes and more often than not feel that they are over-paying and that others pay too little. I have tried to listen to as many points of view as possib…
Nearly 52 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched with striking sanitation workers in Memphis, who were demanding higher pay, safe working conditions and the right to a union. “It’s a crime in a rich nation for people to receive starvation wages,” he said. Those were Dr. King’s final d…
With the recent news of the release of the Close the Workhouse campaign’s 2.0 report, City Resolution 205, and growing public official support, I wanted to voice why this needs to happen and share my first-hand account.
In the early 1970s Detroit elected Coleman Young, its first black mayor. In an effort to diversify the disproportionately white Detroit Police Department, Mayor Young passed a residency requirement. A residency requirement makes it so those applying to work in the city must reside in the cit…
The resolution of issues like school closings typically starts with some type of branding campaign complete with, slogans, comforting language which conveys compassion and leadership, as well as the closures being labeled as the soundest financial decision. With respect to Saint Louis Public…
In the last election, voters in every state senate district approved Amendment 1 – also known as Clean Missouri – to increase fairness, accountability, integrity and transparency in Missouri politics. Thanks to Clean Missouri, our state constitution now includes nonpartisan redistricting ref…
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