We celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year at a time when our nation has come to a fork in the road and the fate of our democracy depends on the path we take. Just 12 days removed from the insurrectionists’ attack on the Capitol that left six dead, and two days prior to the inaugurat…
I’ve often and very fondly referred to East St. Louis, in my columns, as “East Boogie” because of its 80-year history and reputation as the vibrant party central to the St. Louis and metro-east area, once populated by blocks of popular nightclubs, lounges and juke joints.
As we approach the eve of the MLK Birthday holiday these words from “A Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens’ epic novel about the French Revolution came to mind: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … it was a season of light, it was a season of darkness.”
My friend Michael P. McMillan was a superb choice for The St. Louis American's 2020 Person of the Year. Though having Mike in St. Louis is like having Michael Jordan in the NBA – any year, he deserves the MVP Award. In 2020 Mike rose to our regional challenges as president and CEO of the Urb…
Although a new year has begun, many American consumers and small businesses continue to feel a financial hangover from the challenges of 2020. As the global pandemic reveals a still-soaring American infection rate, the nation has also surpassed 350,000 related deaths, added more workers to t…
In recent days, we’ve seen the dying gasps of the Trump administration turn into tragic violence in Washington, D.C. There is much to say about that, and serious reckoning ahead when it comes to the causes and the solutions.
This past year has been a year to remember. The country endured the most openly corrupt and divisive administration in modern times. Our resilience and sanity was tested with the worst pandemic in 100 years. We discovered that our planet is deteriorating at a much faster rate than previously…
One of the things that happens when you write an opinion column is when you get to the end of the year you write something about what were the most important events of that year, muse about what they meant and what they may mean for the new year. But I believe also when you’re writing in th…
The current discussion on the proposed school closures hides the most fundamental truth we must address to build a school system that serves all children well: the St. Louis Public Schools are failing children, especially Black children.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, doctors, nurses and essential workers within the health care system have put their own lives at risk to care for others. Our collective gratitude goes out to each of them, and to all essential workers on the front lines of this global crisis.
As we prepare to begin the year 2021, let us reflect on what this past year has meant. I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul, in his letter of perseverance to the Galatians: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
Missouri made the Death Penalty Information Center’s 2020 annual report, and not in a good way. Missouri was one of five states — along with Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas — that performed executions in 2020. Missouri also was the first state to execute someone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis has been on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, working to ensure the communities hardest hit by this deadly virus have some relief.
The response to news of Circuit Judge Thomas Clark II’s ruling was swift. Social media was a-blaze. The ruling to disqualify St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner from prosecuting the case of the gun-waving McCloskeys smacks of racism, white privilege and sexism.
You never get the right answers when you ask the wrong questions, and you always ask the wrong questions when you don’t understand the problem.
Although the year 2020 has been dominated by continuing news coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic’s rising death toll that has now claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 Americans, it is not the only challenge facing the nation.
“Support for the majority-vote plan reinforced the moderate segregationist position. It did not remove anyone's right to cast a ballot, but it was commonly regarded as hampering African Americans — the stigmatized bloc voters — from making their votes count more effectively at the polls. In…
I can hardly believe this country refuses to take the pandemic seriously. The coronavirus is raging across this country with no slow-down in sight. With more than 14 million cases, and deaths barreling past the 300,000 mark, there’s still no national coordinated plan to contain the virus.
This week, just as the nation reached the tragic milestone of more than a quarter-million deaths from the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control revealed that Black, Latino, and Native American people are being hospitalized at nearly four times the rate of whites.
A recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial listed some conditions that contribute to the high crime rate in some areas of St. Louis. These conditions include concentrated poverty, low performing schools, lack of jobs, lack of adequate city services.
Few people love the Electoral College. For good reason: it is a relic of Union governance acquiescing to Confederate demands and originally designed to squash any hint of Black electoral influence.However, in this recent 2020 election, it was the Black vote that dominated the Electoral Colle…
With the report that the General Services Administration has initiated the transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden, we can finally give thanks for a new Democratic administration in the White House. Thank you to the majority of American voters.
The November election was a reset button for a country in racist free fall. When the curtain finally goes down on the presidential race, white supremacy can take its bow as second runner up. The gap between the Democratic and Republican tickets should’ve been a gulf instead of a sliver. Blac…
The title of former President Barack Obama’s memoir is “Promised Land,” and in a recent Atlantic Magazine he explained his reason for the title was he was not willing to give up on the American project. Despite his brilliance, his choice of the title and the Atlantic quote represents an exam…
Yes, that's right! The 2020 Presidential election has not yet ended!Why do we say that? Because the Georgia Senate runoff contest is still underway -- two seats are at stake and voters must make their voices heard!The runoff process can disenfranchise traditionally underrepresented communi…
In a local clinical pastoral education program, I experienced the director as racially insensitive. She talked about how if she were an African American mother and had an African American son, she wouldn’t know how to deal with what was happening today.
Policy group calls for fair housing, Black business assistance and more
“In short, Trump has left African Americans in the deepest hole with the shortest rope.”—Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris made a brilliant choice in opening her remarks at the Democratic presidential ticket’s victory celebration with a quote from civil rights icon and former Georgia congressman John Lewis: “Democracy is not a state. It is an act.”
Growing up in Lomé, the capital city of the Togolese Republic in West Africa, we voted for a president. The incumbent, who was always Eyadema, always had an opponent. Eyadema always won, and his opponent always lost. Eyadema always declared victory before the votes were all counted.
As the year nears an end and a new year prepares to begin, this is a time to pause and reflect. November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to reflect on the God-given rights we have, those we must protect and the voices of our ancestors. Each presidential election cycle happening the…
"You know what/ They don't have enough voter suppression tactics to stop this movement,” said Keith Mayes, professor of African American studies and African American history at the University of Minnesota.
We’ve been busy organizing and strategizing for a regime change in the White House. We’ve been ducking and dodging COVID-19 in the face of no national, coordinated plan. It must’ve seen like a good opportunity for the three cops involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor and the traumatization…
Art philosopher Arthur Danto observed, “We erect monuments so that we shall always remember, and build memorials so that we shall never forget.” Art serves many purposes, but perhaps its most important is the memorializing that which must always be remembered.
Again, a majority conservative Supreme Court seems poised to vote against a case which would upend the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) based on two justices’ arguments on Tuesday.
Pot Bangerz activist chefs, Cathy "Mama Cat" Daniels and Tim Costello, toast the Biden/Harris victory and chill on the riverfront in downtown St. Louis on Saturday, November 7, 2020.
After four exhausting years of President Donald Trump and four excruciating days of vote counting, the election was called for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Saturday. Hallelujah!
Donald Trump is arguably the most corrupt and incompetent president in American history. He’s without question the most incompetent and corrupt president in modern American history. From the day he descended the escalator to his comments on election night, he has been a toxic dumpster fire o…
As a non-partisan organization, the National Urban League does not endorse political candidates or encourage voters to choose one candidate over another. As a historic civil rights organization devoted to economic and social justice for African Americans, we have an obligation to combat raci…
As Dushanne Stokes said, “When dealing in lies listen more to what is not said than what is said.” For Missouri voters like myself, that’s exactly what we need to do when we vote on Amendment 3.
The underlining operating principle of cable television news is not to inform viewers but to attract viewers because basically they’re in the business of selling advertising and people who buy advertising are primarily concerned with the size of the viewing audience.
“We have to accept that foreign powers seize upon these divisions because they are real — because racism remains the United States’ Achilles’ heel. Indeed, it is, and always has been, a national security vulnerability — a fundamental and easily exploitable reality of American life that belie…
In a few short days, this election will be over. In a few short days, the hard work of two long years will draw to a close, and the United States will decide what we want the next two, or four, or 10 years to be like. It’s been said countless times before, but that’s because it’s true: this …
Joining the governance board of a local nonprofit can be one of the best ways to make a significant impact in our community. Although it’s been more than a decade ago, I recall my first board experience like it was only yesterday.
There was a point in that messy first presidential debate when Black folks were spectators as three old white men — Donald Trump, Joe Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace — talked about African Americans in a discussion of race in America from a White perspective. What was on full display …
“Do not ask me to remember. Don’t try to make me understand. Let me rest and know you’re with me. Kiss my cheek and hold my hand. I’m confused beyond your concept. I am sad and sick and lost. All I know is that I need you to be with me at all cost.”
Nothing has been more gut wrenching for fair-minded voters to witness than to see the implementation of Florida’s Amendment 4 stopped cold in its tracks. It is a trend that is sweeping across the country and Missouri has had its own experiences on the Republican-led legislatures totally disr…
Just weeks before Election Day, with millions of people voting already, the Black vote is being attacked from every angle.
“The Supreme Court doesn’t have an army, and it has no power of the purse. Its power comes from the fact that the public accepts its decisions, even when it disagrees with them. The Supreme Court has of course always been a political institution, but if it’s going to retain its public legiti…
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