Minneapolis Burning did not begin with Police Officer Derek Chauvin placing an NFL-style knee on the neck of George Floyd—it started with Trump’s whisper.  

The Ethical Society of Police is absolutely disgusted and angry over the senseless murder of Mr. George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department.

As a sportsman, I have learned to view and treat all people the same regardless of their race, place of origin, gender, sexual orientation, or social class. My sports career has been characterized by over three decades of active participation in running. My love for exercising and the traini…

Stark truths often come most into focus in a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has once more laid bare the stark reality of being members of a minority community without the resources so many others take for granted. As a reverend, I’ve officiated at and attended the funerals of too many struck …

In 2007, the voters of St. Louis bestowed upon me the honor of being their representative in the Missouri General Assembly. For the past 13 years, in both the Missouri House and Senate, I’ve stood alongside parents and teachers to work for better schools and safer streets. I’ve brought milli…

The racial disparities in COVID-19 cases and fatalities are devastating, but not surprising. The explanations put forward include the usual suspects, such as poor access to care, lack of quality healthcare, poor housing conditions, poverty. Even worse, leaders often point to the higher rates…

Three criminal bills filed during the current Missouri legislative session warrant attention in the City of St. Louis. Senate Bills 602 and 889 and House Bill 1900 would take away the power of voters in the City of St. Louis to elect their own prosecutor with the same discretionary prosecuto…

As the old adage goes, “when White America sneezes, Black America gets the flu.”

St. Louis needs to coordinate a fair and efficient way to keep families housed during the post-pandemic economic fallout. Fortunately, we know what to do – a robust homelessness prevention system stabilized thousands of St. Louis families during the Great Recession. We must quickly move to e…

There’s usually a bit of grimacing and wincing when the media puts out bad information about African Americans. This time it’s about the disproportionate number of blacks falling prey to COVID-19. In these moments, you kind of wish for a bit of code-switching.

I do not have the new coronavirus. But I am running for Missouri’s 5th Senate District alongside it. Like all of us, I never expected to be living – or campaigning – under these conditions. Even though we were not prepared for this pandemic, we’re fighting back. We’re going to beat it, and I…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought extreme changes to our daily lives. Suddenly, an unprecedented number of neighbors are confronted with unimaginable circumstances stemming from job and wage loss to lack of access to food, shelter, childcare and healthcare. Though new challenges for many, th…

For many of us, watching both the unwavering cult-like support of Donald Trump and the passivity of some of the news media is confusing and frustrating. How do people not recognize Trump as dangerous, despotic, and maybe even demented? How could 93% of Republicans and 43% of Americans still …

“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." – G. K. Chesterton

A Missouri Senate committee recently held a hearing on Senate Bill 889. This bill would give the Missouri attorney general “concurrent jurisdiction” to prosecute certain crimes in the City of St. Louis. It allows the Attorney General to receive referrals directly from law enforcement and to …

Two years ago, I spent over five months inside St. Louis’ Medium Security Institution, more commonly known as the Workhouse. I arrived at the Workhouse in March 2018 and was finally released that August. Originally from Texas, I’ve been in St. Louis for over seven years and I never imagined …

Not since the times of slavery that such a unique opportunity existed to ensure that every black households in St. Louis is completely and accurately counted. 

Dear Secretary of State John R. Ashcroft,

With the emergence of COVID-19 and its spread in the U.S. and across the globe, Parents as Teachers National Center (PATNC) has been working to ensure that we are taking proactive steps to prevent the spread of the virus among our employees and the families we serve nationwide.

In case you missed it, the City of St. Louis’ infamous Workhouse jail is nearly closed already. You just keep paying for it.

The African-American population lags behind the white population on many health indicators, like socio-economic factors, behavioral risk factors, and emergency room visits. Socio-economic factors include expected pay source for emergency room visits, median household income, families with ch…

The COVID-19 pandemic has bought to the forefront the great American divide and the racial fault line of the haves and the have-nots. Thus, it is prudent for the leadership in the black community to speak with one unequivocal voice of outrage.

Many of us read bedtime stories to our children. We delight in seeing their faces light up at their favorite lines. Story time represents a moment in the day when parents and caregivers offer reassurance to their children about the world. We laugh and encourage while discussing fears and pos…

I was just a high school student when Judge Charles Shaw (who passed on April 12 at age 75) invited me to his court room for the first time. When he learned that I was interested in becoming a lawyer, he invited me to shadow him at the federal courthouse. The lessons I learned from him that …

As the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic sweeps across the world, troubling associations between race and disease have gone viral. 

On April 9, we announced in conjunction with the governor that Saint Louis Public Schools will remain closed through the remainder of the school year. This difficult decision was made jointly with St. Louis city charter schools, Catholic schools, independent schools and St. Louis County scho…

David and Goliath, MJ and Scottie, the Blues Brothers, Frodo and Sam, salt and pepper, and grits and eggs rank as top duos in religion, sport, comedy, film, cuisine, and culture. St. Louis is a baseball town. Many fans will recall arguably the best double play duo in baseball history—the Big…

April 7 marked one month since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Missouri. As the initial phase of the pandemic response ramped up and hospital systems announced testing in some parts of St. Louis County, many black elected officials, clergy and community leaders were left to justl…

We are not worriers. As a people, we are warriors. This is a war for wellbeing. 

When challenged to summarize in a nutshell the core meaning of love, Jesus Christ replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.

Certain moments define a society and its leaders. And this is one of them. How we treat human life in the face of this unprecedented health crisis, will be the measure of who we really are as a people.

Guardians of the status quo – like Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt, the reactionaries at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and St. Louis Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards – are doing what they always do when their systems of power are called into question: they are resorti…

How is COVID-19 affecting me?

It is disheartening to witness people stating that they will not vote for Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders.

(Snap.) Nope this is not a dream or a drill.