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The political and legal movement to criminalize abortion in the U.S. is on the brink of its biggest victory in 50 years.
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There are 221 House Democrats, including the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. There are 50 Senators in the Democratic Caucus, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Vice President Kamala Harris. She is positioned to cast a 51st vote to break any 50/50 Democratic-Republican vote.
Black women leaders have been working on the issue of voting rights, calling for the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the Freedom to Vote Act and the Build Back Better Reconciliation Act, as well as for D.C. statehood.
“In everything give thanks.” That Bible verse can be hard to put into practice. Just by being alive we can be sure of having moments of sadness as well as happiness. When you’re active in politics, you experience both wins and losses. Sometimes it can be hard to feel grateful.
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How much do your senators care about voter suppression? How committed are they to our most sacred constitutional right? What have they done, and what are they willing to do to defend it?
The American’s story of Mantra Lotus (“Mantra Lotus on finding the blessings of COVID,” November 11) finding a positive way forward after her losses was inspiring. Another blessing of sorts that has come from COVID-19 is a feeling of empathy for others around the world suffering from infecti…
As a proud St. Louisan and someone who has worked at Spire for more than 17 years, it’s been my honor and privilege to help ensure that every day, my company reliably delivers natural gas to our region’s homes, businesses, churches, schools and hospitals. Unfortunately, recent legal and reg…
Election Day in Virginia was a major defeat for the Democratic Party. It could signal a much bigger disaster in 2022 if Democratic officials do not learn the right lessons and do not deliver on the promises they have made to voters.
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It was mid-July, and I was seated around a table with my community members — home health care workers and their clients. The pandemic has devastated their industry. As we sat, discussing their stories and struggles, their pain was overwhelming. I held them in my arms as we cried because I kn…
ST. LOUIS – “I’ve stumbled a little bit but when I get out, I will join AA, find a sponsor, and continue to stay sober, because I know that’s what I need to do – both for me and for my next employer,” said a young man named Dominic, who is currently incarcerated but set to release later this fall.
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For decades, American families have struggled to achieve the American dream of economic prosperity, homeownership, and financial freedom due to years of neglect and failure of investment from Congress and the Trump administration.
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It’s a moral imperative that all Black children learn to read, not just be functionally literate, but learn to become active, critical readers capable of comprehension of how new ideas and facts change your understanding of what you know or what you thought you knew.
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For 194 years the Black Press of America has consistently “pleaded our own cause” for freedom, justice, equality, and empowerment. Today we continue to plead that all elected officials do all that is politically possible to act and to ensure progress that significantly improves the quality o…
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Like most parents this month, I’m focused on what my son wants to be for Halloween. After COVID-19 prevented us from celebrating last year, I think we’re all excited for trick-or-treating again. But at 14 years old, Aden is reaching that age where we talk more about what he wants to be when …
It's been six weeks now. The ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks have come and gone. There were memorials. The names of the nearly 3,000 victims killed in the attacks were read and memorialized— again. American flags waved. Twenty years later, we still don’t know the …
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have changed the college landscape and have provided a significant return on investment. Our country cannot reach its goals without strong, viable, sustainable HBCUs – goals necessary to close the education gap, health, wealth and economic…
The economy has come roaring back. Or has it? Unemployment rates are again hovering at record lows, 3.8% in the St. Louis region. Wages are even inching up. That is all good news for working men and women. But don’t mistake the jobs report for a sign that our regional work is done. This is n…
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As a lifelong student of history, I believe that past is prologue and I tend to rely on history to help inform my decisions in public life. I often paraphrase George Santayana, who is credited with having said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
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I had not planned to have a policy conversation when I boarded my connecting flight from Detroit to DC. But the young white woman, totally professionally dressed, seemed to want my ear. She was coming to Washington to do “advocacy,” she said, around workplace flexibility and “reimagining wor…
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Back in May, the newly formed city of Cahokia Heights set up shop, merging the former villages of Alorton, Centreville and Cahokia, Illinois.
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The chatter surrounding President Biden’s landmark infrastructure investment and Build Back Better agenda seems focused on the legislative process, on political maneuvering, on faceless numbers taken out of context.
I had not planned to have a policy conversation when I boarded my connecting flight from Detroit to DC. But the young white woman, totally professionally dressed, seemed to want my ear. She was coming to Washington to do “advocacy,” she said, around workplace flexibility and “reimagining wor…
Sometimes friends have to hold friends accountable. That’s why I got arrested outside the White House on Oct. 5. I was there with other civil rights and religious leaders to call on President Joe Biden to do more to protect voting rights that are under attack.
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There is an African proverb that captures one of the challenges that many financially successful Black-owned business leaders face in America. “Your earned riches may engender envy and jealous criticism but be not dismayed by the foolishness of the envious.”
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No matter how one tries to clean it up, spin it, suppress it or lie about it, the facts are irrefutable and compelling.
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When I was a teenager, I went to an under-18 club called Animal House. We lived in Walnut Park, so either my mom or dad would drive me and my friends just up the road to North County. It was the spot to go to for kids across our region.
How should one comprehend what’s happening today in American politics, and the arch of American history that brought us to this moment?
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Retired Congressman William L. “Bill” Clay submitted this piece in January 2020 in response to news reports that developer Paul McKee Jr. plans to use the name “Homer G. Phillips Hospital” for a new, small urgent-care clinic. “It is apparent that many in the St. Louis community are unfamilia…
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So, you are sitting on a park bench, just enjoying the weather. What is the likelihood that the next person that walks by you is of a different race? In 2010 the probability of a person of another race walking by was 54.9%. It rose to 61.1% by 2020. We are more likely to see people who are d…
Children are dying because of COVID-19. More specifically, they are most likely being infected and dying because of adults around them.
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We’re familiar with the metaphor “thinking outside the box.” which means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. But the metaphor presumes the box is serviceable.
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While America’s economic recovery continued at a steady pace, racial disparity in hiring continues to plague the African American labor market, according to the Labor Department’s August jobs report.
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Instead of purchasing the latest fad smoothie or participating in a TikTok challenge, here are a few suggestions for life-long wellness. These recommendations are as simple as learning your ABCs.
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Abraham Lincoln is famously quoted as having said that, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
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Last month, Congress adjourned for its August recess, specifically the U.S. House of Representatives. They left town without extending, or even speaking to, the federal eviction moratorium. On the other end of Pennsylvania Ave., the White House was equally silent. This moratorium affected se…
For over a century, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis has been a champion for empowerment and opportunity for African Americans in our community. We pride ourselves on working to improve lives through various programs – such as those that provide utility assistance -- and by advocat…
Many of us, including me, check COVID-19 rates constantly, watching the red bar dip and soar with anticipation. Our front-line workers carry an additional burden; they also count more grieving families in their waiting rooms and witness the increased anxiety in the eyes of sick patients.
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Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” our “national anthem,” was a dyed-in-the-wool racist. He opined that “Negroes” were a “distinct and inferior race.” He was a slaveholder from a family of slaveholders who influenced the odious seventh President Andrew Jackson to appoin…
We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again. And then you holler, “Be patient.” How long can we be patient? We want our freedom, and we want it now.” – John Lewis, March on Washington for Jobs and Freed…
The images of the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan are both heartbreaking and infuriating.
Race has long been a key determinant of public health in this country, and as U.S. Surgeon General under President Bill Clinton, I saw those disparities – and worse outcomes for Black Americans – every day.
Have you ever felt like you are a fraud and have not lived up to the expectations of your friends and family? Do you think your co-workers have an inflated view of your skills and abilities and one day they will find out you do not know much, and they will expose you as a fake? When you look…
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As students and educators return to school, I’d like to offer a prayer of encouragement. Considering the confusion regarding mask mandates, social distancing guidelines and vaccination rates, I feel it is needed.
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Black Americans are not only more religious than non-Black Americans, but they are also more likely to believe that opposing racism is essential to faith, the Pew Research Center concluded in a recent study.
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Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon who died last year, liked to tell activists that building a better world depended on people being willing to make “good trouble.” Rep. Cori Bush, D-MO., has just given us an example of effective troublemaking that should inspire us to action.
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My phone pinged at 2 a.m. this morning and simply read “Belma has passed!” My immediate response was, “I had wondered how she would survive without Dr. Henry Givens, her dear husband of 60 years.” One of the sad occurrences among the COVID era is the passing of so many of St. Louis’ great Bl…
When I write a column, I try to focus on an idea or event that is relevant to Black America.
“Who really cares, to save a world in despair…little children today are really going to suffer tomorrow.”
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It’s that time of year again where our families participate in the tradition of back-to-school shopping.
I used to think of February as the Blackest month of the year. It’s the month set aside to honor and celebrate Black history in all facets. Sure, June, aka Black Music Month, celebrates our contributions to what is known as a universal language, but it’s not as all-encompassing as February.
