On Sunday, June 28, Mark and Patricia McCloskey stood on the lawn of their St. Louis, Missouri mansion, pointing their guns at protesters as they passed down their street. After this incident, the couple released a statement through their attorney indicating that the message “Black Lives Mat…

The seven-hour Board of Aldermen meeting on Monday, June 29 has to be the low of my nearly six years on the board. My heart aches for our city. 

In 1991, I was the Brevard County, Florida, champion for ninth-grade boys in the one-mile race.

If, like me, you stand as one of few black people in your field speaking out about race, the “angry black woman or man” label may be used to silence you. If that happens, embrace the “angry” label and channel it to make changes in policies and practices.

Conventional wisdom has always dictated that the path to change in America is through the ballot box. Voting is a sacred and valued right regardless of where you find yourself politically. So, one would think that our election commissions would be diverse institutions. If we are to maximize …

In August 1955, during a long-hot Mississippi summer, 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured, brutalized, and murdered by two white men. Their racist motivation was explicit and public knowledge that they infamously bragged about their depravity to their friends and neighbors. They were white …

It was August 9, 2014 when Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri.

Will Mayor-elect Ella Jones be the change needed to turn Ferguson around?

Right now, we are all in a state of confusion and uncertainty. Some are working to balance new responsibilities, as schools have closed and our kids have become our coworkers.  Many are reeling from the unexpected financial strain from furloughs and layoffs.

As I sat in my bed on June 10 recuperating from a surgery that many women, especially black women, experience daily, I received an email from Tod Robberson, editorial page editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. As I read the email I was once again reminded of the utter disdain and toxic masc…

First, I’d like to offer my prayers to those who were injured on Monday, June 1, especially the retired officer who was killed and the officers who were shot. My heart also goes out to the small businesses that were damaged while trying to re-open after stay-at-home orders were lifted.

One of the great privileges of being your congressman is the occasion I have to meet and talk with young people. Often, they come to my office in groups or I travel to various campuses and classrooms to hear their views, understand the issues of importance to them, and/or to debate with them…

I grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of our nation’s capital, in the early sixties. I am the youngest of six children, the third son in an Irish Catholic family. My mother was a grade school teacher and my father a federal-government civil servant. We lacked for nothing, and only late…

Dear Governor Parson,

We are the Mound City Bar Association, the oldest black bar association west of the Mississippi River. We know what we are seeing when we watch a police officer choke the life out of a black man in broad daylight by holding his knee against the man’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, wi…

As I reflect on recent incidents of civil unrest and protests across the country, and indeed across the world, I am angry and heartsick at the realization that time has not “healed all wounds.” Today, we are preparing to send our recent graduates into a world that is facing two pandemics: on…

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers but apparently the showers of April continued to cultivate and fertilize the seedlings and the fruit on the trees infected with the deadly pestilence of white idolatry and so-called supremacy. 

On May 26 of this already hellacious year, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer and his accomplices in Minneapolis. I am tired of talking to and explaining basic concepts to white people. They know right from wrong; it’s why they wait until the hoods are ready or the badges are best…

I am always shocked when I hear leaders suggest that the COVID-19 crises somehow brought to the forefront disparities in our region and beyond. Each time there is a crisis, we have conditioned ourselves to use this same language. Let’s be clear: while disparity operates in full sunlight righ…

What shall virtue do to meet brute force?

As you are aware, there has been a national response to the murder of African Americans by police officers over the prior weeks. We are all terribly saddened by the most recent tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and the St. Louis Regional Chamber stands as an a…

The right to vote is not up for debate, nor is it conditional. Voting serves as the cornerstone of our democracy, and we must stop at nothing to protect it. One of the most valuable pathways to cultivating structural solutions that shape our reality is through our electoral system.

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers but apparently the showers of April continued to cultivate and fertilize the seedlings and the fruit on the trees infected with the deadly pestilence of white idolatry and so-called supremacy.

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 …