Mayor Tishaura Jones has asked citizens to help decide how best to use $500 million in federal stimulus funds. This is a variation of “participatory budgeting.” St. Louis could very well be placing a huge amount of money into the hands of city residents – and they will make some the most imp…

May 13 and May 31 are the respective anniversaries of two of the most horrific events and their aftermath in American history.

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Lafferty recently extolled the goodness of the so-called “Three-Fifths Compromise” on the House floor, saying it was an honest effort to end slavery.

Days before the verdict of Derek Chauvin, I saw a meme on social media that basically said nothing had changed since the beating of Rodney King except the quality of the video. The poignant reference was about the flood of videos that have publicized the brutal assaults and cold-blooded murd…

The Organization for Black Struggle worked the polls in the 22nd Ward on Election Day. An elderly voter approached the polling place entrance, taking  slow and cautious steps with her walker. She was greeted by an enthusiastic OBS member who understood the obvious hardship it was for the sen…

The Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was a bombshell for many. The way biracial Meghan was being treated by The Royals was no surprise to most of us. And some of us knew that sistah-girl was not likely to put up with it for long. A few thought out loud that Meghan …

It’s election time. Some people equate elections with political power. I see elections as just one way political power shows up. The struggle for Black political power is not only about who we elect. It has also been about creating the conditions that guide people to stand up to social, econ…

When I first saw the images of  three gaping openings at the City Justice Center, I saw them as possible escape routes. If I was one of the detainees who knocked out the windows on Feb. 6 in protest of conditions, I think I would’ve jumped for safety and supported the demands from an unknown…

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…

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.

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.

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…

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…

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…

When St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell recently announced that there would be no indictment of former Ferguson cop Darren Wilson, it ignited a range of emotions from outrage to disappointment. For many, the historic election of Bell as the county’s first African-American prosecutor wou…

The man in the White House masquerading as a president flaunted his blatant disrespect of the law when he pardoned another one of his felon friends. At the same time, people like Lamar Johnson have been rotting for 25 years in a Missouri cage for a crime he didn’t commit. That’s why folks ar…

The era of Big Brother government is here, and only informed citizens can stop it.

Four years ago, the Coalition Against Police Crimes launched Re-imagining Public Safety as a public education campaign to disclose how much money the City of St. Louis was spending on a failed arrest-and-incarceration model. The workshops that took place all over the city allowed participant…

When you sit in a place that sustained the longest organized protest in modern history, people think you know something. Or at least have some lessons to share about how to deal with spontaneous uprisings. The questions, coming in from organizers in Minneapolis, Atlanta, Oakland, and other c…

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed shameful corruption while most of us are fighting to defend ourselves from the deadly virus and maintain our households. We are seeing untold corporate and government power-grabbing. The theft of our tax dollars under the guise of support for working familie…

I have seen some clever memes on social media about the instant home-schooling situation created by the COVID-19 crises. A few of them got a good chuckle out of me. I could tell a number of the memes were concocted or circulated by educators who wondered out loud, “Now you see I wasn’t lying…

I have seen some clever memes on social media about the instant home-schooling situation created by the COVID-19 crises. A few of them got a good chuckle out of me. I could tell a number of the memes were concocted or circulated by educators who wondered out loud, “Now you see I wasn’t lying…

The world was first made aware of a coronavirus case in China last December. The U.S. was hit with its first confirmed COVID-19 case on January 20. Still, there is no comprehensive, coordinated national plan to stop the deadly virus, which I put squarely at the feet a president who is dismis…

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.

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…

A new year is supposed to usher in hope and new possibilities. Sadly, there is little in the St. Louis region’s history that exudes the promise of change. I am the eternal optimist only because I put my faith in everyday people, not the corrupt and incompetent people who thrive off power and…

All holidays in the U.S. are highly commercialized. Christmas is the most commercialized to the tune of $475 billion, according to National Retail Federation estimates. Lost in those billions is a big portion of the $1 trillion-plus spending power of black folks. Our consumerism rarely comes…

The fate of Coach Trey Porter has finally been determined. Some would say the determination had little to do with his violation of the social media policy. Others would say the decision had nothing to do with enriching the lives of the students at Roosevelt High School. I side with the latte…

For months now, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner has suffered defensive wounds from those attempting to prevent her from carrying out a justice agenda. While voters didn’t elect Gardner to spend needless resources and time fighting against racist and sexist attacks, Gardner knew it would co…

For months, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi was reluctant to move forward amidst calls for impeachment before, during and after the Mueller investigation. Pelosi’s reasoning seemed to be that impeachment would be divisive for the country and support was lacking from the American people. H…

“American holds onto an undemocratic assumption from its founding: that some people deserve more power than others.”

Every week, we are forced into the scary and erratic world of Trump. The 45th president has kept late-night TV hosts supplied with unlimited material for comic relief. With each passing day, the Trump administration is less comedic and the nation in need of serious, rather than comic, relief.

The carnage of black bodies this summer, especially children, took a toll of all of us who care about humanity and who tirelessly work for racial justice. What compounded this bloody summer’s negative impact is the way some chose to respond to the crisis.

A community report-back on the Cure Violence assessment of St. Louis will be held 6 p.m. Thursday, September 12 at the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being, 1000 N. Vandeventer Ave., sponsored by the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression.

The El Paso and Dayton massacres brought the total of mass shootings in the U.S. since January to 253, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive tracks mass shootings of incidents involving at least four people being shot. My reaction to the wails of grief and desperation is we know…

The U.S. Supreme Court just didn’t pass the buck on the issue of gerrymandering. It refused to carry out its duty to uphold basic constitutional protections. The ruling makes the passage of Missouri’s Amendment 1 last November even more significant.

Since the Ferguson Uprising in response to the murder of Mike Brown, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has been exposed from the inside and out. The exposes have affirmed for some citizens, and bolstered beliefs in others, that the department is racist, incompetent and corrupt and…

"Historical ignorance.” That was the poignant phrase expressed at the second installment of trilogy held recently at Washington University. Dr. Cornell W. Brooks delivered a powerful address that wove together black and American history, biblical scriptures and contemporary issues. The trilo…

Did you know the president signed the historic act for African Americans back in January 2018? Oh, I guess you didn’t hear about the 400 Years of African American History Commission Act designed to acknowledge the four centuries plus of Africans being forced into U.S. chattel slavery. And yo…

I told you some years ago that these conservative folks would make being a “gleam in yo’ daddy’s eye” the start of conception. Fast forward and we see the aggressive attack on abortion rights by Republican lawbreakers. Several southern states have just passed “heartbeat” laws, a draconian me…

Over the 25 years of writing my column, readers have told me what they learned from my columns. I know that we don’t always have time to read many different viewpoints to come up with our own conclusions, so I work hard to present both information and knowledge. The goal is once readers have…

Local control is under attack, in rural and urban Missouri

Daily we see how Trump plows through our fragile American democracy – unaware or uncaring of the laws, principles, structures and protocols he tramples. While his destruction happens on a national and international stage for all to see, similar actions are also happening on the local and sta…

Writing for The St. Louis American for 25 years, a reoccurring question from readers is how I come up with ideas for my column. That can be easily answered most weeks.

The March 5 election results revealed some important insights that could be misread or ignored by elected and appointed officials, future candidates and the powers that be. There is an emerging electorate that is more informed and strategic. They will not be taken for granted.

The March election results revealed some important insights that could be misread or ignored by elected and appointed officials, future candidates and the powers-that-be. There is an emerging electorate that is more informed and strategic. They will not be taken for granted. 

Dear white people,

Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was able to achieve swift justice in the latest police incident involving lethal force. Within just 48 hours she called for an independent investigation by the Missouri Highway Patrol and charged Officer Nathaniel Hendren for the shooting death of Officer Katlyn Alix.