The St. Louis American has made two changes to its editorial board, effective immediately.
Virvus Jones – veteran civil rights activist, pioneering minority inclusion advocate as St. Louis comptroller, and author – has retired from The American’s editorial board after 22 years of service (with one interruption in 2017 when he went on hiatus during a St. Louis mayoral campaign where his daughter, Tishaura O. Jones, was competitive).
Jones said he plans to spend more time with his family, personal writing (he is the author of the novel The Stalking Horse), and social media battles. He remains a close friend of the newspaper and its publisher and staff.
The Rev. Starsky Wilson – president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation, Ferguson Commission co-chair, and thought leader – has joined the editorial board.
Rev. Wilson joins Donald M. Suggs, publisher, executive editor and editorial board chair; managing editor Chris King; assistant managing editor Sandra Jordan; video manager Dawn Suggs; and senior policy advisor and columnist Mike Jones on the editorial board.
The editorial board advises Donald M. Suggs, who chairs the board and is solely responsible for the editorial positions of The St. Louis American, which is a mission-driven platform dedicated to informing, educating and empowering the black community in St. Louis.
“Virvus has made invaluable contributions to the political empowerment and wellbeing of the black community in St. Louis, including as a longtime presence on our editorial board,” Suggs said. “The political ambitions of his daughter, Tishaura O. Jones, have presented challenges to us in recent years. When Tishaura ran for mayor in 2017, Virvus went on hiatus from the editorial board. That means he no longer attended editorial board meetings or was included on copy chains to advise on and suggest revisions to our editorials and Political EYE columns. This did not stop some people from wrongly attributing the paper’s endorsement of Tishaura as due to his influence. Though we understand that Virvus retiring from the editorial board will not silence some critics of our political positions, Virvus can be more effective as an independent voice, and we believe the removal of a perceived conflict of interest will compensate for the loss of Virvus’ wisdom and acumen from the board’s deliberations. As for Rev. Wilson, he was our first choice to bring fresh energy and insight from a younger generation to our decision-making, and we are delighted that he has agreed to join The American’s editorial.”
