The original Homer G. Phillips Hospital is near and dear to the Black community and well respected. We love that hospital, proud of the name it bears, proud of the 42 years it served our community particularly during segregation, and were saddened when it closed in 1979. We are glad and proud that our historic building still stands and has been repurposed into a senior living facility.
Our original beloved Homer G. Phillips Hospital is the only one that should bear the Homer G. Phillips name. That’s our hospital, our proud history. Appropriating this name for something else that doesn’t hold that pride, uniqueness, and historical significance is not an honor. It is racially and culturally insensitive in the least and sullies the Homer G. Phillip’s name and original hospital.
Lawanda Wallace, Belleville
50 St. Louis based African- American leaders gathered for a press conference to express their collective disappointment in the treatment of Haitian refugees and asylum seekers.
Government is wrong on its treatment of Haitian refugees
On Tuesday September 28th, more than 50 St. Louis based African- American leaders gathered for a press conference to express their collective disappointment in the treatment of Haitian refugees and asylum seekers. In addition to the Ecumenical Leadership Council, which hosted the press conference, members of other organizations expressing disappointment and demanding better treatment for the Haitians were the American Federation of Teachers, MOKAN, Universal African Peoples Association, Campaign for Human Dignity, Missouri Alliance for Retired Americans, Concerned Haitians and Friends, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unions. The leaders gathered at Williams Temple COGIC in North St. Louis. Speakers included Bishop Lawrence Wooten, Rev. Roderick Burton, Atty. Kenny Powell, Zaki Buruti, Jay Ozier, Byron Clemens, and Mr. Harold Compere.
Among the issues raised among the group was the possibility of bringing 10,000 Haitians to St. Louis to fill the labor needs for local projects. Eddie Hassan, president of MOKAN said, “if we can get 10,000 of our Haitian brothers and sisters to St. Louis, we can find them some work.
With all of the construction going on, there is plenty of work for skilled and unskilled labor.” The president of the St. Louis Chapter of the Ecumenical Leadership Council, Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten, PhD., stated, “Why is the U. S. government treating refugees and asylum seekers
from Haiti different than those fleeing from other countries? Why can’t St. Louis invite 10,000 refugees here? We have plenty of space and lots of work”. The gathering ended in a chorus among those present as they shouted, “Bring 10,000 Haitians to St. Louis!!!”
The Ecumenical Leadership Council