While students were counting the days to their winter break and households were gearing up for the holidays with their families, Karlton Thornton seized a moment to pay homage to his ancestors who were early public leaders in Kinloch.
He said one grandfather was the first alderman for the City and his other grandfather was one of the first board members when Kinloch formed its first school district.
Those were the men whose shoulders Thornton stood on December 15, when he took the oath to become the first black male member of the Hazelwood School District Board of Education.
Thornton was doing what was in his blood – what he was raised to do – to look out for others and for their children. And to create a legacy of his own.
“It was quite an emotional time,” Thornton said of taking the oath.
“I sat there and was taking all that in and it was just overwhelming – and I hope I didn’t lose my ‘man card’ for getting choked up.”
It was not lost on him that it was late 2009 before black men had a presence on the board to help lead the school district.
Thornton said, “To look at the wall of photos of persons who have joined the school board over the years and to think that 40 years from now, somebody’s going to be looking at that wall and they are going to take note of that and they may find themselves going, ‘You’re kidding me, right?’”
Thornton was appointed to complete an unexpired term of a member who resigned to pursue other opportunities. He is currently planning his campaign for the April election.
‘A lot of good men’
An enriching part of his early development came through his experience with adults at the beloved former black hospital in St. Louis, Homer G. Phillips.
“’Homer G. Brats’ are kids whose mothers worked for or our fathers worked at Homer G., particularly mine in the operating room, where we would come and spend the weekend because there was not a lot of daycare,” Thornton said.
“When we visited Homer G., we would never be allowed to just play, play, play. Sometimes we had to work. That included moving patients around, folding scrubs, putting equipment into the autoclave. And many times we would go into the observation room and watch operations.”
Spending extended time at Homer G. surrounded Thornton with African-American men to look up to. He mentioned St. Louis American Publisher Dr. Donald M. Suggs, Dr. Charles Quigless, Dr. Homer Nash, as well as “all the nurses and guys in the morgue.” Thornton said, “They all had an influence on our lives.”
His mother, Dorothy Thornton (2009 St. Louis American Salute to Excellence in Health Care Lifetime Achiever), was an operating room nurse and a single parent. Thornton said she had great support from his grandparents, the Kinloch community, doctors and other professionals like the Collier Brothers auto repair shop.
“She would drop me at Dr. Quigless’ office or go to Dr. Suggs’ office. Whenever I visited him for any dental work, he was more than willing to dispense fatherly information and knowledge to me –whether I wanted it or not!” Thornton said of Suggs with a chuckle.
“And Judge Dan Tillman, another influential person in my life. A lot of good men kept me on the straight and narrow,” he said.
“Those types of men have always meant a lot to me in my life. And so, me becoming a public figure and also a church leader, I always personally intend to make an effect on young black males’ life.”
Men acting like children
That’s why he does not agree with how some grown African-American men present themselves.
“I get annoyed when I see older black men performing like children in a public venue ? dressing as if they are still 18 years old. I just can’t understand why a man 32 years old needs to walk around with his pants hanging off his behind,” Thornton said.
Grown gangsta rap wannabes particularly disgust him.
“Rolling down the streets with his windows down and music that, when you look over, you think, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ And you look at them and they are enthusiastically following along with words as if it was an anthem,” Thornton said.
“And to me, I see that as their anthem. ‘This is my anthem. This is how I formed my faithfulness. This is how I formed me. This anthem – this thing that I’m singing and I’m just jumping, bouncing in my seat, talking about the violence and the hatred and the hate-hate-hate-hate-hate.’”
Thornton said it was quite different back in the day.
“Everything was about grace, love. Togetherness,” Thornton said.
“So those became our anthems as we were being raised. How people come together – family reunion. LTD – Love, Togetherness, Devotion; Earth, Wind & Fire.”
Thornton is a deacon and a trustee of First Baptist Church of Kinloch located in Black Jack, and works as a meter supervisor for Ameren. He has one adult daughter, and he and his wife, Karen, have two daughters, a 12-year-old and a 4-year-old.
Thornton is a 10-year district parent who served as area vice president for the Parent Teacher Student Association. He describes himself as a regular at school board meetings – a role he feels more parents should fulfill.
“I see a lot of teachers at board meetings, and I see very few parents,” Thornton said. “They’ll come to a board meeting when an issue arises that ‘we’ find of interest.”
Among the first orders of business as a new board member will be the hiring of a new school superintendent. He said, “We’re still refining our candidates and interviewing those who have been selected.”
His feet may be put to the fire when, in the midst of layoffs, plant closures, home foreclosures, and recent district tax rate hikes, the district uses its public engagement tactics to ask voters to approve millions of additional dollars for school facilities.
“The first few meetings are going to be rough,” Thornton said.
I knew you would do good, that’s why I picked you as one of my trainees for Supervision. Keep at it !