State Senator Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis) has advice for Tribune Media Company, after one of the newscasters at its St. Louis affiliate, Kevin Steincross at KTVI (Fox 2), called Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Martin Luther Coon” on live television: get your people – all of your people – some anti-racism training.
“I am asking Tribune Media, KTVI (Fox 2), and Steincross to take steps that can help bring our City together and prevent something like this from happening again,” Nasheed said in a statement.
“First, I am calling on Tribune Media to provide intersectional anti-bias, anti-racism training for all of their global employees, including those at KTVI, as recommended in The Ferguson Commission Report.”
She also invited Steincross to tour St. Louis, including the 5th Senate District to meet some of her “constituents who have been negatively impacted by racist language.”
Nasheed pointed out that her call for media training is consistent with one of the Ferguson Commission’s Calls to Action: the development of media training on “bias and systemic context with specific focus on impoverished communities, people of color, and boys and men of color.”
Nasheed said she thought about calling for Steincross’s termination or resignation instead, but was guided by a quote from Dr. King printed on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Political Service Award she received on January 17 from the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and Saint Louis University: “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
Nasheed said: “That quote describes accurately the kind of leadership our City needs in this divided time.”
Tribune Media Company, KTVI and Kevin Steincross did not answer or immediately return a call from The American requesting comment. Their responses will be included when and if received.
