Disinfectants kill viruses – and poison people
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020
92 years serving, empowering and advocating equity in St. Louis
Vol. 92 No. 6 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Deaconess funding black-led COVID-19 efforts $1.2M from local foundation matched by $1M from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
n “We need to center institutions led by black leaders and listen to them.”
“When black people are dying, black people should be in charge of the healing process for what is killing them,” Rev. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of Deaconess Foundation, told The St. Louis American. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to say something.’” Knowing that money talks, and speaking as the leader of a grant-making foundation, he is speaking with money: $2.2 million to be awarded to black-led organizations working in COVID-19 relief and recovery in the St. Louis region. Of that investment in local black leadership, $1.2 million comes from the coffers of Deaconess Foundation;
– Rev. Starsky Wilson, Deaconess Foundation
the other $1 million is a contribution from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “It is important to affirm in this moment that the largest health philanthropy in the country announced $50 million in COVID-19 relief on April 7 and reached out See DEACONESS, A7
Photo by Wiley Price
“When black people are dying, black people should be in charge of the healing process for what is killing them,” said Rev. Starsky Wilson, Deaconess Foundation president and CEO, seen praying here at the foundation’s Center for Child Well-Being on Tuesday, April 28.
Photo by Wiley Price
Mourning a colonel and a deacon Members of Christ’s Southern Mission Baptist Church stood in Page Boulevard on Friday, April 24 to pay final respects to retired St. Louis Police Col. Gregory Hawkins, who died from COVID-19 on April 9. A memorial processional stopped in front of the church where he was a lifelong member, deacon and treasurer. Because of public health precautions, mourning was restricted to a safe social distance.
‘The door is open’ By Chris King Of The St. Louis American Marcus Robinson is preparing for his first day as superintendent of the Normandy Schools Collaborative on May 1 with another month of instruction still on the calendar for the semester. But he is already thinking about welcoming students back after the summer when they will not have seen the inside of a school for more than four months.
St. Louis city and county remain under stay-athome orders By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
New superintendent Marcus Robinson wants us to help him transform Normandy Schools write and do math at McKinley Elementary in the district, though he would change schools six times by the 6th grade and “It’s not just an instrucgraduate from Pattonville tional challenge, there are High School. emotional growth challeng“I developed my first es,” Robinson said. “Many confidence in my ability of our kids depend on their to learn in the Normandy schools for regular food, School District,” he said. “I emotional support, access went all the way to the Ivy to broader co-curricular League with the foundation I activities like sports and the got in Normandy.” arts. Most of our kids need Marcus He is completing his schools in important ways Robinson doctorate in Educational that are not just reading, Leadership at Columbia writing and doing math.” Robinson himself learned to read, University, an Ivy League school
Parson vague as he lifts public health order
where he earned a master’s degree in Educational Administration. He also has a graduate degree in the field from Butler University and a bachelor’s degree in English from DePauw University. Butler and DePauw are in or near Indianapolis, where he had the bulk of his work experience in educational administration. He was chancellor and CEO for the Tindley Accelerated Schools, a charter school network in Indianapolis. But he got his start in teaching at Jennings Junior High School and
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson gave vague ideas about what will happen when he lifts the statewide stay-athome order on May 4, during his Monday, April 27 press briefing. While not giving specific guidelines for businesses or individuals, Parson said the first phase of the order will be more like “the turning of a dial and not a flip of a switch.” When reporters repeatedly asked for more detailed guidelines, Parson said they will come during his daily briefings throughout this week. See PARSON, A6
See ROBINSON, A7
Hospitalizations could be plateauing ‘Initial wave’ may be behind us, says region’s pandemic incident commander By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American The hospitalization rate for COVID-19 in St. Louis has been “flat and stable” for the past week, said Dr. Alexander Garza, chief medical officer of SSM Health, on Tuesday, April 28.
“If our modeling holds true, we should start to see a taper over the next week or so,” Garza said. “And it will start to move back down gradually. That’s when we’ll know that we are, in fact, on the downward side of this initial wave.” Garza is the incident commander for the St. Louis Metropolitan
Pandemic Task Force. The task force includes four major health care systems: BJC HealthCare, Mercy, SSM Health and St Luke’s Hospital. Every day, Garza gives a briefing on the task force’s COVID-19 statistics that represent 2.8 million people for an area that encompasses surrounding counties in Missouri
and Illinois in the larger St. Louis region. At his Tuesday briefing, Garza showed a graph of the “seven-day moving average” of hospitalizations for the task force’s healthcare systems. See PLATEAUING, A6
St. Louis Clergy Coalition President Bishop Elijah Hankerson