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Dr. Charlene Jones granted lifetime tenure at Harris-Stowe
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
91 years of serving and empowering the St. Louis community
CAC Audited AUGUST 15 – 21, 2019
Vol. 91 No. 21 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
n “This day will never be an easy day for me, but my Lord and savior will keep me covered.” – Lezley McSpadden-Head
Samaria Rice, Lezley McSpaddenHead, attorney Benjamin Crump and McSpaddenHead’s husband Louis Head visited the grave of Michael Brown on August 9, 2019, five years after he was killed by a Ferguson police officer.
Stenger sentenced to 46 months in prison Will receive a maximum $250K fine By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Lawrence Bryant
A sorority they didn’t pledge Mothers with shared pain lift McSpaddenHead as Michael Brown is remembered By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American “I said I wasn’t gonna cry today,” Lezley McSpadden-Head said after placing a wreath on her son Michael Brown’s grave at St. Peter’s Cemetery to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his passing on Friday, August 9. The tears came anyway. McSpadden-Head has been forced to mourn the loss of her son as the world watched, from the moment she
learned he was fatally shot by a Ferguson Police officer on August 9, 2014. Five years later, she grieved publicly once again. “This day will never be an easy day for me, but my Lord and savior will keep me covered,” McSpadden-Head said. “I thank Him for protecting my mind.” As she dropped her head to cry, Samaria Rice put her head on McSpadden-Head’s shoulder. Tragically, it’s a pain she is all too
familiar with. Three months after Michael Brown was killed, Samaria Rice’s son was killed by a Cleveland police officer. Tamir Rice, 12, was shot at point-blank range when the cop mistook his toy gun for a real one as he played in a local park. “It’s not the proper order to bury your children,” Samaria Rice said. “We definitely
See STENGER, A6
SALute to educAtion
‘Teaching is my passion’
See BROWN, A6
A woman of determination and faith Elnora Lofton Suggs was a homemaker and life-long member at Faith Temple Church of God in Christ in East Chicago, Indiana. She committed herself to service and worship as a faithful missionary, Sunday School teacher and a member of the Mother’s Board.
When U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry sentenced Steve Stenger to 46 months in federal prison, at the highest end of the sentencing guidelines, she dismissed claims made by his attorney Scott Rosenblum, that Stenger’s remorse should be a mitigating factor. “Look at how long this went on,” Perry said – “months, years. This was your whole way of life.” “This” was Stenger’s practice of bullying staff to award contracts to his campaign donors and threatening them with losing their jobs if they did not go along. For Steve Stenger “this,” Stenger had pled guilty to three counts of theft of honest services, bribery and mail fraud. It was ironic that, while waiting in the courtroom for the judge to appear for the sentencing hearing, Stenger moved a microphone away from his face. Microphones were precisely what brought down the former county executive – who grew up as a singer in rock bands and has been known to take the mic to sing at black
Elnora Suggs, mother of ‘American’ publisher Donald M. Suggs, passes at 106
Chandria Taylor honored for Early Childhood Education at 2019 Salute By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
Elnora Lofton Suggs was a woman of faith and fierce determination. That’s what her son Donald M. Suggs, publisher and executive editor of The St. Louis American and president of the St. Louis American Foundation, remembers most. Mrs. Suggs passed away on Friday, August 9. She was 106 years old. “I-R-O-N,” Suggs spelled out when describing the willfulness of his “Mother Dear.” “I can only imagine the type of life she would have lived had she come
When the little boy came into Chandria Taylor’s preschool class at Gateway MST Elementary School, he would run to the corner and hide. “He just wasn’t very comfortable being around a lot of people, so we made a corner in our room and called it Andy’s House,” Taylor said (his name was changed for anonymity). Chandria Taylor and her teaching Taylor assistant put a bean bag in his “house,” along with some toys. Whenever he felt “overwhelmed or freaked out,” they would tell him to go to his house, and that
See SUGGS, A7
See TAYLOR, A7
By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American