Missouri votes to expand Medicaid
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited AUGUST 6 – 12, 2020
92 years serving, empowering and advocating equity in St. Louis
Vol. 92 No. 19 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Jones, Gardner easily defend seats
Bush upsets Clay ‘We are about to change the world,’ says Democratic nominee for Congress
St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones addressed supporters at the Black Women’s March in downtown St. Louis on Saturday, August 1
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
‘People are looking at the capacity of Black women to lead’
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner addressed supporters at the Black Women’s March in downtown St. Louis on Saturday, August 1.
By Chris King and Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American “Overall, we are in a moment in our entire country, not only in St. Louis, where people are looking at the capacity of Black women to lead in offices like circuit attorney, mayor, Congress,” St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones said on Tuesday, August 4, when unofficial election results showed she had defended her citywide office of treasurer and Kimberly Gardner had been reelected as circuit attorney. “People are taking note of our capacity to lead and showing greater confidence in our ability.” St. Louis voters showed their confidence in Jones by a margin of 58.5% to 41.5% for her opponent, Jeffrey Boyd, who keeps his seat as alderman – a margin of almost 12,000 votes. Gardner, the first Black person to serve as the city’s chief prosecutor, soundly defeated her challenger Mary Pat Carl, 60.8 percent to 39.2 percent – a margin of more than 15,000 votes.
See JONES, A6
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell met with the family of the late Michael Brown on Thursday, July 30 to tell them that he will not charge Darren Wilson in connection with the killing of their son. “By Missouri’s legal standards, not only would I have to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but I also would have to disprove a self-defense argument beyond a reasonable doubt,” Bell told The American. “I can’t ethically charge him. It would violate the ethical standards of my profession.” At a press conference after speaking with the families, Bell said they agreed that the conversations would remain private.
Photo by Wiley Price
Bell said he did not want to “re-litigate” the evidence that led to this conclusion, because the evidence is all in the public domain. His investigation, which he conducted over the course of five months with his newly formed Conviction and Incident Review Unit, relied upon the same evidence reviewed by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and Bell’s predecessor as county prosecutor, Bob McCulloch. They both also declined to bring charges against Wilson. The DOJ’s 2015 report on the shooting, which is better organized than the trove of evidence previously released by McCulloch, is 86 pages long and includes the testimony of 148 witnesses. “Witness accounts suggesting that Brown was standing still with his hands raised in an unambiguous signal Wesley Bell
See BUSH, A8
‘The fight is not over’
Wesley Bell won’t charge Darren Wilson By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
Progressive candidate and pastor Cori Bush, who is a single mother and registered nurse, will become Missouri’s first African-American U.S. congresswoman. She defeated 10-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, whose family has represented the District 1 House seat since the late 1960s in the August 4 Democratic primary. Bill Clay, a civil rights activist, was elected in 1968 and sworn in the following January. His son Wm. Lacy Clay was elected as his successor in 2001. Bush received 72,812 Cori Bush votes, and Clay received 68,201, based on unofficial election results. The Republican and Libertarian primaries did not generate 12,000 votes between them, so the Democratic nominee is a sure winner in November. “Almost six years ago to this day, Mike Brown was murdered,” Bush said in her acceptance speech on Tuesday night – “murdered by the police in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. I was
See WILSON, A6
Lezley McSpadden says Wesley Bell did not do a ‘proper investigation’ By Chris King and Sophie Hurwitz Of The St. Louis American Lezley McSpadden has not closed the case on the killing of her son Michael Brown. When St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell told her on Thursday, July 30 that he would not file criminal charges against former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for killing her son, she said she is still seeking “due process” for him. She was quoting one of the systemic changes Bell had introduced, he said, as part of the criminal justice reform movement sparked by her son. Bell said he would now record all grand jury hearings the way his predecessor, Bob McCulloch, recorded Wilson’s grand jury proSee McSPADDEN, A8