Chink Washington and the black political avant-garde
@stlouisamerican
See Mike Jones, page D8 @stlouisamerican
St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited FEBRUARY 14 – 20, 2019
Vol. 90 No. 47 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Show me black lives matter by electing black leadership Why I am supporting Jamilah Nasheed wholeheartedly By Bruce Franks Jr. For The St. Louis American You don’t have to be blood to be considered family. And you’re not going to always agree with family. But you will fight for them and love them unconditionally. Many have questioned my support for state Senator Jamilah Nasheed in her race for president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, so I felt like giving an in-depth explanation of why I love and support my sister Jamilah Nasheed. We didn’t start off as friends. A good
n I felt like giving an in-depth explanation of why I love and support my sister Jamilah Nasheed.
friend of mine named Dylan ran against her in 2016 when I first ran for state representative. After being on the opposite sides of a couple of races and a very heated argument about the mayor’s race when I was not yet supporting Tishaura O. Jones and she was, she called me up to her office
for a sit-down. We talked about moving forward and apologized to each other. Let’s stick a pin right there: someone who arguably had the most name recognition and the money to run for mayor didn’t see a path to victory, so Nasheed bowed out gracefully and began to support Tishaura. The one thing that we asked just one of the ego-driven men in the race to do, and she did it. She put her money where her mouth was. Let’s also talk about Rex Sinquefield. When you are a legislator, there are folks
Senator Nasheed knows all too well about gun violence. She lost her father to a drive-by shooting.
See NASHEED, A7
Jennings, Ferguson-Florissant score ‘Accredited with Distinction’ Tasia Towns, Shemiah Green, Maxwell Morgan, second grade students at Columbia Elementary School in the St. Louis Public School District (SLPS), learned subtraction on Tuesday, January 8. SLPS scored in the full accreditation range on the state’s most recent Annual Performance Report.
State gave public schools four different standardized tests in past five years By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
n “We have made history in Jennings.” – Jennings Superintendent Art McCoy
Report cards for school districts statewide came out on February 1, and the majority of districts in the St. Louis area scored well above the range for full accreditation. However, state education officials explained that school districts cannot measure their growth because the tests have been changing almost every year. “The real problem with the data that you’re looking at is that you can’t make comparisons because the state legislation kept directing us to change the instrument,” said Mike Jones, a member of the state Board of Education. “It’s hard to make any judgment about a first-year score. It really does a disservice to the districts to find out how well they are doing relative to the students because you keep moving the goal post.” Ritenour School District Superintendent Chris Kilbride wrote to district families explaining that the children took completely new assessments in English language arts and math this year.
See SCORES, A7
Photo by Wiley Price
Black minds matter
‘We must resist’ STL native Rep. Maxine Waters praises Dr. King and defies Donald Trump By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American Days after she made history in Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) stood before a St. Louis crowd at Harris-Stowe State University and let them know that there is no place like home. On February 1, she became the first woman and the first African American in the nation’s 243-year history to chair the powerful House Financial Services Committee. Waters, a Kinloch native, told the hometown audience that she learned about the U.S.
Invest in education to reduce poverty, crime and violence
n “Stand up for what is right. Stand up for the democracy that is supposed to hold out promise for all of us.” – U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters
Constitution in the very halls where she delivered the keynote address for the 33rd
See WATERS, A6
By Dwaun J. Warmack For the St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters delivered the keynote address for the 33rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Statewide Celebration Kick Off Program for Missouri on Friday, February 8 at HarrisStowe State University.
Harris-Stowe State University is on an amazing trajectory right now. We are the fastest-growing four-year public institution in the state of Missouri. In the past four years, we’ve had a 34 percent increase in overall enrollment and a 35 percent increase in our graduates. Plus, we’ve gone from 14 degree programs to over 50 degree programs.
See MINDS, A6