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St. Louis American The
Serving, empowering and advocating for equity in St. Louis since 1928
CAC Audited FEBRUARY 3 – 9, 2022
stlamerican.com
New chief hopes to alleviate racial tensions
Gregory to prioritize recruitment, community relations By Dana Rieck The St. Louis American While Chief Kenneth Gregory has led the St. Louis County Police Department in an interim capacity for several months, his permanent appointment came last month. He’s now ready to dive into the gig, tackling issues and improving the department. As the department’s first Black chief, Gregory inherits a myriad of race-related issues within the department, from a St. Louis County police dispatcher using a racial slur on the police radio, to accusations that reassignments are used not only as retaliation but to enforce race-based discrimination. “Our culture has been developed over 66 years and, you know, we’re trying to rid ourselves of
HarrisStowe halts classes after bomb threat By Alvin A. Reid The St. Louis American
– Chief Kenneth Gregory
See CHIEF, A7
COMPLIMENTARY
HBCUs across America targeted
n “We’re doing a lot of things to make this department more open to anybody that wants to take advantage of what we’re doing to try to get more people in here.”
some of the past practices that we’ve been dealing with, past policy issues that we’ve been dealing with to try to make us a better department, try to
Vol. 93 No. 45
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
St. Louis County Police Chief Kenneth Gregory
Steven Mitchell III, 8, talks with Sovereign University student Shawn Sophia Harrell, 8, during class Monday, Jan. 24, 2022.
Harris-Stowe State University was one of at least 14 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to receive a bomb threat on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month, or on Jan. 31. Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith, Harris-Stowe interim president, told reporters Tuesday “a total sweep” of residence halls and campus and administration buildings had been completed. The campus Department of Public Safety (DPS), in conjunction with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and FBI, issued an “all-clear” after the search, meaning it was safe to return to campus at the only HBCU in the region. As a precaution and due to inclement weather, the campus will continue remote instruction and work until Friday, February Dr. LaTonia 4, 2022. Collins “Harris-Stowe is better than Smith this, and we deserve better,” said Collins Smith. “We will continue to move forward. Our goal is to be a beacon of hope for the community and that we continue to serve under-resourced and the underserved.” Congresswoman Cori Bush, who attended Harris-Stowe from 1995 to ‘96, said in a release “anyone who thinks these kinds of threats will stop Black excellence, hear me say this: we are unstoppable.” “As a former Hornet, I will be doing everything in my power to keep them safe. We are already engaged in active conversations with local, state, and federal leaders to ensure that we secure the safety of our HBCUs across the country,” she said. “I have been in touch with university leadership and want the entire Harris-Stowe community, espe-
See THREAT, A6
Jones’ bid to reduce crime Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Homeschooling during COVID How pandemic birthed Sovereign University
By Sylvester Brown, Jr. The St. Louis American The two-story brick home stands out on a micro block on the west side of the city. The dwelling on Clara Avenue, on a oneway street off Page Avenue is neighbored by homes, some abandoned, weed-covered or in various stages of disrepair. Not so with the home of Shawn and Denecia Harrell. A soft, yellow, chandelier light from the front porch window accents the white-painted porch and white wrought iron security door. Inside this warm setting,
the day’s classes for Sovereign University, a homeschooling program are about to begin. The dining room where the chandelier hangs has been converted into a workroom of sorts. Surrounding the six-foot oak wood table are bookshelves and roll-away carts with pull-out drawers marked: “supplies, markers, paper clips, glue and paints.” Atop one cart sits an ample quantity of sanitizers, aerosols, and disinfectants. “We take the kids’ temperature’s before
they come through the door every morning,” Shawn Harrell, the founder of Sovereign University LLC, explained. “We also have someone come in every two or three weeks to deep clean the house.” Harrell said he’s not an “anti-vaxxer,” even though he’s not vaccinated. He doesn’t like the label. I’d say we’re prochoice,” he said. “We have parents who are vaccinated, some who are and others who left their jobs because they didn’t want to be vaccinated.” Harrell doesn’t adhere to some of the
See HOMESCHOOLING, A7
Expand intervention and ‘embrace youth’
By Karen Robinson-Jacobs The St. Louis American Finding more constructive outlets for youth and expanding a violence prevention program that has shown positive results in four St. Louis neighborhoods were among the proposals St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones put forward Monday for tackling the still-too-high rate of violent crime in the Gateway City. In a live question and answer session with The Washington Post, Jones said she is “not celebrating” a 26% drop in the 2021 homicide rate compared to a record-setting spike in 2020 – downward movement that went against patterns seen in other major cities. Instead, she said she is looking to build on steps that already have shown promise, both among young people and more broadly in four neighborhoods that have been using a targeted violence pre-
See CRIME, A7