Dr. King’s dream, reimagined
St. Louis American See page B1
The
JANUARY 22 – 28, 2026
Serving, empowering and advocating for equity in St. Louis since 1928
stlamerican.com
Vol. 97 No. 41 COMPLIMENTARY
‘Comfortable with uncertainty’ Entertainment mogul Eric Rhone named Entrepreneur of the Year
By Sylvester Brown Jr. St. Louis American “I’m comfortable with a little uncertainty.” That’s a frank statement from Eric Rhone, a man with nearly 40 years in the highly competitive entertainment business and a longtime close friend and business manager of Cedric the Entertainer. Rhone is president and CEO of A Bird and A Bear Entertainment LLC — the production company he co-founded with Cedric — and founder of
Eric Rhone is president and CEO of A Bird and A Bear Entertainment LLC — the production company he co-founded with Cedric the Entertainer.
Visions Management Group Inc., his talent management firm. On any given day, Rhone is meeting with his team to assess current projects across television, film and new media — from CBS’ “The Neighborhood” to feature films, acquisitions of available intellectual property and emerging content opportunities. His role, he said, is less about micromanaging and more about stewardship. “My personal role is to listen to my team and
See RHONE, A13
Courtesy photo
Warm charity on a cold MLK Day Urban League, Foodbank serve 3,000 residents
By Kenya Vaughn St. Louis American Page Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard run parallel in St. Louis — streets that never meet on a map. But on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, they seemed to intersect in spirit, as residents and volunteers gathered near Page for a drive-thru food distribution hosted by the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis in partnership with the St. Louis Area Foodbank. Cars entered the parking lot at Page and Kingshighway on Monday, many lining up for hours before the noon start
Photo by Lawrence Bryant / St. Louis American
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, in partnership with Centennial Christian Church, hosts a rededication unveiling of the MLK statue in Fountain Park on Saturday, Jan. 17. The statue was knocked down and damaged during the May 16 tornado.
‘A champion of justice’
See CHARITY, A12
Missouri pressed to share full voter rolls with DOJ
MLK statue stands tall in Fountain Park
By Alvin A. Reid St. Louis American As a frigid wind blew and snow turned from flurries to a wintry bombardment Saturday, Missouri’s only statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood defiant in its longtime home in Fountain Park. King’s statue had weathered a storm of its own on May 16, 2025. That’s when a historic tornado tore through nearby Centennial Christian Church and wide swaths of North St. Louis, toppling the 11-foot statue, erected in 1978, and leaving it severely damaged. Committeewoman Yolonda “Yogi” Yancie arrived at Fountain Park shortly after the tornado and learned that her friend, Patricia Penelton, had been killed while preparing meals for the homeless at Centennial. While stunned by the wreckage in the park and news of her
By Sylvester Brown Jr. St. Louis American
“I see that there is far too much work left to do. In Dr. King’s words, ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’”
Since last May, the U.S. Department of Justice has asked at least 40 states, including Missouri, to turn over unredacted statewide voter registration data as part of a national review of voter rolls. The requests seek full voter files and personal identifying information that many states typically protect. Missouri has not yet entered into an agreement with the Justice Department. Rachael Dunn, spokeswoman for Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, said the state has not signed a DOJ agreement “at this time.”
– In Dr. King’s letter written while in a Birmingham, Alabama, jail
See VOTER ROLLS, A12
See KING, A13 BUSINESS
HEALTH
Former Mayor Tishaura Jones headed to Harvard as spring fellow
How filtered water can elevate your life
Former St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has been selected as a spring fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, joining a class that includes former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Elevated levels of contaminants such as iron, manganese and hydrogen sulfide in unfiltered water not only make water less enjoyable to drink, but also pose potential health hazards.
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