COVID-19 disparities and police brutality
@stlouisamerican
@stlouisamerican
See page A12
St. LouiS AmericAn The
92 years serving, empowering and advocating equity in St. Louis
CAC Audited JUNE 4 – 10, 2020
Vol. 92 No. 11 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
“During a pandemic, nobody should have their knee on any of our necks. There’s not enough respirators.”
Activist accuses reporter of spitting at her
– Kayla Reed, Action St. Louis
Leland Vittert of Fox News denies accusation from high school By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
A diverse group protested police brutality in downtown St. Louis on Monday, June 1, as part of ongoing police accountability protests sparked nationwide by the Minneapolis Police killing of George Floyd. As of June 3, all four officers responsible for his death had been charged.
St. Louis protests police brutality – again Curfew remains in effect until further notice in response to violence after protests By Ashley Jones For The St. Louis American Thousands of people marched throughout the St. Louis region from Thursday, May 28 through Monday, June 1 to protest police brutality and the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Many carried signs with messages such as “Black Lives Matter” and simply “George
Floyd.” They chanted slogans familiar from Ferguson and Stockley verdict protests: “Whose streets? Our streets” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” Masks, a common sight at former protests, now had another protective function, as many protestors followed public health guidelines and wore protective masks. St. Louis has only started to lifted public-health orders to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If we gonna have to be in the streets during COVID, then we’re going to be in the streets,” Kayla Reed, executive director of Action St. Louis and a Ferguson protestor, told the crowd in downtown St. Louis on June 1. “During a pandemic, nobody should have their knee on any of our necks. There’s not enough respirators.” See PROTESTS, A6
Ferguson elects first black mayor
See VITTERT, A6
Empowering patients for 30-plus years Rosetta Keeton is Lifetime Achiever in Healthcare
New mayors also elected in Berkeley and Pagedale
By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American Ella Jones made history and national news in the Municipal General Election on Tuesday, June 2 when she was elected the first black mayor of Ferguson. She also will be the city’s first woman mayor. She defeated fellow n “I see the city com- Ferguson City Council Member Heather Robinett, ing together, working who was supported by together, so we can Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III. Knowles could move forward,” not run for re-election due to term limits. – Ella Jones, Knowles defeated Jones Ferguson mayor-elect in the 2017 mayoral election and has held the office since April 2011. He was mayor during the Ferguson protests of 2014-2015, notoriously watching the early days of protests from his couch. The city became the subjects of months of protests and part of a global conversation on the relationship between African See FERGUSON, A7
The activist and writer Brittany Packnett Cunningham, a St. Louis native, accused Fox News reporter Leland Vittert of harassing and spitting at her when they were students at John Burroughs School 20 years ago and demanded an apology. She made these claims and demands on Twitter on Saturday, May 30, where she has 283.1 thousand followers. More than a day after Cunningham made her claims and demand, he had not responded on Twitter, where he has 22.5 thousand followers. The American asked Vittert to respond, and a Fox News publicist responded with a statement.’ “I can’t imagine the strugBrittany gles Ms. Cunningham has Packnett faced in her life. But I was Cunningham not a part of them. I can say unequivocally — I have never spit on or at anybody,” Leland Vittert stated. In his only post since she accused him of harassing and spitting at her, Vittert thanked Fox news colleagues for their concert and support. Vittert and crew were harassed and assaulted on Friday night while covering protests near the White House. It was the sympathetic news coverage Vittert received for that incident that sparked Cunningham’s tweet thread, which she introduced by writing, “For the sake of my own power, I’m going to say something I have never revealed in 20 years.” Then, in 16 tweets over a span of 12 minutes, she described Vittert’s alleged harassment of her,
Photo by Jason Rosenbaum / St. Louis Public Radio
Ella Jones observed public-health precautions while watching election returns during the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, June 2 at the Urban League’s community center in Ferguson. She made history when she became the first African American and first woman elected as mayor of Ferguson.
When patient advocate Rosetta Keeton was young, her father worked three jobs to take care of his wife and five children. But he was ill, Keeton said, and didn’t have insurance. As she got older, Keeton would take her father to the emergency room at Homer G. Phillips Hospital, where nurses would greet him warmly. Rosetta “People were very kind to Keeton him, but he was in a system of people who looked like him, who understood him, who knew the plight of this man trying to take care of his wife and five children,” Keeton said. Keeton, now the director of patient access at the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, will be honored by the St. Louis American Foundation as See KEETON, A7