New Edition pleases crowd
@stlouisamerican
@stlouisamerican
St. Louis American See page C1
The
CAC Audited MARCH 17 – 23, 2022
Serving, empowering and advocating for equity in St. Louis since 1928
stlamerican.com
COMPLIMENTARY
Salute to Health
A community mourns See related story on page A14
Cora Faith Walker memorial service Friday She passed at 37 on March 11
By Dawn Suggs The St. Louis American
Rep. Cora Faith Walker spoke during a “People’s Special Session” at Union and Delmar boulevards on July 29, 2017.
A memorial service for Cora Faith Walker will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, March 18, at Friendly Temple Church, 5545 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. “The Walker family extends its heartfelt gratitude for the outpouring of condolences since Cora Faith’s transition on Friday, March 11, 2022,” a family statement read. “Cora dedicated her life’s work to public service, social justice, women’s reproductive rights, and health equity access. She was an ardent advocate for women, children, and the underserved throughout Ferguson, the state of Missouri, and the world. Cora, always strident and steadfast in
See WALKER, A6
Vol. 93 No. 51
PrepareSTL is Health Advocacy Organization of the Year Helping community battle COVID
By JoAnn Weaver For The St. Louis American Health is the number one priority for PrepareSTL. For its quality work and community health campaigns, PrepareSTL will be honored as the Health Advocacy Organization of the Year during the 22nd Salute to Excellence in Health Care on April 14 at the Frontenac Hilton. Rebeccah Bennett, PrepareSTL managing director, responded to COVID19’s impact on the African American community by creating opportunities for people of color in St. Louis to recover and heal. “They got together for the purpose of helping African Americans and foreign-born people of color in these times of COVID to be able to survive and be able to move through the negative impacts that a Rebeccah public health crisis can bring,” Bennett Bennett said in a virtual interview. PrepareSTL hosted its Living Well Summit in July and reflected on the arduous health path the region had traveled since the pandemic began. “We are out here today, just so we can enjoy having survived the last 17 months,” Bennett said last summer, in a video displayed on the PrepareSTL website. “Black folks don’t need a reason to celebrate and neither does any other group of people, so we are out here as a part of our Living Well Summit just so we can enjoy.” In 2020, the St. Louis Regional Health
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
See PREPARESTL, A7
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Sumner High School junior Stephon Riggins speaks on gun violence among young teens that took a classmate during Monday’s listening session with Rep. Cori Bush at Sumner High School Monday, Mar. 14, 2022. At right is Zipporah Lawal from Hazelwood East.
‘It’s Okay to Not be Okay.’
Rep. Cori Bush holds candid conversation with high school students By Sylvester Brown Jr. The St. Louis American “It’s Okay.” Those two words summarized the March 14 “Speak-In,” listening session,” at Sumner High School, hosted by U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis. During the candid, one-hour, live discussion with students from area high schools, Bush repeatedly reminded them that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed, frustrated, afraid, scared, or angry.
BUSINESS
SLSO crafting a Powell Hall renovation masterpiece The renovation and 65,000-square-foot expansion, estimated to top $100 million, is an investment in Grand Center, the arts community, and the entire region.
Page B1
“It’s Okay to not be Okay,” Bush stressed after students expressed concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, gun violence and racism. Her advice was also appropo for Cardinal Ritter High School student, Kenneth White, who confessed, “I fear leaving my house and the dangerous things happening such as being robbed, killed or more.” According to Bush’s office, the event was designed to give students the chance to openly discuss issues that are affecting their daily lives. Bush and the panel of eight students
St. Louis jail inmates file class action lawsuit Allege ‘torture’ with mace
By Rebecca Rivas Missouri Independent
addressed comments that had been submitted by high schoolers prior to the live event. Dr. Kelvin R. Adams, Superintendent of the St. Louis Public School District, who introduced Bush, opened the session on a serious note. A Sumner High School sophomore, Terrion Smith, 16, of the 4700 block of Newberry Terrace in north St. Louis, had been gunned down over the weekend. “This tragedy is the sort of thing that no
Inmates at St. Louis’ primary jail filed a federal class-action lawsuit Tuesday accusing guards of torture with mace and depriving them of water for days. The inmates are represented by a team of attorneys from the MacArthur Justice Center, ArchCity Defenders, the SLU Law Legal Clinics and Rights Behind Bars. “They spray chemical agents on detainees who are handcuffed,” the inmates allege in the lawsuit. “They use excessive amounts of chemical agents
See BUSH, A6
See LAWSUIT, A7
SPORTS
HEALTH
Area teams take spirit, talent to Final Fours
Are more guns driving up the Black suicide rate?
Page B3
Page A10
The St. Louis area is well represented as Final Four weekend of the Missouri State High School Basketball Championships begins in Springfield.
Gun buying among African Americans has soared in recent years. At the same time, suicide rates have increased among young Black men.