HSSU gets $2.25 million grant for STEM education
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
91 years of serving the St. Louis community
CAC Audited MAY 16 – 22, 2019
Vol. 91 No. 8 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
‘Auntie Maxine’ visits girls at Vashon
mArch 6, 1940 – mAy 12, 2019
‘She was one of the most beloved artists’ St. Louis Poet Laureate Emeritus Shirley Bradley LeFlore passes at 79 By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a Vashon Hall of Famer from the Class of 1956, visited her alma mater to speak with students as part of the Sister Circle team leadership forum on Monday, May 13. Here she walks with Vashon staff Rebecca Carson and Hamonda Owens and Bennie Gilliam-Williams of Harris-Stowe State University, a Vashon grad.
Girls learn about leadership, success, and supporting one another from congresswoman By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American Girls from Vashon High School, YeatmanLiddell College Preparatory Middle School and Kingdom Academy got a chance to visit with “Auntie Maxine” at Vashon on Monday, May 13, when U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) stopped in for an hour-long chat at her alma mater. She was in St. Louis
for a Mother’s Day celebration with family. Waters told the young ladies that she was pleased they were in school, pursing their education. “I know that you’re all doing well and, if you’re not, you are working at doing better, because you understand that in order to really have a job, to be in the forefront of those who are going to be chosen for the jobs that you aspire to, or the kind of career that you want,
you have to have an education,” Waters said. “And even now, the high school education does not get you what it used to get us when we graduated from high school. Now, the competition is keener.” Waters, a Vashon graduate in the class of 1956 and a Vashon Hall of Famer, encouraged students to surround themselves
Detective broke window, pulled cooperative passenger through broken glass St. Ann police came under fire after a viral video on May 7 showed a white officer breaking a car window with his elbow and then pulling a young AfricanAmerican man through broken glass shards – while the people n The arrest filming the incident yelled, came at the end “That’s abuse.” of a car pursuit The white couple who that began in St. filmed and posted the video Peters and went to Facebook wrote, “If that was my child, I would hope through multiple someone would take the time jurisdictions to care enough to try to protect them.” before coming St. Ann Police Chief Aaron through St. Ann. Jimenez immediately backed his officer, who The American has identified as Detective Brandon Means, saying that the passenger was refusing to get out of the car and could have had a gun. “If the public was able to see before and after, they’d see [the passenger] reaching under the seat,” Jimenez told The American.
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St. Ann Police accused of abuse By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
A month after Shirley Bradley LeFlore ended her term as the second-ever poet laureate for the City of St. Louis, the region is mourning her passing. LeFlore died on Mother’s Day morning (Sunday, May 12) surrounded by family and friends in her Frontenac home. She was 79 years old. When she was installed as poet laureate at City Hall last November, LeFlore became the first black and first woman to be appointed. “Tributes only scratch the surface as far as her iconic place in our community as a poet, teacher, mentor and inspiration to so many,” inaugural St. Louis Poet Laureate Michael Castro said of LeFlore during her installation ceremony. Also among those giving tribute that day were LeFlore’s daughters. Shirley Bradley “Growing up we used to LeFlore try to imitate you, but we could never duplicate you,” daughter Lyah Beth LeFlore-Ituen said. She also read one of LeFlore’s notable works, “I Am the Black Woman.” “You made us who we are,” LeFlore-Ituen said. A gifted word warrior with an instinctive connection with the rhythm of language, LeFlore spent more than five decades using it as her instrument – often inspired by her blackness and her womanhood. In “I Am the Black Woman,” LeFlore famously proclaims the black woman as “natural to the bone.”
St. Ann Police Detective Brandon Means was caught on video breaking a car window and pulling an apparently cooperative passenger through broken glass.
Hazel Erby to lead county diversity efforts County council position will be vacant until special election By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Hazel Erby, who has been a champion for racial equity on the St. Louis County Council for 15 years, is resigning from her council position to become the director of diversity, equity and inclusion under interim County Executive Sam Page. She will take her newlycreated position on Monday, May 13. Erby’s salary will be $121,000. “Councilwoman Erby has led County government in pursuing Hazel Erby equal opportunity for all of our residents,” Page said. “She and I have worked as a team for years, and I’m elated our partnership will continue.” Erby, 73, has served on the County Council in
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