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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited NOVEMBER 1 – 7, 2018
stlamerican.com
‘This is our time to get the vote out’
Vol. 90 No. 32 COMPLIMENTARY
Black and Jewish leaders denounce domestic terrorism ‘This president is directly responsible’ ‘We know what we must do, particularly on November 6’ By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Absentee voters cast their votes at the St. Louis election board’s headquarters in downtown St. Louis on Tuesday, October 30. Absentee voting is underway for the November 6 election.
Urban League, grass-roots groups drive voter turnout for Nov. 6 By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Every day, North St. Louis resident Monti Hill knocks on doors in the three wards that have the lowest voter turnout in the city – the 3rd, 4th and 22nd. “We just want this to be a resident-
led campaign,” Hill said. “We are really concerned, and we want to do more in our community.” Hill and her crew are part of the WePower Better Budgets, Better Schools initiative that started six months ago. They are all North City residents. (There is also an East St. Louis group.)
“We are also Saint Louis Public School educators, students, alumni, parents, aunties and grandparents of students,” according to the group’s website. “As such, we care deeply about the city’s public education system and work together to improve it out of a place of love.” They learned that a considerable number of people in these three wards are registered See VOTE, A6
october 18, 1948 – october 27, 2018
A Gem and a genius Groundbreaking playwright, poet, author Ntozake Shange passes at 70 By Dawn Suggs Of The St. Louis American In the February 27, 1958 edition of The St. Louis American, among a group photo of young girls known collectively as The Gems, Paulette Williams stood out from the crowd dressed in a dark party dress, while the others wore lighter hues, all pressed and dressed in white ankle socks and patent leather shoes. It was a sign of what was to come from the girl who would become Ntozake Shange – poet, performer, author and a goddess of the theater who broke new ground for how
the black woman’s experience was articulated in words and on stage. Shange passed away Saturday, October 27 after health complications from several strokes. She was 70 years old. Ntozake Shange “A heroine to writers of my generation, Ntozake represented creative experimentation, feminism empowerment, the right to stand
up to sexism, but also something that black women weren’t allowed much of at the time – play,” said writer Lisa Jones. “She was certainly the beginnings of what we know now as black girl magic – black women putting themselves at the center of the narrative and representing joy and style. She was all about black women and the black liberation struggle, but utterly a free spirit. Ntozake was walking, talking freedom.” See SHANGE, A7
Americans of conscience are reeling from a week of domestic terrorism targeting Jews, blacks, prominent Democrats, n “This president CNN and perceived enemies of President is directly Donald Trump, and responsible for St. Louis leaders are trying to make sense of the recent rise the horror and to offer in domestic hope. terrorism.” On October 27, in the deadliest massacre – St. Louis of Jews in American Treasurer Tishaura history, 11 people O. Jones were slaughtered in a synagogue in the heart of a 100-year-old Jewish neighborhood in Pittsburgh during a baby-naming ceremony. On October 24, two African Americans were shot dead near a supermarket in Jefferson, Kentucky when the gunman reportedly was unable to enter a black church nearby, which was locked. Throughout the week of October 22, a total of 14 pipe bombs were mailed to prominent See TERRORISM, A8
Why I am voting for U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill By Darryl Gray For The St. Louis American The November 6 election is a critical battleground for the fight to retain what is left of our voting rights. This election could have dire consequences to the gains made over the past 50 years in the struggle for civil rights, human rights, and human dignity. We have witnessed in real time, federal policies aimed at punishing and imprisoning the poor. The most recent appointment to the United States Supreme Court gives the conservative right the balance of power. The gutting Darryl Gray of the Voting Rights Act opened up the floodgate to voter suppression. The DOJ is erasing legal gains made in immigration, policing, criminal justice and voting rights. The current administration in essence declared an all-out war on people of color and other marginalized people, unleashing blatant See McCASKILL, A6