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St. Louis American The
Serving, empowering and advocating for equity in St. Louis since 1928
CAC Audited NOV. 25 – DEC. 1, 2021
stlamerican.com
COVID food catastrophe averted Activists praise local efforts while calling for ‘systemic’ solutions
See FOOD, A7
Tyus, other aldermen rebuke McKee with resolution By JoAnn Weaver The St. Louis American Alderwoman Sharon Tyus, 1st Ward, and other members of the Board of Aldermen introduced Resolution 138 at the full Board of Aldermen meeting on Friday, Nov. 19 to deem the naming of a new medical facility ‘Homer G. Phillips Hospital’ as “Inappropriate, cultural appropriation.” “I would ask that this resolution be sent to the health committee…but I wanted people to know that we, the Board of Aldermen, gave the name in the first place; I thought that was an important thing to know,” Tyus said. In addition to Tyus, Alderwoman Dwinderlin Evans, 4th Ward; Alderman Dan Guenther, 9th Ward; Sharon Alderwoman Megan Green, 15th Tyus Ward; Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia, 6th Ward; and Alderwoman Annie Rice, 8th Ward introduced the resolution to the Board. The resolution includes a comprehensive history of Homer G. Phillips and the hospital. According to the resolution, Homer G. Phillips grew up in Sedalia, Missouri, the son of a Methodist minister who had been a slave. Phillips became prominent in both civil rights and politics. He was founder of the Citizens’ Liberty League, advocating for Blacks after St. Louis residents voted in 1916 to mandate segregation in housing.
See RESOLUTION, A6
Photo by Karen Robinson-Jacobs / St. Louis American
65-year-old Army veteran Nancy Vonner gets supplies from the St. Augustine Wellston Center in St. Louis to keep her family – including her injured son and his children – afloat during the pandemic.
By Sylvester Brown Jr. The St. Louis American
“I represent the voice of the voiceless.” St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner’s answer elicited robust applause from the audience attending the Nov. 17th event: “The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office in Action,” held at Harris-Stowe State University. Longtime newswoman Bonita Cornute, who served as moderator, started by asking Gardner about the challenges of her
job. In the first 20 minutes, the city prosecutor meticulously outlined the “action and reaction” parts of her vocation. This was in response to Cornute’s question about the possible misconceptions advocated by her adversaries in the media. Gardner quickly noted how the local press, particularly the region’s daily newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, constantly criticizes and judges her by the actions or inactions of her predecessors.
BUSINESS
Webb seeking funding for Jamestown Mall demolition
St. Louis County Councilwoman Shalonda Webb confirmed she is working to find funding to demolish the Jamestown Mall building.
Black leaders rip Rittenhouse acquittal “It’s a warning shot”
St. Louis American staff
“First of all, none of my predecessors were the first African American prosecutor elected to office since 1821. Let that sit with you for a moment,” Gardner responded before adding: “It’s like comparing 1821 to 2021…There’s no comparison.” Gardner then unleashed a litany of unique situations she’s dealt with that her forerunners never experienced. “My predecessors never had to deal with
There was swift and stern reaction from African American elected officials and leaders following Friday’s acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse was charged with four felony accounts and a misdemeanor after he shot and killed two people and wounded another during protests following the police shooting of Jacob Blake last year in Kenosha. “I’m hurt. I’m angry. I’m heartbroken. The judge. The jury. The defendant. It’s white supremacy in action,” said U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Missouri via Twitter, “This (legal) system isn’t built to hold white supremacists accountable. It’s why Black and brown folks are brutalized and put in cages while white supremacist murderers walk free.” One of the 12 jurors that acquitted Rittenhouse is a person of color. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said the verdict
See GARDNER, A6
See RITTENHOUSE, A6
Prosecutor Kim Gardner outlines her unique challenges
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COMPLIMENTARY
“Inappropriate appropriation of Homer G. Phillips’ name”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs The St. Louis American On a crisp late summer morning, 65-year-old Army veteran Nancy Vonner walked the five blocks from her home in a North St. Louis neighborhood marked by pawn shops and boarded up homes to the St. Augustine Wellston Center, a long-time community fixture that’s part thrift shop, part food pantry. Joined by a steady stream of clients, including a young mother who lost her warehouse job during the COVID-19 pandemic, Vonner filled a shopping cart borrowed from a major grocery store that’s no longer in the neighborhood. She stocked up on milk, meat, pasta and other essentials to keep her family fed until she received her monthly government assistance. “Everybody knows I’m the struggling granny,” Vonner said, explaining a car wreck a year ago left her once able-bodied son paralyzed, forcing her First in a series into the role of being a caretaker for the son and his passel of children, including a set of triplets. “I come here once a month. I’m working with whatever I get.” Wellston, one of the dozens of food pantries across the St. Louis metro area, joins a growing number of community gardens as part of a homegrown response aimed at heading off a major food catastrophe that loomed when the deadly coronavirus shuttered businesses and schools across the region. In addition, retailers large and small and federal, state and local agencies stepped in, offering an all-hands surge especially needed in areas already classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as having low access to healthy foods. Leaders up and down the food chain expressed admiration for the success of the concerted effort during the height of the storm, but no one interviewed by The St. Louis American saw the steps taken as even the beginnings of a permanent solution to the long-standing scourge of food insecurity in areas already tagged as food deficient. That leaves more than 190,000 residents in
Vol. 93 No. 35
HEALTH
SPORTS
November is National Caregiver’s Month
On to state title games go East St. Louis and CBC
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November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month in addition to National Family Caregiver’s Month.
CBC will take on Liberty North in the Missouri Class 6 title game and ESL faces Cary-Grove in the Illinois Class 6A title game.