Look Inside to Be ‘Drawn In’
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Be sure to look for the special insert of Drawn In, a new comic book series from Nine PBS and Lion Forge Animation. Share it with the kids in your life! Look for a new issue each month through the end of the year. Watch for our new animated series and more debuting on Nine PBS (9.1), and on drawnin.org.
St. Louis American See insert
The
Serving, empowering and advocating for equity in St. Louis since 1928
CAC Audited OCT. 27 – NOV. 2, 2022
Vol. 94 No. 31
stlamerican.com
COMPLIMENTARY
Mental health must be addressed through community
‘No need to struggle in silence’ St. Louis American and St. Louis Public Radio Edneshia Hamilton, a social worker and counselor at SLPS Peabody Elementary School, got word to head to Gateway Tech on Monday morning. The school had become a staging area and she stood among shocked and bewildered parents and students after a gunman killed two people and left six people injured.
She was among the first counselors on the scene, and she said her work and that of other mental health officials is just beginning. “A lot of students are traumatized, shaken up, scared and afraid,” she said. Hamilton said some students told her they didn’t want to go back to school, and that she believes some may need resources outside of school for their mental health.
“Right now we need to be a support for both the students and the staff. We need to pour into them as much as we can [and] work as a team,” she said. During a Wednesday morning press conference at St. Louis Metropolitan Police headquarters, St. Louis Health Director D. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, implored any student or adult, even if they were not involved with Monday’s violence, who needs help “to reach out Marva and talk to someone.” Robinson “Just dial 988. Help will come your way,” said Davis. The number connects you with the Behavioral Health Response’s men-
tal health crisis and suicide prevention hotline. “Gun violence is a public health crisis. Behavioral health is one of the fundamental tenants of health care and public health. She said it is a challenge for the entire St. Louis community “to even make sense of this.” “I’m not OK, right now. I’m hugging my babies every night. I’m fearful I will get that call or my husband gets that call.” Davis’ department established its Behavioral Health Bureau two weeks ago, and its goal is to help improve awareness of and access to mental health resources, and she thanked Mayor
See MENTAL HEALTH, A7
Eli Carty, a 15-yearold student at Collegiate School Medicine and Bioscience, pauses on Monday during a vigil at Tower Grove Park. A gunman attacked Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, which shares a campus with Carty’s school, in south St. Louis on Monday morning.
Jenifer Lewis during the St. Louis stop of her ‘Mother of Black Hollywood’ book tour at her Webster University alma mater in 2018. Lewis will return to the LorettoHilton on Saturday, November 5 to promote her ‘Walking in my Joy’ follow up and raise funds for the Jenifer Lewis Endowed Sargent Conservatory Fund.
St. Louis in sorrow after school shooting
Photo by Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
Sadness becoming anti-gun activism
n “If we can regulate tobacco, we can regulate guns. If you have to register your car, you should have to do so with weapons.”
By Ashley Winters and Alvin A. Reid St. Louis American
– Mayor Tishaura Jones
As the region mourns the deaths of 15-year-old student Alexzandria Bell and health teacher Jean Kuczka, killed during Monday’s shootings at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School at 3125 S. Kingshighway, Mayor Tishaura Jones said “the past two days have been a whirlwind, devastating.” Speaking at a Wednesday morning press
conference at St. Louis Metropolitan Police headquarters, Jones said her feelings are changing “from sad to angry.” “With all the school shootings, it seemed like only a matter of time before it hit closer
EDITORIAL
Coming together as community in wake of tragedy
See SHOOTING, A6
Photo by Brian Munoz / St. Louis Public Radio
Superintendent Kelvin Adams pauses while taking questions from the media Tuesday at a press conference.
LIVING IT
From ‘Bad Girl’ to breakout actress
Our hearts are with the CVPA community, as well as with all students, families, and teachers in St. Louis Public Schools. We mourn the lives stolen by this violence.
“Ball is life” was Jonica “Blu” Booth’s living standard through her schooling, especially at her alma mater Fort Zumwalt South High School.
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The joy of Jenifer Lewis
Kinloch’s Hollywood returns to Webster to give back – and celebrate new book By Kenya Vaughn The St. Louis American Yes, she has been in 400 episodes of television, performed at 200 concerts, appeared in 68 films, 40 animations and four Broadway shows. But her credentials on the big screen, the small screen and the stage are not what made Kinloch native Jenifer Lewis a star. Over the summer, her name was engraved among the legends of entertainment. While having her own space on the Hollywood Walk of Fame certainly adds to the confirmation, it is not what makes Jenifer Lewis a star. Lewis is a star because she is free enough to use the celebrity her talents have afforded her for the sake of change. On one of the world’s most famous boulevards, Jenifer Lewis’ name sits right next to Katharine Hepburn. “I’m trying to use my platform as Katharine Hepburn did,” Lewis said during the July ceremony.
See LEWIS, A7 BUSINESS
Kimbrough still banks on assisting nonprofits Orvin Kimbrough said throughout his 20-plus years in the nonprofit sector, he has seen spikes in requests like this, but nothing like what he has experienced these last few years.
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