Cheryl’s Herb’s brings holistic approach to business
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St. Louis American See page B1
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CAC Audited OCT. 28 – NOV. 3, 2021
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Saint Louis U. renames amphitheater in memory of Jonathan C. Smith
Site of 2014 Clock Tower Accords bears professor’s name
See SMITH, A7
Honoring five outstanding educators 2021 awardees guide students at many levels
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Fatal State Violence Response Program seeks volunteers Training for supporters of victims’ families
St. Louis American staff
“We cannot allow a three-bed urgent care facility that does not accept Medicaid and Medicare to be named after one of our icons,” Jones said. “Without the presence of the first Homer G. Phillips hospital, many Black doctors and nurses would not have been able to become those doctors or nurses.” The Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital board of directors claim their decision “was made after careful consideration and consultation with many in the community and we believe it was the right one.” It included the callous statement “we have no intentions to re-examine the naming of this
For the first time, St. Louis will have a volunteer training program for those who want to support the families of individuals killed by police, corrections officers, or other state officers in the St. Louis Area. The Fatal State Violence Response Program, a collaboration between Faith for Justice and ArchCity Defenders, is seeking volunteers to participate in their crisis response program and 24-hour hotline. The group has stated that volunteers “will learn trauma-informed techniques for helping families in the aftermath of killings by police and in-custody jail deaths.” This program is informed by decades of similar work done Emmanuel in a less structured format. The Powell Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression (CAPCR), for example, has been doing support work for the families of those killed by police or in custody since 1983, after Marilyn Banks was killed by a stray bullet from a police officer’s gun while sitting on her front porch. CAPCR supported her family in the aftermath, particularly her two young sons. Volunteers trained in the Fatal State Violence Response Program will be building off of CAPCR’s work, as well as the work of the Oakland, California-based Anti Police Terror Project. Other groups doing similar victim-support work
See McKEE, A7
See VIOLENCE, A7
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Rochelle Smith, the wife of former SLU professor Jonathan Smith, Ph.D., right, speaks Monday, Oct. 25, at a dedication ceremony for the naming of the amphitheater near SLU’s iconic clocktower in memory of the late university leader and faculty member. Smith was SLU’s inaugural vice president for diversity and community engagement.
Underling Piggee put on notice
Paul McKee keeps piling insults on the Black community. The developer spurned a personal invitation to discuss the public outrage at his insistence to use of the name Homer G. Phillips Hospital on a three-bed clinic by being a no-show at a City Hall meeting on Monday afternoon. Community activist and co-chair of the Campaign for Human Dignity Zenobia Thompson said those in attendance were dis-
Salute to Excellence In Education
The various important roles in St. Louis area education are highlighted by the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2021 Excellence in Education Awardees. An assistant superintendent, a pair of principals, an assistant professor in a high-tech field, and a middle school language 2021 arts teacher are included. On Thursday, Nov. 5, all will be recognized at the Salute to Excellence in Education virtual gala. This year, the foundation will foster over $2.9 million in scholarships and grants for area youth and educators.
McKee a no-show, sends ‘insulting’ statement By JoAnn Weaver The St. Louis American
COMPLIMENTARY
By Sophie Hurwitz The St. Louis American
By Sophie Hurwitz The St. Louis American Jonathan C. Smith, St. Louis University’s inaugural vice president for diversity and community engagement, died suddenly on June 19 at 61 following a stroke. At his memorial at Chaifetz Arena, SLU’s president Fred P. Pestello announced plans to rename the amphitheater near the school’s iconic clock tower in Smith’s memory. “It’s a special place on our campus where our community tends to go when it needs to process something, when it needs n “It’s a special to pray, when it place on our needs to mourn,” campus where Pestello said at the our community time. “And that’s tends to go when where you’d find Jonathan.” it needs to proAt Monday’s cess something, rededication cerwhen it needs emony, a plaque bearing an image to pray, when it needs to mourn.” of Smith and an inscription in his honor was – Fred P. Pestello unveiled. Several of those who loved Smith spoke at the event and recalled his importance to the school and the greater St. Louis community. “This particular place where we stand on campus meant so much to him,” Smith’s wife, Rochelle Smith, said at the event. “It was his North Star and a physical reminder of his mission. Here, in this amphitheater that is so graciously dedicated to him today, may students find rest and restoration. May you find courage to go on, and go out, and reach across the lines that attempt to divide us.” In 2014, the killings of Michael Brown Jr. and VonDerrit Meyers led to student protests on campus, culminating in a group who camped out at the school’s clock tower. Smith stood in solidarity with student protesters and served as a bridge between them and its administration. This eventually led the university to adopt the Clock Tower Accords
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appointed, but not surprised. Instead of facing his critics, McKee and his board issued a press statement by his attorney Darryl Piggee. Thompson deemed it as insulting. “[Piggee] criticized folks about not caring about healthcare, which is insulting,” Thompson said. “I know myself, and each and every one here, cares about the struggle for healthcare for African Americans.” St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said she wants the name immediately removed from the facility.