To boycott the NFL, or nah? @stlouisamerican
‘You know when a guy gives up Fantasy (Football),’ Ishmael Sistrunk tells Melvin Moore, ‘he’s truly about that boycott life.’
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited SEPTEMBER 20 – 26, 2018
COMPLIMENTARY
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City police sued over kettling arrests ArchCity Defenders and Khazaeli Wyrsch file 12 suits, seeking damages By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American One year ago on September 17, 2017, U.S. Air Force Capt. Alex Nelson and his wife, Iris, were looking down from their building’s rooftop in downtown St. Louis, watching protestors express their outrage that former St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley was acquitted of murdering Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011. After things had calmed down around 11 p.m., the couple went downstairs near Washington Avenue and Tucker Boulevard
n “The answer to robust, lawful protest is not violent crackdowns and military-style tactics by police.” – Blake Strode, ArchCity Defenders
to “see what had happened,” according to the lawsuit that the Nelsons filed against the City of St. Louis and police on Monday, September 17.
They soon found themselves surrounded by riot police on all sides. Police were beating their batons on the ground and closing in, or “kettling,” everyone who was caught in the middle. No dispersal order was given, the lawsuit states, and the police would not allow the Nelsons to go back home. When Alex realized they were about to be arrested, “he told his wife to lie face down and put her hands behind her back. He did the same,” the lawsuit states. Despite their attempt to comply, police allegedly pepper-sprayed the couple directly in the eyes at point-blank range. Officers allegedly beat Alex and then dragged him See POLICE, A6
Eight excellent awardees Salute to Excellence in Education is Saturday, September 29
The black man who survived education By Luther O. Tyus For The St. Louis American Part of a year-long series, presented by The American and the Brown School at Washington University, on changing the narratives and outcomes of young black males in St. Louis. I will never forget what my Riverview Gardens elementary principal, Denis Dorsey, told my parents. He told my parents that I wasn’t smart enough for college. I didn’t have what it took, he said. I was in the second grade, and I had already developed a healthy dislike for school. Sure, I wasn’t a model student. I flunked the third grade, and I was Luther O. suspended several times for Tyus fighting. However, despite my downfalls, I didn’t deserve to be written off. New studies suggest black students are disciplined and removed from class at a higher rate than white students, ultimately hindering the quality of their education. For a while, I believed this principal. Although I left elementary school, I internalized someone else’s negative vision of me. Researchers have
Boys & Girls Clubs breaks ground on Ferguson teen center
They are an assistant high school principal, a middle and high school science teacher, a high school band director, a high school English teacher, an advisor at a university, an elementary school principal, a secondary English Language Arts Curriculum coach, and a high school special education teacher who also chairs the Science Department. They are the 2018 Salute to Excellence in Education awardees, and they will be recognized at the Salute gala on Saturday, September 29 at the America’s Center Ballroom.
See SALUTE, A7
Homegrown Black Males
See MALES, A6
By Melinda Oliver and Jordan Wade For The St. Louis American
Chauncey Granger has made his way up the education system through working as an assistant principal at Beaumont High School in St. Louis to principal at Hazelwood East High School. A lifelong learner himself, Granger has earned his doctorate degree in educational leadership at University of Missouri and a master’s degree in special education at Saint Xavier University, and a bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Eastern Illinois University.
Vol. 90 No. 26
By LaShana (Shan) Lewis For The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Neighborhood beautification On Wednesday, September 12, Marcellas Duff empties dirt into a wagon for the planting of flowers at a vacant piece of land that transitioned into an urban garden in the Greater Ville neighborhood, complete with a covered shelter, flower boxes and accessible walkways. The garden, located across the street from Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church in the 4600 block of Labadie Ave., is a project of St. Louis Realtors and Rebuilding Together St. Louis.
“Our original goal was to build a full-size Boys & Girls Club for youth aged six to 18 following the tragic shooting of Michael Brown,” said Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, during the September 13 groundbreaking ceremony for the organization’s Teen Center for Excellence in Ferguson. “It was his tragic death that, in many ways, inspired action and activity.” Estimated costs for the teen center were projected at $25 million, with almost half going toward construction of the building. To date, the organization has raised $17.3 million toward their goal. Fowler said that the teen center will open at the beginning of the 2019 school year and stay open year-round. “The club is open when the kids need us most,” Fowler said. Previously, the club only had outreach programs at various schools within the FergusonFlorissant School District, namely Lee Hamilton See CENTER, A7