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Special Salute to Excellence in Education tabloid See Insert
2016 Gold Cup Newspaper Missouri Press Association
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St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited SEPTEMBER 21 – 27, 2017
Vol. 89 No. 27 COMPLIMENTARY
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ACLU to ‘The whole damn system is guilty as hell’ sue over
policing of protests
Street medics aid protestors sprayed by police at close range By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Lawrence Bryant
The protests of the not-guilty verdict in the Jason Stockley murder trial started at Tucker and Market not long after the verdict was handed down early in the morning of Friday, September 15.
Annie Smith, the mother of Anthony Lamar Smith, marched in protest with Brother Anthony Shahid, who kept the Jason Stockley case alive since he killed Smith in 2011, and hundreds of others in St. Louis on Sunday, September 17.
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri sent a letter to the city counselor directing him to ensure the police department saves all electronic communications from the protest for the discovery phase of the trial in the suit the ACLU plans to file regarding constitutional violations by the police at the Jason Stockley verdict protests. The ACLU’s list of alleged constitutional violations contains several charges related to the use of chemical agents: “Attacking people indiscriminately with gratuitous use of Photo by Lawrence Bryant pepper spray, pepper Police deployed chemical balls, rubber bullets, agents to subdue protestors and tear gas when on Friday, September 15, the no apparent illegal day of the not-guilty verdict activity had occurred; in the Jason Stockley trial. excessively using of force, including violent arrests that caused injuries; deploying chemicals, such as tear gas and pepper spray, without warning; deploying tear gas on routes where people were leaving.” They all match the protest experiences of Kennard Williams, an activist and organizer who serves as a street See ACLU, A7
Photo by Lawrence Bryant
Week of protests follows Jason Stockley verdict
By Mike Jones Of The St. Louis American
Among the speakers at the morning protest was Brother Anthony Shahid, the veteran activist who, along with Rev. Phillip Duval, kept the Stockley case moving from when it was first buried in 2011 to last year when charges finally were filed. He and many others called for an
On September 15, 2017, another white policeman was acquitted in the murder of a (very likely) unarmed black man, this time here in St Louis, Missouri. Now if you’re black, you could have a range of reactions, but there are two emotions I will not permit you – shock or surprise. You couldn’t have honestly entertained the possibility that this could or would end with a different outcome. The U.S. Constitution created the governing framework for the American republic, but it’s the Declaration of Independence that provided the raison d’être (reason to be) for the republic’s creation. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence begins, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men
See PROTESTS, A6
See MESSAGE, A7
Protesters strategize for economic disruption, over 120 arrested By Jessica Karins and Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American “No justice! No peace! No racist police!” This was the most dominant chant at the initial protests responding to the notguilty verdict for former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley, which began on
Friday, September 15 outside of St. Louis City Hall. Another frequent refrain was “the whole damn system was guilty as hell”. Protesters reacted with anger and sadness to St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson’s acquittal of Stockley, who was charged with first-degree murder in the 2011 shooting of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith.
Message to young activists involved in work of social change