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Let’s stay woke and get busy overcoming trump

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Published in the St. Louis American on October 31, 2018

Every week, we are forced into the scary and erratic world of Trump. The 45th president has kept late-night TV hosts supplied with unlimited material for comic relief. With each passing day, the Trump administration is less comedic and the nation in need of serious, rather than comic, relief.

Since Trump’s behavior and decisions are on public display, those of us who have a scintilla of sanity know that something is wrong with this man. The chaos in this administration is unparalleled: firings, resignations, indictments, prison. The world has seen it all. Read more

It’s time to cure the violence–and stop the politricking

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Published by the St. Louis American, October 17, 2019

 

The carnage of black bodies this summer, especially children, took a toll of all of us who care about humanity and who tirelessly work for racial justice. What compounded this bloody summer’s negative impact is the way some chose to respond to the crisis.

The Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression (CAPCR) led the grassroots efforts to bring a violence-prevention program to the attention of a city often referred to the Murder Capital. Cure Violence(CV) is a health-centered, evidenced-based program producing dramatic reductions in high-violence cities.

What’s so disgusting to me is to find out that Cure Violence was asked to come to town about four years ago. What happened? Absolutely nothing. Had the city taken its violence problem seriously, it would have embraced CV then and Bloody Summer 2019 might have been averted. Read more

We’ve got to get to shooters before they shoot

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Published in St. Louis American on September 5, 2019

 

According to its definition, the Gun Violence Archive has documented 251 mass shootings in the U.S. since January. The El Paso and Dayton massacres brought that total to 253. GVA tracks mass shootings of incidents involving at least 4 people being shot. My reaction to the wails of grief and desperation is we know these shooters.

This was the point of a recent conversation with two local community activists, Martha Jane West and Doris Baltimore. Like other conversations in Black and Brown communities across the country, we are wondering what this latest trend of targeted people of color means for our safety.

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