NAACP

Hip-Hop for Dogs: The Worst Dog Hip-Hop Book Ever?

If you like your music blog experiences to be timely and relevant, I suggest you stop reading now. This piece is neither. It concerns a book from five years ago that's as inconsequential now as the day it was published. This book hasn't dropped a track on Soundcloud, and it's not in a Twitter fight ... More >>

The Pros and Cons of "Local Control," a.k.a. Prop A

All right, Missourians! What should we do about "local control" of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, also known as Proposition A?Advocates of the measure insist that the current system of oversight -- under which the cops ultimately answer to a board appointed by the governor -- is a sha ... More >>

Jim Crow's Alive and Well in 2012

Suicide, or murder: Dominick Wilson's mother demands answers

Dominick Wilson: Mom, NAACP Question Hanging Death

John H. Tucker​In the early morning hours of March 11, 2010, a Hazelwood couple noticed a strange figure from the back window of their apartment. It seemed to be perched on the jungle gym of Little White Birch Park. But at some point, it became clear they were looking at a body. A dead body, s ... More >>

Peter Kinder: This Weekend, You Can Meet Him in St. Louis

Peter Kinder is making his first public appearance in St. Louis this weekend -- but we expect he'll be avoiding Verlin's (and the entire Metro East).​Embattled Lt. Governor Peter Kinder -- suddenly more famous for his brief appearance at a bar known for its pantsless parties and alleged wooing of ... More >>

Gavin DeGraw And The Five Best Reasons To Cancel A Tour

​Earlier this week, Gavin DeGraw was hospitalized after he was attacked during a walk home from his club in New York City, and, while staggering away, bleeding, was hit by a taxi cab. He canceled several upcoming shows, and for that we don't blame him at all. But on the grand scale, where King ... More >>

Is Photo ID Amendment Bigoted Enough to Drive Missouri Republicans to the Polls?

It's me, McLovin. Can I vote now, please?​Frankly, we here at Daily RFT are a little disappointed. We'd expected something juicier.Usually when Missouri's Republican-controlled Legislature rolls out a proposed constitutional amendment, it's something outrageously bigoted. Something that they hope ... More >>

Non-Racist St. Louis Tea Party Has Odd Way of Showing It

The handiwork of St. Louis Tea Party lobbyist Gary Wiegert's has been described as "race-baiting" -- and that's a Republican who said that.​We know. We know. Despite the findings of the NAACP and the curious links between its better-known mouthpieces and hate groups, the Tea Party is not a racist ... More >>

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder Turns Tables on Charges vs. Tea Party, True Racist Outfit is NPR

Kinder: Tweets gone wild.​As you may be aware, the NAACP came out this week with a report connecting the Tea Party to fringe racist movements. As you can imagine, the Tea Party rejects the racist allegations. Now, one of Missouri's biggest Tea Party cheerleaders, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, is turning ... More >>

KKK-Recruiting Union Official Booted from Federally-Funded Job Site

An officer with a local union has been booted from a federally-funded work site -- for passing out KKK propaganda on the job.Recruiting for the KKK can get you fired.​The man, an officer with the Local 53 chapter of the Laborers International Union of North America, has not been named. But Adolphu ... More >>

Great Writers on St. Louis, Part 4

This week's Riverfront Times explores our city's literary history. Check back throughout the week for online-only maps and articles supplementing this week's cover story. Let's not forget the east side. Library of CongressW.E.B. DuBois​After the 1917 race riots in East St. Louis, the NAACP ... More >>

Union Leader Recruited for KKK on Job Site, NAACP Says

A board member for a local union has been distributing promotional material for the KKK on a St. Louis County job site, officials with the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP alleged this morning.One T-shirt featured on www.kkk.com​Adolphus Pruitt, the NAACP's vice chair for legal redress, tell ... More >>

NAACP Sides with St. Louis County Police

​The Post-Dispatch has an interesting piece today about the local NAACP backing St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch in his desire to consolidate some of the county's 65 policing agencies. In a public letter this week the civil rights group stated:

St. Louis Has Third-Worst Ranking for Black Employment

​The Economic Policy Institute yesterday released a study looking at unemployment rates by race in America. The institute ranked St. Louis as having the third-highest unemployment rate for African-Americans with 17.3 percent of local black residents without work in 2009 compared to 8.4 percent of ... More >>

The Next Solution For St. Louis' Crime Problem? Prayer.

Image sourceThe power of Christ compels you!​Last week the city's homicide count eclipsed the half-century mark. This week multiple random acts of violence and a Wild West-style shootout struck St. Louis County. It's enough to make a God-fearing man throw up his hands and say, "Heaven help us."Unf ... More >>

RFT readers debate Teabonics and speculate on splinters at the City Museum

County Republicans Desperate for Black Leader, Turn to Controversial Chris Arps

move-on-up.orgChris Arps​The St. Louis Area Young Republicans are hosting their April meeting tonight with guest speaker Chris Arps. Arps was also the guest speaker a couple weeks back out in west county when the Wild Horse Township Republicans invited him to speak to their group. So who is Arps a ... More >>

Whitewash: Some fairy tale! Disney's first black princess can't escape the ghetto.

Fifteen Years For Cutting In Line At Wal-mart....Does Race Have a Place in Kennett Dispute?

A 24-year-old woman from Kennett, Missouri, is slated to go on trial tomorrow for alleged crimes stemming from a bizarre-o incident at Wal-mart more than two years ago. The Associated Press reports that Heather Ellis faces fifteen years behind bars for assaulting police officers and resisting a ... More >>

Why the Rams Shouldn't Sell to Rush Limbaugh

​Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bryan Burwell lays out a convincing argument today why the Rams and the NFL should steer clear of Rush Limbaugh -- who stated Monday that he wants to buy the St. Louis football team. Among Burwell's arguments are these quotes that the columnist attributes direc ... More >>

Kenneth Gladney: Tea Party Zero

Kenneth Gladney​Shhh! Don't tell Kenneth Gladney's attorney -- David Brown -- the news. He and his client are likely to get so angry they might hold a protest right outside the doors of the Riverfront Times. But, hey, it's not our fault. Like our favorite television network, all we do is report th ... More >>

This Week's Bumper Crop of Ass Clowns

​So many Ass Clowns this week. So little time. You know how to play: Vote for the local newsmaker you think made the biggest idiot of themselves this week. And the nominees...1. Kenneth Gladney: Gladney is the man whose attorney David Brown says was selling flags at a health care forum last month ... More >>

Last Call?: East St. Louis nightclubs under siege

Buzz Kill: The Secret Life of Bees is all honey, no sting

Hump Day Slow Jam of the Week: Luther Vandross, “A House is Not a Home”

Boyz n the Theater

Press Release of the Day

Vanity's Fair

What's wrong with some surname pride?

Justice Denied

Jellyman asks for an update on the pension Prince Joe never got.

Tony La Russa and the Double Standard

Why didn't the Cardinals skipper take more heat for his DUI?

Tuskegee Airman Lewis Lynch: An appreciation.

The lasting legacy of a native son.

Is baseball a thing of the past in the black community?

Joe thinks so.

The Mystery of Lloyd Gaines

A St. Louis civil-rights pioneer vanished without a trace almost 70 years ago. Now, the NAACP wants the feds to find him.

Lewis John Lynch: The Legacy of an Airman

Dear Memphis: Joe would like his idea back.

Week of January 11, 2007

About a Boi

OutKast�s Depression-era hip-hop musical has a loving respect for the old South.

Llama Llatte

Unreal shares our coffee with a posse of camels, finds out if a fitness guru is truly "lovin' it" and gets competitive with Howie Mandel

Ask a Negro Leaguer Column

Week of April 13, 2006

Social Change

And civil rights

The Kings of Kingshighway

The Roberts brothers fight to bring back life to north St. Louis

You Don't Know Dick

St. Louisans, take some civic pride in Nelly-sanctioned model searches, fire-loving artists, Vespa-ridin' cops and one really underwhelming presidential campaign

Who's Afraid of Anthony Shahid?

He's a hero to some, a pain to others. Either way, he makes people very nervous.

The Fire Down Below

For more than three decades, Eric Vickers has been lighting brushfires, crusading against the racism he sees around him. Now, the civil-rights lawyer and activist finds himself burned.

PRESENTING GEORGE W. ASHCROFT

South Carolina's favorite Missourian blesses the Bush

POPE-ASHCROFT HOLY WAR

Fresh from alienating black voters over the Ronnie White fiasco, will Sen. John Ashcroft take on Catholics in his drive to defeat Senate rival Gov. Mel Carnahan?

WHITE NOISE

The appointment of a senior executive of the discrimination-claim-plagued Adam's Mark chain to a leadership position in the St. Louis County NAACP stirs outrage

News Real

The End of the Line for St. Louis Schools

Why a "yes" vote on Tuesday is more important than you might think

The End of Deseg As We Know It

City schools face an uncertain future -- a crucial court settlement, a Feb. 2 sales-tax vote, a teachers' union opposed to the tax, accreditation tests this spring and the prospect of a state takeover. It could be a school year from hell.