West Lake Landfill- nuclear waste contamination from Mallinkrodt Project in 1970 empties into Coldwater Creek
Facebook page illuminates the illnesses and deformities related to the Creek
2017 – Acquittal of Jason Stockley, a policeman who killed Anthony Lamarr Smith in 2011 following a car chase, a crash and five shots from a AK-47 – The verdict inspired protests, which were attacked by police with some punishment with Mace and pepper-spray- mocked protesters chanting, “Whose streets- our streets.” Posted names and addresses of protesters online. Chief of Police Lawrence O’Toole said, “We owned tonight.” Mayor, Lydia Krewson said, ” I wish they wouldn’t have said that.” The police chief’s statement was “inflammatory.”
“In St. Louis the history of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare upon the living.” (436)
2017 Gold-painting of brick warehouse at 3721 Washington Boulevard organized by De Nichols and Amanda Williams-when the building was demolished they gave the bricks to organizations doing visionary work in St. Louis.
- Art House Collective – North St. Louis (mental health support and meals for residents)
- Perennial – repurposing discarded objects and community education
- Solidarity Economy St. Louis and Citizen Carpentry – networks of cooperation and mutual support- used bricks for a spiral pathway on “Tillie’s Corner,” site of a beloved neighborhood grocery
- Granite City Arts and Design Collective – east of the river – urban gardening and sustainable agriculture
Near the Jeff-Vander-Lou housing project and Bethseda Mennonite Church a garden planted in boxes in an abandoned lot by Rosie Willis and Sal Martinez. Place to resolve disputes between young people.
Sweet Potato Project – Sylvester Brown Jr. turns vacant lots into urban farms, cultivated by neighborhood children. Use the sweet potatoes to make flour and make cookies for sale (http://sweetpotatoprojectstl.org)
North City Food Hub – industrial kitchen where urban gardeners sell their produce to cooks without a kitchen. They use the kitchen for meals for delivery, takeout, storefront service in a nearby dining room or food truck sales.
Near the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency – Griot Museum of Black History and Culture – founded by Lois Conley in 1997. Documents the history of Black St. Louis with rotating exhibits of Mill Creek Valley, Ferguson, Robert Rayford, first to contract HIV.
Organization for Black Struggle – Jamala Rogers – training for young people who contributed to the uprising following Ferguson.
Hands-Up United – Tef Poe created a “books and breakfast” program which meets biweekly around the city, bringing together kids and adults for food, fellowship and free books. Developed a small park in the Cherokee Street neighborhood called the “Love Bank.” Poe co-hosts an annual art show, created a fellowship program for young photographers in the city. Wants to take over an abandoned police station on the Northside for an arts collective.
art to visualize the history of St. Louis – Clark Randall ( journalist/ photographer)- working to close the Workhouse. Mark Loehrer – photo montages that show Mill Creek Valley in the 1930’s and 40’s over contemporary Google Maps images.
National Building Arts Center – Larry Giles – architectural history of St.Louis. and industrial periodicals.
Equal Housing Opportunity Council –Kalila Jackson and Equity Legal Services – Nicole Nelson -rescue citizens of Centerville from the flooding and sewage of decades. Facing geysers of raw sewage and crumbling foundations. Allying with a group of students and resident Walter Byrd, trying to work with city leaders on rolling back the “toxic flood tide.”
RC Striders track team – practice behind Normandy High School. Camille Curtis started to honor her father Reverend Richard Curtis. Of the fifty kids on the team, almost half qualified for the Junior Olympics in 2019.