Originally published on February 5, 2021 6:13 pm
Bubonic plague. Influenza. The Red Death. An infection of zombies. For Marie Lathers, reading fiction about these and other pandemics has proved to be a surprisingly comforting experience over the past year.
“Every text you read, even from back in the Middle Ages, you recognize a lot of things,” Lathers explained to
St. Louis on the Air. “It’s the same fears, same angers, the hoarding, looting and despair. It’s comforting to realize we’re not just horrible, selfish people now. And you also have the other side first-line workers who are giving of themselves to help other people. And then you have quacks giving out remedies that don’t actually work.”
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This photo from the 1850s shows men outside one of what were known as Lynch s slave pens in downtown St. Louis.
Two Democratic lawmakers want to commemorate one of the most sordid chapters in local history at one of downtown St. Louis’ most visited sites and they say the St. Louis Cardinals are on board for the project.
More than a century before it became an entrance to Ballpark Village, the entertainment complex at Busch Stadium, the corner of Broadway and Clark held one of several sites known as “Lynch’s Slave Pens.” The pens took their name from Bernard Lynch, a notorious trafficker in enslaved people. They held men, women and children on their way to the slave markets in downtown St. Louis.
Racism is the idea that one racial group is inferior or superior to another, and has the social power to carry out and benefit from systemic discrimination. This applies to most, if not all, institutions in this country, including public media. Anti-Blackness and white supremacy shape both the institutional policies and practices of society and shape the cultural beliefs and values that support racist policies and practices.
White supremacy is the political and socio-economic system that allows white people both at a collective and individual level to enjoy structural advantage and rights that other racial and ethnic groups do not.
As the coronavirus pandemic and political turmoil drag on into the new year, the related stress is exacerbating mental health issues such as anxiety and