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Bonus: Back to the Clock Tower

Breonna Taylor Vigil at St. Louis University Clock Tower
Lauren Fox
Vigil for Breonna Taylor at St. Louis University Clock Tower

Back in 2014, after the police killings of Michael Brown Jr. in North St. Louis County and VonDerrit Myers Jr. in South St. Louis City, the St. Louis University Clock Tower became a site for Occupy SLU: six days of teach-ins, community conversation, and an occupation by community activists and students, which resulted in the creation of 13 Clock Tower Accords to advance racial equity at the school. This year, after a grand jury in Kentucky declined to indict three Louisville police officers for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor, students gathered at the Clock Tower again to hold a vigil for Breonna Taylor and make new demands to change culture and policies at St. Louis University. On this bonus episode, we’ll hear from three students who organized direct actions and a new list of demands to advance racial equity at St. Louis University.

Jia Lian Yang holds both a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary. She is the co-founder of the St. Louis-based Who Raised You? podcast, which explores culture and family with a focus on stories from people of color. The show won the Arts & Education Council of St. Louis’ 2018 stARTup competition. And this year, St. Louis Magazine’s editors named it the best local podcast.
Lauren Brown holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri where she also studied Social Justice. Lauren joined St. Louis Public Radio in June 2019 as an associate producer for the We Live Here podcast. In March 2020 she became the co-host and producer for We Live Here.