Race, Identity & Faith

This fall, about 20 Black faith leaders will take an environmental bus tour to examine St. Louis locations that have irrigation and air quality systems, sustainable buildings and repurposed sites to better understand how to protect the environment and keep their congregations healthy.

Missouri traffic stops declined significantly in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic as stay-at-home orders were in effect. But the state Attorney General's Vehicle Stops Report shows African American drivers were 71% more likely to be pulled over by Missouri police officers last year than white drivers.

Swim On Foundation, a local nonprofit, is launching a summer swimming campaign to encourage Black families to take swimming lessons and help keep their children from drowning.

St. Louis University is converting its African American Studies program into a full department this fall. Faculty and students have championed the effort since the early 1970s and say it’s a big step for equality.

Washington University is the latest on a growing list of universities and colleges nationwide looking into the role they may have played in slavery.

India is currently the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. The Hindu Temple of St. Louis is raising funds to help the country's collapsing medical system.

St. Louis-area activists are hopeful that a Minneapolis jury will find former officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the death of George Floyd last spring. But community leaders say they're bracing for the verdict. Emotions are high in St. Louis and across the nation because juries often acquit white officers charged with killing Black people.

Many mosques in the St. Louis region are planning limited celebrations during Ramadan — a month of fasting, prayer and reflection — to slow the spread of the coronavirus. They are offering virtual sermons, shorter nightly Quran readings and prepackaged meals to break the fast during an evening meal called iftar.

There are more than 3,400 St. Louisans who cannot vote Tuesday in the city’s mayoral election because they have not yet completed their probation or parole term. Missouri activists and lawmakers are pushing to restore voting rights more quickly to formerly incarcerated people so they can participate in local and state elections.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis invites people of different faiths on a tour Saturday from downtown St. Louis to north St. Louis to explore ways to eliminate racism in health care, education, housing and the criminal justice system.