Sixty years ago this month, the fighting ended in a war that, today, many Americans know little about. Thousands of young Missourians who fought bravely on the Korean peninsula to halt unprovoked aggression and to defend freedom came home to farms, small towns and big cities across our diverse state. Yet, returning from halfway around the world, few were greeted with fanfare or hailed as heroes. It is unfortunate that it would take decades before the full significance of what they had accomplished was realized.

Despite a very disappointing quiet tug-of-war by a few supporters belonging to retired Urban League Metropolitan St. Louis President James H. Buford, the full board of directors recently made a courageous and critical decision.

The Board of Directors of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc. has appointed Michael P. McMillan, 41, as the next president and chief executive officer of the 95 – year old Urban League affiliate. McMillan, the License Collector for the City of St. Louis since 2007 and a longtime Urban League member and supporter, takes the helm August 5, succeeding James H. Buford who is retiring after 28 years of stellar service to the Urban League.

I have no doubt that Rev. Rodney Francis is well-intentioned. But the touchy-feely toy gun buyback program held this past weekend in north St. Louis, North County and East St. Louis is a wholly misguided attempt to reduce violence in our urban communities.

It happened, before the U.S. President Barack Obama named the multi-million dollar yet-to-be-built Mississippi River Bridge the “Stan Span,” after St. Louis Cardinals great, Hall of Famer, Stan Musial.

Black America and fair minded whites are losing their minds over the not guilty verdict handed down in the Trayvon Martin murder trial in Seminole County, Florida late Saturday night.

Once again, Governor Jay Nixon is wrongly withholding funds from the state budget that will hurt some of Missouri’s most vulnerable residents.

Kudos to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay for advocating a ban on soda purchases with food stamps. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, food stamp restrictions should extend beyond soda and include other junk like chips and candy that is utterly worthless.

Many are up in arms following the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Shelby County v Holder, a decision gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and opening the door to state laws that will further disenfranchise votes. It’s not without irony that the Petitioner in this case is Shelby Country, Alabama, which challenged the restriction placed on it to enact voting laws without prior approval of federal authorities. The so-called “coverage formula,” included in the Voting Rights Act, applied only to certain states, referred to as “covered jurisdictions.”

So, Brian Ireland, managing editor of crime for the St. Louis Evening Whirl celebrates an “all-talk, do nothing” approach to reducing crime over Mayor Slay’s plan of action. In Ireland’s world, politicizing heinous acts to advance one’s political career is better than actually doing something about it. He would also benefit from actually paying attention to what’s going on in the City. Since that seems highly unlikely, I will help him.