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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

WEDNESDAYS • April 11, 2018

As a nation, the U.S. is debating the meaning of Confederate symbolism and history.

That debate is closely tied to how the U.S. commemorates, or fails to commemorate, the full spectrum of African-American history.

In my research I explore why people choose to remember some parts of the past and not others. I have also studied how communities choose to forget portions of the past in order to overcome longstanding conflicts.

Based on this work, I would argue that nostalgic versions of Confederate history inhibit our ability to memorialize AfricanAmerican historical experiences and achievements as centerpieces of U.S. history.

Forgetting and forging ahead A commitment to starting over and creating a new future is a deepseated part of the U.S. experience.

Thomas Paine published “Common

INSIDE GRTC changes in metro Richmond- 4, 5 Making pledges to confront racism - 8 Truth and reconciliation addressed - 9 Ever heard of pop star E. Greenfield? - 11

Richmond & Hampton Roads

U.S. must let go of lingering nostalgia BRADFORD VIVIAN FIRST PERSON

‘

Sense” in January 1776, as American colonists debated whether to declare independence from Great Britain.

He proclaimed that a “new era of politics” and “a new method of thinking” had begun.

“Common Sense” urged colonists to forget monarchical history

LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE

and culture so that they could embrace a radically new historical narrative. The doctrine of American exceptionalism that Paine helped to create – the belief that the U.S. is not only different, but exceptional – depends upon an ideal of renewal. It suggests that Americans are joined together in the constant creation of a new history and a new politics.

Paine’s rhetoric argues that forgetting old customs and conflicts does not necessarily mean destroying the past. In fact, the verb “forget” descends from an Old Germanic construction that suggests losing one’s hold on something. Basic English definitions of the term – “to treat with inattention or disregard” or “disregard intentionally” – describe a voluntary decision to no longer grasp something, not destroy it.

People today don’t literally remember the Civil War. Neither can they literally forget it. The terms “remember” and “forget” are metaphorical descriptions of different attitudes toward history.

As I’ve shown in my research, sometimes communities decide that previously beloved narratives of the past have become divisive and

deserve to be set aside. People often attempt to resolve conflicts rooted in history by adopting an attitude of forgetting. For example, Athenians in the fourth century B.C. restored democracy after a civil war with an act of political forgiveness. Warring parties brokered peace by swearing “not to recall wrong.” More recently, former Soviet states have removed monuments of communist leaders since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Asking Confederate advocates to forget in the name of a greater good does not mean asking them to erase the past. It means inviting them to the work of truth and reconciliation, and foregoing the Lost Cause – a historical mythology that insists the Confederate cause was noble and heroic. Confederate memorials symbolize a form of white supremacy that sought to violently erase the heritage of kidnapped and enslaved Africans and their descendants. They honor efforts to destroy the history of millions, while celebrating a wildly distorted version of the Confederate past.

Forgetting that distorted vision of history would not erase an authentic

(continued on page 13)

Henrico PAL’s Majestic Spirit competitive dance team recently competed in their second Nationals competition and brought a home their second banner from THE ONE Cheer and Dance Finals. READ on pg. 2

The LEGACY

2 • April 11, 2018

News

Henrico Majestic Spirit claims 2nd national dance title

Henrico PAL’s Majestic Spirit competitive dance team recently competed in their second Nationals competition and brought a home their second banner from THE ONE Cheer and Dance Finals.

Majestic Spirit placed first in their division displacing any notion that they are a one-win wonder. The competition was held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

“I’m proud of our girls,” said Head Coach Keisha Stockton. “Their technique is growing with every practice and every competition. I sometimes get surprised at how disciplined and focused they are and I’m the coach.”

On day one of the competition the teams’ music went off suddenly.

Unalarmed, the girls continued their routine appearing not to miss a beat. They finished the routine mouthing an eight-count with the beat in their heads among shouts of encouragement from the audience and roars of applause.

“That was amazing,” one spectator

said. “I wonder if they actually practiced without music in the event that something like that would happen.”

When Stockton was approached with that question she said that the girls danced on pure instinct and the eight count when the music went out.

“I will, however, have to consider practicing to no music now in the event something like this happens again,” she joked, “but from what I witnessed my girls have it under control.”

Day two of the competition went smoothly as the girls danced once again to “Schoolin’ Life” by Beyoncé without a glitch to take home first place.

Majestic Spirit is comprised of veteran members Jayla Collins, Maya Jefferson, Kennedie Simon, Johanna Tillman and Madison Wright with new members Richelle Atkins, Malia Frazier, Emani Hutchinson and Olivia Matthews-Walker.

“I’m proud to say that five of the members of the team are from my location,” said Paul Walker, who manages the Harvie site at Harvie

L - R: Coach Keisha Stockton, Johanna Tillman, Maya Jefferson, Emani Hutchinson, Olivia Matthews-Walker, Malia Frazier, Richelle Atkins, Kennedie Simon and Jaya Collins (not pictured, Madison Wright) Elementary School. Walker, who is affectionately referred to as “Coach Paul” by the girls sais he couldn’t be more proud.

“And to actually be here in person to see them perform and compete… yeah, I couldn’t be more proud,” he said.

While the competition season is over, the team will continue to

perform locally.

“The girls represent Henrico PAL so well,” said PAL Executive Director Sgt. Kenneth Ragland. “We are very proud of them.”

Stockton said Majestic Spirit will return for a third season in hopes of bringing another National title back to grace Henrico PAL headquarters.

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OUR BUS ROUTES ARE CHANGING SUMMER 2018.

No worries. We’ll help you through this.

We’re here to help you get ready for faster, more consistent transit service!

Soon, GRTC will have new routes and route numbers, easier connections and simplified route names. Many buses will come more frequently. And at the same time, we’re launching the new Pulse route. Go to ridegrtc.com to learn your new route, or call 804-358-GRTC. You can even schedule up to three free “practice runs” of your route with a GRTC Travel Buddy.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 11, 2018 • 3

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The LEGACY

4 • April 11, 2018

GRTC’s new transit system drawing closer to debut GRTC is continuing its preparation in implementing a new bus network this summer. The transit company is hard at work and expects to switch to all the new routes the same day the new GRTC Pulse service begins. The Pulse is currently under construction and making great progress.

New bus stop signs for new routes are currently being installed and GRTC officials are asking for patience. They ask that as passengers see the new covers appear throughout the city that they remain in place and no attempts to remove the covers are made before the launch.

GRTC is encouraging its reduced fare customers to get their new “smart” free GRTC ID. If passengers already have a GRTC ID with the black magnetic strip on the back, they will automatically receive a

new smart ID in the mail by this summer. The new smart GRTC IDs enable customers to tap at fareboxes and Pulse Ticket Vending Machines (TVM) to verify eligibility for reduced fare, and also receive free timed connection onto another route if needed.

The instructions for use seem simple enough. When paying your fare at a farebox or TVM, tap the smart reader with your smart GRTC ID. After paying your reduced fare, you will be prompted to tap again.

When you tap your ID the second time, the timed connection is encoded onto your ID. When you board your connecting bus, simply tap your ID at the smart reader to use the timed connection. Timed connections will expire after 90 minutes if unused.

New CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) buses are also arriving. These newer cleaner and quieter buses are

replacing more of our retiring dieselfueled buses.

GRTC has the largest CNG transit fleet in the Commonwealth and also have one of the youngest fleets in the country with an average vehicle age of just 4.5 years. Young, wellmaintained vehicles like these mean more reliable and cleaner service for customers.

GRTC also wants the public to be on the lookout for its Pulse service.

Soon Pulse vehicles and GRTC staff will conduct pre-revenue operational exercises along the route to test the system and ensure operators and supervisors get “dry run” practice.

Additionally, GRTC’s marketing team will be in the field and on the route creating TV commercials and capturing photography for the Pulse marketing campaign. Film crews and actors are expected to be seen working around town and at Pulse

stations. Station platform areas will remain closed however, until its open to service the public.

Final public timetables for the new routes will be available online as the launch draws closer. Although new bus stop locations were publicly vetted and approved in 2017 by the local jurisdictions, public comment about bus stops and amenities are always welcome.

If you have questions about new stops or would like to share feedback for future review email planningcomment@RideGRTC.com or call 804-358-4782.

GRTC’s customer service hours will eventually extend to earlier morning and later at night. The expected hours will be Monday – Friday 4:30 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. and Saturday – Sunday 8:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

occurred between noon and 6 p.m. * Travel at a safe speed. Always obey posted speed limits and reduce speed in inclement weather. Speeding and failure to maintain control of the motorcycle contribute to a high percentage of motorcyclists’ deaths. * Never operate a motorcycle after consuming alcohol: Forty percent of all single-vehicle motorcycle fatalities in 2017 involved a motorcyclist with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit. * Look for motorcyclists. In more than half of all crashes involving

motorcycles and automobiles, the automobile driver didn’t see the motorcycle until it was too late. * Check your blind spots. Always check for motorcycles before you pull out, change lanes, turn, back up or proceed through an intersection. * Anticipate the motorcyclist’s movements. A slight change or debris on the road surface can be a major obstacle for motorcyclists so expect them to make sudden moves within their lane. Never tailgate a motorcycle or any other vehicle.

DMV urges motorcyclists and motorists to do their part to prevent deaths Last year, Virginia recorded the highest number of motorcyclist fatalities in a decade, and, as the weather warms again, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) urges motorcyclists and motorists to do their part to prevent deaths this year.

Aprroximatley 170 motorcyclists were killed in 2017 on Virginia roadways, compared to 72 in 2016 – a nearly 50 percent increase. DMV reports that 90 motorcyclist fatalities were reported in 2011, the previous decade high.

“We are working every day to reduce traffic crashes and save lives on Virginia roadways,” said Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine. “DMV, VDOT, Public Safety and Community Partners are urging motorcyclists and motorists to give their full attention to driving and following the rules of the road.”

A large number of motorcycle crashes occur when the motorcyclist is traveling too fast and loses control of his bike according to DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb, the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative.

“Following a safe speed is a simple solution for these types of crashes,” he said. “Other crashes can occur when a person driving a car, for example, doesn’t see the motorcyclist because of inattention or a blind spot.

We encourage motorists to be aware of motorcyclists sharing the road and to make sure you know where they are in traffic before changing lanes.”

Motorcyclists can take advantage of the Virginia Rider Training Program, which offers statewide motorcycle classes for both beginning and experienced riders.

DMV offers several motorcycle safety tips for motorcyclists and other motorists that include: * Always wear safety equipment.

Wear helmets and other protective clothing such as gloves, goggles and a riding jacket. Motorcyclists and their passengers must wear helmets in Virginia. A rider without a helmet is 40 percent more likely to suffer a fatal head injury than a rider wearing a helmet. * Remain alert day and night.

Keep an eye on your surroundings at all times. Forty-four percent of motorcyclist fatalities in 2017

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 11, 2018 • 5

Efforts in play to block Trump in 2020 Census Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, along with 18 attorneys general, six cities and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors, filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from undermining the 2020 decennial census with a "poison pill" citizenship inquiry that the U.S. Census Bureau has said is likely to depress response and compromise the accuracy of the census.

Demanding citizenship information would particularly depress Census turnout in states with large immigrant populations, directly threatening those states’ fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College, as well as billions of dollars in critical federal funds for education, infrastructure, Medicaid, and more.

“This poison pill from the Trump administration is about ideology, not accuracy,” said Herring. “The Census is one of the most important things our government does. It determines how many congressional representatives and electoral votes Virginia gets, and how much federal money comes to the Commonwealth for things like health

care, education, and transportation.

There is overwhelming evidence that including this provision will cause underreporting and produce an inaccurate census, violating the Enumeration Clause in the Constitution, which calls for an actual count of all persons in the Country. In the current climate, many immigrants are already wary of the government, and there is no question that this is just another attempt to intimidate and instill fear in immigrant communities.”

This lawsuit is brought under the Enumeration Clause of the U.S. Constitution, as this action by the Trump administration will impede an "actual Enumeration" of "the whole number of persons in each state,” as required by the Constitution. It is also brought under the Administrative Procedure Act, which permits courts to set aside unlawful or arbitrary and capricious agency decisions.

In their suit, the bipartisan coalition describes the reasons that the administration’s decision is inconsistent with the Census

Bon Secours & VCU Health get GRTC Pulse sponsorship rights Bon Secours Richmond Health System and VCU Health System have partnered to secure joint sponsorship rights of GRTC Pulse, Richmond’s high capacity rapid transit system that will serve its first riders this summer. Bon Secours and VCU Health System share a commitment to improving the health of the Greater Richmond community by pooling their resources to address the social conditions that impact health, one of which is transportation.

“Quality transportation provides access to jobs, health care, affordable housing and educational institutions,” said Toni R. Ardabell, CEO of Bon Secours Virginia Health System. “Our colleagues at VCU Health are the perfect partners in this effort to support Richmond’s new rapid transit system because we are aligned in our missions of bringing health and wholeness to the communities we serve.”

GRTC Pulse is a modern, high quality, high capacity rapid transit system serving activity centers on a 7.6 mile route along Broad Street and Main Street, between Rocketts Landing in the City of Richmond and Willow Lawn in Henrico County.

This first Pulse line is the new spine

of GRTC’s transit system, with other routes connecting to it across the Greater Richmond Area to improve the overall quality of life for the community.

“As the region’s largest safetynet provider, we know that reliable transportation plays a key role in creating healthy communities,” said Deborah Davis, CEO of VCU Hospitals and Clinics. “We will also use buses and bus stops for community health education, encouraging riders to learn about health screenings and reducing risk factors for conditions such as heart disease, stroke, obesity and diabetes.”

The naming rights agreement will generate up to $6.4 million in nonfare revenue for GRTC operations over a term of up to 15 years.

“We’re excited to announce an outstanding partnership with not one but two of the strongest brands in our community,” said David Green, CEO of GRTC. “This investment in our Pulse service is an investment in the mobility and continued development of our community. It represents a great partnership and a sustainable revenue source that will assist in operating the line and maintaining our level of service to the Richmond area.”

Bureau’s constitutional and statutory obligations, is unsupported by the stated justification, departs from decades of settled practice without reasoned explanation, and fails to consider the availability of alternative data that can effectively serve the federal government’s needs.

The lawsuit also emphasizes the irreparable harm that will result from inaccuracies in the 2020 Census caused by demanding citizenship information. Hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds are directly tied to demographic information obtained through the census, including the Highway Trust Fund and other Department of Transportation grants, Child Care Development Grants, and Medicaid.

Consequently, inaccurate counts can potentially deprive states of muchneeded funds designed to protect lowincome and vulnerable communities.

A total of $700 billion is distributed annually to nearly 300 different census-guided federal grant and funding programs. In FY2015, Virginia received over $953 million in Highway Trust Fund grants, over $131 million in Urbanized Area Formula Grants, and nearly $64 million in Child Care Development grants, all based on census data.

In addition to the significant financial implications of an inaccurate census, the decennial census is also used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives, and each plaintiff state relies on population information from the Census Bureau to draw statewide redistricting plans for

their Congressional and state legislative districts. Demanding citizenship information would cause disproportionate undercounts in communities with immigrant populations and therefore prevent plaintiff states from fulfilling the one-person, one-vote constitutional requirement, as well as create inaccuracies in the data states use to draw district lines. Currently, immigrants account for 12.3 percent of Virginia's population.

As the Census Bureau’s own research shows, the decision to demand citizenship information will "inevitably jeopardize the overall accuracy of the population count" by significantly deterring participation, particularly in immigrant communities, because of concerns about how the federal government will use citizenship information.

These concerns are amplified by President Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric and pattern of actions that target immigrant communities.

In 1980, the Census Bureau rejected the addition of a citizenship question, saying, “Any effort to ascertain citizenship will inevitably jeopardize the overall accuracy of the population count. Obtaining the cooperation of a suspicious and fearful population would be impossible if the group being counted perceived any possibility of the information being used against them. Questions as to citizenship are particularly sensitive in minority communities and would inevitably trigger hostility, resentment, and refusal to cooperate.”

6 • April 11, 2018

Op/Ed & Letters

The LEGACY

Direct Engagement with Trump and the GOP is paying off for HBCU community DR. HARRY L. WILLIAMS

A few months ago, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) was proud to welcome the presidents and chancellors from 30 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) to Washington, D.C. for the second annual HBCU FlyIn held in conjunction with the leadership of Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), who are both members of the very important, bipartisan HBCU Caucus.

My experience as a former HBCU president and now leader of TMCF, working on behalf of our 47 publiclysupported HBCUs, gives me a broad perspective on the federal government’s partnership with HBCUs, as delivered through this event’s multiple listening sessions and direct engagement opportunities with members of Congress and senior leadership within the Trump Administration. Thanks to the commitment of dozens of our HBCU presidents and chancellors who attended our inaugural convening and this year’s fly-in, we’re beginning to see major developments The LEGACY NEWSPAPER Vol. 4 No. 15 Mailing Address 409 E. Main Street 4 Office Address 105 1/2 E. Clay St. Richmond, VA 23219 Call 804-644-1550 Online www.legacynewspaper.com

from several federal agencies looking to increase support for HBCUs and to create more opportunities for our scholars.

Thanks to our collective advocacy, several HBCUs that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 received total forgiveness of outstanding loans awarded for the restoration of their campuses in the hurricane’s aftermath.

Southern University at New Orleans, Dillard University, Xavier University, and Tougaloo College are free of their repayment obligations on more than $300 million in federal loans, because of direct engagement with and action from this administration and congressional leadership on issues of critical importance to our HBCU’s, like this one.

Perhaps the most significant indicator of our growing partnership has been the achievement of level funding in the President’s FY’ 2019 budget proposal and within the recent Omnibus Appropriations Bills. For example, the FY’ 2018 The LEGACY welcomes all signed letters and all respectful opinions.

Letter writers and columnists opinions are their own and endorsements of their views by The LEGACY should be inferred. The LEGACY assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material.

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Omnibus Appropriations bill had major wins for HBCUs: Pell Grant Maximum Award - FY’17 Funding Level: $5,920 (per student) - FY’18 Funding Level: $6,095 (+$175/increase of 2.96 percent) Title III, Part B and F, Strengthening HBCUs Undergraduate Programs FY’17 Funding Level: $244.6 million - FY’18 Funding Level: $279.6 million (+$34 million/increase of 14.3 percent) Title III, Part B, Strengthening HBCUs Graduate Programs - FY’17 Funding Level: $63.2 million - FY’18 Funding Level: $72.3 million (+$9 million/increase of 14.3 percent) Title III, Part A, Strengthening PBI Program - FY’17 Funding Level: $9.9 million - FY’18 Funding Level: $11.3 million (+$1.4 million/increase of 14.3 percent) Title VII, Masters Degree Program at HBCUs and PBIs - FY’17 Funding Level: $7.5 million - FY’18 Funding Level: $8.5million (+$1 million/ increase of 14.3 percent) We are cognizant that many lawmakers in the majority in Congress favor fiscal austerity to address

budgetary issues, but in a legislative environment dominated by talks of budget cuts, critical HBCU funding lines were increased, which is a demonstrable return on our collective investment in bipartisan engagement.

Indeed, TMCF’s decision not to resist, but instead engage in a strategic way and bipartisan fashion on behalf of our nearly 300,000 HBCU students who need a voice in Congress and with the Trump Administration has borne fruit at many levels. I am optimistic that many of our presidents and chancellors departed the nation’s capital with a clearer sense of the propriety of this strategy given our mutual goals, and now having the benefit to witness the rewards of this advocacy effort. TMCF will not stop engaging with all of our federal partners, because bipartisan advocacy with the Congress and engagement with the Trump Administration is paying dividends for our nation’s HBCUs. Williams is the president & CEO of Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), the largest organization exclusively representing the Black College Community. Prior to joining TMCF, he spent eight years as president of Delaware State University

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 11, 2018 • 7

P.T. Hoffsteader, Esq.

Losing minds

It’s taken decades, but I can unequivocally declare the Democrats have gone full ‘Communist Manifesto’ with the “March for Our Lives”, the globalist/Communist/ Democrat plot to disarm America.

Recently, hundreds of thousands marched in a George Soros, (Nazicollaborator), Michael Bloomberg, Oprah, Hollywood funded extravaganza in D.C. ‘led’ by the son of a former FBI agent, David Hogg, and his Communist Cuban flag wearing cousin, Emma Gonzales, of Parkland School shooting fame.

David and Emma catapulted onto the national stag as if by magic, becoming the ‘super-cool’, foul mouthed, trendy, rant leaders against 300 million innocent gun owners in an obvious psych-op to shame us into feeling responsible for the mentally insane and criminal elements among us for gun violence even though the worst gun violence in the nation is in ‘gun-free’ cities such as Chicago and Baltimore.

Hours of propagandizing were devoted to these two and the serious and devastating events at the MSD High School, yet, David Hogg wasn’t even at school that day. His whole narrative is a lie. He did a recording where he states he is at the scene hiding in a closet with a classmate at 9:32 a.m., Feb. 14, but the shooting took place at 2:19 p.m.. He’s shown in another video being coached about his lines, where he repeats the

narrative over and over again until he gets it ‘right’. He stated his sister had two - no three - no one of her best friends shot and killed. What is going on?

Our non-negotiable gun rights are being challenged by a proven, secretly sponsored, manipulated punk and liar.

Tyrannical blood baths throughout history start with disarming the populace often based on False Flag events and lies. Ask Stalin, Lenin, Hitler, Mao, Castro, et al. Don’t mistake our patience, and longsuffering with acquiescence.

Catherine Crabill

Need for ERA

When this country was founded, women had no rights. As late as 2010, then-Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said in an interview that women still don’t. It wasn’t until 1971 that the court ruled women were covered under the Fourteenth Amendment. A plethora of cases followed along two tracks: Fourteenth Amendment equal protection and due process and Fifth Amendment due process as applied to the federal government.

In the five cases under the Fifth Amendment due process clause from 1973 to 1979, all against federal government programs, the plaintiffs (males in three cases) prevailed in four. This track record continued in 2017’s Sessions vs. Morales-Santana.

The male plaintiff argued that equal protection was violated when his citizenship was denied based on his unmarried mother, who was not a citizen, rather than his father, who was but had left the U.S. five days before his 19th birthday, the requirement to settle citizenship for a man who had a child born out of the U.S. For an unwed woman who

had a child born out of the U.S., the requirement was having lived in the U.S. one year at any time in her life.

From 1869 to 2000, nineteen cases were brought regarding women’s rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Not until 1971 did the court hold that women are covered under the equal protection clause.

The issue of whether a classification based on sex was inherently suspect and held to a higher standard like other suspect classifications such as race, ethnicity and national origin was decided in a 1976 case. In that case, females could drink 3.2 percent beer at 18, but males had to wait until they were 21. The reason given by the state was that boys had bad driving records, and preventing accidents was an important government objective. The new test was birthed when the court ruled that, “Previous cases establish that classifications by gender must serve important governmental objectives and be substantially related to achievement of those objectives.”

Expansion of women under the Fourteenth Amendment came to a halt with a 1979 ruling. The case was a challenge to the absolute lifetime preference in job allocation for veterans. The court held that such a preference did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment because it was gender neutral, based on service not sex. The court did for the first time state that, “Classifications based upon gender, not unlike those based upon race, have traditionally been the touchstone for pervasive and often subtle discrimination.” Yet the court found that no discriminatory purpose is evident and therefore no violation exists.

A 1982 case held that prohibiting men from enrolling in a womanonly school of nursing violated the Equal Protection Clause. In

addition, the court added a stronger burden to uphold the classification.

The state now had to show an “exceedingly persuasive justification” for the exclusion of men in order to survive constitutional scrutiny.

They mentioned that gender was like race. It seemed as if the court was inching closer to finding that gender classifications – like race classifications -- require strict scrutiny.

That hope came tumbling down a scant two years later in 1996 in a decision written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The U.S. argued and the court agreed that restricting entrance to the Virginia Military Institute to males violated the Equal Protection Clause. The “exceedingly persuasive justification” standard was used for the third time, the first time for women. But Ginsberg made it clear that sex was not race and they were not elevating the standard to strict scrutiny.

From 1869 to 2000, women brought ten cases under the Fourteenth Amendment, and men nine. Of the ten that women brought, they won six. Of the nine that men brought, they won seven. Even the fight for women’s rights benefits men more than women.

It’s clear that litigation, statutory changes and the Fourteenth Amendment won’t bring equality to women. As of 2011, 35 countries had an equality provision for women in their constitution; 49 a nondiscrimination provision for women, and 29 countries had both. The U.S. remains the outlier.

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is the only method left to ensure women’s constitutional equality. Two states remain to obtain the needed 38 state ratifications.

Let’s get it done.

Dianne Post

8 • April 11, 2018

Faith & Religion

The LEGACY

King’s death remembered with pledges to confront racism WASHINGTON (RNS) — They began marching just after dawn from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, 50 years to the day after the civil rights leader was assassinated.

They silenced their voices and, walking to the beat of a drum, traveled halfway down the National Mall. Some in sneakers and some in clerical stoles, they then prayed a spectrum of prayers — from Anglican to Zoroastrian — before they settled in for a set of speeches with a lofty subject: ending racism.

The A.C.T. to End Racism Rally, seeking to “awaken, confront and transform” society about racism, drew thousands of people on Wednesday (April 4). It was one of the largest events ever planned by the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical network of 38 groups including mainline, Orthodox, black Protestant and Quaker churches.

“It was Dr. King who talked about the three evils that stand in our way, and we can call them the three weapons of mass destruction,” said the Rev. Toussaint King Hill Jr., pastor of West Hunter Street Baptist Church in Atlanta and a cousin of King. “We can say racism. We can say economic inequality, and we can say militarism. Those three evils still permeate our land.”

Mega-church pastor indicted for wire fraud & money laundering A Houston-based mega church, pastor is facing charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Federal prosecutors have accused him of scamming millions of dollars from

Speaker after speaker throughout the day said King’s vision had not been realized and it was up to leaders of houses of worship to act directly to achieve his goals, most especially on combating racism, so the people over whom those leaders have influence no longer ignore its presence in society.

Some, such as a Mormon official whose church opened the priesthood to blacks 40 years ago, acknowledged that their houses of worship had been late in addressing the matter.

Others pointed down the street to the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — “the Pharaoh in the White House,” said Rabbi Arthur Waskow of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia — as a contributor to the nation’s racial tensions.

But many looked ahead to the job they say needs to be done by religious leaders to move beyond those tensions.

“If you believe in the image of God you will make sure that there is not one vote suppressed in this next election,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners magazine and author of “America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege and the Bridge to a New America.”

“To believe in the image of God means that we must form a multiracial, multifaith campaign to

protect voters.”

“Are you in?” he asked, saying this would be a theological rather than a political effort.

“Yes!” the crowd in view of the Capitol replied.

Between a Baltimore boys’ choir singing “I Have a Dream” and gospel artist Yolanda Adams performing “I’ve Got the Victory,” people listening took time out to talk about their personal next steps for addressing racism.

The Rev. Rob Keithan of All Souls Church Unitarian, a Washington congregation that has held a course to help whites become allies of blacks, plans a new series of multicultural “beloved conversations” in line with King’s notion of a “beloved community.” Keithan embraces the NCC’s plans for a multiyear truth and reconciliation process.

investors in a Chinese bond scheme.

Kirbyjon Caldwell,64, senior pastor at Windsor Village United Methodist Church and his business partner Gregory Smith,55, is being charged with 13 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy in committing money laundering after raising about $3.5 million in Historical Chinese bonds from 29 investors from 2003 to 2004.

They allegedly deceived investors into buying bogus stocks through a company called Smith Financial Group LLC. “These bonds were issued by the former Republic of China prior to losing power to the Communist government in 1949,” the prosecutors said in a statement. “They are not recognized by China’s current government and have no investment value.”

The investors said they entrusted their money even though most of them cannot clearly understand the investment because of their faith in Smith and Caldwell, a highprofile pastor with previous ties with President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.

But instead of investing the money, Smith and Caldwell allegedly “used them to pay personal loans, credit card balances, mortgages, vehicle purchases and other personal

expenses,” according to the statement.

They are both facing up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Caldwell, however, is claiming that he is innocent. In front of over 7,000 people on his Easter Sunday sermon, he said, “From my mouth to your ears, I am not guilty.”

“On the road to glory you have painful pit stops and this is a pit stop,” he continued. “The one thing that disturbs me most is [the statement] that I took advantage of people. I’ve spent 38 years helping people.”

In an interview, he also said that he has proof that the accusations are not true. “Everyone who’s asked for their money back to date has received their money back. I’ve got evidence that the bonds are legitimate.”

Moreover, Caldwell recently surrendered and was arraigned, according to attorney Dan Cogdell, who represents the pastor.

Margaret Holland, left, and Lily Quintero traveled to Washington from Vermont with their youth group. PHOTO: Adelle M. Banks

(continued on page 15)

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 11, 2018 • 9

RVA woman at the heart of national efforts towards racial reconciliation DAVID STREEVER

RVA MAG - Just as Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy, St Paul’s Episcopal Church was its cathedral. It was the church where Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis worshipped, and it was the church that hosted the Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, the first black leader of the Episcopal Church, and nearly 500 people for a series of talks and presentations outlining the history of St Paul’s and the national Episcopal Church in slavery, segregation, and racism.

The event in March, Bending Toward Truth: A Forum on Race and Religion in Richmond, kicked off on a Saturday night and ran through Sunday worship, but it really began two years ago, on a day that the Rev. Melanie Mullen remembers with a laugh full of wonderment. “I don’t know what got into me, but I just wrote a letter to Bishop Curry,” she said, describing a letter she sent detailing the struggle St Paul’s was having with its history.

The church had been quietly grappling with its legacy for years, but it had begun a public dialogue after the mass killing at a historically black church in Charleston by a man obsessed with symbols of the Confederacy.

Members of the congregation, where one in 10 members are black and many white members can trace their lineage back to the Civil War, started looking around at their own Confederate iconography and feeling uncomfortable.

“Wallace [the former head priest] was giving these sermons about it, and I was kind of the resident black person in the clergy,” Mullen said. She reached out to Curry, the recently elected presiding Bishop because he was talking about something he called the Jesus Movement, a shift for the church to focus on the biblical narratives where Jesus stands for justice and equality.

In his three year tenure, Curry has become an outspoken voice on issues ranging from tribal rights for the First Nations people to transgender rights.

For St Paul’s, that letter later led to this event; for Mullen, it led to her new position as the Director of

Reconciliation, Justice & Creation Care for the Episcopal Church, based in Washington D.C. “The Jesus Movement has to include racial reconciliation at its core,” she said, along with other social justice issues like the rights of women and LGBTQ individuals.

Part of her job is to share the tools and resources St Paul’s created around racial justice, which she said came out of the congregation. “The octogenarians in this church did the research work,” she said. “We had to teach some of them how to use the computer, how to research online, but they did this all as an incredible act of faith.”

Mullen said it really hit for the people who had long, storied histories.

“That’s what made it successful.

They were looking into the histories behind their own names and were horrified by what they learned about the lives of slaves and how they had their names taken away from them,” she said.

The forum opened with an account of St Paul’s history by Christopher Graham and Elizabeth O’Leary, members of its History and Reconciliation Initiative. Taking turns, the two historians detailed the

role of St Paul’s and the Episcopal Church from pre-Civil War to the current millennium. Guest scholars Corey Walker, vice-president of The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of

Theology, Professor Nicole Myers Turner of Virginia Commonwealth University, and Edward Ayers, Richmond University president

(continued on page 17)

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10 • April 11, 2018

The LEGACY

Ask Alma

Documentary about racial reconciliation premiers RVA MAG - A new documentary about local work towards racial reconciliation premiered over the weekend at The Byrd Theater in Richmond’s Carytown. Titled “11 AM: Hope for America’s Most Segregated Hour” in homage to Martin Luther King, Jr., who said church was “the most segregated hour in America”, the film focuses on Urban Doxology, a music ministry of the local nonprofit organization Arrabon.

A doxology is a liturgical praise to God, which is what the group offers: Contemporary hymns dealing with the challenges of racial reconciliation in this city and beyond. Arrabon executive director visited RVA Mag to talk about the group and the unique collaborative songwriting process that they derive their music from.

“It’s an eight week internship, with a diverse group,” he said, during which participants learn about “white supremacy, race, identity, class, and cultural issues… instead of a paper, they write a song about what they’ve learned.”

The internship is a partnership between East End Fellowship and Bailey’s Arrabon, which he founded in 2008 after moving back to Church Hill. “I saw two church hills, and wanted to bring them together,” he said about the motivation that led him to create his nonprofit. The group works with faith communities to share resources and a study series for churches seeking to engage in racial reconciliation.

Bailey been working towards racial reconciliation for the last 15 years, “especially in evangelical communities,” he said. Part of that work was a musical tour with Urban Doxology, visiting historically black colleges and universities, which is where he first met filmmaker Sebastian Rogers of Peripheral Vision PDX who had a proposal to film their work. “What we are doing is so unique, and he’s just such a gifted filmmaker, I knew it was time to do it,” Bailey said about the collaboration.

The film features local interviews and scenes of racial reconciliation

work, along with Urban Doxology performances, including clips of them singing at a prayer vigil in Charlottesville the night before violent “alt-right” protesters would take to the streets during the supremacist Unite the Right rally last August. The trailer was released earlier this year.

Bailey said his work is rooted in churches because of historic injustices in the faith. “There’s a one hundred year problem with race in America,” he said. “Christians should be the answer, but more often not we’ve been the problem.”

He pointed to the origins of Christianity as a faith that sprung up in the shadows of oppression. “Jesus came into form as an oppressed person. He was a refugee, an immigrant. When we forget that narrative, we lose track of what the religion is all about.”

Although he wants to talk about and address wrong-doing both historical and contemporary, Bailey stressed that demonizing people is not part of the agenda. “This isn’t a documentary blaming folks, but it’s an invitation, with truth and hope to come together and understand racism.”

He’s optimistic about reconciliation, contrarily pointing to some current unrest as proof that society is moving in the right direction. “Diversity guarantees conflict,” he said. “Things are changing. People who are used to feeling power are starting to experience equality, and it feels like oppression to them. We can’t leave them behind, we have to bring them up with us.”

He described honest engagement as the key to solving that unrest. At the end of the screening he’ll provide some of that dialogue with a question and answer session, which he hopes will serve as a “starting point” for people to begin reconciliation work.

Bailey said his goal for the film is to “serve as a catalyst.” He even wants people to learn from the “alt-right” marchers in Charlottesville, he said.

“The people in Charlottesville were bold although wrong. Can we be bold and right?”

Trying to find happiness Dear Alma, I am a 25-year-old man. I consider myself very nice and caring. I live with a woman I met in February of this year. Things do not seem to be working out.

I feel that I have been giving all that I can give. It has not helped that some of my life goals did not happen this year. I wanted to go back and work on a Ph.D. in economics, but I can’t. I am finding it very difficult to leave this relationship because she’s pregnant.

I believe that this child deserves two loving parents, but if I am not happy, the best thing for the child is not a marriage.

I am an independent type of person. I feel that I have very little private time. I feel that I constantly have to be with her.

Lately, I’ve been thinking I should end the relationship. I do want our baby, but I’m not sure about the relationship. I wish I knew earlier what I know now.

My best friend says I can’t leave while she’s pregnant. What do you think?

— Signed, ‘Not Ready’ Hey ‘Not Ready’, I don’t want to use this space to dump on you about being totally selfish, egotistical and abundantly self-absorbed because, in my opinion, you won’t get it, and

what’s most important about your circumstances is your new baby.

You’re 25 years old and you live with a woman you met nine months ago. What is that about?

You mentioned wanting to go back and get your Ph.D. This leads me to assume you have acquired the prior degrees necessary to take that next step.

While absorbing all of this, I have come to the conclusion that you have “book smarts” down to a science.

What you’re lacking is common sense. When one makes the decision to be in a committed relationship and live with that person, intimacy allows the possibility of a pregnancy.

Is your book sense following me so far?

What leads you down the path of partnership is the decision that you want to spend the rest of your life with this person. That’s not what you did. You shacked up, hooked up and now she’s knocked up.

Aha moment here: There’s a reason we put the horse in front of the cart in real life and on a farm. You didn’t do that. You also didn’t mention “love” once in your submission. You said “I” so many times, I lost count. I’d suggest you spend time getting to know the person you decided to live with, who will become the mother of your child. Don’t focus so much on how she’s not the one for you. Learn to like her for who she is and the fact that the two of you will always be connected. I’m sure she has some great qualities; obviously you thought so, too, early on.

It is your responsibility to support her during this time, emotionally and financially. She didn’t do this alone. You were a willing participant who’s now changed his mind. You’ve come to the conclusion that she isn’t the one for you, and that’s fine. But you do owe it to her and your child to have the best friendship the two of you can create.

I agree with your friend: No, you can’t leave right now. You need to do what’s best for all three of you, not just you. Put on your big boy gloves and step up to the plate; prepared for game day. Prepare yourself to be the best father you could ever imagine. If it doesn’t come naturally in the form of common sense, buy a book – “Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge” by Etan Thomas is a good place to start.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 11, 2018 • 11

The story of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, America’s very own first black pop star ADAM GUSTAFSON In 1851, a concert soprano named Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield embarked on a national tour that upended America’s music scene.

In antebellum America, operatic and concert songs were very popular forms of entertainment. European concert sopranos, such as Jenny Lind and Catherine Hayes, drew huge crowds and rave reviews during their U.S. tours. Lind was so popular that baby cribs still bear her name, and you can now visit an unincorporated community called Jenny Lind, California Greenfield, however, was different.

She was a former slave. And she was performing songs that a burgeoning field of American music criticism, led

by John Sullivan Dwight, considered reserved for white artists. AfricanAmerican artists, most 19th-century critics argued, lacked the refined cultivation of white, Eurocentric genius, and could create only simple music that lacked artistic depth. It was a prejudice that stretched as far back as Thomas Jefferson in his “Notes on the State of Virginia” and was later reinforced by minstrel shows.

But when Greenfield appeared on the scene, she shattered preexisting beliefs about artistry and race.

‘The Black Swan’ Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was born into slavery in Natchez, Mississippi, around 1820. As a girl, she was taken to Philadelphia and raised by an abolitionist.

Largely self-taught as a singer, she began her concert career in New York with the support of the Buffalo Musical Association. In Buffalo, she was saddled with the nickname “the Black Swan,” a crude attempt to play off the popularity of Jenny Lind – known as “the Swedish Nightingale” – who was wrapping up one of the most popular concert tours in American history.

In 1851, Colonel Joseph H. Wood became Greenfield’s promoter.

Wood, however, was an overt racist and inhumane promoter known for creating wonderment museums in Cincinnati and Chicago that featured exhibits like the “Lilliputian King,” a boy who stood 16 inches tall. With

Greenfield, he sought to replicate the success that another promoter, P.T. Barnum, had with Jenny Lind.

Joseph H. Wood’s museum in Chicago. Encyclopedia of Chicago In a letter to Frederick Douglass, Martin R. Delany, a physician, newspaper editor and Civil War hero, wrote that Wood was a fervent supporter of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and would not admit black patrons into his museums or at Greenfield’s concerts.

For Greenfield’s African-American supporters, it was a point of huge contention throughout her career.

Critics reconcile with their racism In antebellum America, the minstrel show was one of the most popular forms of musical entertainment. White actors in blackface exploited common stereotypes of African-Americans, grossly exaggerating their dialect, fashion, dancing and singing.

For example, the popular song “Zip Coon” portrayed AfricanAmericans as clumsily striving for the refinement of white culture. The cover of the sheet music for “Zip Coon” shows an African-American attempting to mimic refined fashions of the day and failing. The song goes on to mock its subject, Zip Coon, as a “learned scholar,” while putting him in situations where his apparent lack of intelligence shows.

Greenfield’s performances, however, forced her critics to rethink this stereotype. The Cleveland Plain Dealer described the confusion that Greenfield caused for her audiences:

“It was amusing to behold the utter surprise and intense pleasure which were depicted on the faces of her listeners; they seemed to express – ‘Why, we see the face of a black woman, but hear the voice of an angel, what does it mean?’”

Critics agreed that Greenfield was a major talent. But they found it difficult to reconcile their ears with their racism. One solution was to describe her as a talented, but unpolished, singer.

For example, the New-York Daily Tribune reported that “it is hardly necessary to say that we did not expect to find an artist on the occasion. She has a fine voice but does not know how to use it.” (We see a similar phenomenon today in sports coverage, in which black athletes are often praised for their raw physical athleticism, while white athletes are praised for their game intelligence.)

By performing repertoire thought too complex for black artists – and by doing it well – Greenfield forced her white critics and audiences to reexamine their assumptions about the abilities of black singers.

A star is born On Thursday, March 31, 1853, Greenfield made her New York City premiere at Metropolitan Hall.

Originally built for Jenny Lind, it was one of the largest performance halls in the world. The day before the concert, the New-York Daily Tribune carried an ad that read, “Particular Notice – No colored persons can be admitted, as there has been no part of the house appropriated for them.”

The ban resulted in a citywide uproar that prompted New York City’s first police commissioner, George W. Matsell, to send a large police unit to Metropolitan Hall.

Greenfield was met with laughter when she took to the stage. Several critics blamed the uncouth crowd in attendance; others wrote it off as lighthearted amusement. One report described the awkwardness of the show’s opening moments: “She was timidly led forward to the front of the stage by a little white representative of the genus homo, who seemed afraid to touch her even with the tips of his white kids

[gloves], and kept the ‘Swan’ at a respectful distance, as if she were a sort of biped hippopotamus.”

Despite the inauspicious beginning, critics agreed that her range and power were astonishing. After her American tour, a successful European tour ensued, where she was accompanied by her friend Harriet Beecher Stowe.

A singer’s legacy Greenfield paved the way for a host of black female concert singers, from Sissieretta Jones to Audra McDonald. In 1921, the musician and music publisher Harry Pace named the first successful blackowned record company, Black Swan Records, in her honor.

But these achievements are byproducts of a much larger legacy.

In Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” one of the slave children, Topsy, is taken in by a northern abolitionist, Miss Ophelia. Despite her best attempts, Ophelia can’t reform Topsy, who continues to act out and steal. When asked why she continues to behave as she does – despite the intervention of implied white goodness – Topsy replies that she’s can’t be good so long as her skin is black because her white caregivers are incapable of seeing goodness in a black body. Her only solution is to have her skin turned inside out so she can be white.

Stowe’s argument was not that we should begin skinning children.

Rather, Topsy is a critique of the act of “othering” African-Americans by a dominant culture that refuses to acknowledge their full humanity.

After Greenfield’s New York concert, the New-York Daily Tribune recognized the monumental nature of Greenfield’s heroics. The paper urged her to leave America for Europe – and to stay there – the implication being that Greenfield’s home country wasn’t ready to accept the legitimacy of black artistry.

But Greenfield’s tour did more than prove to white audiences that black performers could sing as well as their European peers. Her tour challenged Americans to begin to recognize the full artistry – and, ultimately, the full humanity – of their fellow citizens.

12 • April 11, 2018

The LEGACY

Federal report confirms discipline disparities LAUREN CAMERA Black students, boys and students with disabilities were disproportionately disciplined in K-12 public schools, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, the federal government’s nonpartisan watchdog arm.

In addition, the report found that the disparities were widespread and present regardless of the type of disciplinary action, level of school poverty or type of public school attended.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott The report, published last week, analyzes discipline data from nearly every K-12 school in the country as collected by the Department of Education for school year 2013-14, the most recent data available. The 98-page report includes interviews with federal and state officials, as well as officials from five school districts and 19 schools in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Texas, which were specifically chosen based on their disparities in suspensions.

Notably, the report splashes onto the scene amid a divisive national debate over federal guidance on school discipline issued during the Obama administration in 2014. The guidance sought to stem the schoolto-prison pipeline by addressing the disproportionate rate at which students of color and students with disabilities are suspended and expelled.

Among other things, it led to an uptick in school districts embracing what's known as “restorative justice” discipline strategies, in which schools use methods other than suspension and expulsion.

More than 40 percent of U.S. public schools don’t employ a single non-white teacher.

But some educators and education policy researchers now argue the Obama-era guidance did a disservice to schools, creating disruptive classrooms where teachers feel unsafe because they are pressure by school administrators not to report students.

Under the Trump administration, the discipline guidance is on the chopping block and part of a larger ongoing regulatory review by the Department of Education, which is in the process of withdrawing nearly 600 pieces of guidance – regulations federals officials say are “out of date” but which some advocates say are an attempt to roll back protections for students of color and those with disabilities.

In fact, the GAO report was released just minutes after Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos wrapped up the first of two panels she convened at the department last week to hear from supporters and opponents of the discipline guidance.

During those meetings, which were closed to the public and to reporters, supporters urged DeVos to maintain the discipline guidance, which

they say has launched a national conversation about how to better serve the county’s most vulnerable students. They rejected the idea that the guidance makes schools less safe but conceded problems could arise if educators are asked to embrace certain discipline strategies and then are not properly trained on how to implement them.

Indeed, when GAO investigators interviewed officials in all five school districts in the five states they visited, they all reported various challenges with addressing student behavior and said they were considering new approaches to school discipline, including alternatives to removing children from the classroom.

Opponents of the guidance, meanwhile, skewered it as federal overreach, called themselves the “silent majority”, and blamed the media for not reporting stories where the guidance perhaps contributed to a chaotic or unsafe school environment.

According to those who attended the first panel, DeVos agreed that racial disparities in school discipline exist and that they are a problem,

but it's unclear whether Education Department officials will nix the guidance. DeVos has not set a timeline for when that decision will be made.

Nevertheless, the GAO report does much to bolster the viewpoint of civil rights groups and others who support the guidance.

The report found, for example, that black students accounted for 15.5 percent of all public school students but represented about 39 percent of students suspended from school during the 2013-14 school year, an overrepresentation of about 23 percentage points.

“The analysis shows that students of color suffer harsher discipline for lesser offenses than their white peers and that racial bias is a driver of discipline disparities,” Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee who requested the GAO investigation, said in a statement. “This report underscores the need to combat these gross disparities by strengthening, not rescinding, the 2014 Discipline Guidance Package.”

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

(from page 1) past. It might create opportunities for understanding post-Civil War history in more honest and equitable ways.

Truth and reconciliation Confederate nostalgia works against the American ethic of renewal and the desperately needed work of truth and reconciliation.

Such work, as in post-apartheid South Africa, includes collective agreements to remember the past differently, resolve historical conflicts, and imagine a new future.

Even Stonewall Jackson’s grandsons support proposals to remove a statue of their grandfather in Richmond, Virginia, for this purpose. They advocate for a “larger project of actively mending the racial disparities that hundreds of years of white supremacy have wrought.”

Communities can pursue this objective not only by removing monuments. They can also remove barriers to understanding history in more honest and equitable ways.

Select figures from the aftermath of the Civil War can help us to imagine what letting go or forgetting the past would look like. For example, in his second inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln implored Union and Confederate states to reconcile, “with malice toward none, with charity for all.” In December 1866, Robert E. Lee himself expressed a similar sentiment. He argued that erecting Confederate memorials “would have the effect of retarding instead of accelerating” post-war recovery.

Ironically, the prevalence of Confederate remembrance today suggests that many Americans have forgotten Lincoln’s and Lee’s pleas to consciously forget past disputes.

Vastly unequal memories Historical narratives rooted in Confederate nostalgia exert undue influence over Americans’ perceptions of national history.

Distorted memories of Confederate history – depictions of benevolent slave masters and loyal slaves – hinder serious efforts to confront the brutal legacies of white supremacy.

As a result, it impedes efforts to memorialize the full scope of AfricanAmerican resilience in the face of persistent brutalities. Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson are household historical names, with their likenesses

April 11, 2018 • 13 preserved in numerous monuments.

Not so for black Americans like Benjamin Banneker, David Walker, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Booker T. Washington and countless others.

Myriad streets and public buildings are named after Confederate leaders.

While no comprehensive catalog exists, some databases estimate Confederacy markers number in at least the thousands.

Of course, efforts to commemorate African-American history also exist. They include the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., the National

Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, and plans to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the U.S. $20 bill. But those efforts are historically delayed and dramatically overshadowed.

These disparities indicate how reverence for the mythic Confederate past hinders the nation from seeking a new kind of future. Pursuing the difficult work of truth and reconciliation is impossible without letting go of the Lost Cause.

That work would involve sober discussions about how Confederate monuments, and the attitudes toward history that they illustrate,

represent distortions of American history rather than praiseworthy representations of it. It would also require finding new ways to prioritize the teaching and commemoration of African-American history.

Local governments have removed statues of Confederate generals in the dark of night. Will we also labor together, in the light of day, to discover more honest and equitable ways of understanding our history anew?

Vivian is associate professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Pennsylvania State University.

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14 • April 11, 2018

The LEGACY

Dems aim to flip the script on ‘giant-killer’ Brat in Va. JAMES ARKIN RCP - At the height of the Tea Party movement, Dave Brat stunned the political world by knocking off House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary, then winning his seat that November.

Now, just four years later, Brat may again be in for the race of his life, but this time as the incumbent facing a wave of energized Democrats determined to knock him out of Congress and turn the district blue.

The Virginia lawmaker isn’t necessarily a top tier target for Democrats, who see districts that backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 or where Republican incumbents retired as central to their path to the House majority. President Trump won here by 6.5 percentage points in 2016 and the district backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie by 3.7 points last fall even as he lost the state by a wide margin.

Still, Democrats say VA-7 has the right blend of Democratic energy and Republican lethargy to become competitive in November.

“The district has suburban voters who are rejecting Trump, Democratic voters who are newly energized, and disaffected Republicans fleeing Dave Brat’s Tea Party-ism,” said Jesse Ferguson, a veteran Democratic operative who got his start in Virginia politics.

“It is an uphill race. But it’s not pushing a boulder up the hill.”

Republican officials concede the district may be competitive, and some are increasingly worried about the status of Brat’s campaign and the challenge he may face. Former Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who previously ran his party’s campaign committee, said he doesn’t consider it a top-tier race, but noted that Brat could be vulnerable to a wave election.

“I think David’s got to run through the tape,” Davis said. “This is the kind of year where the Republicans see a big storm coming. They just don’t know, if it’s a strong windstorm, if it’s a category one or a category five.”

One national Republican strategist familiar with the commonwealth put it more bluntly: “Brat is walking around Washington with a sign that says ‘target me.’”

Democrats are increasingly optimistic about their odds in this

district, which covers suburban Richmond but also stretches northsouth into rural counties with deep Republican DNA. Two candidates vying in the June 12 primary for the right to face Brat both present strong credentials – Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA operative, and Dan Ward, a Marine veteran and commercial pilot.

Spanberger has more institutional support, with endorsements from major national groups including EMILY’s List and End Citizens United, and a number of local Democratic county and elected officials backing her campaign, including all three state delegates who unseated Republican incumbents last fall. But Ward hails from the rural, Republican part of the district, and argues he could broaden the base of support for the party in the fall. Both national and Virginia Democrats say either candidate would be a strong contender against Brat in the fall.

Both challengers concede there are few policy differences between them, particularly on the major issues: Both support an assault-weapons ban and universal gun background checks, and both back Medicare X, a public option proposal from Sen. Tim Kaine, though neither opposes singlepayer health care. In interviews, both emphasized the need for broadband Internet access in the rural parts of their district. The difference between them is mainly one of approach and style.

In a candidate forum Monday hosted by the Richmond University College Democrats, Ward consistently turned his attention to the Trump administration, criticizing the president and framing the race through the lens of what he argued are Republican abuses of power.

“Our institutions are what protect our democracy and our institutions are under assault from the inside out,” Ward said in an interview prior to the forum. “These folks are like termites, they’re doing it from the inside out. We need to take the House of Representatives.”

Spanberger, meanwhile, said in an interview that while there are very few issues she agrees with Trump on, she aims to be more muted in her criticisms of the current administration, instead focusing more on the ins and outs of policy and her positive vision for the

Dave Brat with President Donald Trump district.

“He talks a lot about Trump, and a lot about standing up to Trump, and I talk a lot about putting us back on the right path. They’re very different pivots,” Spanberger said.

To win this district requires surging Democratic turnout and crossover support from Republicans, and both candidates are developing strategies for support from across the parties.

Ward argued his background as a farmer would help him win votes from rural Republicans.

“I’ve always thought in order to win in this district it was going to take a rural veteran,” he said.

Spanberger argued she also has strong crossover appeal given her background, though her base of support could hail from the heavily Republican suburban area where she lives.

“We have across the board been able to attract a lot of those people,” Spanberger said. “People will say, ‘Even though you’re a Democrat…’

“It’s about bringing civility to the conversation and being a Democrat who’s willing to talk to Republicans, being a Democrat who’s willing to talk to independents,” she added.

For Republicans, there are major signs of concern in the district that, historically, has not been competitive. Last fall, Democrats knocked off three GOP incumbents in the House of Delegates whose seats overlap the district, and both Spanberger and Ward outraised Brat in the fourth quarter of 2017, though he led them in cash on hand. A Brat spokesman declined to comment or make the congressman available for an interview to discuss the race. The

two-term lawmaker recently told Politico: “All I talk is policy.”

To avoid a competitive race, Davis said Brat would have to mend fences with establishment Republicans in his district four years after defeating Cantor.

“Has he built bridges or has he just gone back to his base? He can’t win this with base voters,” Davis said. “He’s going to need some more moderate Republicans that he’s not traditionally catered to.”

Nationally, Brat has built bridges – Speaker Paul Ryan’s PAC maxed out a $5,000 donation to his campaign last year, along with those of more than a hundred other incumbents, and Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican whip, is headlining an annual breakfast fundraiser for Brat next month.

Still, Republican operatives are prepared for the race to become competitive and believe an injection of outside money could prevent a damaging loss.

“Do I think that Brat is vulnerable?

Yes. But Brat will be saved from electoral defeat because national Republicans will save the seat,” said the national strategist familiar with Virginia, who requested anonymity to speak frankly. “It won’t be anything that he’s done or will do because he’s not really putting himself in a position to win.”

Both Democrats are themselves potentially vulnerable to outside attacks. Republicans have made two things central to their campaigns this year: talking up their tax cuts, and linking Democrats to Minority

(continued on page 17)

April 11, 2018 • 15

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New PSA focuses on African Americans and kidney disease, encourages organ donation For many, spring marks a fresh start. Yet for others, as April – National Donate Life Month and National Minority Health Month – begins, it’s a reminder of the staggering reality and ratio that African Americans are at least three times more likely than whites to develop end-stage renal disease, most commonly known as kidney failure.

This lingering health crisis, its urgency, and the need to solve the problem through living kidney donations versus years of dialysis, are the focal points of a new 60-second video public service announcement produced by the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) as part of THE BIG ASK: THE BIG GIVE platform. The PSA features two prominent African American women dedicated to fighting kidney disease: Kidney transplant surgeon Velma Scantlebury-White, MD, America’s first African American female transplant surgeon; and New York business executive Tracy McKibben, who donated a kidney to her mother. Also view the longer, nearly 4-minute video featuring McKibben and Dr. ScantleburyWhite.

“The impact on our community is greater,” said McKibben, founder and CEO of MAC Energy Advisors LLC, a global investment and consultant company; a Harvard Law School graduate and former National Security Council official in The White House. “Having gone to a dialysis center and seeing that the majority of the people there were African American, I was able to immediately see the impact . . . but I don’t know if many people realize that. My mother was on dialysis for several years, and we just didn't know that it was an option to be able to donate a kidney.

My mother was able to have the last nine years that she had because I donated a kidney to her. I was able to give her a different life.”

THE BIG ASK: THE BIG GIVE platform, which provides nationwide outreach, is designed to increase kidney transplantation through training and tools that help patients and families find a living donor.

It includes direct patient and caregiver support through our toll free help line 855-NKF-CARES, peer mentoring from a fellow kidney patient or a living donor, online communities, an advocacy campaign to remove barriers to donation, and a multi-media public awareness campaign. All of these resources are

recipient for more than 13 years.

“We’re seeing success stories come in from people who have just gone through the program. Participants are stepping forward to tell us they've found potential living donors or a living donor who is a match.”

Kidney Disease Facts 30 million American adults are estimated to have chronic kidney disease—and most aren’t aware of it.

One in three American adults are at risk for chronic kidney disease. Risk

factors for kidney disease include diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and family history of kidney failure. People of African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander descent are at increased risk for developing the disease. African Americans are three times more likely than whites, and Hispanics are nearly 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanics to develop end-stage renal disease (kidney failure).

(from page 8 Tracy McKibben free and designed to teach kidney patients, or their advocates, how to make a “big ask” to their friends, loved ones, or community to consider making a “big give,” a living organ donation.

“One of the things we battle with is getting African Americans to get checked every year, because if they were aware of chronic kidney disease progressing to end-stage kidney disease, there’s that possibility that they could get a living donor and avoid dialysis altogether,” said Dr. Scantlebury-White, Associate Director of Renal Transplant, Christiana Hospital, Newark, DE. “African Americans with kidney disease should know that they don't have to be on dialysis for the rest of their lives. They should be encouraged to pursue becoming a candidate for a kidney transplant.

“Many people are afraid to let their family know they need a kidney or even their friends, but they also fear that if they use their loved one they might be taking advantage of them.

Once a patient is transplanted, even on that first day, they look different, and they feel different.”

Many people never receive a transplant because they're not equipped with the tools they need to ask. THE BIG ASK: THE BIG GIVE has new, in-person trainings nationwide, presented with leading transplant centers, that offer patients and potential donors the hands-on training they need to find a living donor. NKF then provides ongoing support to patients and their advocates with multiple tools and resources.

“The initial results from THE BIG ASK: THE BIG GIVE are encouraging,” said Kevin Longino, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation and a kidney transplant

“South Africa did this work long ago,” he said. “The United States still has not done the work it needs to do.”

Supporters ranged from Catholics to evangelicals who are part of social justice networks.

A Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) clergyman from the Midwest talked of working harder to recruit people of color as ministers.

“Everybody’s got to be at the table,” said the Rev. Bill Spangler-Dunning, Upper Midwest regional minister for the denomination. “It’s not the whole body of Christ.”

The Rev. Leslie Copeland-Tune, an organizer of the gathering and the director of Ecumenical Advocacy Days, said the rally was part of three days of events, including training sessions planned for Thursday at local Washington churches on how to lobby local, state and national politicians on issues related to racial disparities such as economic injustice, environmental justice, clean water and immigration. And she hopes for a sharing of resources among denominations that already have written guides so congregants can take a “deeper dive” on issues such as white privilege and racial injustice.

She said people often think they’ve done what is needed if they can say “I’m not using the N-word and I’m nice to people.

“Really it takes a lot more than that.”

As people gathered on the Mall, others have been meeting in other parts of the country — from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., located at the Lorraine Motel where King was killed, to the King Center, started by his family members in Atlanta after his death to continue his nonviolent mission. Evangelicals affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and The Gospel Coalition also gathered in

Memphis for a two-day discussion of racial justice and unity.

Although the NCC was involved in the civil rights movement in the ’50s and ’60s, its recent past financial struggles suggested such an event might not be possible for the ecumenical group. In 2013, it left its longtime headquarters in New York known as the “God Box” for offices on Washington’s Capitol Hill and dramatically reduced its staff and operations.

NCC President Jim Winkler said his agency is past “that neardeath experience” and its member denominations are ready to jointly take on what he called “the toughest issue in the entire history of North and South America. That is the legacy of slavery and racism and we’re going to do it fearlessly.”

The night before the event on the Mall, some ralliers who arrived early sat beneath the Byzantine dome and icons of Washington’s St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral and were told that the notion of ending racism should not be considered an impossible task.

“Certainly, ending racism might seem like an aspiration but, like the very first disciples, we followers of Jesus are called to bear witness to something that the world cannot yet believe is possible,” said the Rev. Sharon Watkins, director of the NCC’s Truth and Racial Justice Initiative and the president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). “We are called to say this can happen.

Racism can end.”

Fifteen-year-olds Lily Quintero and Margaret Holland, who traveled from Vermont with their multicultural United Church of Christ youth group, were impressed to hear white people like Watkins — and other perfect strangers — addressing a cause

16 • April 11, 2018

Calendar 4.14, 9:45 a.m.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program is available every Tuesday and Thursday until April 17 from 3:45-7 p.m. and April 14 from 9:45 a.m.-1 p.m. at 626 E. Broad St., Richmond.

This is held as part of the United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg’s MetroCASH coalition.

MetroCASH is a VITA program, sponsored by the IRS, that helps individuals and families prepare and file their tax returns for free.

Volunteers, many of whom are accounting students in the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business, are trained to help file basic tax returns and to help identify possible special credits.

Any individuals or families who earned less than $54,000 in 2017 are welcome. This site only accepts walk-ins.

More information is available at https://downtown.richmond.edu/ programs/VITA.html.

4.14,9 a.m.

Join the Sister To Sister and Brother To Brother organizations at their annual Clean the Bay Fun Day happening at King-Lincoln Park, 600 Jefferson Ave. Each year this organization has been working to preserve, protect and restore Pinkett’s Beach and KingLincoln Park by engaging youth in environmental protection activities.

Volunteers from various organizations, families, church groups and elected officials are coming together to clean up trash, litter and recyclable items that have an adverse effect on the environment. Interested in making a donation or volunteering? Contact H. Muhammad 757-715-3050.

Submit your calendar events by email to: editor @legacynewspaper.com.

Include the who, what, where, when & contact information that can be printed. Submission deadline is Friday.

The LEGACY

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

MLK Festival

Residents and Stakeholders of the Community of Richmond are invited to join the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School community on Saturday April 14, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the I Have A Dream Festival, celebrating the school and its namesake. The festival is meant to promote respect, community and safety and intends to inspire Richmonders to channel Dr. King and declare their dreams for themselves, for their family and for the future of the community of Richmond. More information on this inaugural event is available online at replenishrichmond.com/i-have-a-dream-festival/ A highlight of the festival is the I Have A Dream Parade which starts at 2 p.m. on the track behind the school. The parade will be led by Grand Marshal Mayor Levar Stoney and will be inspired by the RVA’s No BS Brass Band. All festival attendees are encouraged to participate in the parade.

Agencies and organizations working to support our schools and our community are invited to participate by setting up a table or activity and tell us your dreams for Richmond.

Annual Kindergarten Registration Campaign This campaign establishes one common registration day for 15 school divisions – that’s 152 elementary schools – in the Richmond region.

Children who are five years old by Sept. 30 can start kindergarten in the fall, but first they need to be registered. Thursday, April 19, is the day for ontime registration for children in Central Virginia.

There is quite a bit of paperwork needed to register a child for kindergarten, and pulling everything together takes time. Parents and caregivers are still encouraged to attend registration even if they do not have all the documents because exceptions could apply. These are the documents needed for registration: -Child’s official, certified birth certificate or school age affidavit in accordance with state law -Two proofs of address -School Entrance Health Form (This can be turned in any time before the first day of school) -Photo ID for parent or legal guardian While registration rates improved, more than 4,000 children were not registered on time in the spring last year — enough to fill about eight elementary schools.

Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond recommends these activities to help children build the skills and confidence they will need to be ready for kindergarten: -Read and look at books every day -Stick to a regular bedtime and wakeup time -Practice counting real objects — like cereal or crayons -Talk about their feelings and what kindergarten will be like -Meet and play with other children their age -Show respect and use good manners -Find and name letters of the alphabet everywhere you go -Visit and explore libraries, parks and museums -Use scissors to practice cutting and crayons to draw There are advantages for parents, children and schools when children are registered on time on April 19: -Parents can get important information that they might otherwise miss; -Schools can adequately prepare for space, staff and materials; and -Teachers can prepare for the child in the classroom.

For more information about kindergarten registration, dial the phone number “2-1-1” and find information specific to your school division. 2-1-1 connects to trained professionals who provide free information on available health and human services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

4.18, 5:30 p.m.

VCU Health will continue its series of educational seminars on current health care topics at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Kelly Education Center, 1800 Lakeside Ave. The seminar on understanding Sarcoidosis is free and open to the public, but registration is recommended. Register online at vcuhealth.org/events or by calling 804-628-0041 for more information.

Sarcoidosis is an immune disease that causes inflammation and can affect any organ in the body. Join a panel of VCU Health heart and lung experts to discuss the specifics of sarcoidosis, including its effect on the body, its symptoms and appropriate treatment.

4.27, 3 p.m.

Henrico County will hold a free energy fair at the Varina Area Library, one of 15 Henrico government and school buildings recognized for sustainable design and construction.

An organized tour of the library, at 1875 New Market Rd., will begin at 4 p.m. and will highlight design elements that support its Silver certification through the U.S. Green Building Council’s program for LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

The energy fair will feature about 20 vendors that will spotlight efforts promoting sustainability, green building and energy efficiency, including the use of LED lighting, solar power, eco-friendly materials, recycling and electric vehicles.

Refreshments and giveaways, including LED lightbulbs and USB port car chargers, will be available.

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April 11, 2018 • 17

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(from page 9) emeritus, shared responses to the presentation.

Graham began by explaining that the pro-slavery views held by parishioners were rooted in white supremacy. “They defined the enslavement of humans not as an act of violence, but as benevolence, which they justified by their Christian faith,” he said.

This theme of individual responsibility was echoed throughout the evening’s panels, first by Ayers, who said that churchgoers reconciled faith and slavery by focusing on the ways they personally treated the people they kept enslaved.

Ayers compared their outlook to our contemporary debate around the statues. “Does it matter what the personal motivations of Lee and Jackson were if the result of their actions was to establish a state on the perpetual bondage of human beings?”

O’Leary and Graham continued the history lesson into the 20th century, noting that the church had often fought overt racism like that of the Ku Klux Klan and legal segregation, but had endorsed the Lost Cause mythology of a noble and beneficent Confederacy, supported the statue to Lee, and advocated for voluntary segregation.

Mary Munford was one major figure in the early 20th century Graham focused on. Although she founded the Virginia Inter-Racial League and

(from page 14) Leader Nancy Pelosi.

On the tax bill, Spanberger criticized it as “wholly irresponsible” because it added to the national debt, and said she doesn’t support making the individual tax cuts, which are currently set to expire in a decade, permanent. Ward said he supports repealing the entire tax law outright.

Though Republicans are likely to run ads saying Ward would back tax hikes if he becomes the nominee, he said he welcomes that debate.

The “tax break these folks have received has been nominal,” he said of middle-class cuts compared to those for the wealthy and corporations. “It’s been pennies compared to where most of the money is going.”

On the other issue, Pelosi, the candidates diverge. Spanberger praised the former speaker, but

Walker, Curry, VA Bishop Johnston served on the board of the National Urban League, she was seen as an impediment to progress by African American leaders, said Graham, who described her as paternalistic. He quoted Wiley Hall, secretary of the Richmond Urban League, who wrote that she seemed to be one of those “liberals willing to work for Negroes but not to work with Negroes.”

It was in the later decades of the 20th-century that St Paul’s finally began to disavow its identity as the Church of the Confederacy to begin “proclaiming Christ in the heart of the city,” a phrase that became the official motto sometime in the ‘90s.

Other speakers throughout the night included CEO Christy Coleman of the American Civil War Museum said she would “very much like to vote for someone else,” and said the party needs new leadership.

She acknowledged, however, that Republicans were “100 percent” likely to still run ads linking her to Pelosi if she becomes the nominee, and admitted they might be somewhat effective regardless of her position.

Ward, on the other hand, said he’d have no problem backing Pelosi as leader – though he said he could also vote for a challenger depending on who emerged. When asked about ads linking him to Pelosi and the potential to damage his campaign, he responded: “Let them run the ads.”

“Why do we Democrats allow Republicans to demonize our people?” he said. “If we acquiesce to that pressure to replace Nancy Pelosi as speaker, whoever follows her is going to be Demon No. 2, and we have to stop giving them that space.”

and other non-profit leaders, along with a panel moderated by the Rev. Ben Campbell, author of Richmond’s Unhealed History, consisting of clergy from Richmond and the counties of different denominations.

Subjects ranged from historical to modern-day inequalities, and clergy panelists, in particular, explored the ways that individual responsibility has been used to evade collective work to address those inequalities.

During a short intermission between panels, attendees ate sandwiches from brown bags and mingled in the parish hall with speakers, visiting clergy, and event organizers, including Barbara Holley, a founder of the History and Reconciliation Initiative.

Investigation underway in death of worker at Henrico County Water Reclamation Facility An employee of electrical contractor Reuter Hanney, Inc. was found unresponsive while working at the Henrico County Water Reclamation Facility on April 3. The employee was transported to a local hospital and did not survive.

Detectives with the Henrico Police Division responded to the scene and are conducting a death investigation. Staff members with Virginia Occupational Safety and Health also were onsite last week; their investigation is ongoing.

“I came here in 2003,” she said, describing it as one of many churches she and her husband looked at, but the first that had a “truly welcoming congregation.”

She said that one sermon in particular by the previous rector, the Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley, who had asked, “Do we want to be known as the church of the Confederacy, or the church of reconciliation?”, had motivated the formation of the HRI. The church quietly removed Confederate flags in the 1970s under then rector Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong, but in 2015, the vestry, or board, held a robust public process and then voted to remove remaining battle flag images that still embellished war memorial plaques and kneelers.

Holley, who is black, said they aren’t looking to remove their infamous stained glass windows of Davis and Lee, but are “changing how we speak about the windows in a way that reflects what they really are.”

She said attendance had exceeded her expectations and showed that they needed to continue their work.

“The amount of time we have in one weekend, for all these people isn’t enough,” she said, noting the number of speakers and attendees.

She’s already at work planning a fall symposium. She said the event today had done its part to “begin a conversation, but we have to do this again. We have to keep the momentum going.”

Henrico’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) is assisting with the investigations.

DPU Director Chip England said that an employee at the Water Reclamation Facility joined a second employee from Reuter Hanney and performed CPR in an attempt to revive the unresponsive worker until emergency medical technicians with the Henrico Division of Fire arrived at the scene.

“Henrico County Public Utilities is deeply saddened by the loss of life,” England said. “Our thoughts are with the worker’s family and friends at this difficult time, and with his coworkers at Reuter Hanney.”

England noted that grief counselors have been available at the Water Reclamation Facility to meet with employees.

Additional information will be available pending completion of the investigations.

18 • April 11, 2018

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