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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

WEDNESDAYS • April 18, 2018

‘

INSIDE

Major changes planned for food stamps - 3 Coalition set to tackle high eviction rates - 5 April is Child Abuse Awareness Month - 9 Getting used to ‘terrible’ things in prison - 11 A voice for U.S. consumers goes silent - 14

Richmond & Hampton Roads

LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE

Protests against ‘war criminals’

Protestors marched through the streets of Washington, D.C., Saturday, demanding ‘No War on Syria!’ It was one of many protests around the country and the world that had been planned as Spring Actions to ‘Stop the Wars at Home & Abroad!’ The D.C. rally at the White House was organized by the ANSWER Coalition. Speakers included members of the Virginia Defenders, representing the United National Antiwar Coalition.

Donald Trump, Theresa May, and Emmanuel Macron are war criminals.

The three respective leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have been called such by the anti-war researchers at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism for launching missile strikes on supposed Syrian chemical facilities.

According to opinion from the center, the strikes on Syria constitute war of aggression. The Syrian regime has never attacked, nor threatened

to attack, any of the three countries which just attacked it, nor are its alleged domestic crimes, however horrible, the bailiwick of those three governments.

The strikes are against international law, which notes, according to the Nuremberg Tribunal, “To initiate a war of aggression ... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

They are also against U.S. law,

noted center researchers. Congress has neither declared war on Syria, nor passed an extra-constitutional “Authorization for the Use of Military Force” regarding Syria.

Additionally, the United Nations has not authorized military action versus Syria.

The strikes are in contrast to speech Trump gave just a few weeks ago stating his desire to bring American troops home from Syria: “We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon .... Let the other people take care of it now,” he said.

But as if on cue: An alleged chemical attack happened in Douma, where the Syrian leader Assad regime’s forces are rooting out rebel resistance in their re-taking of the eastern Ghouta region.

Investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons are only now arriving to look into the claim chemical attack.

Center researchers want the U.S. Congress to re-assert its power, ‘remove any “offending president” and reconstitute something like the Nuremberg Tribunal.

The LEGACY

2 • April 18, 2018

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April 18, 2018 • 3

Farm bill calls for big changes to food stamps HELENA BOTTEMILLER EVICH, CATHERINE BOUDREAU & LIZ CRAMPTON House Republicans unveiled last week a farm bill that would impose stricter work requirements on millions of low-income Americans receiving food stamps -- a bid to enact a small slice of the GOP welfare overhaul.

That same effort, however, threatens to derail the legislation.

The farm bill had been one of the last vestiges of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill in an increasingly polarized era, but it already has leaders on both sides of the aisle dueling over its huge but little-understood policy that has far-reaching effects for food production, the rural economy and the environment.

The House Agriculture Committee’s bill would make between five and seven million recipients of food stamps, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is commonly known, subject to stricter work requirements. Democratic committee members broke off talks with Chairman Mike Conaway last month, arguing the policy would needlessly kick people off SNAP. “The GOP’s ‘workforce requirements’ are nothing but a cynical Trojan Horse to take away SNAP from millions of hungry families,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who last week urged Democrats to oppose the “disastrous” bill.

Conaway lauded the bill as a common sense revamp of SNAP, an assistance program that is critical to helping Americans feed their families. It also represents roughly 80 percent of farm bill spending.

“The farm bill also keeps faith with these families by not only maintaining SNAP benefits but by offering SNAP beneficiaries a springboard out of poverty to a good paying job, and opportunity for a better way of life for themselves and their families,” Conaway said.

Republicans are charging ahead with a partisan bill -- with a markup scheduled for this week.

Speaker Paul Ryan, who has long sought to trim the social safety net, hailed the farm bill calling it a “critical component” of the House Republican agenda. Ryan, who announced last week that he will retire in December, said he wants to get the farm bill done this spring.

“I think we can pass it,” Ryan said.

The upbeat assessment, however, comes amid big questions about whether the Freedom Caucus — which tends to support deep cuts to SNAP and farm-subsidies — will

back the bill. Without the right flank in line, leadership would need support from some Democrats to get the bill through the House.

Key House conservatives have so far been mum on where they stand on proposed changes to food stamps.

A spokesman for the Freedom Caucus said that lawmakers are still reviewing the text.

A spate of conservative and taxpayer groups, meanwhile, are already rebuking the legislation because it largely maintains status quo farm policy like commodity supports and crop insurance.

The Heritage Foundation criticized the package for doing “nothing” to slash “wasteful subsidy programs, and in fact is even more generous to agricultural producers.”

The farm bill, which is estimated to spend about $860 billion over 10 years, would slightly boost safety net programs for farmers. Many producers have been struggling with as much as a 50 percent drop in net farm income over the last few years.

Anxiety in farm country is even higher with the threat of retaliatory tariffs amid a war of words with China.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said shortly thereafter that the farm bill “shows the committee is aware of a farm economy teetering on a knife’s edge,” echoing statements from several agricultural industries including dairy. The National Farmers Union, a more left-leaning organization, contended farm programs should be bolstered even more, however.

While much of the agriculture sector is likely to be on board with the proposed farm policy component, there’s deep concern about food-stamp politics scuttling the legislation. That would force lawmakers to extend the current law, which expires Sept. 30.

“It makes no sense to put the farmers and rural communities who rely on the farm bill’s safety

net programs at risk in pursuit of partisan ideology on SNAP,” said ranking member Collin Peterson, a moderate Minnesota Democrat.

“Breaking up the long-standing, bipartisan, urban-rural farm bill alliance is a dangerous and unproductive step that will only sow division and jeopardize both this and future farm bills,” he added.

The additional work requirements for SNAP recipients would require that adults between the ages of 18 and 59 work or enroll in a training program at least 20 hours per week.

People who are disabled, pregnant or caring for a child under the age of six would be exempt.

The plan would also create a much larger pool of money for work training programs that help SNAP recipients, bringing the funds from $90 million per year to $1 billion per year in just three years. The

plan mandate that states provide a training slot for all SNAP recipients subject to the work requirement, though it's far from clear states would have the capacity to do so.

The committee said that an estimated one million people would leave SNAP over the next decade as a result of the proposed changes.

It said the number includes people who either don’t meet the work and training requirements or get a job that increases their income so they no longer qualify.

The proposal in the House was released right as President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to look into stricter work requirements across federal programs, including food stamps, and is weighing a proposal to allow states to drug test beneficiaries.

Conaway said he believes he can

(continued on page 4)

The LEGACY

4 • April 18, 2018 NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF AN APPLICATION BY VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY FOR REVISION OF A RATE ADJUSTMENT CLAUSE: RIDER U, NEW UNDERGROUND DISTRIBUTION FACILITIES, FOR THE RATE YEAR COMMENCING FEBRUARY 1, 2019 CASE NO. PUR-2018-00042

• Dominion Energy Virginia ("Dominion") has applied for approval to revise its Rider U, by which Dominion recovers the costs of its Strategic Underground Program.

• Dominion requests a total of $73.047 million for its 2019 Rider U. According to Dominion, this amount would increase the monthly bill of a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month by $1.39, for a total Rider U bill impact of $1.98 per month.

• A Hearing Examiner appointed by the Commission will hear the case on July 24, 2018.

• Further information about this case is available on the SCC website at: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case.

On March 19, 2018, Virginia Electric and Power Company (“Dominion” or “Company”) filed an application (“Application”) with the State Corporation Commission (“Commission”) for revision of a rate adjustment clause (“RAC”), designated Rider U, pursuant to, among other things, § 56-585.1 A 6 (“Subsection A 6”) of the Code of Virginia (“Code”), as amended by Senate Bill 966 (“SB 966”) passed during the 2018 Virginia General Assembly regular session. Through its Application, the Company seeks to recover costs associated with phase one (“Phase One”), phase two (“Phase Two”) and phase three (“Phase Three”) of the Company’s Strategic Underground Program (“SUP”) for the rate year February 1, 2019 through January 31, 2020 (“2019 Rate Year”).

The Company asserts that SB 966 provides that its terms will apply to any petition for approval of strategic undergrounding cost recovery pending with the Commission on or after January 1, 2018, including the instant Application. The Company further asserts that SB 966 specifically provides that the replacement of overhead distribution lines with underground facilities on or after September 1, 2016, is deemed to provide local and system-wide benefits, to be cost beneficial, and that the costs associated with such new underground facilities are deemed to be reasonably and prudently incurred. Moreover, the Company asserts SB 966 mandates that the Commission approve recovery of such costs so long as the total costs associated with the replacement of overhead tap lines with underground facilities do not exceed an average cost per customer undergrounded of $20,000 and an average cost per mile of $750,000, exclusive of financing costs.

In addition to an annual update to approved cost recovery associated with the SUP, the Company seeks cost recovery of the remaining balance of costs associated with Phase Two of the SUP not previously approved for recovery through Rider U, totaling approximately $65.2 million. The Company also seeks cost recovery for Phase Three of the SUP, designed to convert an additional 416 miles of overhead tap lines to underground at a capital investment of approximately $179.0 million with an average cost per mile of $430,000 and an average cost per customer undergrounded of $13,299. Dominion states that its actual expenditures for Phase Three incurred through December 31, 2017, are $83.9 million and projected expenditures for the period January 1, 2018 through January 31, 2019, are approximately $95.0 million. The Company is requesting to recover the costs of Phase Three through Rider U for only those projects that will be completed prior to February 1, 2019.

The Company states that the two key components of the Rider U revenue requirement are the Projected Cost Recovery Factor and the Actual Cost True-up Factor. The Company states that the revenue requirement associated with Phase One costs and for the previously approved portion of Phase Two costs, totals $18.158 million, which includes a Projected Cost Recovery Factor of $13.991 million, an Actual Cost True-up Factor revenue requirement of $5.967 million, and the final of three voluntary customer credits in the amount of $1.800 million related to Phase One as required by the Company’s Stipulation and Agreement in the Phase One proceeding. The Company also states that the Projected Cost Recovery Factor revenue requirement for Phase Three and the remaining balance of Phase Two costs totals $54.889 million. In total, the Company seeks approval of revised Rider U with an associated revenue requirement in the amount of $73.047 million for the 2019 Rate Year. For purposes of the projected revenue requirements, the Company proposes a 9.2% return on equity (“ROE”), as approved by the Commission in its Final Order in Case No. PUR-2017-00038.

The impact on customer bills of revised Rider U will depend on the customer’s rate schedule and usage. The Company asserts that implementation of the proposed Rider U beginning on February 1, 2019, would increase the monthly bill of a residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month by $1.39 over the current Rider U, for a total Rider U bill impact of $1.98 per month.

The Company indicates that it is proposing a new method of cost allocation between the Virginia Jurisdictional and Virginia Non-Jurisdictional customers. The Application notes that Code § 56-585.1 A 6 exempts large general service rate classes from paying Rider U and the Company asserts that its new method “utilizes distribution cost of service information, recognizes the cost caused by actual plant investment incurred for the SUP, and recognizes that certain Virginia Jurisdictional and Virginia Non Jurisdictional classes are large general service and therefore should not be allocated any cost for the purpose of recovery under Rider U.” Interested persons are encouraged to review the Application and supporting documents for the details of these and other proposals.

TAKE NOTICE that the Commission may apportion revenues among customer classes and/or design rates in a manner differing from that shown in the Application and supporting documents and thus may adopt rates that differ from those appearing in the Company’s Application and supporting documents.

The Commission entered an Order for Notice and Hearing that, among other things, scheduled a public hearing on July 24, 2018, at 10 a.m., in the Commission’s second floor courtroom located in the Tyler Building, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, to receive testimony from members of the public and evidence related to the Application from the Company, any respondents, and the Commission’s Staff. Any person desiring to testify as a public witness at this hearing should appear fifteen (15) minutes prior to the starting time of the hearing and contact the Commission’s Bailiff.

The public version of the Company’s Application, as well as the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing, are available for public inspection during regular business hours at each of the Company’s business offices in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Copies also may be obtained by submitting a written request to counsel for the Company, Lisa S. Booth, Esquire, Dominion Energy Services, Inc., 120 Tredegar Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. If acceptable to the requesting party, the Company may provide the documents by electronic means.

Copies of the public version of the Application and other documents filed in this case also are available for interested persons to review in the Commission’s Document Control Center located on the first floor of the Tyler Building, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, between the hours of 8:15 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Interested persons also may download unofficial copies from the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case.

On or before July 17, 2018, any interested person wishing to comment on the Company’s Application shall file written comments on the Application with Joel H. Peck, Clerk, State Corporation Commission, c/o Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118. Any interested person desiring to file comments electronically may do so on or before July 17, 2018, by following the instructions on the Commission’s website: http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case. Compact disks or any other form of electronic storage medium may not be filed with the comments. All such comments shall refer to Case No. PUR-2018-00042.

On or before May 29, 2018, any person or entity wishing to participate as a respondent in this proceeding may do so by filing a notice of participation. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of the notice of participation shall be submitted to the Clerk of the Commission at the address above. A copy of the notice of participation as a respondent also must be sent to counsel for the Company at the address set forth above. Pursuant to Rule 5 VAC 5-20-80 B, Participation as a respondent, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“Rules of Practice”), any notice of participation shall set forth: (i) a precise statement of the interest of the respondent; (ii) a statement of the specific action sought to the extent then known; and (iii) the factual and legal basis for the action. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUR-2018-00042. For additional information about participation as a respondent, any person or entity should obtain a copy of the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing.

On or before June 12, 2018, each respondent may file with the Clerk of the Commission, and serve on the Commission’s Staff, the Company, and all other respondents, any testimony and exhibits by which the respondent expects to establish its case, and each witness’s testimony shall include a summary not to exceed one page. If not filed electronically, an original and fifteen (15) copies of such testimony and exhibits shall be submitted to the Clerk of the Commission at the address above. Respondents also shall comply with the Commission’s Rules of Practice, including: 5 VAC 5-20-140, Filing and service, and 5 VAC 5-20-240, Prepared testimony and exhibits. All filings shall refer to Case No. PUR-2018-00042.

All documents filed with the Office of the Clerk of the Commission in this docket may use both sides of the paper. In all other respects, all filings shall comply fully with the requirements of 5 VAC 5-20-150, Copies and format, of the Commission’s Rules of Practice.

The Commission’s Rules of Practice may be viewed at http://www.scc.virginia.gov/case. A printed copy of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and an official copy of the Commission’s Order for Notice and Hearing in this proceeding may be obtained from the Clerk of the Commission at the address above.

(from page 3) persuade members on the policy merits of the farm bill to get the 218 votes he needs for passage.

“Except for the SNAP portion, this is a bipartisan bill,” he said.

The House version of the bill, however, is considered a nonstarter in the upper chamber. Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts

(R-Kan.) and ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) are drafting a version of farm bill, which they hope to advance out of committee by May. Both are acutely aware of the need to secure 60 votes to move a bill on the floor of the Senate and, for that reason, are not expected to propose any major changes to SNAP. Virginia Democrats opposed the bill last week noting it would “impose

draconian work requirements [and] eligibility rules that would cut out millions of recipients”.

The Democrats noted that last year, more than 9 percent of Virginia families turned to SNAP when they hit hard times or were struggling to get by on low wages, with 74 percent of those being households with children. Additionally, 35 percent of SNAP recipients in Virginia were

elederly or disabled with SNAP as their lifeline when they had nothing else. “The Republican Farm Bill would rip this lifeline away,” they noted.

They also noted that 23,000 active duty service members and 1.5 million veterans participate in SNAP, with “a great many of them residing” in Virginia.

“With these SNAP cuts, the GOP could hurt hungry veterans and service members and their families.”

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 18, 2018 • 5

New Va. coalition to help reduce ‘high’ eviction rates In response to newly released eviction rate data, civil legal aid attorneys and affordable housing advocates from across Virginia have formed a new coalition – the Campaign to Reduce Eviction (or CARE) – to slow the rate of evictions in Virginia. Formed under the leadership of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, the group will meet in Richmond on May 22 to kick off their work.

“The excessive number of evictions stems from so many different factors, from a shortage of affordable rental housing to the low minimum wage and even the way some of our laws seem to favor landlords over tenants,” said Christie Marra, the Virginia Poverty Law Center attorney leading the CARE effort.

“We plan on taking a careful look at all the factors, to determine which ones contribute most to these numbers, and making every effort to change or eliminate them. It’s simply unacceptable for this many people to live in fear of losing their homes.”

Earlier last week, Princeton sociology professor Matthew Desmond, author of the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted, launched Eviction Lab, a website that hosts detailed data about evictions throughout the nation, and ranks cities and rural areas according to their rate and number of evictions as reflected in court records. According to Eviction Lab, five of the 10 100,000+ cities with

Christie Marra the highest eviction rates are located in Virginia, including Richmond, Hampton and Newport News, which have eviction rates over 10 percent.

Renters in mid-sized cities and rural areas in Virginia are at even greater risk of eviction. Desmond’s data reveals eviction rates as high as 17 percent for the city of Petersburg and 20 percent for rural Prince George County. And many of the Virginia cities with the highest eviction rates are also home to large numbers of military personnel – causing them to worry about whether their families in Virginia are facing homelessness while they are deployed.

“As legal aid lawyers in the trenches of poverty law in Virginia,

these eviction numbers aren’t surprising to us,” said David Beidler, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley. “We’ve known all along in Roanoke Valley that the number of evictions was high. We just didn’t realize how high.”

“Many things contribute to these numbers,” said Ann Kloeckner, executive director of Legal Aid Works in Fredericksburg. “Our clients face eviction for many reasons that have nothing to do with whether they can pay their rent.” Those reasons can be as minor as violating the “no pet” provision of a lease or as unavoidable as having your lights cut off because you can’t afford to pay for both electricity and rent.

Having to make this choice is all too common given the scarcity of affordable rental units in Virginia.

The average fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit is $1211 per month according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which is more than a full-time minimum wage worker takes home after taxes.

“Even when a tenant has a good legal reason to get the landlord’s eviction action dismissed, they very rarely have access to an attorney who can raise that defense for them,” noted John Whitfield, executive

director and general counsel for Blue Ridge Legal Services in Harrisonburg. He pointed to a 2017 study by the National Center for State Courts, which found that tenants with attorneys avoided eviction orders 60 to 70 percent of the time.

“In more than half of the cases where the tenant did not have an attorney, the tenant was evicted.

“Legal aids across the state make these eviction cases a top priority, but there just aren’t enough legal aid attorneys to represent all of the tenants fighting eviction cases,” Whitfield said. And tenants trying to avoid eviction rarely if ever have funds to hire a private attorney.

Participating agencies include: - Blue Ridge Legal Services, 540433-1830; - Legal Aid Works, 540 371-1105; - The Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley, 540-344-2087; - Virginia Legal Aid Society, Lynchburg office - 434-846-1326; Suffolk office - 757-539-3441; - Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, 804-200-6045; - Legal Aid Justice Center, 434-5291849; - Legal Services of Northern Virginia, 703-684-0738; and - Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society, 276-783-8300.

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6 • April 18, 2018

Op/Ed & Letters

The LEGACY

The FHA’s unkept promises AARON GLANTZ It was just a week after Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination, when, 50 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

The final major piece of legislation enacted during the civil rights era, the Fair Housing Act was designed to end the practice of redlining, or government-sanctioned lending discrimination. Back in the 1930s, federal officials drew lines on maps around neighborhoods with high concentrations of blacks and immigrants, and told banks they were “hazardous” to lend in.

With a few strokes of the pen, housing discrimination on the basis of race was banned. Johnson called it “one of the proudest moments of my presidency.” He said he “signed into law the promises of a century.”

But 50 years on, it’s clear, those promises have not been kept. Today, the homeownership gap between black people and white people is greater than it was when segregation and discrimination were legal, according to the most recent figures from the Census Bureau.

I’ve been investigating racial discrepancy with my colleague Emmanuel Martinez. We combed through 31 million mortgage records and found a troubling pattern of home loan denial to people of color in cities across the country.

Here’s a breakdown of what we’ve learned, and potential change we’ve seen since our first story came out two months ago: People of color continue to be denied home loans at rates far greater than white people, even when they make the same amount of money.

We found 61 cities across the country where people of color were far more likely to be turned down for The LEGACY NEWSPAPER Vol. 4 No. 16 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

a conventional home loan than their white counterparts, even when they made the same amount of money, wanted to take out the same size loan and buy in the same neighborhood.

The disparity was present in major metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Antonio and Washington, D.C., along with smaller cities from Iowa City, Iowa, to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Fair Housing Act is rarely enforced.

Since President Donald Trump took office, the Justice Department has not sued a single lender for failing to lend to people of color. Workers in the agency’s civil rights division report they have lost faith in their leaders’ integrity.

“It might be very frustrating for people, who were motivated by a desire to enforce and uphold civil rights law, to see those laws being undermined by senior leadership,” former Justice Department civil rights lawyer Gary Herbert told Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

On March 29, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Hughes, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, demanding an investigation into modern-day redlining reported by Reveal.

“We are shocked by the revelations contained in the report,” they wrote.

“These findings must be completely and fully investigated and if the claims are found to have merit, the appropriate and necessary steps should be taken to ensure that these practices cease.”

Two weeks later, the Justice Department has not responded to Casey and Hughes’ letter.

Spokesman Devin O’Malley declined to comment, or even acknowledge receipt of the request.

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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Members of Congress want answers.

In the absence of action from the Trump administration, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have sought to turn up the heat on banks in other ways.

During his first appearance before the House Financial Services Committee, newly installed Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell was grilled on racial disparities in lending. Members of the committee pressed Powell to address the problem, which they said was destroying neighborhoods.

“Where there’s loan activity, houses have a chance to sell.

Where houses sell, people move in.

Where people move in, restaurants, community centers and grocery stores are built,” Democratic Rep. Lacy Clay of Missouri told Powell.

“And none or very little of that is happening in low- to moderateincome neighborhoods in St. Louis or elsewhere in this country.”

Powell did not offer a specific remedy, but told the committee the Federal Reserve would use its authority to crack down on discrimination.

“Racial discrimination in mortgage lending and in any kind of lending is completely unacceptable,” he said.

“And wherever we have authority, we will use it to stop that from happening and punish it when it does happen.”

Since then, Sen. Elizabeth Warren a Democrat from Massachusetts has said Ben Carson’s failure to enforce anti-discrimination laws is “the scandal that should get (him) fired” as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, has entered Reveal’s investigation into the Congressional

Record. Ellison and Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee have asked for hearings on modern-day redlining.

And locally, people are taking action.

Since Reveal published its investigation, attorneys general in four states and the District of Columbia have begun to probe fair lending violations in their communities.

“Mortgage discrimination on the basis of race is unlawful and wrong.

I will not tolerate it in our state,” said Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, where Reveal identified three communities – Bellingham, Wenatchee and Tacoma – where people of color faced statistically significant disparities in mortgage lending.

Ferguson, along with attorneys general in Iowa, Delaware and the District of Columbia said they were troubled by our reporting and had begun looking into the matter. They joined Pennsylvania, where Attorney General Josh Shapiro had earlier announced an investigation led by his office’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Pennsylvania state Treasurer Joe Torsella has also launched an investigation into three banks identified by Reveal that hold state deposits. In Philadelphia, the City Council held a hearing into Reveal’s findings, prompting community advocates to come forward with ways that banks and other mortgage lenders could be held accountable locally.

When he signed the Fair Housing Act 50 years ago, President Johnson proclaimed, “the bell of freedom rings out a little louder.” But he also said, “there is much yet to do.”

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 18, 2018 • 7

P.T. Hoffsteader, Esq.

ICYMI - ‘Hate speech’

In case you missed our post earlier this week, the Richmond TimesDispatch ran an advertisement from the Virginia Christian Alliance in their Tuesday, April 10 edition. The ad was full of anti-LGBTQ hate — calling homosexuality “gross,” among other hateful highlights. If you did miss our article about it, it seems you were in the minority; indeed, the RTD saw it themselves and issued a “response” — they didn’t call it an apology, because it wasn’t one.

In the brief response from TimesDispatch Publisher Tom Silvestri, which you can read in full here, Silvestri said the Virginia Christian Alliance ad “does not represent the views of The Times-Dispatch” and that the decision to run it “was guided by First Amendment freedoms that allow for a divergence of viewpoints and opinion.” He then stated that response from staff and others “has prompted us to begin a review of our content guidelines for future paid advocacy advertising.”

To be clear, we never thought the ad reflected Times-Dispatch editorial policy. If we did, we probably wouldn’t waste my time reporting it, just like we don’t report on every random thing the Westboro Baptist Church does. That was never our objection. The ad was “written in the kinds of hateful terms that any reputable publication should think twice about printing — even if they did get paid for it.”

Indeed, Times-Dispatch reporter Graham Moomaw seemed to agree with us, tweeting yesterday in

response to the issue that “there is no First Amendment right to have your views printed in a privately owned newspaper. The First Amendment is what gives newspapers the right to reject submissions (paid or unpaid) that don’t meet their standards.”

Standards should particularly be brought to bear on any content submitted by Virginia Christian Alliance (VCA), the group who placed the ad. They were listed as a hate group earlier this year by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). At the time of this designation, VCA president Don Blake told the Baltimore Sun that VCA are “as opposite as you can get from a hate group,” and that “we’re pro-Christ and pro-Bible. We aren’t anti-anything.”

The Sun then pointed out that the group’s website linked to articles with headlines like “Fear Of Muslims Is Not A Phobia, But Rational,” and “Islam Is Satanic, Says Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress.” To this list, we’d add our own discoveries: “The Top Ten Myths About Homosexuality,” and “Homosexual Behavior Is Inherently Destructive,” for starters.

Why is a group like this even getting the time of day from the Richmond Times-Dispatch? Well, it seems local newspapers aren’t the only ones VCA have convinced to treat them as a respectable organization. Virginia politicians including Congressman Dave Brat and Delegate Nick Freitas (who is currently running for Tim Kaine’s Senate seat) have previously been awarded the VCA’s “Courageous Leadership Award.” Keep that in mind next time you go to the voting booth.

Most politicians are smart enough not to enthusiastically accept awards from groups that boldly touted white supremacist views. By the same token, it would be shocking for a newspaper to accept advertising from white nationalist groups, regardless of how overtly they pointed out that it was just an advertisement.

Why should anti-LGBTQ hate be different?

Hateful views toward marginalized groups of any kind should never be tolerated as part of public discourse.

This was the message we were sending with our first article. And we will continue to repeat it until the Richmond Times-Dispatch gets it.

Marilyn Drew Necci

Hollow ring

The promise of the Balanced Budget Act by the Republicans rings hollow. A few months ago, this same Republican-controlled Congress and White House passed a tax bill that will continue to burden America’s hardworking families and push the deficit above $1 trillion per year by 2020.

Now, the so-called ‘party of fiscal responsibility’ wants to further hurt Americans by risking safety net programs for our seniors, such as Social Security and Medicare. By giving tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations, Republicans have already clearly demonstrated they don’t care about fiscal restraint or balanced budgets. No one is fooled by this election year gimmick.

Rep.A. Donald McEachin

Beware of partners

“Congress must determine if and how we need to strengthen privacy standards to ensure transparency and understanding for the billions of consumers who utilize [technology] products,” Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said at a US Senate hearing held to grill Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on April 10. “[I]f Facebook and other online companies will not or cannot fix the privacy invasions,” opined Bill Nelson (D-FL), “then we are going to have to -- we, the Congress.”

Lindsey Graham (R-NC): “What do we tell our constituents, given what’s happened here, why we should let you self-regulate?”

Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): “I think legislation is necessary. The

rules of the road have to be the result of congressional action.”

John Kennedy (R-LA): “I don’t want to vote to have to regulate Facebook, but by God I will.”

Back in early 2015, when thenpresident Barack Obama signed an executive order on cybersecurity “information sharing,” I pointed out in a column that the federal government is the last organization any sane human being would trust to secure the privacy of his or her data.

My opinion was swiftly and irrefutably vindicated: That same year produced revelations of government database breaches compromising the personal information of 22 million former government employees, 330,000 taxpayers, and 191 million voters.

So here we are, three years later, and the US Senate wants you to believe that it can, if it deems itself called upon to do so, excel the efforts of Mark Zuckerberg to safeguard the information you entrust to social media.

Cue laughter, followed by horror as the realization dawns that yes, the U.S. Senate will undoubtedly soon deem itself called upon to do that.

It’s not that the rest of us need their help. We don’t, and even if we did they couldn’t help us.

It’s that we don’t understand the real problem, and they do. The real problem is not with Facebook’s handling of your information. The real problem is that politicians never have as much power as they want to have.

The solution to that problem is obvious: All they need to do is just award themselves a little bit more power. More power over Facebook.

More power over the Internet. More power over your information. More power over you.

You didn’t really believe this was about your information, your privacy, or your freedom, did you? Politics is always about who’s in charge, and politicians always sincerely believe that it should be them.

Thomas L. Knapp

8 • April 18, 2018

Faith & Religion

The LEGACY

U.S. ‘Poor People’s Campaign’ to Begin 40 Days of Action Next Month FROM WIRE REPORTS As organizers rekindle an economic justice effort the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was planning when he was killed, they are looking at people like Amy Jo Hutchison to lead the way.

Hutchison, 46, is the single mother of two daughters, ages 14 and 11.

She’s on Medicaid, and her daughters are enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost coverage. She has a full-time job and a bachelor’s degree. And she’s white.

“People perceive me as solidly middle class,” said Hutchinson, who lives in Wheeling and is one of the

Community forum: ‘What Every Man Needs to Know’ The Hampton Roads Community Action Program (HRCAP) in partnership with Emmanuel Baptist Church Men’s Ministry recently sponsored a free community forum entitled “What Every Man Needs to Know”. The focus of the forum, a so-called follow up to the Me Too Movement, according to HRCAP, addressed questions and concerns that men have, such as being unsure of what’s appropriate and what’s not as they interact to women in the workplace, in church, and in the community.

The forum held at the Newport News Police Headquarters, was free, open to the public, and refreshments, both breakfast and lunch, were available and provided by Emmanuel Baptist Church Men’s Ministry.

About 45 people attended the event including the moderator, and the panelists.

“Attendance was outstanding considering the fact that it was a cold and rainy day,” noted HRCAP. “Another reason attendance was outstanding is that the majority of those in the audience were men and they came prepared with questions for the all-female panel.”

Edith White, executive director of HRCAP and host of Building A Better Life, WHOV 88.1 FM, moderated the event. The panel was comprised of six women, including Crystal Rainey, executive director, C. Waldo Scott Center for

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, center, and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, left, co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, speak at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, this month.

Edith White H.O.P.E; Darlene D.M. Walker, CEO and founder of Catapult Parent Education, LLC; Artisha T. Gregg, partner at Paige, Pandya & Gregg; Tracy Clark, program manager for Don’t Duck History, and lead vocalist with the Michael Clark Band; Barbara Holmes Smith, entrepreneur, educator, trainer and consultant; and Tresserlyn Jones, associate state director for AARP. “This forum was very informative, and the dialogue between the moderator, the panel, and the audience was lively,” noted HRCAP. “An added bonus to this event was that Andre Whitehead, owner of Whitehead Media Ventures, was in attendance filming for his TV show ‘Conversations with Andre Whitehead’ in Hampton Roads.”

campaign’s leaders in West Virginia.

But she describes herself as living on the “high end of poverty”.

“There’s never a month when two flat tires wouldn’t cripple me,” she said in a recent phone interview.

Leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign plan to start 40 days of protests, marches and other actions on May 14. Supporters in 30 states will be trained on nonviolent direct actions, taking cues from the “Moral Monday'” movement that the Rev. William Barber led in North Carolina when he was head of the state chapter of the NAACP. Campaign directors Barber and the Rev. Liz Theoharis discussed the campaign's demands, including the restoration and expansion of the Voting Rights Act, during a news conference last week at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The campaign recently took its message to crowds in Kentucky and West Virginia, Barber said in a phone interview last week. Both states had poverty rates close to 18 percent for the years 2014 to 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“The salvation of this country is when black, white and brown working class, working poor and poor form a fusion movement that’s going

to save the heart of this country,” Barber said.

Census figures show that the poverty rate among blacks was 22 percent in 2016, while it was almost 9 percent among whites. In sheer numbers, almost 17.5 million white people are classified as living in poverty, compared with 8.7 million black people. The overall U.S. poverty rate was about 13 percent in 2016.

It’s also important that those who live in poverty are working directly with the campaign to improve their lives, said Hutchison, an organizer with an anti-poverty group called Our Children, Our Future.

“We’re not generally given the space to come together and take a stand,” she said. “We’re constantly fighting for our dignity.”

Barber said the 40 days of action will have been successful if, at the end, the campaign has changed the country’s narrative so that the poor are discussed and they’re involved in creating strategies to get people out of poverty.

“The Democrats talk about the middle class,” he said. “The Republicans talk about the military.

No one’s talking about the poor.”

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 18, 2018 • 9

Michael Vick headlines 2018 Mighty Men of Valor National Men’s Conference Michael Vick, former NFL quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons was the special guest speaker of the Mighty Men of Valor National Men’s Conference held at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Landover, over the weekend.

Among those in attendance were Willie Moore Jr., a nationally syndicated radio host, and Todd Dulaney, who was the musical guest artist.

The conference, started in 1999, by Dr. Cliff Ashe, encourages attendees “to raise up Godly men who serve their families, communities and churches” to be enthusiastic role models who are eager to share their experiences with other men, and train young men in discipleship and leadership.

This year’s conference theme, with a goal of modeling excellence in manhood, based on the biblical reading of Psalm 102:18, was “Guardians for the Next Generation”.

As “guardians of the next generation,” the conference also added a young adult focus with

its Young Lions, “Ready to Roar – Super Natural Expectations” theme, focused on young men ages 13 to 17.

“As men, we face many challenges and at times we don’t always make the right decisions,” said Vick. “The key is to learn from these mistakes and provide opportunities to be guardians for the next generation.”

Prior to the conference, Vick said he was “excited” to share his life lessons with conference attendees “in order to help men make better choices for the sake of our children, our families, our communities and for the generations to come.”

Those who attended had a chance to get autographed Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons jerseys and footballs while supplies lasted.

The host church, led by Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr., has more than 11,000 active members. It is one of the largest congregations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and is is said to have impacted local and global communities through its 100-plus ministries, outreach, and educational programs.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

During Child Abuse Prevention Month Families Forward Virginia, the state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, highlights prevention programs which strengthen families so all children experience safe, nurturing childhoods.

“All parents need resources and support. Parents and caregivers can call our 1-800-CHILDREN helpline (call 800.244.5373 or text 804.349.5595) for free, personalized information about any parenting-related topic or issue,” said Lisa SpecterDunaway, CEO of Families Forward Virginia.

Families Forward was established in 2017 with the merger of Prevent Child Abuse Virginia, CHIP of Virginia and Early Impact Virginia. Families Forward supports the work of 50 local affiliates to prevent child abuse.

As part of the nationwide Pinwheels for Prevention campaign, Families Forward’s local affiliates, communities and businesses across Virginia are

sponsoring pinwheel displays.

Pinwheels are the symbol of child abuse prevention.

“The root of child abuse and neglect is often related to lack of role models, limited education and not having reliable support systems. All parents want their children to be successful in school, life and work. Yet, parenting is not instinctive. Parents learn by the way they were parented,” said Johanna Schuchert, Director of Child Abuse Prevention at Families Forward. “Child abuse prevention programs succeed because of partnerships created among schools, faith communities, social service agencies, businesses, civic organizations and law enforcement.”

More than 50,000 children in Virginia were reported to Child Protective Services for suspected child abuse or neglect in 2017, according to the Virginia Department of Social Services.

To report suspected child abuse in Virginia, call 1-800-552-7096.

Visit www.familiesforwardva.org for information.

.

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.

10 • April 18, 2018

The LEGACY

BY CALEY STURGILL

When art gets censored

©RVA MAG

Patriarchy may celebrate the nude image of Titian’s Venus, but it gets uncomfortable when women take up the brush. Norfolk-based artist Alison Stinely became the center of a controversy in the city’s art community this year when a government agency censored her work for containing nudity.

“There’s always been this tear between how people want me to behave, and how I actually want to behave,” said Stinely, who is both an artist and an assistant professor at Old Dominion University.

“I have something to say, and I have the right to make a statement,” Stinely said. “But as a woman, no matter how assertive I am or am not, I’m still going to be viewed in a way I don’t want to be.”

While Stinely uses her work to confront the identities of modern womanhood, she’s found that even in her creative outlet, the control is out of her hands.

Located only a short trip down the road from Richmond’s thriving arts scene, Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) was cited by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) for First Amendment violations after retracting Stinely’s work from its public gallery.

“It’s 2018, and the female form is still being rejected in public spaces,” Stinely said. “It’s body shaming, but simultaneously it’s objectifying. It creates this idea that every ‘body’ has to be sexual, that we’re our own forbidden fruit.”

Stinely’s work was approved for

display in early 2017 by Norfolk Arts, a commission that oversees much of the city’s distribution and funding for public art. A year later, her exhibit was displayed in the gallery for less than five hours before she was ordered to remove it.

“My head was spinning,” Stinely said. “I reached out to NCAC. They published a letter to HRT’s CEO, William Harrell, citing supreme court case after supreme court case against this type of censorship.”

Stinely has upcoming shows in other galleries, despite being censored in her hometown. The first is a solo show at the Ghost Gallery in New York City in February, and a second in April is closer to home, at the Linda Matney Gallery in Williamsburg. Stinely describes her work as safe, even conservative, compared to popular media.

“These people probably watch violent movies,” Stinely said. “They probably watch Game of Thrones, which is borderline pornographic and displays rape scenes. If they took a tour of Italy, they’d look up at the ceiling of the Duomo in Florence — and they’d be so ignorant, they’d say, ‘It’s so beautiful!’ and not even notice the pitchforks going up people’s behinds.”

“But for some reason,” she said, “Two strokes of paint, [or] two shapes of color next to one another that suggest a penis — it blows their heads off.”

Stinely is not alone in her outrage.

HRT has met with a strong backlash from the city’s creative community,

claiming that these actions are detrimental to the arts scene as a whole.

“For men to be telling a woman, especially when it’s not even a photograph but literally a painting from her imagination, how a female body should be displayed….to me, it’s just the epitome of how we should not do things,” said Charles Rasputin, a notable artist in the Norfolk scene.

Rasputin has seen folks of all ages, including the Norfolk Drawing Group, respond to the decision with concern. “It’s not just young, hip kids or art school graduates,” Rasputin said. “It’s 80-year old ladies that see the value of the human form in art, and they’re angry about the treatment of Alison.”

Equally alarming to local artists was CEO William Harrell’s decision, within 24 hours, to close the gallery permanently. HRT has also rescinded all funding to the arts following the incident. “I think it’s indicative of the systematic nature of this kind of oppression,” Rasputin said. “I’m a realist. I understand why they may be nervous about putting some boobs in the Transit Gallery… But to me, if Norfolk Arts is the gatekeeper, they need to be prepared for these sort of instances.”

In the aftermath, HRT responded by stating that, with “deep regret and disappointment,” it would “no longer permit temporary exhibits from local artists [to be] displayed within any of its workspaces or at any of its facilities.”

The company noted its past support for the arts community in the area, and that it initially opened the Transit Gallery in response to the closure of another local space, the Selden Arcade. An HRT representative stated that, following the controversy around Stinely’s work, the Transit Gallery closed in order to avoid similar disruptions in the future, and to allow HRT to focus on their goals with local public transportation.

HRT Commissioner Keith Parnell did make himself available for public input regarding the cancellation of Stinely’s show. “He took a meeting with three local artists,” said Rasputin. “But it was all men. The meeting was all men.”

One artist involved in the meeting, Walt Taylor, concluded that the primary cause of the incident was poor communication between HRT and Norfolk Arts prior to the installation of the exhibit.

“Businesses need to give more

thought to what constitutes an actionable offense in the Human Resources realm,” commented Taylor. “Because a few employees felt ‘offended’ at the presence of nudity (nudity in fine art! Who ever heard of such a thing!), many more people were deprived [from] experiencing the work of an acclaimed modern artist.”

Taylor’s response parallels those of several local artists, including Stinely. “What’s wrong in someone’s head that they can’t look at a nude representation of a human, in a normal position, and not think ‘sex’?”

Stinely said. “Why can’t a naked woman hang up in your place of employment? Is that going to make you do something? Is it making you think things? Why is that?”

Even in the age of the Me Too movement, women are confronted by issues with their bodies in public spaces. The issue, Stinely said, often comes back to the idea that men can’t control themselves beyond immediate sexualization towards nudity.

“I think in modern politics and through the Trump presidency, it’s making people feel more brazen to express their racism and their misogynistic views,” Stinely said.

“Looking at the recent election in Alabama, how women could possibly vote for an accused child molester.

People think they can be pigs now because our president is a pig.

They’re coming out of the woodwork, and making holiday dinners much more uncomfortable. It’s just a total nightmare.”

While both political and generational changes are at play in public opinion, the consensus from both Stinely and Rasputin is that conversation is key in these controversial spaces. “Should we erase those things, or be able to discuss them with our kids?”

Rasputin said. “If you can’t talk to your child about the nude painting they saw in the Transit Gallery, that’s not a problem with the art. It’s literally that you do not want to talk to the baby you made.”

Stinely hopes the incident can lead to better dialogue about controversial topics in the future. “It’s just too bad that instead of starting a conversation in the community, they shut it down completely,” Stinely said. “This could have been a really great opportunity to get people together and discuss the issue.

Instead, they’ve limited the art community by removing a gallery space.”

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 18, 2018 • 11

All the strange, terrible things you get used to in prison JERRY METCALF Have you ever sat on the toilet while carrying on a conversation with a guy who’s looming over you drinking Kool-Aid and eating chocolate-chip cookies?

Have you ever felt the need to tape National Geographic magazines around your torso as makeshift body armor?

How about having someone peer up your anus with a flashlight after you visit with your family?

Or what about being addressed by a number instead of your name?

I have and do experience most of these things on a regular basis. You see, prison is all about “normalizing” abnormal behavior, to use a word popularized in the Trump era.

Nothing about life inside prison is normal.

Prison is the very absence of normal.

When I first entered prison, almost everything seemed alien and disgusting. On day one, I was stripped of my clothes alongside a bunch of other men, marched around naked, and issued an ID number.

Let’s examine that for a minute.

I’d been methodically shamed and humiliated, assigned a new form of identification, and then informed that not only was I no longer free, I was effectively the property of the state of Michigan—all in the course of a few minutes.

I was stunned. But today, 20 years later, that all seems quite normal to me.

“251141, report to your housing unit... Hey, 251141, where the hell d’you think you’re going? Get over here... 251141, you’ve got mail...."

As for strip searches, well, I’ve endured hundreds of them.

“Bend over and spread your ass cheeks... Lift your dick... Now your nuts... Hold your mouth open with your fingers... No, I don’t have anything for you to wash your hands with... Let me see the bottoms of your feet…”

On my second day in prison, I was among 20 or so inmates who were marched naked down a long, Alcatraz-like gallery past several

open-faced cells to a grubby, dimly lit communal shower. The bath area was a huge, open chamber sporting several shower heads protruding from mold- and mildewcovered walls. There, a number of men huddled under the sputtering, scalding-hot spray were going to town on themselves as if having an audience of fellow inmates watch you masturbate were the most normal thing in the world.

Another norm in prison is the idea that friendships are fleeting. You might wake up one morning and discover that your best friend of several years is gone, transferred to another facility with the snap of someone’s fingers. He may even have been your cellmate, for you have no control over who you live with (another norm).

Chaos is a norm, though it sounds oxymoronic to say so. I haven’t experienced a truly good night’s sleep—a sound, comfortable sleep— in two decades. Too much chaos. Too much uncertainty.

That brings me to violence, which in prison is the ultimate norm. Over the years, I've been stabbed, cut, clunked, almost raped, and had the crap kicked out of me on numerous occasions. And in self-defense— especially back when I was young and considered “pretty” by the sexual predators—I’ve been forced to do a

number of those things myself.

Don’t get me wrong: Despite my crimes, I’m no monster. In fact, I think I’m actually a pacifist at heart, and I still sympathize with those who are abused, injured, or victimized.

I once saved a man who was choking to death in the chow hall by performing the Heimlich maneuver on him. And while it’s true that half of the inmates eating dinner did applaud me—mostly for defying the guards who kept ordering me to stop—the other half booed me for not letting the guy die.

Another of our norms is growing accustomed to having everything we do planned out and tracked by authority figures. I’m told when to eat, when to sleep, when to go outside, when to talk with and see my family, when to shower, when to cut my hair or iron my clothes. My money is managed for me; I pay zero taxes; and my healthcare (what little there is of it) is free and monitored by others.

I can’t remember the last time I had to make a major decision like that for myself. I grow nervous just imagining the prospect. By the grace of God, and with a little help from my wonderful family and friends, I believe I’ll be OK when the day I’m free finally arrives. But what about those of us who have no loved ones left alive because they’ve spent a

bazillion years behind bars? Who will help them adjust to having to make decisions for themselves? Who will help them forget 20 or 30 or 40 years worth of “normal”?

Maybe this is why so many of us fail when we get out.

Someone smarter than me will need to figure all that out. But I will say this: Every single man who's lived in prison long enough that he’s learned how to digest the food agrees with me. As I've worked on this essay, I’ve let every inmate I know read it, and they have all nodded their heads.

The question you must ask yourselves, readers, is this: What are you going to do about it? Some may say that we’re “getting what we deserve” in here, but that makes no real sense from a societal standpoint.

Better people exiting prisons means a better society. Worse people exiting prisons means a worse society.

I think that’s simple logic—unless illogic has been normalized for me, too.

This article was published in collaboration with the Marshall Project. Metcalf, 43, is incarcerated at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Michigan, where he is serving 40 to 60 years for second-degree murder and two years for a weapons felony, both of which he was convicted of in 1996.

12 • April 18, 2018

The LEGACY

Students to perform docudrama about Armstrong’s history University of Richmond and Armstrong High School students will take the stage to perform “The Spirit of Armstrong,” a documentary drama highlighting the history of Richmond’s Armstrong High School.

The performance is April 19 at 6 p.m. in Armstrong ’s auditorium.

The project stems from a partnership between students in “Documenting a Historic Black High School: A Richmond Community Project,” a UR course taught by professors Laura Browder and Patricia Herrera, and Armstrong’s Leadership Program. Students from both groups have researched archives, listened to oral histories and produced original poetry to write and perform a play about the school’s history as Richmond’s oldest predominantly black high school.

“Our students delve into everything from 19th century newspaper articles to the latest school budgets,” said Laura Browder, Tyler and Alice Haynes professor of American studies. “One of the play’s most powerful scenes, ‘63 cents’ comes

from our students’ discovery that Armstrong receives an average of 63 cents per square foot per year for maintenance, when the industry standard is $3.40, and Chesterfield County spends $3.89.”

The performance, which is free and open to the public, will be directed

by Brooklyn Art Exchange’s José

Joaquin Garcia.

“Many of these students have never performed before,” said Patricia Hererra, associate professor of theatre. “Through performance they learn the notion of vulnerability and how opening up and embracing this vulnerability can build authentic relationships that foster growth and

change.”

Browder, Herrera and their students have produced documentary dramas and museum exhibitions about Richmond civil rights history for the past eight years. Their 2016 performance, focusing on gentrification in Church Hill, was staged at Armstrong for an audience of 300.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

April 18, 2018 • 13

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14 • April 18, 2018

The LEGACY

Summit exposes RPS students to health professions The Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority hosted a Youth Health Careers Summit for approximately 300 Richmond Public Schools (RPS) high school students this week. The interactive, half-day summit was designed to “empower” students to explore careers in health care, and provided students with various hands-on activities intended to give them a glimpse into the health professions field. The various exhibits and workshops were also meant to serve as a forum to meet and ask questions of current health professions students in the field.

According to the authority, exposing students to careers in health care represents a proven strategy to help fill the pipeline of qualified health professionals. The program also helped jumpstart the thinking of participating youth to consider health care careers.

The authority is a political subdivision of Virginia, established to “facilitate the development of a statewide health professions pipeline that identifies, educates, recruits and retains a diverse, appropriately geographically distributed and culturally competent quality

Under Trump, a voice for the American consumer goes silent In the more than 135 days since the Trump administration took control of the nation’s consumer watchdog agency, it has not recorded a single enforcement action against banks, credit card companies, debt collectors or any finance companies whatsoever.

That’s likely no fluke: Mick Mulvaney, appointed acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in late November, promised to shrink the bureau’s mandate and take a much softer approach to enforcement, and records reviewed

by The Associated Press indicate he has kept his word.

A review of a CFPB database obtained by reporters through a Freedom of Information request shows that the bureau issued an average of two to four enforcement actions a month under former Director Richard Cordray, President Obama’s appointee. But the database shows zero enforcement actions have been taken since Nov. 21, 2017, three days before Cordray resigned.

Before Mulvaney, the bureau used enforcement actions to extract billions of dollars in relief for consumers from financial companies and to stop companies from doing harm. Bank of America was ordered to return $727 million to consumers for deceptive credit card practices in 2015 — the largest award in the bureau’s history — but the CFPB has issued dozens of smaller actions to get relief for student borrowers,

Mick Mulvaney victims of debt collection companies and bank customers.

In the roughly seven years it has been in existence, the bureau has returned $3.97 billion in cash back to American consumers through enforcement actions and an additional $7.93 billion in other types of relief, such as lower loan balances or debt relief, based on the CFPB’s records. The bureau estimates roughly one of every 10 Americans has received some sort of reimbursement or relief due to the bureau’s enforcement work since it was created.

Despite that direct relief to consumers, Republicans — including Mulvaney when he was representing South Carolina in Congress — accused the bureau of overreach.

Mulvaney once called the bureau a “sick, sad joke” of an agency.

Bureau watchers on both sides of the issue say that they don’t believe enforcement actions have

workforce for all Virginians”.

The luncheon topic was “Mindfulness Matters” moderated by Dr. Frank Brown, national medical director at Cigna, the summit’s premier sponsor. Keisha Smith, executive director and Virginia Sen. George Barker, authority chair said they were thrilled with the opportunity to help place RPS students on a pathway of success that includes also a health career.

“I [have] historically emphasized the important role that the Richmond City Public Schools System plays in the community by creating brighter

futures for its students who in turn become productive citizens standing on the education and other principles obtained from their journey through the schools,” said Smith. “Working also with the system under the leadership of Superintendent Jason Kamras has been an invaluable experience.

“I am hopeful that our work together on the summit will ‘kick off’ a long lasting relationship with Richmond City Public Schools and forge additional relationships with public and private schools around the Commonwealth.”

stopped entirely, and supervision and investigations at the agency are still ongoing. In a statement, the CFPB said the slowdown is tied to a new administration taking over the bureau, adding that “it is our job to enforce the law, and we take it very seriously.”

“Assessing the legal risks of all pending enforcement actions is a critical part of the transition process and standard procedure for new leadership at enforcement agencies such as the Bureau. That review continues alongside the agency’s ongoing law enforcement work,” the statement said.

While consumer advocates expected fewer enforcement actions under a more business-friendly Trump administration, the fact that the database indicates they have stopped entirely raises concern that consumers have been left vulnerable.

There were some periods under the Obama administration where bureau enforcement actions slowed, but those appear largely tied to the fact the agency was just getting underway. This is the longest stretch without enforcement actions in the CFPB’s history.

“Enforcement is very important,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director at the National Consumer Law Center, a consumer advocacy organization and a critic of Mulvaney. “If a company violates the law, it needs to be held accountable and called out instead of being quietly admonished through supervision.”

The bureau effectively has two main avenues it can use to check wrongdoing at banks and other financial companies.

One is supervision, which is

typically confidential and more routine. The CFPB has full-time inspectors inside most of the nation’s largest banks who, when they see something that may not be illegal but still raises concerns, can speak privately with bank management.

If an issue is more substantial, like a potential breach of consumer protection laws, the bureau can begin an investigation that can culminate in an enforcement order, which is basically a court order directing a company to stop illegal behavior and often carries a fine.

“Enforcement is one of the most important parts of CFPB, because of the signals it is able to send to markets,” Saunders said.

Whether or not enforcement has been slowed by the change in management, Mulvaney repeatedly has said he wants to significantly curtail the bureau’s operations, and the slowing of enforcement would be part of that.

“I made it clear that the Bureau will continue to execute the law, but will no longer go beyond its statutory mandate,” Mulvaney said in his semi-annual report to Congress.

His report also called for Congress to pass laws further curtailing the bureau’s authority.

Mulvaney appeared in front of Congress last week to discuss that report, and enforcement came up in questioning.

“My sense is things are moving forward in some way, but much more slowly than what was the historic pace of enforcement work,” said Joanna Pearl, legal director at the recently created Public Rights Project, who was chief of staff of the CFPB’s Office of Enforcement until January.

April 18, 2018 • 15

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

The Census Bureau confuses race and ethnicity NANCY LOPEZ If you were walking down the street, what race would strangers automatically assume you were?

“Street race” – what race you look like, based on your skin color, facial features and more – is an important aspect of a person’s experiences.

For example, research shows that a person who’s Hispanic but perceived as light-skinned does not experience the same level of discrimination as a Hispanic person who’s seen as darker-skinned.

However, the U.S. census does not clearly capture these differences. In past surveys – and in the upcoming 2020 census – the Census Bureau boils complex information on race, ethnicity and ancestry into just two questions: “Are you of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin?” and “What is your race?”

As a sociologist who specializes in research on social inequalities, I believe this way of capturing race and ethnicity undermines the country’s ability to serve vulnerable communities. Without reliable data, it’s difficult to track whether Americans of different colors and backgrounds receive equitable opportunities in housing, voting, employment or education.

Confusing race and ethnicity Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau undertakes a count of the U.S. population. Since 1790, this has included some sort of data on race and ethnicity.

Ahead of the 2020 census, there has been much debate over potential formats that would have combined “race” or “origin” in one question.

Proponents argued that doing so would provide granular data on the ancestries of all groups and reduce the high number of Hispanic origin people who check off “some other race.” Opponents argued that this would have made it much more difficult to track inequalities in the Latino community, because the census would no longer capture race separately from other aspects of a person’s national origin or ethnic background.

The Census Bureau has decided to keep longstanding questions on Hispanic origin and race separate for the 2020 census.

The suggested format, unlike others before it, links specific origins under each race box. For example, under the “White” race box, the survey lists sample ancestries such as German, Irish, English and Italian. The “Black” race box suggests “African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali, etc.” Respondents can mark one or more race boxes.

Although this is a step in the right direction, the chosen wording is still problematic. With the exception of the race box for “American Indian,” not a single other race box contains a Hispanic origin ethnicity. This will create confusion for many.

National origin doesn’t predict race

By not including a single Hispanic origin group under the “White” or “Black” race box, the 2020 census inadvertently contributes to the false idea that people of Hispanic origin are all of the same race or color.

But Latin America and the Caribbean were the site of European colonization of Native American communities and the enslavement of Africans forcibly transported to the Americas. There are white, black and Native American Hispanics.

The American Community Survey, an annual survey administered by the Census Bureau to over a million households annually, already asks a separate question on ancestry. From my conversations with census designers, I understand that they are mechanistically reporting the ancestries most commonly reported for a given race in this survey. But, in doing so, they may inadvertently contribute to the falsehood that ethnicity predicts one’s race.

The question that the U.S. Census Bureau is using for the 2020 dress rehearsal is part of the two-part question format tested in the 2015 National Content Test. U.S. Census Bureau The logic behind correlating nationalities with designated racial groups just does not hold.

Are all South Africans and Canadians white?

Aren’t Asian people who were born and raised in France ethnically French? Following this logic, all national origins should be associated with a given race. If this is the case, where should we list “American” ethnicity?

More importantly, this approach may unintentionally contributing to the false and dangerous idea that some racial groups are the more “authentic” representatives of a given national origin. National origins and race should never be linked.

Census designers have also argued that including a space for ethnicity under each race box gives everyone an opportunity to recognize their unique ethnic origins. For example, anyone checking their race as white can designate that they are of German or Irish background.

This approach might appear to be equal, but it doesn’t take into account how color affects people seen as brown or black throughout history.

Research shows that Hispanics who appear European or white are less likely to experience voting or housing discrimination. They also outearn their darker-skinned counterparts who are at the same level of education, of the same

ethnic background or even in the same families.

In short, your multiple ancestral, geographic or ethnic origins may not matter as much as your “street race” when you show up to look at an apartment or apply for a job.

Former President Barack Obama, for example, was chided for not checking both the white and black race boxes and instead marking his race solely as “Black” on the 2010 census. Critics argued that he was denying his European ancestry. My guess is that Obama understood that these data are used to examine inequalities that have much more to do with “street race” than with whatever ethnic, familial or genetic origins one may have.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, where there’s still a strong racial hierarchy, a number of countries are beginning to separate questions on race from questions on ethnicity and origin from questions on national origin or ethnicity.

New questions for advancing justice Where do we go from here? It’s too late to change the wording for the 2020 census, but it’s worth imagining what the 2030 census might look like.

As the U.S. population becomes increasing more diverse, measuring injustice along the color line will be more important than ever.

More complex questions would clarify that when we are asking about race we are asking about color, and that when we are asking about ethnicity we are asking about national origins, familial or ancestral origins. That could go a long way toward improving researchers’ and activists’ ability to document social inequalities faced by visible minorities – those most likely to suffer discrimination.

In this author’s view, a truly ethical and equitable census would educate the general public about the difference between race or color and ethnicity. It would also include at least three separate questions: one on Hispanic origin, one on race or color (or what I call “street race”), and another on familial or ancestral origin or ethnicity.

The Census Bureau is currently discussing a potential separate question on Middle Eastern and North African origin in the 2030 census.

If the 2030 census designers do decide to test this question again, I hope they maintain it as separate from the race on the questionnaire. This would allow researchers to examine if people of this geographic origin, who mark their race as white, experience the same levels of residential segregation as those who may check “Black” or another race.

The difference between street race, ethnicity and ancestral origin is real and tangibly shapes people’s experiences with injustice. Flattening these differences in our federal, state and local data will impede equitable opportunities in voting, housing, employment, education and health care.

Smarter questions could advance justice and equity and help create a more perfect union for all.

16 • April 18, 2018

Calendar 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.

4.18,5:30 p.m.

Sierra Club Virginia Chapter will host a free screening of the film “A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet” followed by a panel discussion at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. In commemorating Earth Day, the event will provide a space to revitalize the spirit of environmentalism among students and community members, according to the organization.

The film has been described as “the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement – grassroots and global activism spanning 50 years from conservation to climate change.”

After the film, the panel will have a discussion of how the community, and individuals in it, can elevate these issues through literature, education, schools, non-profit work, media or community organizing.

The panel will be facilitated by Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Community Outreach Coordinator Ann Creasy with time for questions from the audience following the panel questions.

For more information, contact Ann Creasy by email at ann.creasy@ sierraclub.org or call 757-513-2844.

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The LEGACY

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

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.

11.23, 11:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Henrico County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman and Varina District Supervisor Tyrone E. Nelson will hold three Community Conversations meetings in April to provide updates on the state of the county, police recruitment efforts and plans for Dorey and Taylor parks.

The first two meetings will be held at the Henrico Theatre, 305 E. Nine Mile Rd.; and at the Elko Community Center, 6216 White Oak Rd. The final session will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26 at the Varina Area Library, 1875 New Market Rd. For additional information, call 804-501-4208.

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.

Need more info? Call 804- 501-5763.

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.

April 18, 2018 • 17

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18 • April 18, 2018

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16-18: An application of The Maggie Walker Community Land Trust for a building permit to construct a new single-family detached dwelling at 211 WEST HOME STREET.

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17-18: An application of Cava Capital LLC for building permits to divide an existing lot into three (3) lots and to construct a new single-family detached dwelling on each of the vacant lots at 611 CHEATWOOD AVENUE.

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18-18: An application of the City of Richmond Department of Public Works for a building permit to construct a new police equestrian center (5,892 SF) with accessory parking at 601 NORTH 39TH STREET and 3800-H EAST RICHMOND ROAD.

To apply, please visit http://www.raaems.org/careers/ to complete an application. Applications must be received no later than 5:00pm, May 4, 2018.

19-18: An application of Carver Homes LLC for a building permit to construct a new single-family detached dwelling (#808 ½) at 808 ½ and 810 WEST CLAY STREET.

PUBLIC RELATIONS/MEDIA MANAGER Supports the CEO regarding internal and external communications to local, state, and federal audiences, media, government officials, non-profit, private sector and the general public. Executes a strategic communications plan promoting brand awareness and initiatives.

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20-18: An application of Elizabeth W. Hawthorne for a building permit to construct a new single-family detached dwelling (#3134) at 3134 and 3136 PARKWOOD AVENUE. Copies of all cases are available for inspection between 8 AM and 5 PM in Room 110, City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219.

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