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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.
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RVA Police Chief Durham: Rights cannot be protected where violence is present. - #RVA0916
Richmond & Hampton Roads
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Peaceful racial justice rally takes place from Maggie Walker statue to Monument Avenue
Hundreds marched in Saturday’s “Richmond Stands United For Racial Justice” rally to counter a Tennessee-based pro-Confederate statue group that planned an event at the Robert E. Lee Monument. PHOTO: Catherine Komp CATHERINE KOMP Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning for the “Richmond Stands United For Racial Justice” rally and march. The demonstration was organized in a show of unity after the Tennessee-based group the “New Confederate States of America” announced an event in Richmond at the Monument Avenue statue of
Robert E. Lee. Richmond Peace Education Center (RPEC), Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond organized the counter rally and held safety trainings Friday night. RPEC staff member Jelani Drew led organizing of the event. “We embrace and celebrate our beautiful, rich diversity as a
community,” said RPEC Director Adria Scharf as she addressed the crowd. “We stand committed to building a just and equitable Richmond in which every child regardless of race or zip code has full access to hope, opportunity and safety. And we stand committed to building a region and a city that is truly free of white supremacy.” Standing in front of the newly erected monument honoring civil
rights activist, banker and business leader Maggie Walker, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy’s Lana Heath de Martinez said white supremacy is at the root of economic injustice, anti-immigrant sentiments, anti-semitism and Islamophobia. “We are here to denounce it and insist that our narrative is one of inclusion,” said de Martinez. “The
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