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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

WEDNESDAYS • Sept. 4, 2019

INSIDE • Census 2020- Do immigrants deserve to be counted?

• Participate: Health survey is underway in Richmond • Honoring 400 years of black history in Virginia • Campaign for paid sick days for all Virginians launches

Richmond & Hampton Roads

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400 years in Virginia

STACY M. BROWN NNPA - With the August observance of the first African landing in America, some question whether it’s the 400th or 500th anniversary.

Historians point out that the 400th anniversary is the 400th year of the Anglo-centric history of Africans in the Americas.

“Dating the history of Africans in North America to 400 years ago reinforces this narrative of English superiority,” said Greg Carr, the Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University.

“Remembering the Spanish and indigenous sides of the history is more important now than ever as the people are closing the borders to those who are descendants from people who were here when you came,” Carr said.

In his 2013 PBS documentary, “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., said slavery was always an essential ingredient of the American experiment. Gates called slavery, “The supreme hypocrisy,” and “capitalism gone berserk.”

The first African to come to North America was a free man who accompanied Spanish explorers to Florida in 1513 – or 106 years before the 20 Africans who were kidnapped and brought to Point Comfort, Va., in 1619, Gates said.

“The father of our country was one of its largest slave owners,” Gates said in the documentary. “Because of the profound disconnect between principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the simultaneous practice

of slavery, we’ve had historical amnesia about slavery.”

Indeed, the slave trade began in the 15th century, said Boniface Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe. It was driven by colonial expansion, emerging capitalist economies and the insatiable demand for commodities – with racism and discrimination serving to legitimize the trade.

Chidyausiku, then the acting president of the United Nations General Assembly, made the remarks in 2007 during the UN’s observance of the 200th anniversary of the end of the transatlantic slave trade.

“Fortunes were made, and financial institutions flourished on the back of human bondage… [so] today’s commemoration must encourage everyone to live up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says: ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and to redouble efforts to stop human trafficking and all forms of modern slavery,’” said Chidyausiku, who is now 69.

Michael Guasco, a historian at Davidson College and author of “Slaves and Englishmen: Human Bondage in the Early Modern Atlantic World,” suggests it’s the 500th anniversary.

“There’s a Hispanic heritage that predates the U.S., and there’s a tendency for people to willingly forget or omit the early history of Florida, Texas, and California, particularly as the politics of today want to push back against Spanish language and immigration from Latin America,” Guasco told Time.

The fact that slavery was underway for a century in South

America before introduction in North America is not widely taught nor commonly understood, said Felicia Davis of the HBCU Green Fund.

“It is a powerful historical fact missing from our understanding of slavery, its magnitude, and global impact. The knowledge that slavery was underway for a century provides deep insight into how enslaved Africans adapted,” Davis said.

Far beyond the horrific “seasoning” description, clearly generations had been born into slavery long before introduction in North America, Davis said.

“This fact deepens the understanding of how vast majorities could be oppressed in such an extreme manner for such a long period. It is also a testament to the strength and drives among people of African descent to live free,” she said.

Prior to 1619, “America had a system of discrimination and prejudice against all groups who were not identified as white AngloSaxon native,” said Walter D. Palmer, who started a Community Freedom School for children and adult learners in Philadelphia that would become the platform on which he built his social legacy.

“By the mid-1600s, America created the slave codes,” said Palmer.

During the country’s founding, many settlers learned from and lived close to Native Americans on the east coast, said author Cassie Premo Steele.

For example, it wasn’t until resources like silver were found on what was Cherokee land that Andrew Jackson ordered the removal that became known as the “Trail of Tears,” said Steele.

“Further genocides and removals

took place in the West when similar resources and land were desired by white Americans,” Steele said.

“Similarly, slavery was primarily an economic system that was based upon the dehumanization of Africans. Dehumanization is in some ways even worse than hate since it is a denial of the humanity of a people,” she said.

The observance of the 400th anniversary of the first African landing at Point Comfort did bring about changes, according to Time.

It was the type of race-based chattel slavery system that solidified in the centuries that followed was its unique American tragedy.

A letter on file at the Library of Congress from early English settler John Rolfe noted that a century before August 1619, the transatlantic slave trade had been active.

The letter noted that hundreds of thousands of Africans helped with the establishment and survival of American colonies in the New World.

According to History.com, Rolfe was correct. It reported that Christopher Columbus likely transported the first Africans to the Americas in the late 1490s on his expeditions to Hispaniola.

“To ignore what had been happening with relative frequency in the broader Atlantic world over the preceding 100 years or so understates the real brutality of the ongoing slave trade, of which the 1619 group were undoubtedly a part, and minimizes the significant African presence in the Atlantic world to that point,” said Guasco.

“People of African descent have been ‘here’ longer than the English colonies,” he said.

The LEGACY

2 • Sept. 4, 2019

News

Do Trump officials plan to break centuries of precedent in divvying up Congress?

Recent statements by Census Bureau and Justice Department officials have raised the question of whether the Trump administration plans to diverge from more than two centuries of precedent in how the country’s congressional seats and Electoral College votes are divvied up.

Since the first U.S. census in 1790, the Constitution has called for a head count every 10 years of “persons” living in the U.S. to determine the number of congressional seats each state gets.

Federal law requires the commerce secretary, who oversees the Census Bureau, to deliver those numbers by the end of a census year to the president, who must report them to Congress within a week after the start of its new session.

The counts have always included both citizens and noncitizens — regardless of immigration status — although the history of who was counted and how is complicated.

Following the Civil War, the 14th Amendment was ratified to require the counting of the “whole number of persons”, ensuring the rights of formerly enslaved people who were once considered “three fifths” of a person. The “Indians not taxed” clause no longer excluded some American Indians by the 1940 census, when the Census Bureau began attempting to include all Native Americans in the counts used for reapportioning seats in Congress.

In recent weeks, however, the Census Bureau’s director, Steven Dillingham, has not been able to provide a clear answer as to whether citizenship will be factored

into apportionment after the 2020 census.

During a July 24 House oversight subcommittee hearing, U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham was unable to directly answer Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s question about whether citizenship data will be used in the next apportionment count.

During a House oversight subcommittee hearing last month, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, pressed Dillingham about Trump’s recent executive order.

“Can you confirm for us today that the citizenship data collected pursuant to the executive order will not be used in the bureau’s apportionment counts?” Pressley asked.

After a notable three-second pause, Dillingham stumbled into an attempt to defer a response before Pressley asked whether the head of the Census Bureau believes that the citizenship data should be used for apportionment.

“I don’t have any belief whatsoever.

I just need to know the mechanics, congresswoman,” replied Dillingham, who later agreed to provide a written response within 10 days.

On Aug. 9 — six days after that deadline — the bureau provided this reply to Pressley’s office: “The issue you asked about is currently in litigation and we do not comment on ongoing litigation, but the Census Bureau will fulfill its constitutional mandate to conduct a complete and accurate 2020 Census and enumerate all persons living in the United States of America.”

That litigation is a lawsuit filed

Virginia’s attorney general Mark Herring has joined coalition stepping in to defend against Alabama’s attempts to exclude certain groups, like the immigrants pictured, from being counted in the 2020 census against the Trump administration last year by the state of Alabama and Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican from that state. Alabama State Attorney General Steve Marshall and Brooks argue that the Census Bureau should exclude unauthorized immigrants from numbers used for apportionment because the framers did not intend for immigrants living in the U.S. without authorization to be included among the “persons” described in the Constitution.

The Census Bureau did not directly responded to a reporter’s question about whether the bureau plans to include citizens, unauthorized immigrants and other noncitizens in the 2020 apportionment count. The bureau’s public information office also did not respond to questions about why Dillingham missed the initial deadline for providing a response to Pressley.

Former Census Bureau Director

John Thompson said the ambiguity in the bureau’s statement to Pressley about the apportionment count raises “some serious concerns.”

“I don’t think it’s normal for the Census Bureau” to be vague about what goes into its “most important product,” said Thompson, who was appointed by President Barack Obama and left the bureau in 2017.

With just over five months until the official start of the 2020 census, Thompson said it’s “incredibly important” for the bureau to be transparent about what data will be used to decide how congressional seats and Electoral College votes are redistributed.

I think that the Census Bureau is not being allowed to state the government’s position, and that raises the specter that something is going on behind the scenes.

“I would urge the Congress to probe

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www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Sept. 4, 2019 • 3

‘I did a lot of damage:’ Fourth parking garage attacker sentenced to two years in prison Just a little over two years after white supremacists marched through the streets of Charlottesville, the final criminal court case opened as a result of the events that unfolded Aug. 11-12, 2017, came to an end last week.

Tyler Davis, 51, was sentenced to two years and one month in prison for his role in the assault of DeAndre Harris in the Market Street Parking Garage, despite pleas from his lawyers for Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore to consider alternative punishments, citing his attempts to reconcile and his family’s dependence on him.

“My main goal is not what’s best for Mr. Davis,” Moore said when he delivered his verdict. “It’s not what’s best for his family. It’s about what’s right…If you consider all the impacts on families, no one would be punished.”

Davis entered an Alford plea Feb. 8, admitting that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him of malicious wounding after he struck Harris on the head with a tire thumper while other Unite the Right protestors kicked and beat him on the ground. Born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia, Davis, who had been living in Florida at the time of the rally, says he has since denounced white supremacy and dissolved his former allegiance to the League of the South.

“By lashing out at my perceived enemies, I was, without realizing it, lashing out at myself—I hated everyone,” Davis said during his lengthy remarks to the court. “I did a lot of damage, so this is an ongoing process that I will be working on for a long time, probably forever.”

The court determined that the blow Davis delivered was the most damaging to Harris, requiring eight staples in his head to mend.

Tyler Davis hit DeAndre Harris in the head with a tire thumper, causing a laceration that required eight staples. PHOTO: Zach D. Roberts He was, however, given the lightest punishment of the four codefendants because, Moore said, he only hit Harris once and wasn’t involved in the “group beating” that unfolded after Davis struck first.

Daniel Borden, who struck Harris three times with a large stick, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in January. Jacob Goodwin and Alex Ramos will serve prison sentences of eight and six years, respectively, in August 2018.

Goodwin knocked Harris to the ground and Ramos sprinted into the garage to join him in hitting the African American man while he was down.

Both Goodwin and Ramos have appealed their cases and are awaiting hearings this month.

Davis’ full sentence is for 10 years with seven years and two months

suspended, and nine months credited to his time served for the three months he spent in jail and year that he submitted to electronic home monitoring. Davis was the only defendant in this case who was allowed out on bond; he was permitted to live at home with EHM in order to help take care of his now19-year-old Autistic son.

Matthew Engle, Davis’ attorney, declined to comment after the verdict.

Joe Platania and Nina-Alice Antony from the commonwealth’s attorney’s office didn’t recommend a specific sentence, but both acknowledged that Davis deserved a lighter sentence than his codefendants and recognized that he took ownership for his role in the attack.

Although the Charlottesville

Police Department is still working to identify two other assailants from the attack, Platania and Antony hope the conclusion of these open criminal cases allows Charlottesville to gain a sense of finality and closure now that the trials are behind it.

“As prosecutors that did six of these cases…we tried to be careful not to make it about message,” Platania says. “We tried to look at the conduct of each individual and focus on each individual case and not prosecute ideology but prosecute conduct.

“Having said that, we are hopeful that those six prosecutions speak loud and clear about how this community and our office feels about individuals that come here from out of the area to perpetrate hateful acts of violence on others.”

-CVille.com

The LEGACY

4 • Sept. 4, 2019

National health survey underway in Richmond The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the most comprehensive survey of the health and nutritional status of the U.S. population begins in the city of Richmond on Sept. 4.

All counties in the U.S. have a chance to be selected for the NHANES and this year, Richmond is

one of 15 localities that was selected to be part of this initiative. NHANES provides data on public health problems in the U.S. Each year, 5,000 residents across the nation have the chance to participate in the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the National

Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“NHANES serves as the nation’s ‘health check-up,’ going into communities to collect health information throughout the country,” said NCHS acting director, Jennifer Madans, Ph.D. “The survey is

a unique resource for health information, and without it we would lack important knowledge about major health conditions.”

For the past 55 years, NHANES has had a prominent role in improving the health of all people living in the U.S. Public health officials, legislators, and physicians use the information gathered in NHANES to develop sound health policies, direct and design health programs and services, and expand the health knowledge for the nation. NHANES findings provide critical health-related information on a number of issues such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In addition, NHANES data are used to produce national references and are used to create standardized growth charts for pediatricians across the country.

Everyone in the U.S., from babies yet to be born to the elderly, has benefited from the information gathered by NHANES. The comprehensive data collected by NHANES has a far-reaching and significant impact on everything from the quality of the air we breathe, to the vaccinations you get from your doctor, to the emergence of low-fat and “light” foods on the shelves of your grocery store.

Now, an NHANES team of health professionals, nutritionists and health technicians in Richmond wants everyone selected for the survey to agree to participate Residents will have an invitationonly opportunity to participate in NHANES. Individuals have been selected at random (in a process similar to taking names out of a hat) for NHANES, and include all ages, races, and ethnicities in order to represent the U.S. population as a whole. Respondents first participate in a health interview conducted in the respondent’s home followed by a health examination that takes place in the NHANES mobile examination center.

While no medical care is provided directly in the mobile examination center, a report on physical findings is given to each participant along with an explanation from survey medical staff. All information collected in the survey is kept private.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Sept. 4, 2019• 5

More than three in four Virginians see housing affordability as a problem in America More than three in four Virginians (78 percent) see housing affordability as a problem in America today, and almost half (47 percent) see it as a very serious problem, according to a recently released statewide poll by the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

However, when asked about housing affordability where they lived, respondents were less likely to see it as a problem (57 percent). And only one-third (33 percent) see it as a very serious problem. Likewise, respondents expressed a sense of security in their current housing situation, with 47 percent saying they felt very stable and secure and 33 percent saying they felt fairly stable and secure, the poll found.

The poll, conducted by landline and cellphone from June 9-19, is a random sample of 816 adults in Virginia with an overall margin of error of 3.43 percentage points.

The poll also found that about onethird (34 percent) of respondents said that they or someone they

knew had been evicted, foreclosed upon, or lost their housing in the past five years. When asked about perceptions of future housing costs, the majority of respondents (69 percent) felt that the average rent in their area would increase. The majority (67 percent) also believe the average home price in their area will increase. Thirty percent of respondents said that they have had to take on an additional job, or work more at their current job, to make housing payments in the past three years.

“Even with the governor and General Assembly’s legislative response to data showing half of the top 10 large cities with the highest eviction rates are in Virginia, there’s a continued sense that Virginians see housing affordability as a real problem and are feeling the strain of housing costs,” said Fabrizio Fasulo, Ph.D., Director of the Wilder School’s Center for Urban and Regional Analysis.

Housing affordability is seen as a problem in the United States

“My wife knew that I was mixing things up at work.”

— Mario, living with Alzheimer’s

Respondents in the South Central (60 percent) and Tidewater (50 percent) regions say housing affordability is a very serious problem in America. The West, Northwest and Northern Virginia regions were more likely to say affordability is a fairly serious problem, (33, 23 and 20 percent respectively).

Women (51 percent) were more likely than men (42 percent) to see

the problem as very serious, while men were more likely to say it is not a problem at all (21 vs 8 percent of women). Minorities were more likely to see the problem as very serious (58 percent) compared to 41 percent of whites. Democrats and independents were more likely to see affordability as a very serious problem (57 and 51

(continued on page 13)

When something feels different, it could be Alzheimer’s.

Now is the time to talk.

Visit

alz.org/ourstories to learn more

6 • Sept. 4, 2019

Op/Ed & Letters

The LEGACY

Honoring 400 years of black history SEN. TIM KAINE I had the honor of addressing our Commonwealth as we marked 400 years of African American history since the arrival of the first enslaved Africans into English Colonial America at Point Comfort in 1619.

What does this anniversary mean?

In searching for a way to describe its significance, I was drawn to the words of Oliver White Hill, the pioneering Virginia civil rights lawyer who I came to know when I was a young civil rights lawyer beginning my career in Richmond 35 years ago.

Hill was born in 1907, as Virginia commemorated the 300th anniversary of the arrival of English settlers at Jamestown. He entered an ironclad segregated Virginia that had just passed a Constitution to guarantee discrimination against all people of color. From this start, he set his sights on the emancipation of African-Americans, indeed all Americans, from the bonds of prejudice. In the military, in the courts, as an elected official, as a civil rabble-rouser. He helped win the historic Brown v. Board of Education case and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999.

Hill grappled with the significance of 1619. In fact, he organized a panel symposium in Jamestown 50 years ago-September 1969-to discuss what we are grappling The LEGACY NEWSPAPER Vol. 5 No. 36 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

with today-the monstrous tragedy of slavery and its deep and lasting consequences.

Hill wrote an autobiography in 2000 and chose an unusual title.

“The Big Bang.” The book’s theme was the evolution of mankind and the need for a continuing American Evolution. And I can think of no better way to describe the significance of the arrival of the “20 and odd” African slaves at Point Comfort in August 1619. It was the Big Bang.

In physics, the Big Bang is the violent event that began the universe. Its consequences linger. It was a starting point, and the process that commenced with the Big Bang is not yet complete.

The birth of slavery in our nation was equally violent, both at its start and then for another 246 years. Its debilitating consequences still linger in our nation’s soul.

It occurred precisely at the same time as the birth of legislative democracy in our nation. And beginning in 1619, Virginia legislators and courts helped built the legal architecture enshrining slavery on this shore, just as a Virginian proudly proclaimed a society based on the truth that all were created equal. This dualism of high minded principle and indescribable cruelty has defined us.

The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was one of the most cruel atrocities ever perpetrated by mankind. And yet, 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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how fortunate we are as a country that the descendants of those African slaves and all who followed are still here and part of this nation.

It is impossible to imagine an America without the courage, spirit, and accomplishment of the African diaspora. America would be so much the poorer without our African roots.

It’s on each of us to understand our nation's history and direct the change toward a better future. And we can’t do this silently from the sidelines. Let’s honor our African roots by finally living up to the American ideal that we are all created equal and deserve to live free.

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Sept. 4, 2019• 7

P.T. Hoffsteader, Esq.

Fight to close the racist, sexist pay gaps The extreme pay gap black women in this country continue to face is shameful and damaging.

In the United States today, black women are paid just 61 cents on average for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Over a 40-year career, this punitive gap adds up to more than $946,000 in lost wages - and the gaps are even worse for black moms, making just 54 cents for every dollar paid to white fathers. These lost wages could make an enormous difference in the lives of black families, who could use that money to pay for rent, housing, clothing, education, childcare, health care and more.

A black woman should not have to work nearly 20 months to be paid what white men are paid in 12. This racist, sexist gap harms individuals, families and our economy. There is no justification for it, and it must end.

The black women’s wage gap, which persists across occupations and levels of education, is part of our country’s long, painful history of structural racism and sexism, which continues today. But there are concrete, feasible steps Congress could and should take to help close it.

The U.S. House of Representatives has already taken important steps forward by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would increase pay transparency and strengthen penalties for wage discrimination, as well as the Raise the Wage Act, which would provide a much-needed boost to low-income workers.

It is past time for the U.S. Senate to stop blocking progress and do the same.

And both the House and the Senate should prioritize policies that boost working families, including paid family and medical leave, affordable childcare, paid sick days and more.

We can’t afford to wait any longer for fair pay. Congress must take action to help ensure black women don’t continue to endure a discriminatory wage gap, year after year. We will continue to raise our voices until equal pay is a reality for everyone.

Monifa Bandele, vice president of MomsRising

Is there any rest for U.S.?

Most Americans are tired.

Ask most any American and you will hear an array of reasons why we are tired. The answers range from long work hours to too many obligations.

Lots of things make us tired. We can become mentally tired. We all have things to think about and often we dwell on them. We think, we analyze, we worry and we wonder what tomorrow will bring. We ponder on personal problems, family situations, work issues, health battles.

The list is almost never ending.

Americans deal with health issues and how to pay medical bills.

People who have what seems to be guaranteed retirements even worry about the possibility that life could change for them. A good friend once told me his retirement was set until he was 90. “I’m 88,” he said. “When I become 90 I’m going to run out of money.” He lived to be 91. Many American s worry about outliving their money. Making more money if you live into your eighties has to be more difficult.

Overall, Americans are tired of all our problems. We’re tired of hearing about another killing. We are tired of hearing about our drug crisis. We are tired of hearing Washington and state politicians spout off about what they are going to do but all they

do is get richer promising change, solutions and reform that never come.

Americans are tired of all the arguing we see on television and hear on radio. We know how many of our social media friends feel about the issues. Whenever an issue comes up it’s the same people talking the same rhetoric as before. We already knew how they felt before they said anything. However, some people talk and some people act. About the only action it seems that matters much is voting and it’s sad when some Americans are tired of all of it but they still won’t drag themselves to the polls and vote.

We hear a lot about reviving our economy and breathing more life into America’s work places. We need someone to breathe some life into the average American. Have you ever noticed how many people are walking around looking like they are about half dead? Too many Americans are zoned out, indifferent and zapped of human emotion and energy.

Many Americans and most of the world are trying to feed our souls with any and everything but it never satisfies us. There is rest for America and a peace that passes understanding. This rest and peace is only what God can give and the world can never take it away.

Glenn Mollette

8 • Sept. 4, 2019

The LEGACY

Faith & Religion On Pilgrimage for racial justice across Va., Episcopalians confront horrors of slavery, seek healing In the heavy, humid evening air, dozens of people streamed through the gates of the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery in Alexandria’s Old Town district in August for the first event of the Pilgrimage for Racial Justice.

Organized by the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Britain’s North American colonies, the twoday pilgrimage featured a series of memorials, marches and services across the state, from Alexandria (just across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.) to Abingdon (deep in the heart of Appalachia, near the border with Tennessee).

This journey of remembrance and healing began where the journeys of many victims of the slave trade ended. As its name suggests, the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery is not a typical graveyard. In fact, until 2007, it was the site of a gas station and office building. But it contains the remains of about 1,800 African Americans who fled to Union-occupied Alexandria during the Civil War to escape slavery.

Considered “contraband of war” by the Union, they found freedom in Alexandria but endured squalid living conditions in makeshift refugee camps. Already weak and sick from lives of hard labor, thousands died.

Today, the cemetery is an open field, with some of the graves marked with stones saying simply “GRAVE OF AN ADULT” or “GRAVE OF A CHILD.” A memorial with a statue and a wall containing some of the names of those buried there stand in the center. The recently re-dedicated cemetery embodies the theme of the pilgrimage itself: unearthing a painful history that has lain beneath the surface, and restoring the sacred dignity of those who were dehumanized by a belief system that survives in different forms to this day.

The pilgrimage was organized by the Rev. Melissa Hays-Smith, canon for justice and reconciliation ministries of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, who wanted to commemorate the arrival of the first slaves in

Virginia in late August 1619. But the landing site near Jamestown is far outside her diocese.

“Being in the mountains of Virginia, we don’t have Jamestown, we don’t have a lot of places from the early history” of slavery, Hays-Smith said. “But then we soon realized that the land where we are played a very significant role in this forced migration of African Americans.”

The Diocese of Southwestern Virginia contains a long stretch of the Slavery Trail of Tears, described as “the great missing migration” by Smithsonian magazine. In the half-century before the Civil War, about one million slaves were forcibly moved from Maryland and Virginia, where the tobacco industry was waning, to the Deep South, where they were sold to work on cotton and sugar plantations. The Slavery Trail of Tears was 20 times larger than its namesake, the Native American removal campaign of the 1830s, and the slaves were often forced to walk over 1,000 miles in chains.

Hays-Smith and the clergy of her diocese reached out to African American communities and churches along the route to put together the Pilgrimage for Racial Justice, and the response was enthusiastic. Though the stops on the pilgrimage were geographically linked by the Slavery Trail of Tears, the events they commemorated spanned centuries of racial injustice, from slave trading to lynchings to “urban renewal” projects that destroyed black neighborhoods, highlighting the fact that systemic racism in America did not end with

emancipation or the civil rights movement.

That’s why the icon of a labyrinth was used as a logo for the pilgrimage, Hays-Smith explained at the first stop in Alexandria.

“As we’ve been talking about this, we recognized that this pathway to reconciliation is very much like a labyrinth. And unfortunately, history has repeated itself, and that’s why we can focus on so many different events,” she told the crowd at the cemetery, during a program that included song, prayer and reflection.

One of the other speakers that evening, the Rev. Kim Coleman – newly elected president of the Union of Black Episcopalians – touched on that theme as the crowd prepared to march through the streets of Alexandria.

“We march, remembering the reality that the vestiges of slavery we thought had long passed away are ever-present. … Some ask the question, Do black lives matter? We march because black lives do matter, tomorrow, today and yesterday,” she said to shouts of “Amen!”

After singing “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me,” the crowd silently marched through Old Town, their faces illuminated by the LED candles they held and the red and blue lights of police escorts.

People in the restaurants and bars that line Washington Street gazed out at the procession as it made its way to the building where Isaac Franklin and John Armfield – “the undisputed tycoons of the domestic slave trade,” according to Smithsonian – had their offices and slave pens.

Franklin and Armfield sold about 20,000 slaves through those slave pens, according to Alton Wallace, who spoke that evening.

At the Franklin and Armfield Office, the crowd shared a moment of prayer and sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” sometimes called “the black national anthem.” It was too dark for those without candles to read the sheet music they’d been given, but it didn’t matter. They knew this one.

It was even hotter the next morning in the picturesque town of Staunton in the Shenandoah

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www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

Sept. 4, 2019• 9

(from page 8) Valley, but that didn’t stop a large crowd from showing up, excited to march through the downtown streets. They gathered in front of the old Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, the first church established by African Americans west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“I’ve often wondered about those black folks who remained here in Dixie when the war was done,” said the Rev. Edward Scott, pastor of Allen Chapel. “But they stayed just the same, and in an act of faith, which is the substance of things hoped for in the evidence of things certainly not seen, they established a church. … They built this fortress to secure their prosperity, and to honor the God who troubled the waters to dissolve bondage.”

Leaders from Allen and the local Episcopal church led the crowd in a responsive litany that traced the long history of systemic racism in America, from slavery to the Ku Klux Klan to Jim Crow to present-day voter suppression and unequal policing of neighborhoods. After each prompt, the people responded in a loud, clear voice, “We remember and we repent.”

Then the crowd marched into downtown Stanton, a district full of well-preserved 19thcentury architecture. But not all of the city was considered worth preserving. The march became a tour of what was once a black neighborhood north of downtown, razed in the mid-20th century to make room for a mall that was never even built. Historians and senior citizens pointed out the sites of former black businesses and homes, where there is now a row of banks, parking lots and a Domino’s Pizza.

A hundred or so people participated, representing a diverse mix of ages, races and religious backgrounds. Stephanie Johnson, an elderly member of Allen Chapel and a descendant of its first pastor, wheeled her oxygen tank behind her as she walked.

“We are all people – doesn’t matter what color you are, what church you go to,” she said. “Today has been great. I’m satisfied.”

Katherine Low, who brought her 5-yearold daughter on the march, is a chaplain and professor at Mary Baldwin University, a racially diverse liberal arts college in Staunton. She said she came to support the community, but also to learn.

“It’s important for me to understand the systems that my students face that I have the privilege of not having to face,” said Low, who is white.

While spirits were high in Staunton, the next event, in Roanoke, was somber and sobering: a

service of remembrance for the victims of two lynchings in 1892 and 1893. The service took place in the garden of a Lutheran church near the sites of the lynchings of William Lavender and Thomas Smith.

Lavender and Smith were both accused of assaulting white women, but they were hanged and riddled with bullets before they could ever stand trial.

“We come in remembrance of those whose lives were sacrificed on the altar of racism, hatred, bigotry, but ultimately because of fear,” the Rev. David Jones, a Baptist pastor, said in the invocation. “We come because we serve and celebrate a God who still transforms victims into victors.”

Jones urged those in attendance to look on the lynchings not merely as historical events, but as dire warnings.

“Today, let us be illuminated, motivated and even infuriated, if necessary, so that no one can say that they were ignorant of the evil that still percolates just beneath the surface of our wellpracticed civility,” he said.

After historical accounts of the lynchings were read, the Rev. Lyle Morton, a Methodist pastor, vividly recalled being warned about the price he could pay simply for looking or moving a certain way.

“I, being a black man growing up in Prince Edward County, was taught to walk so that I wouldn’t become a fruit,” he told the crowd, a reference to the “strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees” in the song “Strange Fruit” made famous by Billie Holiday.

The fourth event on the pilgrimage was held in a park in Radford on the wide New River, which slaves in Franklin and Armfield’s chains had to ford at great peril while their masters crossed in boats. Today, a high bridge carries the Lee Highway over the river, and clumps of teenagers floated by on inner tubes as the service began with the Negro spiritual “Wade in the Water.”

The featured speaker in Radford was Wornie Reed, director of the Race and Social Policy Research Center and professor of sociology and Africana Studies at Virginia Tech. Reed, a distinguished scholar who in his youth worked with Martin Luther King Jr., is renowned for his lectures, which showcase his encyclopedic knowledge of African American history.

But his remarks in Radford were different. As he began to speak, his voice trembled.

“I’m still a little emotional,” he said, from hearing “Wade in the Water.”

“The song is very meaningful to me,” he went on. “A lot of memories came back as we sit here and look out at the river and the green trees and all of that. I’m reminded of the day that I was taken down to the creek to be baptized in McIntosh, Ala. And that’s the song they sang.”

Among the founders of the church that baptized him was his great-grandfather, a former slave.

In his prepared remarks, Reed recounted the horrific conditions on the Slavery Trail of Tears and its lingering consequences: economic injustice and voter suppression.

“There are some communities where you can still see the scars,” he said. “So this is, as we said earlier, not a happy time. But it’s a time to recognize and to realize some things that happened that brought us to today.”

The pilgrimage concluded with a “Communion Service of Lament, Reconciliation and Commitment” at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Abingdon, another town whose main street still looks much as it did when the Slavery Trail of Tears ran through it.

The service was celebrated by the Rt. Rev. Mark Bourlakas, bishop of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, with the assistance of several black clergy members from nearby churches.

Congregants from the various churches led a Litany of Repentance and Commitment similar to the one used in Staunton. Two members of the federal 400 Years of African-American History Commission spoke. But perhaps the most moving aspect of the service happened during Communion, when the invited pastors offered healing prayers for all, embracing those who approached them and anointing them with oil.

By the time everyone had returned to their seats, several people remarked that the atmosphere in the church seemed different – that something had changed.

“I believe that this is the beginning,” said the Rev. Joseph Green Jr., who gave the sermon.

“This is a moment in time that we can use to propel us into the next generations.”

10 • Sept. 4, 2019

The LEGACY

Navy officer accused of ‘nonconsensual sexual contact’ with sailor and soldier A Virginia-based Navy officer is facing a court-martial trial for allegedly making “nonconsensual sexual contact” with a sailor and a soldier, according to Navy charge sheets.

Ensign Merritt D. Hale is accused of touching a sailor’s breast in Leesburg, Virginia, on March 17, 2018, charge sheets state.

Military prosecutors also allege he kissed the neck of a soldier and touched the buttocks of at least

one other victim on the same day, according to charge sheets.

All told, Hale faces four specifications of abusive sexual contact and four specifications of assault consummated by a battery.

The specifications fall under Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice outlawing sexual assault.

Because the names of the alleged victims are redacted in the records provided to Navy Times, it remains unclear exactly how many people

Hale is accused of unlawfully touching or what their genders might be.

Hale’s civilian criminal defense attorney, Eric Leckie, did not return repeated requests for comment.

Charges tossed against officer accused of recording shipmates Charges tossed against officer accused of recording shipmates No trial date has been set, according to Navy Region MidAtlantic officials.

Hale received his commission

through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Virginia in 2016, according to service records.

Originally from Virginia, he has been a student at the Information Warfare Training Command in Virginia Beach since late 2017.

He also studied at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, South Carolina, from September 2016 to November 2016, service records show.

marriage and intimate partnerships have a positive influence on health and against risky behavior.

“There’s a consistent finding that people in a relationship — typically they look at marriage, but these people were too young for that — have better health and engage in fewer risky behaviors, on average, compared to people who are single or not in a relationship,” Barr said.

Relationships, he said, often result in “increased social control,” meaning the partners monitor one another’s behavior. “There’s someone around who might say: ‘Oh, you’re drinking too much,’” he said. “’Maybe you should cut back on that.’”

Another explanation might be that relationships generally involve certain expectations. “Such as: To be a good father, husband or boyfriend, maybe going out and drinking to the

point of intoxication is not congruent with those expectations,” he said.

From a research perspective, Barr said, the study’s findings show the need to include external factors — such as a person’s relationship status or education level — when researchers seek to understand the interplay of genetics and health.

It also has implications for personalized medicine, in which an individual’s genetic data is used to better tailor prevention and intervention in health care.

“Things like genetic risks can’t be understood independent of social context,” he said. “So in our push towards precision medicine, we need to think not just about your own personal predisposition, but your own personal predisposition embedded in different levels of context.”

Love conquers most, including genetic predisposition to alcoholism People with a genetic predisposition to risky alcohol behavior are less likely to drink frequently, become intoxicated often, or suffer from alcohol dependence symptoms if they are in a romantic relationship, according to a new study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher.

“We found that the effect of genetic risk for alcohol use was weaker among those who were currently in a relationship,” said lead author Peter Barr, Ph.D., a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences.

However, romantic relationships’ “protective effect” against becoming intoxicated frequently was limited to men, bolstering previous research findings that men in romantic partnerships tend to experience greater health benefits than women.

The study found no differences between men and women when it came to drinking frequency or alcohol dependence symptoms.

The study, “Polygenic Risk for

Alcohol Misuse is Moderated by Romantic Partnerships,” will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Addiction. It was based on a sample of 1,201 twins born between 1983 and 1987 identified through Finland’s central population registry.

The study does not suggest causality between romantic relationships and reduced risk for problem drinking, but it did observe that relationships reduce the risk of the realization of underlying genetic predisposition to drinking.

“The big takeaway here is that [a] genetic predisposition [to alcohol consumption] was stronger in people not in a relationship compared to people in a relationship for all those different levels of severity in drinking — from how often you drink, how often you drink to intoxication, and problem drinking [or] alcohol dependence symptoms,” Barr said.

The study’s conclusions reinforce previous findings in sociological and epidemiological research that

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12 • Sept. 4, 2019

The LEGACY

Henrico Public Schools using “Anonymous Alerts” system to improve communication on safety concerns Henrico County Public Schools has a new way for those who “see something to say something”.

Students, parents and guardians, staff and community members now have access to an app and website called “Anonymous Alerts” to communicate with school administrators.

The system, according to the Richmondarea school division, provides a new way to voice safety concerns – from threats and bullying to worries about classmates who may be depressed. It’s free tool that establishes encrypted, anonymous two-way communication between those submitting reports and administrators, and allows those using the system to include photos, screenshots and videos with their reports.

A mobile app is available for download for iOS and Android devices, and an app is also available for Chromebook laptops from the Chromebook Store. Users can choose from multiple languages. Students and others making reports can also use HCPS’ Anonymous Alerts website, available at https://report.anonymousalerts.com/henrico/.

Each HCPS school’s webpage also includes a link to the site.

Using the system, school administrators will not only be able to engage in anonymous twoway communication with those submitting reports, they can get incident reports in real time and analyze trends.

The app and website replace Henrico County Public Schools’ previous anonymous safety reporting system called “Silence Hurts.” That system was not available as an app, and did not allow two-way communication or the ability to include photos, screenshots and videos.

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Sept. 4, 2019• 13

VIC to launch “Paid Sick Days for all Virginians” campaign School is back on and children are excited to share their stories of summer fun, but parents and teachers know they will also be sharing their germs. Many parents cannot take a day off of work to care for a sick child, so they send their children to school sick, putting the whole community at risk. In Virginia, employers are not required to offer paid sick days or paid time off.

That means more than 1.2 million workers (41 percent of private-sector workers) have no paid time off.

Faith leaders, legislators and teachers will be bringing boxes of tissues to a press conference on Sept. 5 at Pocahontas Building, 900 E. Main St., Richmond, to help launch Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy’s “Paid Sick Days for All Virginians” campaign. This state-wide initiative aims to pass legislation requiring employers to provide five paid sick days to full-time workers.

Speakers will include Sen. Barbara Favola (D-31st) and Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-31st) who are filing bills for the upcoming 2020 General Assembly.

The Virginia Interfaith Center is leading the campaign to pass laws that require businesses

(from page 5) percent respectively) compared to Republicans (31). Republicans (25 percent) were more likely to say it’s not a problem at all compared to 13 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats.

Local housing affordability is seen as a problem in some regions When asked about housing affordability where they live, respondents in the South Central region were again more likely to say it was a very serious problem (47 percent), followed by those in Northern Virginia (41 percent).

Respondents in the Northwest (55 percent), Tidewater (51 percent) and West (40 percent) regions were more likely to say affordability was not a problem in their area.

College graduates were more likely to see affordability as a very serious problem in their area (41 percent), compared to respondents with some college (29 percent) and those with a high school education or less (28 percent). Minorities were

Kim Bobo with six or more employees to provide five paid sick days for full-time workers that workers can use to care for themselves or their family members. The law will also ensure that workers can use their sick days without fear of being fired or facing retribution. If we care about children’s success in school, we have to support policies that help parents at work.

Everyone benefits from a paid sick day

more likely to say affordability was a very serious problem (42 vs 28 percent of whites). Independents and Democrats were more likely to say very serious (43 and 40 percent respectively) compared to 17 percent of Republicans. Republicans were more likely to say affordability was not a problem at all in their area (58 percent) compared to independents (35 percent) and Democrats (28 percent).

Majority of participants felt stable in their current housing situation In addition to not seeing affordability as a problem in their area, a majority of respondents in the Tidewater, Northwest and West were more likely to say they felt very stable and secure in their current housing situations (56 percent, 52 percent and 50 percent respectively). Whereas South Central (41 percent) and Northern Virginia (40 percent) still had about four in 10 saying the same.

Respondents with incomes of $50,000 to $100,000 said they feel very stable and secure (54 percent). While those with family

standard, according to the center. Children heal faster and don’t infect others when their parents can stay home with them. Workers also heal faster and don’t infect coworkers when they can stay home. Businesses benefit from decreased turnover and a reduction in the spread of illness.

Diners benefit when food service workers stay home when they are sick (81 percent of food service workers have no paid sick days).

Children, parents, workers, businesses and the community all benefit from paid sick days. Eightfive percent of voters say employers should offer paid sick days and eleven states already have paid sick day requirements. It’s time for Virginia to implement Paid Sick Days for all Virginians.

“Paid sick days should be a public health priority,” said Kim Bobo, executive director of Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.

“People of faith and goodwill call upon our state senators and delegates to enact legislation to protect our children and our workforce by mandating paid sick days. Virginia was recently ranked the number one state for business, let’s make it the number one state for workers, families and children.”

income of less than $50,000 were more likely to say fairly stable and secure (40 percent). A majority of whites (55 percent) said they feel very stable in their current housing situation while only 32 percent of minorities say the same. A majority of Republicans (61 percent) say they feel very stable compared to 41 percent of independents and 39 percent of Democrats.

Limited budget, poor credit score, and lack of down payment noted as primary obstacles to home ownership Sixty percent of respondents own their home, while 35 percent rent and 6 percent live with their parents or in some other arrangement.

These numbers are comparable to percentages reported in a 2016 national survey on housing issues.

When those who rent or live with parents (41 percent of the total sample) were asked whether they aspire to own a home, 70 percent said yes, 22 percent said no and 8 percent said they don’t know.

This group also was asked about obstacles to buying a home. Twentytwo percent said there were limited

options within their budget, 18 percent noted a poor credit history, 15 percent said they lacked the down payment and 11 percent noted existing debt being an obstacle.

Those respondents with incomes of $50,000 or more were much more likely to own a home — 72 percent with incomes of $50,000 to $100,000 and 85 percent of those with incomes over $100,000. More than half (53 percent) of those making less than $50,000 rent.

Respondents in Tidewater, Northwest and West were more likely to own their home (67, 66 and 65 percent respectively) while those in South Central (48 percent) and Northern Virginia (37 percent) were more likely to rent. Two-thirds of whites (66 percent) own their home, while minorities are more split between owning (49 percent) and renting (43 percent). Republicans are more likely to own (77 percent), while Democrats and independents are split — 54 percent of Democrats own and 42 percent rent; while 46 percent of independents rent and 42 percent own.

14 • Sept. 4, 2019

The LEGACY

Va. AG secures judgment against unlicensed installer of mobility aids and equipment Virginia has secured a default judgment against James R. Clore, Jr., Access Mobility Equipment, LLC, and 2911 Mobility, LLC, for defrauding elderly and disabled consumers out of thousands of dollars they paid for the installation and delivery of mobility aids and equipment. Additionally, Clore offered and contracted for contractor services without having the proper contractor’s license in violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. A hearing will be held to determine injunctive and monetary relief for those affected by Clore and his deceptive business dealings.

Back in May, Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring filed suit against Clore, Access Mobility Equipment, LLC and 2911 Mobility, LLC. “It is sickening that someone would take advantage of some of our

most vulnerable citizens like this,” said Herring. “These consumers were swindled out of their money while attempting to purchase muchneeded equipment to help them move about their homes in a safe and comfortable way. I hope this sends a message to other individuals that they will be held accountable if they take advantage of older and disabled Virginians.”

Clore, and his affiliated businesses – Access Mobility Equipment, LLC, and 2911 Mobility, LLC, offered to provide and install in consumers’ homes mobility aids and equipment, including stairlifts, wheelchair ramps, and walk-in tubs. Clore took large up-front payments from Virginians – amounting well into the thousands of dollars and over 75 percent of the total quoted price – and never returned to deliver the products or complete the

installations. Because of the nature of the products to be installed, the consumers victimized typically were, or were family members of, elderly, infirm, sick, or disabled Virginians.

Clore has also done business as Virginia Stairlifts and New Beginnings Mobility.

Additionally, when the promised installation or delivery dates arrived, Clore would continuously push back those dates, citing multiple excuses, ranging from Clore’s health and family issues to weather conditions, as to why the delivery and installation could not be completed. As consumers began to demand refunds, Clore made promises – often in writing – to return their money. Clore made false promises to numerous consumers that refund checks were on the way, but, when the consumers did not receive their refund money, Clore

offered more excuses as to why the money did not arrive. In some cases, Clore set up false mail-tracking numbers to mislead consumers into believing that their refunds were on the way, when that was not the case.

Few consumers received full reimbursement from Clore, and the ones who did typically only got their money back after making numerous angry demands or seeking the assistance of law enforcement.

The lawsuit asked the court to award restitution to the affected consumers and enjoin Clore and his affiliated companies from violating the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The suit also seeks an award of civil penalties of up to $2,500 per willful violation, and reimbursement of the commonwealth’s costs, reasonable investigative expenses and attorneys’ fees.

New UR program to incubate solutions to lead poisoning, etc

The Bonner Center for Civic Engagement at the University of Richmond will welcome two Richmond nonprofit leaders to campus to conduct research on lead poisoning and health care assessment tools as a part of its new Community Partner-in-Residence Fellowship.

Piloted in August, this program provides participants the space and resources necessary for in-depth research and reflection.

“The nonprofit sector demands significant commitments making it difficult for Richmond nonprofit changemakers to find the time and freedom necessary to research and reflect on creative solutions and ideas,” said the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement’s Associate Director for Community Relationships Kim Dean-Anderson.

This year’s inaugural fellowships

were awarded to Queen Zakia Rafiqa Shabazz, coordinator of the Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative and founder of United Parents Against Lead, and Carol Dunlap, family services director of Goochland Cares.

After discovering her son had been poisoned by lead in 1996, Shabazz established the Virginia Chapter of United Parents Against Lead, which evolved into United Parents Against Lead and Other Environmental Hazards. Shabazz will spend her fellowship researching the effects of lead poisoning in the greater Richmond community.

As the family services director at Goochland Cares, Dunlap works to ensure Goochland residents in need are able to receive basic services.

Dunlap will develop assessment tools for measuring the impact of Goochland Cares programming.

The pair’s UR residency will run from August through December, and each will receive a $6,000 stipend. Fellows will share their research with the community through open presentations, invitational meetings, and classes.

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(from page 2) and find out why the Census Bureau is not being allowed to simply state the government position in that lawsuit,” Thompson said. “I think that the Census Bureau is not being allowed to state the government's position, and that raises the specter that something is going on behind the scenes.”

Efforts to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the apportionment count through lawsuits go back to the 1980s. Led by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an immigration restrictionist group, the cases were ultimately dismissed.

Most recently, however, the idea was resurrected by Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state who discussed the addition of a citizenship question with officials during Trump’s 2016 election campaign. In an email to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, Kobach suggested wording for a question that would ask noncitizens about their immigration status, noting the “problem that aliens who do not actually ‘reside’ in the United States are still counted for congressional reapportionment purposes.”

While Justice Department attorneys representing the administration in the case have asked for the Alabama lawsuit to be dismissed, U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor in Birmingham, Ala., has called the DOJ’s efforts “rather halfhearted.”

Late last year, Proctor allowed groups represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and other legal organizations to intervene in the lawsuit. In an opinion last year, he wrote that allowing the groups to participate in the case “will increase the prospect that the court will be more fully informed of the best arguments that support” the Census Bureau’s position.

Recently, New York State Attorney

NY State AG Letitia James General Letitia James’ office led a coalition of more than two dozen states, counties and cities — as well as the U.S. Conference of Mayors — in asking Proctor to allow them to also defend the bureau in the lawsuit, arguing that they could lose congressional seats and Electoral College votes, as well as federal funding, if unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. are no longer considered residents for the purposes of the census.

“No individual ceases to be a person because they lack documentation,” James said in a written statement after the court filings were released.

The city of Atlanta and Virginia’s Arlington County filed a similar request. Proctor had previously scheduled a hearing for Sept. 6, to determine the next steps in the case.

“The Constitution requires that every single person living in the United States is counted as part of the decennial census and Alabama’s lawsuit is just another attempt to discriminate against immigrant populations and the states where they live,” said Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat.

“A fair and accurate census is crucial as it determines how many congressional representatives and Electoral College votes a state gets as well as federal funding for programs like health care, education or transportation, and Alabama’s lawsuit could drastically impact

that. My colleagues and I intervened in this case because the Trump Administration has shown time and again that they will not adequately defend laws if they do not support their discriminatory agenda and the outcomes of the 2020 census are too important.”

In their request to Proctor, attorneys for the coalition cited remarks by U.S. Attorney General William Barr in the White House Rose Garden last month, when Trump announced his administration was backing down from its failed attempt to add a citizenship question that three federal courts have now permanently blocked from appearing on 2020 census forms.

As an alternative, Trump announced he was issuing an executive order, which essentially repackages ongoing Census Bureau efforts ordered by the administration last year to produce citizenship data based on the records of other federal agencies. The order also notes that citizenship data could help the government “generate a more reliable count of the unauthorized alien population in the country.”

During the announcement, Barr noted that the data “will be used for countless purposes” and referenced Alabama’s lawsuit: “For example, there is a current dispute over whether illegal aliens can be included for apportionment purposes.

Depending on the resolution of that dispute, this data may be relevant to those considerations. We will be studying this issue.”

Still, more than a week later, Justice Department attorneys made a court filing asking for Alabama’s lawsuit to be tossed out.

The Justice Department declined to elaborate on Barr’s remarks or comment on whether it intends to continue defending the Census Bureau in the Alabama lawsuit, according to an email from DOJ spokesperson Kelly Laco.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Sept. 4, 2019• 15

The Alabama case, however, has apparently stopped census officials from talking about the bureau's long-standing interpretation of its constitutional mandate. In fact, on a “Frequently Asked Questions” page on its official website, the bureau explains: “The apportionment calculation is based upon the total resident population (citizens and non-citizens) of the 50 states.”

Robert Groves — who was appointed

by Obama to serve as the Census Bureau’s director during the 2010 census — sees the bureau’s refusal to comment because of “ongoing litigation” as a “pretty common response” for “all institutions.”

But Groves said he doesn’t see “any wiggle room” in reinterpreting the constitutional mandate to include only citizens for divvying up congressional seats.

“It’s a clear line of statute and constitutional amendments that make the resident population the count that drives the reapportionment process,” said Groves, who now serves as the provost of Georgetown University.

A former Census Bureau director appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents agrees with Groves. Vincent Barabba, who led the bureau for two terms and served under Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, said in an email that he feels “confident that it was the intention of the founders of our county to use the complete count to apportion the House of Representatives.”

“Unless Congress begins the process of amending the constitution to change the process that has been continually used,” Barabba added, “I would continue to use the existing process.”

In July, however, Trump appeared to signal a potential change after the 2020 count when a reporter asked the reason for trying to get a citizenship question on the census.

“No. 1,” the president said before boarding the Marine One helicopter from the White House lawn, “you need it for Congress.” - NPR

16 • Sept. 4, 2019

The LEGACY

Calendar 9.7, 9 a.m.

HCA Virginia Hospitals will be taking part in the “Crush the Crisis,” opioid drug take-back day, which will allow the community to safely dispose of unused or expired opioid medications.

The drug take-back collection sites will be available at the following locations: - Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute, 7607 Forest Ave., Richmond; - Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, 4600 Spotsylvania Pkwy., Fredericksburg; - Swift Creek Emergency Center, 14720 Hancock Village St., Chesterfield.

Volunteers will be collecting tablets, capsules, and patches of Hydrocodone (Norco, Lortab, Vicodin), Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), Tramadol (Ultram), Codeine, Fentanyl (Duragesic), Morphine, Hydromorphone (Dilaudid), and Oxymorphone (Opana). Needles, syringes, lancets or liquids will not be accepted.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, prescription opioid involved overdose deaths in Virginia have not decreased since 2011, with the total reported deaths in 2017 alone reaching 404 people. Overall in Virginia in 2017, a rate of 14.8 deaths to 1,000 persons, versus the national average of 14.6 deaths, was recorded. This included a marked uptick in deaths related to the abuse of synthetic opioids.

More than 65 HCA Healthcare facilities across 14 states are uniting to collect unused or expired opioids for one day. For more information, call 833-582-1970.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

Sept. 5, 5 - 8 p.m.

9.12, 6 p.m.

Enjoy free admission, live jazz programmed by Richmond Jazz Society.

September’s featured artist is Fabian Lance Duo. Fabian Lance is an innovative keyboardist, teacher, producer, composer and arranger who performs in the tradition of George Duke and Herbie Hancock.

Kickoff the weekend with some cool jazz, wine, and wings at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, 122 West Leigh St., Richmond.

A complimentary seminar giving an overview of social security benefits to assist in retirement planning will be offered at the Virginia Credit Union Administrative Headquarters in the Boulders Office Park, 7500 Boulder View Dr., Richmond.

The seminar will be offered by the MEMBERS Financial Services Representatives located at Virginia Credit Union. To register, call 804323-6800 or visit www.vacu.org/ seminars.

9.14, 10 a.m.

Sept. 9 & 11, 6:30 p.m.

Henrico County Public Schools is examining and redrawing elementary, middle and high school attendance zones for the 2021-22 school year. That redistricting process now has a timeline and a schedule of opportunities for the public to provide input.

The first opportunities for the public to learn more about the process will come on two evenings in September. There will be a public information session Sept. 9 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at New Bridge Learning Center auditorium, and an identical session Sept. 11 at Glen Allen High School.

In addition to the redistricting timeline, the committee that will collaborate on the work will soon be finalized. Applicants selected for the committee have been notified and are in the process of confirming their participation. Three hundred and eighty-five community members applied to participate. Each HCPS school attendance area will be represented on the committee.

In addition to attending public information sessions and School Board meetings, members of the public are welcome to attend redistricting committee meetings as observers.

Follow updates on this important process at https://henricoschools.us/ redistricting2021/ and look for more ways to add your voice in coming months.

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

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

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (AKA), Upsilon Omicron Omega Chapter, will hold its AKAs L.E.A.D. Town Hall Meeting at Norfolk Technical Center at 1330 North Military Highway This free, nonpartisan voter engagement event is designed to offer the public the opportunity to Learn, Empower, Advocate and Decide (L.E.A.D.) in anticipation of the upcoming election season.

Confirmed speakers include Congresswoman Elaine Luria (2nd District, Virginia), Delegate Jay Jones (89th District, Virginia General Assembly), Maribel Castañeda (Office of Governor Ralph S. Northam), Mona Gunn (National President, American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.), and a number of Hampton Roads area candidates for the November 2019 General Election.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated is an international service organization that was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC in 1908. It is the oldest Greek letter organization established by African-American college-educated women.

Sept. 4, 2019• 17

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Pan American Games protest Imboden and Berry get 12-month probation AL NEAL POINT OF VIEW To think of the lengths the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee took in covering up decades of sexual abuse– just to save face, is absolutely stunning.

A Senate investigation into the USOPC back in July found that: “Repeatedly, institutions failed to act aggressively to report wrongdoing to proper law enforcement agencies.

“Repeatedly, men and women entrusted with positions of power prioritized their reputation or the reputation of an NGB over the health and safety of the athletes. Repeatedly, USOC, [USA Gymnastics] and other [National Governing Bodies (NGBs)] took actions to conceal their negligence and failed to enact serious reforms, even after they were faced with the courageous accounts of survivors.”

Since the conviction of former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar—now serving 175-years in prison for sexual assault—hundreds of athletes have come forward with damning reports of widespread abuse.

In the face of overwhelming evidence, they were slow to respond.

Yet, retribution by the USOPC came swiftly for two Olympic athletes who staged political demonstrations on the medals podium during the Pan American Games.

Fencer Race Imboden took a knee, and hammer thrower Gwen Berry raised her fist during the national anthem.

Gwendolyn Berry of United States waves prior to in the women's hammer throw final during the athletics at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Aug. 10. PHOTO: Rebecca Blackwell AP. USOPC Sarah Hirshland sent a letter of reprimand—with a not so subtle warning to other athletes, and placed Berry and Imboden on 12-month probation.

“It is also important for me to point out that, going forward, issuing a reprimand to other athletes in a similar instance is insufficient,” wrote Hirshland.

It is clear from the letter, athletes who try to stage protests during the Olympic Games in Tokyo will face harsher reactions.

It’s the International Olympic Committee’s role to discipline athletes who break rules forbidding political protest during the Olympics—the IOC being responsible for triggering the

ejection of John Carlos and Tommie Smith after their iconic 1968 protest.

For athletes to compete at the Pan Am Games they first must agree to not engage in any political demonstrations.

“We recognize that we must more clearly define for Team USA athletes what a breach of these rules will mean in the future,” wrote Hirshland. “Working with the (athletes and national governing body councils), we are committed to more explicitly defining what the consequences will be for members of Team USA who protest at future Games.”

Both athletes will be eligible for the Olympics next summer, as U.S. voters delve deeper into the

presidential campaign.

Hirshland said she respected the perspectives of athletes and would work with the IOC “to engage in a global discussion on these matters [political protest].”

“However, we can’t ignore the rules or the reason they exist,” she wrote Funny…it seemed easy for the USOPC to ignore the rules and “their existence” when the choice came down to them or athletes’ wellbeing—it’s not surprising, just shameful.

Rules seem to never apply to rulers, and it’s about time we change that— not only in the world of professional sports.

18 • Sept. 4, 2019

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