AFRICAN AMERICAN TODAY
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The uncomfortable conversation
The shootings of unarmed black men by police and the Confederate flag debate have stirred emotions in our nation leaving the question: Is a post-racial America still so far away? PAGE 6
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THE BIG PICTURE
A demonstrator holds a sign bearing the likeness of Eric Garner and Michael Brown before a march to protest the death of Garner in the Staten Island borough of New York. Garner, 43, died as a result of a police chokehold during an attempted arrest.
WELCOME
W
HEN PRESIDENT Barack Obama was elected in 2008, polls showed that about two-thirds of Americans believed race relations were generally good. But in 2015, after a historically bad 18-month stretch of controversy, polls showed that some 60 percent of Americans feel race relations are bad and getting worse. African American Today takes a look at this issue through a series of essays and updates, looking not to answer questions, but to prompt conversation. Also this year, we celebrate the milestone achievement of one of our local heroes and recognize the good work of one of our institutions. Thank you for joining us.
what’s inside 2 Louise Lucus’ milestone 4 Casemate Museum 5 Black history events 6 Cover story: America in protest, mourning 10 Timeline: Events of the past year 17 Law enforcement and race 18 Confederate imagery debate 19 Where are the protest songs?
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Sen. Lucas reaches a milestone By Stephanie L. Arnold Correspondent
Democratic Sen. Louise Lucas celebrates her silver anniversary in the General Assembly this year, an accomplishment that places her tenure behind only Sens. Richard L. Saslaw and (technically) Janet D. Howell, both Democrats. She took her oath of office on Jan. 8, 1992 (the same day as Howell), and ever since she has been a strong advocate for the people of Portsmouth and an unrelenting proponent for economic and racial equality. She started her federal career as an apprentice ship fitter at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and has since started several businesses. The longtime senator and powerbroker has plans to build a hotel in her city and is a dogged advocate for legalizing casinos in Virginia. This session Lucas has introduced Senate Bill 31, which allows for an interim commission to develop a redistricting plan to close gaps in her gerrymandered districts. She is also still fighting for legalized casinos. “I want to see the people who go to Delaware and Maryland and DC to cross back over and put their dollars in our community. Initially, I wanted the casino in Portsmouth,
but now I don’t care where it is as long as it is in Virginia.� So, as Lucas commemorates her 25th year of service to the 18th district, we asked her a few questions.
Is there anything that can be done at your level about the issue of law enforcement shooting unarmed black men? The Legislative Black Caucus has not been able to meet to talk about this in depth, but this a conversation we have often. The bottom line is that police have got to be trained. We’ve got to have more training, more human rights training and more community policing. It has to happen at the local level. We’re talking about boots on the ground.
What are you prepared to do to help at your level? I think any legislator here can help with directing grants to localities that apply for them.
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What are your thoughts on the Confederate flag/Confederate monuments? Only the General Assembly can remove a Confederate monument. I don’t think there’s an appetite in the assembly to do that right now. I just don’t see any legislation getting passed that would move that forward. It’s a sad reminder of a dark period of our history. Locally, nothing can be done about it.
Would you introduce such a bill?
Virginia Sen. Louise Lucas D-Portsmouth
Not this year. I’ve reached my bill limit. We have a certain number of bills we can introduce and I’m at my max. At this point, it would be difficult to introduce a bill without unanimous consent.
What would you be doing if you weren’t in public office?
What are you most proud of in your career? I feel profound gratitude for the opportunity to serve in the Senate of Virginia and I am humbled by the people of the 18th Senatorial District who have continued to elect me.
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This sketch that appeared in Leslie’s Illustrated in 1861 shows contraband being put to work by Union soldiers.
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Casemate works to present full picture of history
We’re doing what any good museum would do. Everything we’re doing is not necessarily afrocentric, but we’re always looking for ways to improve.”
Commissioned under President James Monroe, Fort Monroe is the largest masonry fort ever built. Its purpose: To protect the union from invasion after the British Navy burned Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812. As an installation, it originally focused primarily on highlighting military-related history. So, the recordkeeping of union soldiers and other white men in power at the time is relatively comprehensive. The museum, originally housing quarters and an emplacement for artillery (hence the name “Casemate”), is also home to some of the most important history for early slaves. That experience, however, wasn’t preserved in the same way, which makes it difficult to tell their stories. For example, inside the museum is an exhibit that describes the Contra-
Robin Reed, Casemate’s director
Continued on the next page
By Stephanie L. Arnold Correspondent
HAMPTON | When visitors enter the Casemate Museum, to the right is a large mounted placard that explains how the first Africans arrived in America at Jamestown in 1619 – a tidbit of history that has been accepted as fact for years. The problem is, we now know the first group actually arrived on the grounds where the museum now sits. Addressing this shortcoming, and others like it, has become Casemate’s driving ambition, as officials continue efforts to better present the full picture of history. Casemate sits on Fort Monroe, a 570acre former military installation. Its transition to the civilian world, along with President Barack Obama declaring the fort a national monument in 2011, is allowing the museum to give a richer narrative.
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CALENDAR band Decision – a proclamation issued by Union Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler that listed slaves as confiscated contraband, thus protecting them from being returned to their owners. Another exhibit features Harriet Tubman, one of the most significant figures in the liberation of slaves. Tubman worked as chief nurse at the Contraband hospital. Unfortunately, the museum’s information on both exhibits is somewhat limited. Museum officials say more context is needed, so they are reaching out for help. “We need to elaborate and do more research on that history,” said Veronica Gallardo, the museum’s collection manager. “We also know that we need to include other scholars, communities and universities.” Robin Reed, Casemate’s director, said the museum
is now using interns from local schools, including Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University and Christopher Newport University. The students help with research while learning about the museum business. Gallardo is working with two NSU interns who are examining exhibits and finding areas where there are gaps or a lack of inclusiveness. Gallardo and Reed hope that with the “strong and active internship pro gram” and a desire to tell a more complete story, it will continue to experience growth. Since the president’s proclamation, visits have increased by 40 to 50 percent, officials said. “We’re doing what any good museum would do,” Reed said. “Everything we’re doing is not necessarily afro-centric, but we’re always looking for ways to improve.”
10 African American history events in South Hampton Roads this month President’s Lecture Series: Alicia Garza, social activist and co-creator of the viral hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2. Big Blue Room, Ted Constant Convocation Center, 4320 Hampton Blvd, Norfolk. Free and open to the public. Seating is limited. RSVP at odu.imodules. com/agz16.
1-4 p.m. Feb. 6. North Suffolk Library, 2000 Bennetts Creek Park Road. Free. 514-7150. suffolkpubliclibrary.com.
The Hampton Years: Virginia Stage Company play set at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in the 1940s. 7 p.m. Feb. 2; 8 p.m. Feb. 3-5; 4 and 8 p.m. Feb. 6; 2 p.m. Feb. 7. The Wells Theatre, 108 E. Tazewell St. $19-$55. myvastage.com. The Hurrah Players Family Theater: Segment performances of “Once On This Island,” a classic play in African American theater. Children’s Museum of Virginia, 221 High St., Portsmouth. 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Feb. 6. Included with museum admission. 393-5258. childrensmuseumvirginia.com. African American History Month Craft Fair: Purchase unique handmade items; demos on how crafts are fashioned.
It’s a Calling: The Important Role of Civil Rights Lawyers: Featuring attorney David Malik, who represented the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy shot by a police officer. 6 p.m. Feb. 9. Norfolk State University, 700 Park Ave., Student Center, Room 149. 823-2119. Cool Night, Hot Jazz: Free evening of live jazz, spoken word open mic poetry, refreshments and wine tasting as part African American History Month celebration. 6:30-10 p.m. Feb. 12. Music begins at 7 p.m. For adults. Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library, 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd. Online registration at www. vbgov.com is required.
as seating is limited. 547-5542. Joan Morgan, author, journalist and provocative cultural critic: 12:30 p.m. Feb. 16. Preceded by a reception at noon. Black Box Theatre, Tidewater Community Colllege — Chesapeake Campus, 1428 Cedar Road. Free and open to the public. 822-7296. Intercultural@tcc.edu. Nathan Richardson presents Frederick Douglass: Depiction of the well-known writer, orator and abolitionist. Noon Feb. 27. Manor Branch Library, 1401 Elmhurst Lane, Portsmouth. 465-2916. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: Modern dance company founded by an African American man in the 1950s. 8 p.m. Feb. 2627; 3 p.m. Feb. 28. Chrysler Hall, 215 St. Paul’s Blvd., Norfolk. $20-$69. 282-2822. Ticketmaster.com.
Black Family Genealogical Research Studies: With and Without a Computer, with E. Curtis Alexander. 2-4 p.m. Feb. 13. The Cottages at Great Bridge, 625 Bette’s Way, Chesapeake. Free but registration required
For a full listing of events taking place this month, check out the Events’ section of hamptonroads.com.
– Compiled by Jennifer Mason
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IS POST-RACIAL AMERICA JUST A DREAM? ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
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Stephanie L. Arnold Commentary
A
PRIL 23, 2015, 7:35 A.M. WEDNESDAY...Officer approached a man suspected of shoplifting at a local Wal-Mart...A struggle ensued... Subject was shot by the officer….” Virginia State Police Sgt. Michelle Anaya recalled the events that led to the death of 18-year-old William Chapman during a somber news conference no more than 24 hours following the shooting. It was a recognizable narrative, told in the clinical, familiar cadence of police: Unarmed. Black. Dead. Character flaws and previous police records were implicit in some of the news reports. Not all the victims were model citizens, but did these unarmed men deserve to die? The television was turned to CNN when I watched 18-year-old Michael Brown stretched out, face down in the street in Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014. His blood flowed onto the cracked streets overrun by police and onlookers. He baked for four hours under the summer sun while neighbors peered beyond the yellow crime tape to catch a glimpse of Brown covered by a white sheet. The circumstances surrounding his shooting, some of which are still sketchy, sparked several weeks of protests and was arguably the impetus of our country’s most recent national and international conversation about race, crime and whether police use unwarranted force against black folks in this country. Continued on the next page
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ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOS
Esaw Garner, wife of Eric Garner, breaks down in the arms of the Rev. Herbert Daughtry and the Rev. Al Sharpton, right, during a rally at the National Action Network headquarters for her husband. Eric Garner, suspected of selling loose cigarettes, died after a police officer put him in a chokehold in New York.
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These stories were a regular part of the daily conversations and everyone was looking for context. We began asking one question consistently, almost in chorus: Exactly how many black people are killed by police each year? When news organizations tried to reconcile the shootings against real statistics, they found no such data existed in one place. The FBI kept some numbers, but not really. Since it wasn’t mandatory that police departments report this information, only 750 of the 17,000 agencies submitted data. Another problem: Departments only reported killings they considered “justified,” according to an ACLU report. No government agency bothered to keep a complete, centralized record of the number of people its institutions killed.
A man steps on loose cigarettes near the site of Eric Garner’s death.
This prompted “The Washington Post” to begin a year-long project to study police shootings in America. The database, compiled from police reports, articles, and independent reporting, is a comprehensive look at the number of people killed, their genders, race and the circumstances surrounding the shooting. All told,
987 people were fatally shot by police in 2015. However, black men accounted for 40 percent of the 94 unarmed deaths, even though they make up just 6 percent of the U.S. population. The Post’s analysis showed that black men were seven times more likely than white men to die by police gunfire while unarmed.
According to the database, an average of three unarmed black men a month were shot to death by police in 2015. It’s worth noting that these numbers don’t include other manners of death. Eric Garner, the New York man who died after a police officer put him in a chokehold during an arrest, was not included in the report. From New York to Ferguson; Cleveland to Madison, Wis.; Baltimore to Portsmouth, Va.; it was black people versus the police, and the police were winning. In March 2015, seven months after Brown was killed in Ferguson, I read the scathing report the Justice Department issued into policing and court practices in the city: African Americans were victims of multiple civil rights violations that the justice department classified as unconstitutional. The report conclud-
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ed that it wasn’t that black people committed more crime, rather they experienced egregious discrimination in law enforcement practices. They acquired more citations, more arrests, and more use of force resulting from “unlawful bias, not actual criminal behavior. Terrorism against African Americans and its communities by police wasn’t something we were imagining. It wasn’t something we exaggerated for sympathy or an irresponsible narrative we cultivated to pacify poor behavior. It was real and the government finally admitted it. But, the brutality is not new. You hear it in the crooning of Marvin Gaye who noted ‘trigger happy policing’ in his 1971 Motown hit “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler).” Richard Pryor made discussing police brutality palatable in his comedy. His Grammyaward-winning album “That N-----’s Crazy,” released in 1974 featured a track called, “N--- – versus the Police.” It illuminated stark comparisons and contrasts of the relationship between African Americans and police as opposed to white people and police. But it started well before the 1970s. “We can go back to the actual writing of the Constitution itself where African Americans are actually written into the document as three-fifths of a person,” said State Sen. Mamie Locke (D-Hampton). “They said African Americans weren’t even people. They were property. Black lives don’t matter.”
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ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOS
The Rev. Arthur Prioleau, left, and Laquanda Multrie hold signs during a protest in response to the shooting death of Walter Scott at city hall in North Charleston, S.C.
Locke, who was born at the start of the civil rights movement, is from a community where the flying of the Confederate flag in government buildings was “just the way it was.” It was a Confederate flag-loving, blue-eyed white man with a bowl haircut that committed one of the worst mass killings in South Carolina history. I hadn’t been near a television or my desktop computer for a few minutes, but my Facebook timeline – accessed through phone – hinted
that something awful had happened. Someone shot up a church, but the details about suspects and motives were unclear. As the day turned to night and rumors transitioned to facts, things became clear. Dylan Roof strolled into Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17, 2015, among a group of peaceful African American parishioners when he decided that he had to enact a bloody Continued on Page 13
We can go back to the actual writing of the Constitution itself where African Americans are actually written into the document as three-fifths of a person. They said African Americans weren’t even people. They were property. Black lives don’t matter.” Virginia Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Officers and protesters face off in Ferguson, Mo., in 2015, a day after a protest marking the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS JULY 2014
AUGUST 2014
SEPTEMBER 2014
OCTOBER 2014
We look back at a few moments of the past year and half.
NOVEMBER 2014
DECEMBER 2014
JANU 20
Nov. 22, 2014 Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African American boy playing with a pellet gun in a city park, was killed by a white Cleveland police officer. Video showed the officer shot the boy within two seconds of arriving at the scene. Officials recently decided not to press charges against the officer.
July 17, 2014 Eric Garner, a 43-year-old unarmed African American man, suspected of selling loose cigarettes, died after a white New York City police officer put him in a chokehold during an arrest, a maneuver strictly prohibited by the department. The city settled out of court with Garner’s family for $5.9 million dollars.
Jan. 25, 2015
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Aug. 9, 2014 Michael Brown, an unarmed African American man, was shot and killed in Ferguson, Mo., during a stop by a white police officer. The action sparked civil unrest and three separate protests, stretching well into 2015.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
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London Colvin, a 21-yearold African American woman was attacked by a police dog while she was held down by Norfolk police. The Norfolk State University student and Army Reservist had been at a party when a fight broke out. Police Chief Michael Goldsmith announced that the four unnamed officers were no longer with the department, but never identified them or stipulated whether they resigned or were fired.
UARY 015
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FEBRUARY 2015
MARCH 2015
APRIL 2015
MAY 2015
April 4, 2015 Following a traffic stop for a non-functioning brake light, Walter Scott, an unarmed 50-year-old African American man, was shot in the back while running from a white police officer in North Charleston, S.C. The officer was charged with murder after a video surfaced contradicting his report.
JULY 2015
June 17, 2015
March 6, 2015 Tony Robinson, an unarmed 19-yearold African American man in Madison, Wis., was shot and killed by a white police officer during an altercation. The shooting was determined to be self defense by the Dane County district attorney.
JUNE 2015
April 12, 2015
April 22, 2015
Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., an unarmed 25-yearold African American man in Baltimore, died while in police custody. Six officers were charged in the death, three white and three black. The case led to a long series of protests that ultimately led the governor to set a curfew and call out the National Guard.
William Chapman, an unarmed 18-year-old African American man suspected of shoplifting in Portsmouth, was shot in the face and chest during an altercation with a white police officer. The officer, Stephen Rankin, has been charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Nine members of a historically black church in Charleston, S.C., were shot to death in an ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO apparent hate crime by 21-year-old Dylan Roof, a white man who said he was trying to ignite a race war. Pictures of Roof with a Confederate flag led ultimately to its removal from the statehouse. Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.
July 13, 2015 Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African American woman, was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas. She was pulled over for a minor traffic violation on July 10 and arrested following an escalating conflict. The trooper has since been charged with perjury in the case. – Compiled by Stephanie L. Arnold
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read for yourself Below are some of the reports, databases and projects used as source material for this commentary. We encourage the reader to review these documents. DATABASE The Washington Post’s national database on police shootings in the United States: www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/ national/police-shootings/
THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE Although the Thirteenth Amendment essentially nullifies this clause, you can still see this referenced in the original transcript of the United States Constitution here: www.archives. gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_ transcript.html More information on the compromise: www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/ view/three-fifths-compromise
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION REPORTS on wearable body cameras by law enforcement: www.aclu.org/ police-body-mounted-cameras-rightpolicies-place-win-all
KAISER/CNN SURVEY ON RACE kff.org/report-section/surveyof-americans-on-race-executivesummary/
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOS
Charlene Parson is comforted by mourners as she cries at a sidewalk memorial for the Emanuel AME Church shooting victims in Charleston, S.C.
Bree Newsome removed the Confederate battle flag at a Confederate monument at the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., in June 2015. She was arrested.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INVESTIGATION of the Ferguson Police Department: www.justice.gov/sites/ default/files/opa/press-releases/ attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_ police_department_report.pdf
FEIDIN SANTANA VIA AP IMAGES
Walter Scott is shot by Police Officer Michael Thomas Slager in Charleston, S.C., in April 2015.
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Y E A R S ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOS
Savannah McCoy and her friend, Kimber Camgros, listen to speakers during a vigil for Michael Brown in San Francisco.
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vengeance upon them because, simply, they were black. “I have to do it,” he was quoted as saying by one of the victims. “You rape our women and taking over our country.” Journalists scrambled to find out more about Roof the following morning. I did, too. Everyone did. A Facebook picture of him sitting on top of his car was a hint. The tags read: “Confederate States of America” with three versions of the Confederate flag. Bloggers, columnists and activists took to Twitter to decry the flag. Members of the Ku Klux Klans used the flag often as a symbol of hatred during the civil rights movement to rebel against desegregation. Citizens called for the flag to be removed from the South Carolina state capitol following the shootings. A young activist Bree Newsome decided she wasn’t going to wait. The morning of June 27, 2015, dressed in climbing gear, she scaled the 30-foot flagpole on the grounds and removed it herself. She was arrested. “That flag was a symbol to prevent me and people who look like me from gaining freedom and from gaining liberty,” Locke said. “And then to use that same symbol and go into that place of worship and kill people...” The issue made its way to Virginia as well. Portsmouth City Councilman Mark Whitaker in June called for the removal the Confederate monument located downtown at the intersection of Court and High streets. State law has stymied those efforts thus far. But both Locke and Cassandra Newby-
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Tomiko Shine holds up a picture of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy fatally shot by a police officer in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014. In December a grand jury decided against charging the officer with a crime.
Alexander, professor of history at Norfolk State University, agree that the issue of race isn’t really about a flag. It’s bigger than that. Kaiser Family Foundation and CNN released a study in October 2015. The two agencies asked Americans, “How big of a problem is racism in our society today?” It found that 49 percent of Americans see racism as a “big problem” in society, an increase of 21 percent in 2011. That’s just three years after the country elected its first African American president. “America has a cultural bias,” said Newby-Alexander. “Our society has to Continued on Page 15
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People defy a curfew in protest in Ferguson, Mo.
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Demonstrators protest the shooting of Tony Robinson at the Wisconsin Capitol building.
first halfway acknowledge racism. What are we going to do ensure that the pattern is broken?” And although nearly half of America will admit that there is a “big problem” with racism, who among us will admit that they and/or their institutions are inherently racist? Not many, at least, not explicitly. Law enforcement officers became more diligent about body cameras. Following the Ferguson shooting, the scramble to outfit officers with the devices escalated. In October 2013, the American Civil Liberties Union stepped away from its long-held disapproval of surveillance and also advocated for police body cameras. The nonprofit, nonpartisan civil rights organization generally disproves of government surveillance, but they described police on-body cameras were different “…because of their potential to serve as a check against
the abuse of power.” In Hampton Roads, just about every city’s police department has either deployed body camera technology or are in the process of researching it. Norfolk Police Department outfitted 300 officers with body cameras three weeks after a Norfolk State University student and Army reservist was attacked and bitten by a police dog as officers held her down and attempted to handcuff her in January 2015. Of course, it would be wrong to paint 2015 as the worst year for race relations in this country. It’s not even close. The ‘60s were a violent, scary time. Civil rights leaders were assassinated, African American churches were burned, people were lynched. But the goal now is not to improve over what was; it is to improve over what is. And that means we have to be honest with ourselves and have
these sometimes uncomfortable conversations. “We’ve got to change the minds of people. This is about essentially reversing the oppressive systems and policies that have been in place for hundreds of years,” Locke said. These conversations and actions have to happen at the grassroots level, she added,in the communities, neighborhoods, schools, jobs. It’s the reason, Newby-Alexander said, that diversity is so important and protecting and exercising the right to vote. In talking with both women, it was clear that our community still has a long way to go. Having helped to elect President Barack Obama, isn’t cause for patting ourselves on the back. What 2015 has taught us is that we are not yet living in a post-racial America, far from it. We can get there. There is still hope for equality. When it happens depends on all of us. Sponsored by THE DALIS FOUNDATION
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17
LAW ENFORCEMENT
A strained relationship with a community By Cherise M. Newsome Correspondent
Norfolk State University student London Colvin was walking from an off-campus party last year when she was detained by four Norfolk police officers and attacked by a police dog. The then-21-year-old Army Reservist, who is African American, begged the police to keep the dog off of her, according to statements by her attorney. But they just watched as it bit her, badly gouging her leg. The case, and the department’s handling of it, is a stark reminder of the strained relationship between law enforcement and the black community. Over the past year, racially
charged issues have stirred emotions and debate across the country. But while much of the social unrest locally never reached levels found in Baltimore; Ferguson Mo.; and Chicago, Hampton Roads has had its share of problems, too. After an investigation, Police Chief Michael Goldsmith announced that the four unnamed officers were no longer with the department, but he never stipulated whether they were fired or resigned. While some community activists applauded him for the investigation, others said he didn’t go far enough to address deeper problems with how police interact with the community, especially African American residents. “I do believe it is step in the
right direction,” said Joe Dillard, Norfolk NAACP president. “I wouldn’t go so far to say the community is happy, but the community is watching and trusting the right thing will be done.” But local activist Michael Muhammad said charges and disciplinary actions against police officers don’t necessarily signal progress. “The London Colvin matter should have taught us that there’s a tremendous strain in police and community relations,” he said. Muhammad, a former Norfolk mayoral candidate, has organized rallies and town hall meetings to address concerns about police interactions and the use of force. He said it’s disheartening that a college student’s life would be en-
dangered by police. “There’s no telling what the future will hold for her as a result of those interactions,” he said. “While Chief Goldsmith and his department have done a great job in community outreach, it has not translated into a change in the culture.” Goldsmith did not respond to a request for an interview. In the aftermath of the Colvin incident as well as other police shootings, the Norfolk Police Department revised its K-9 policy, ramped up recruiting efforts to improve diversity in its force, and participated in community meetings to improve relations. Its officers also have received training on how to recognize and address cultural biases. Those actions, and the fact that charges have been brought against other officers in the middle of racially charged cases in Hampton Roads, give some in the community hope that change is on the horizon. For example, Norfolk Officer Michael Carlton Edington Jr., who is white, last year was charged with voluntary manslaughter in
the 2014 shooting death of David Latham, an African American man. Edington responded to a 911 call and found Latham with a knife in his hand, according to news reports. Police say that Edington shot Latham, who had documented mental illness, at least six times, including twice in the back. “I just want to say that I’m glad the justice system is working out, and that we are on the right path,” Latham’s mother, Audrey, told The Virginian-Pilot at the time of the indictment. In Portsmouth, former officer Stephen Rankin has been charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime. Rankin, who is white, is charged in the April 2015 death William Chapman II, a black teenager he shot while investigating a report of a shoplifting at Wal-Mart. The shooting and resulting charges has sparked public outcry, including an upcoming rally at the Portsmouth courthouse in February.
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CONFEDERATE IMAGERY STILL AN ISSUE LOCALLY
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By Cherise M. Newsome Correspondent
Efforts to move a Confederate monument from downtown Portsmouth are still in limbo as officials seek legal remedies to work around state law. Last year, the Portsmouth City Council – without consensus – directed city administrators and an attorney to find a way to move the statue from its current location at the intersection of Court and High streets. Virginia law makes it illegal to remove or damage a war memorial or monument. Confederate monuments and memorials stand in public places across Hampton Roads, including Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Suffolk. While there has been both support, and opposition, to removing them, so far only Portsmouth has pursued legal actions.
Norfolk City Council decided against moving a tower at Main Street and Commercial Place, despite pressure from a civil rights group. All three African American council members agreed with the decision. Vice Mayor Angelia Williams Graves was quoted in a Pilot story in September saying, “You can’t erase history just because you don’t like it. It is what it is. To remove it would be a mistake.” Like many other cities across the South, Portsmouth took up the issue following the horrific killing in June of nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal in Charleston, S.C. Police charged Dylann Roof in the crime. Roof, a white supremacist, revered the Confederate flag and often took pictures proudly displaying it. Days after the rampage, South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley called for the flag’s removal from the statehouse, a longsimmering issue in the state. Just
months before the shooting, she had rebuffed calls for its removal. South Carolina lawmakers in July passed a bill ordering the flag be moved to a state museum. City Councilman Mark Whitaker in June called for the removal of Portsmouth’s Confederate monument. “…we witnessed a horrific event with the taking of nine innocent lives at Emanuel AME Church, and we know that the killer was motivated by much of the racist rhetoric and symbols that still exist in our society today,” Whitaker said at the council meeting, according to a Pilot news article. “Those symbols feed into the mentalities of people who tend to escalate and do harm to persons in our society simply based on who they are and the color of their skin.” In Virginia, other Confederate paraphernalia face retirement. Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in June ordered a ban on the Con-
federate flag from Virginia license plates. Plates bearing the flag have been recalled. A legal battle ensued after the action. An attorney for the Sons of Confederate Veterans argued in court against McAuliffe’s order, but a federal judge upheld the ban. In December, state Sen. Charles Carrico, a Republican, filed legislation in the General Assembly to bring back the Confederate flag to license plates. The Assembly had not yet acted on the bill as of press time. The Sons of Confederate Veterans also are still pursuing other legal options, according to news reports. The City Council decided not to pursue removal of the towering structure at Main Street and Commercial Place, despite pressure from a civil rights group that considers it a symbol of racism and slavery. The council’s decision came on the second day of its annual retreat,
Portsmouth City Council member Mark Whitaker proposed the removal of the Confederate monument in Portsmouth at High and Court Streets following the deaths of nine black people at a church in Charleston, S.C.
held this year at Slover Library. All three black council members agreed that removing the monument was unnecessary, and no other council members lobbied for its removal. “You can’t erase history just because you don’t like it,” said Vice Mayor Angelia Williams Graves, who is black. “It is what it is. To remove it would be a mistake.” Councilman Paul Riddick, who is also black, said he doesn’t have a problem with the monument or associate it with “hatefulness.” “It’s been there for years,” Riddick said. “And in my opinion, it does have a value as far as the history of this country.”
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19
MUSIC
Where have all the protest songs gone? G Rashod Ollison Commentary
listen in Nina Simone “Mississippi Goddamn”
RAINY ARCHIVAL CLIPS from the 1960s show Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists peacefully overtaking streets, arms interlocked, singing “We Shall Overcome” and other gospel tunes. More than half a century later, protests about the same societal ills – police officers shooting unarmed black men, a lack of jobs and resources – still congest avenues and highways. But while the civil rights movement of the 1960s spurred an array of artists, including Bob Dylan (“Blowin’ in the Wind”) and Nina Simone (“Mississippi Goddamn”), to write songs that have now be-
goo.gl/WbWJ17
Gil Scott-Heron “The Revolution Will Not be Televised.” goo.gl/5Mw2ud
Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” goo.gl/hTLRco
The songs that provided the soundtrack for the Civil Rights movement were largely informed by a far less insular gospel vision. Their music conveyed inclusiveness even when the lyrical message was aimed at a corrupt system.
come protest classics, one can’t help but wonder about today’s galvanizing music. That is to say, where is it? Songs such as Edwin Starr’s “War” provided a soundtrack for the era, encapsulating the angst and despair of the moment. Drake’s “Hotline Bling” is simply percolating inanity. It’s not fair to compare the era that bore towering artists such as Simone and Aretha Franklin with the current pop landscape. It’s not
an argument of one being better than the other; the times are just different. Today, all aspects of life, from everyday communication to what’s left of the pop industry, are more fragmented than when King was alive. In the age of hashtag protests, police brutality is captured on cell phones and uploaded to social media within minutes. Students on college campuses, from Harvard to the University of Missouri, are campaigning against covertly racist traditionalism and overt acts of racism. Meanwhile, the pop charts teem with overwrought, navel-gazing ballads such as Adele’s “Hello.” During the heat of the civil rights movement, performers such as Simone risked their lives and careers to follow their political convictions. Nearly a decade earlier, Simone was a cabaret singer with an affinity for blues-suffused, classicalinflected interpretations of standards. She’d scored a major pop hit in 1959 with a dirge-like reading of “I Love You Porgy.” But by the mid60s, deeply influenced by the daring literature of her friends, playwright Lorraine Hansberry and author James Baldwin, Simone started using her music as a weapon. Lyrical missiles such as “Four Women,” “Backlash Blues,” and “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” received virtually no airplay. Other soul acts of that time whose politically charged messages were perhaps less fiery than Simone’s but just as potent include James Brown, the Staple Singers, and Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions. At the dawn of the ’70s, Sly Stone’s music took a darker turn with political masterstrokes such as “Stand!” and “There’s a Riot Goin’ On.” Gil Scott-Heron married soul and pointed political poetry, becoming perhaps best known for the proto-rap classic, “The Revolution Will Not be Televised.”
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By the mid-60s, Nina Simone was deeply influenced by the literature of playwright Lorraine Hansberry and author James Baldwin. Simone began to use her music as a politically charged weapon.
Marvin Gaye led Motown into a socially conscious era with 1971’s “What’s Going On.” Stevie Wonder soon followed with a string of classic albums ablaze with lyrical flaming arrows such as “You Haven’t Done Nothing” and “Livin’ for the City.” But, again, where’s the revolutionary music for today? With few exceptions, not much on the mainstream radar echoes today’s distressing times. California hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar released one of the most high-powered albums of the year, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” which garnered 11 Grammy nominations. A challenging mutation of jazz, rock and funk, “To Pimp a Butterfly” boasts no melodic odes to togetherness. Its musical fragments gradually coalesce into a disturbing, sometimes humorous portrait of a young black man trying to make sense of himself and the turbulent world around him. A gloriously messy musical journal left open for the world to see, Lamar’s “protest music” differs from that of yesteryear with its deeply self-involved direction.
The songs that provided the soundtrack for the Civil Rights movement were largely informed by a far less insular gospel vision. Their music conveyed inclusiveness even when the lyrical message was aimed at a corrupt system. By contrast, many of today’s urbanpop artists don’t come from such a gospel background, though several have long bastardized histrionics derived from influential churchraised legends such as Aretha Franklin, whose musical ties to the civil rights movement were tenuous at best. (“Respect,” her 1967 pop breakthrough, is an Otis Redding cover about sexual politics in a relationship, but culture vultures over the years have re-appropriated it as a battle cry for civil rights.) Whatever soundtrack that will arise from this era of protest more than likely won’t be as connective as the music of 50 years ago. All these years later, folks are still marching and rioting over some of the same inequities and gross injustices. But the music fueling the fire, as it were, is as scattered and innerdirected as many of the activists taking to the streets.
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