Richmond Free Press March 14-16, 2024 edition

Jennifer McClellan’s historic first year in Congress

By Debora Timms WASHINGTON

March 7, 2024, marked one year since Jennifer L. McClellan made history, winning a special election to succeed the late A. Donald McEachin and become the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia.

“There have been several moments where I’ve felt the weight of making history,” Rep. McClellan, 51, said during a recent interview in her D.C. offices, describing the moment she was sworn in.

“The responsibility and the presence of everybody

who made that possible, I’ll never forget that,” she said. “I think that just the history of this place and the grandeur of everything — I have to pinch myself every once in a while that I’m here.”

As CEO and co-founder of the political action committee Higher Heights for America, Glynda C. Carr understands the importance of women such as Rep. McClellan having a seat in the House. That’s why she helped created the organization in 2011 — to mobilize and elect Black women in the halls of Congress as well as in state and local politics.

Higher Heights formed at a time when Black women were severely underrepresented in American

politics, Ms. Carr said in a recent telephone interview. In 2014, 18 Black women were serving in Congress. Today, with Rep. McClellan representing Virginia’s 4th District, there are 29 Black women in the current 118th Congress. That is significant, considering that Shirley Chisholm, a Democrat from New York, was the first Black woman elected to Congress. She served in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1983, and since then, almost all of the 56 Black women that followed also have been from the

No comment unless we know what you’re talking about

Resolution changes how residents address City Council

By Debora Timms

Council members unanimously passed a resolution Monday night that will mean changes to its meeting rules and procedures — including some related to public comment. While the City asserts these changes are designed for meetings to run more smoothly, some residents voiced concern they may be used to limit the public’s ability to speak directly to council.

Virginia lawmakers approve budget, but Gov. Youngkin warns that changes will be needed

development district with a new arena to lure the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals to Alexandria and give Virginia its first major pro sports teams.

The Democratic-led General Assembly rejected the proposal through two stand-alone bills, then refused to approve language in the state budget that would have paved the way for the project.

Gov. Youngkin, who touted the arena project as a potential economic boom for Virginia, could still revive it by calling a special session to start over with a new bill.

Democratic Sen. L. Louise

One change in particular will now require “a detailed and complete description” of what the speaker plans to address rather than just a topic when he or she signs up to speak. As

such, the move would provide “the clerk with an understanding of which city agency the comments pertain to or affects.”

While the city states it will help facilitate better public service by directing issues of concern to the appropriate department, residents who spoke against the resolution were concerned that it could be used to deny or limit some people’s voices and the topics they can raise. An example includes residents who have been signing up to speak in favor of a proposed resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, which was presented to

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Housing Secretary Fudge resigning; Biden hails her dedication to boosting supply of affordable homes

By Ashraf Khalil The Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Housing and Urban Development

Secretary Marcia Fudge announced Monday that she would resign her post, effective March 22, saying she was leaving “with mixed emotions.”

A former mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, and later an Ohio representative in Congress, Ms. Fudge, 71, served as HUD

Ms. Fudge

secretary since the start of President Joe Biden’s administration.

“As a dedicated public servant for nearly five decades, I have been devoted to improving the quality of life for the people of this nation, focusing on those with the greatest need,” Ms. Fudge said in a statement. “Having worked at every level of government ... I have worked tirelessly to ensure

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Julianne Tripp Hillian

(Former) House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, left, conducts the ceremonial swearing-in of Rep. Jennifer L. McClellan on Capitol Hill, as her husband and children look on. Above, Rep. McClellan greets attendees during a democracy roundtable discussion Feb. 17 at Virginia Union University.

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Virginia General Assembly

Town hall meeting to include VUU president, other City officials

By George Copeland Jr.

The future of the Richmond Community Hospital, the cost of utilities and crime in the city will be the focus of an upcoming town hall in Richmond’s 3rd District on Wednesday, March 20, at Linwood Holton Elementary School at 1600 W. Laburnum Ave. from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Virginia Union University President Hakim J. Lucas, Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards and April Bingham, director of the Department of Public Utilities, will be present for the discussion, which will be hosted by 3rd District Councilmember Ann-Frances Lambert.

In addition to updates on matters in the city and district, Richmond residents will be able to share their thoughts during the Q&A portion of the town hall. Light refreshments will be served.

The meeting will be the first public discussion of VUU’s plans for the hospital after it announced a plan to demolish it as part of an affordable housing project created in partnership with the Steinbridge Group, leading to community pushback and criticism.

“I hope that the University will be fully transparent in what it intends to do,” said Viola Baskerville, a former member of the House of Delegates who has helped lead efforts to preserve the site, “and that it would make a commitment to work with the community and the historic preservation community to create the opportunity to save that building.”

Ms. Lambert included the Richmond Community Hospital among the town hall’s topics after earlier being asked to facilitate a separate, private discussion between Dr. Lucas, herself, and Ms. Baskerville and Alan Schintzius, who have worked to rally the community in support of the hospital.

“I added the Richmond hospital topic to my agenda because the community had a lot of unanswered questions,” Ms. Lambert said. “And I felt it was necessary to provide an opportunity for VUU to address them, especially after the rally that took place on March 3.”

Ms. Baskerville has asked residents who plan to attend the town hall to wear green, in honor of the regalia physicians wear when they graduate from medical school, and to come prepared to ask questions about the hospital and to “find out where their elected official stands with respect to supporting the community.”

Dominion Foundation announces spring grant cycle

Coming Together Virginia to explore impact of racism on mental health

By Darlene M. Johnson

For the next three months, Coming Together Virginia (CTVA) will host its Racism at Work (RAW) series to tackle how racism affects physical and emotional well-being.

Founded by Danita Rountree Green and Martha Rollins in 2014, the nonprofit’s vision is of “a racially healed world of thriving, equitable and just communities.”

“We have noticed in our organization that racism in itself shows up in many different ways and it affects so many avenues in our lives,” Ms. Green said. “That is to say it affects us in some way spiritually, emotionally and physically.”

Research shows the different mental and physical effects racism has on Black people, such as depression, anxiety, hypertension and obesity, Ms. Green said. While it is known that Black people experience racism, CTVA has learned through monthly group gatherings that racism also affects white people. An example of this is their worship practices.

left, and

Danita Rountree

are co-CEOs of Coming Together Virginia, a local nonprofit organization that typically unites people over a meal to have difficult conversations. On Aug. 27, 2022 the women led Richmondarea residents on a Unity Walk to commemorate the 59th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “I Have a Dream” speech.

series with a potluck and conversation gathering on Tuesday, March 26, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, 3601 Seminary Ave.

spring grant cycle, which was announced last Thursday, March 7.

“Nonprofit organizations work hard every day to address a variety of community needs and opportunities,” Hunter A. Applewhite, president of the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, said in a statement.

“These grants will help them make an even greater impact for good.”

As part of a new application process, the Foundation will accept grant requests annually, once in the spring and once in the fall. The spring grant application period will close at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 2. Dominion Energy service areas where organizations would qualify include Virginia, South Carolina, northeastern North Carolina and West Virginia. Grant award decisions will be announced in June.

For further details, visit www.dominionenergy.com/ourcompany/customers-and-community/charitable-foundation/ applying-for-a-grant.

Free community testing for COVID-19 continues

“We have a lot of segregated churches in the city and there’s a reason for that, that stems from our history, particularly here in the South” Ms. Green said. “It affects our belief systems, how we look at ourselves as a privileged class when we talk about white people, which also suggests that there’s a class of people who are not privileged and there’s a reason for that. We look at the spiritual quotient of that but we also look at the emotional quotient of that for white and Black people.”

All CTVA activities include a discussion portion and include diverse populations, from the Black and white communities, to youth and elders, and the wealthy and less wealthy, Ms. Green said.

During discussions about race, CTVA is able to get to “the heart of the matter,” which includes a person’s generational history and lived experiences.

“We talk and the most important thing is that we listen to get a greater understanding of who we are as Virginians, as

Americans,” Ms. Green said.

Through these conversations, CTVA hopes that guests can heal personal wounds, build trust and relationships, and decide to take action for change and transformation for the greater good of the community.

“We want people to feel that they’re part of the process of being community members,” Ms. Green said. “We never know exactly where the answers are going to come from or where they lie but at least in the conversation, we can begin to discover more about ourselves and question some of our own beliefs, which is the basis of what we do.”

Jabriel Hasan will kick off the RAW

Mr. Hasan is an interfaith minister with the Inayatiyya and co-chair of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia’s Truth and Reparations Task Force. His presentation will cover the mental health implications associated with racial awareness development, such as typical trauma responses. Attendees will also learn techniques to reduce stress that stems from racial conscientization

Guests are encouraged to bring side dishes to share. Donations of $20 per person will help to cover costs, but are not required. Guests are encouraged to attend with or without food items or donations. To register, please visit www. comingtogethervirginia.org/upcomingevents. For more details, please contact Hayat Bain at 804-467-9674 or hayat@ comingtogethervirginia.org.

On Tuesday, April 16, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Kay Hamlin, a community health specialist, will lead a panel discussion.

On Tuesday, May 21, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Dr. Shawn Utsey, a VCU professor and documentarian, will provide a screening of his film “The Central Lunatic Asylum for the Colored Insane.” The film covers the history of the Petersburg facility, now called the Central State Hospital, that opened in 1869 and was the first psychiatric institution in America that exclusively treated Black patients. For more information, please visit www. comingtogethervirginia.org.

Henrico CARES aims to strengthen youth mental health services

Free Press staff report

Henrico County and Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) are implementing the Henrico CARES plan with the goal to increase availability of mental health services in schools and to expand efforts of prevention, support, and early and intensive intervention for youth mental health, substance abuse and violence.

Those

can range from three to eight weeks or four to eight weeks depending on the vaccine dose previously received.

Children

Those

The Henrico CARES plan stands for Coordination, Access to prevention and Responsive Early and intensive interventions, and Systems navigation. The plan was developed over the past seven months by a committee including representatives of Henrico Area Mental Health & Developmental Services (MHDS), HCPS, mental health care providers, psychiatric, pediatric and primary care providers, and families with experience navigating the youth mental health care system.

Youth mental health is a growing concern nationally and locally. In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a National State of Emergency in Children’s Mental Health. Virginia ranks 48th in the nation in access to youth mental health care, according to Mental Health America. Additionally, 38.2% of Virginia’s youths reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks, 20.5% seriously considered attempting suicide within the past year and 16.4% made a plan about how they would attempt suicide, according to the 2021 Virginia Youth Survey HCPS has seen a 42% increase in suicide-risk screenings completed by

school-based mental health providers in the last three years. So far in 2024, MHDS is seeing a 30% increase in youths requesting same-day access to services, with 20% younger than age 10, 7% considered at an elevated risk of suicide and 26% acknowledging substance use. “Henrico CARES is our call to action,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Tyrone E. Nelson, of the Varina District. “We recognized a need to modernize and strengthen our youth mental health services once the Henrico Youth Violence Prevention Committee started its work in late 2021. An issue this complex and important requires buy-in from all stakeholders, and we’ve got it.”

The Henrico CARES plan is recommended to be implemented in phases with full funding after five years. Henrico’s costs would start at $1.8 million in fiscal year 2024-25 and would increase incrementally to $5 million in fiscal year 2028-29. The county’s investment would total $17.8 million during that period.

Recommendations for the Henrico CARES plan include increased clinical staffing to expand access to parent-child interaction therapy, a screening program for early identification of students who may need additional social, emotional and mental health care support, and expanded curriculum and training to

strengthen mental health literacy among students, staff, parents and caregivers. Other recommendations include no-cost, short-term mental health teletherapy for middle and high school students at home or school, and a virtual mental health care coordination service that offers a federaland state-compliant referral system with 24/7 access to a live, multilingual care coordinator and a self-service tool to find verified providers.

Henrico CARES complements other local efforts to support youth health, safety and well-being. Henrico County partnered with St. Joseph’s Villa and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to open the first Crisis Receiving Center for youths in Central Virginia. The county also collaborated with regional partners to hold the second-annual Teen Summit RVA, designed to inspire, uplift and celebrate youth through self-affirmation.

“By strengthening our youth mental health care system, we also can reduce unwanted outcomes that are often associated with unaddressed social, emotional and mental health needs of school-aged youth,” said Liz Parker, HCPS director of student support and wellness. “These include chronic absenteeism, learning disruptions, behavioral challenges that result in disciplinary action, lower academic achievement and higher dropout rates. Henrico CARES is paving the way to a high-quality youth mental health care system that is comprehensive, accessible and equipped for the 21st century.”

Free Press file photograph

Green,

Martha Rollins

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press VCU Health has hired DPR Construction to demolish the old City of Richmond Public Safety Building at 500 N. 9th in Downtown Richmond.

Mr. Nelson

Mr. Utsey Mr. Hasan

Resolution changes how residents address City Council

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the City Council at its Jan. 8 meeting.

Since then, audiences for the biweekly meetings have had both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel supporters, and speakers have spoken for or against the proposed resolution, which have at times resulted in disturbances in the Council Chamber at City Hall.

Resident Allan-Charles Chipman spoke against the proposed rule changes.

“I think issues in which we complicate the ability and the process for people to come and speak on what is on their heart is not the best way forward,” he said, before adding a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.”

Other residents took issue with new language that will preclude people from participating in public comment for 90 days if they sign up to present, but do not appear without canceling by noon of the meeting day.

Eight speakers slots, while not specified in the resolution, has been the council’s limit to fit in the 30-minute time period allocated to public comments.

Nicole Jones, who represents the 9th District, noted that there to Jarrett Stidham after going 7-8 in coach Sean Payton’s first season last year.

Russell Wilson is heading to the Pittsburgh Steelers

Wilson led Seattle to eight playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title in 10 seasons with the Seahawks.

The Steelers lost a wildcard playoff game with Mason Rudolph as their starting quarterback. Rudolph went 3-0 after replacing Kenny Pickett, who was 7-5 before going down with an injury. Mitch Trubisky started the other two games and went 0-2.

Pittsburgh is scheduled to play the Broncos in Denver this upcoming season — and the game could feature a return by Wilson. The NFL is expected to release its league schedule in May.

Last week, the Broncos informed Wilson they’d release him when the new league year begins Wednesday — but gave him permission to speak to other teams.

“We thank Russell for his contributions and dedications to our team and community while wishing him the best as he continues his career,” the team posted on its social media channels last week, adding, “We are excited to improve this offseason and will have the flexibility to get better through the draft and free agency.”

After signing a nearly quarter-billion dollar extension before playing a down in Denver, Wilson contended the Broncos had threatened to bench him for the final nine games last season if he didn’t push back his $37 million injury guarantee in his contract.

Wilson declined to adjust his deal and started seven more games before getting benched in what Payton insisted was a football move, not a financial one.

are nine districts and perhaps the number of slots should be raised to 10 to allow for at least one speaker from each district to be able to sign up.

Several members also spoke to there being some leniency regarding absences, with 5th District representative Stephanie Lynch suggesting a type of “excused absence policy” to deal with unexpected situations that may prevent scheduled attendance in person or online.

“The intent is certainly not to reduce voice in this forum,” the 7th District’s Cynthia Newbille said, clarifying that she still would be prepared to consider amendments even after passage

Virginia

to “make this something that works for our city.”

With the council’s unanimous vote in favor of approval, the resolution is now set to take effect immediately.

Residents must sign up in advance to speak either in person or virtually. According to the resolution that passed, each person who desires to speak must make a request to the City Clerk for an allotment of time no later than noon on the date of the meeting when they wish to be heard. They can make their request by calling the Office of the City Clerk at (804) 646-7955 and selecting option 3, or emailing comments to CityClerksOffice@ rva.gov.

lawmakers approve budget, but Gov. Youngkin warns that changes will be needed

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Lucas of Portsmouth, who used her position as chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to keep the deal out of the budget, said she opposed the project largely because of its reliance on bonds backed by the state and city governments.

This year’s legislative session is the third since Gov. Youngkin took office, but it’s the first time he has had to work with both a Senate and House of Delegates controlled by Democrats.

Some Democrats complained throughout the session that Gov. Youngkin was unwilling to compromise.

“He’s going to find out that he has to treat us like equals,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said. “He has to treat us with respect. He’s going to have to negotiate with us and not dictate to us.”

Gov. Youngkin made it clear he is not happy with the budget, calling it “backward” and saying it needs “a lot of work.”

The budget approved Saturday excludes many of the priorities Gov. Youngkin included in a proposal he submitted in December. Lawmakers stripped out his proposal to lower income tax rates and raise the sales tax but did include his proposal to expand the sales tax to cover digital services, including purchases of streaming subscriptions, cloud storage and online downloads.

Teachers and state employees will get

3% raises in each of the two years covered by the budget. In addition to the budget, lawmakers have sent Gov. Youngkin more than 1,000 other pieces of legislation. The governor can sign or veto bills, let them become law without his signature, or seek amendments. The General Assembly will reconvene to consider those proposed changes April 17. Three years after Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana in 2021, lawmakers approved legislation this year to allow recreational retail sales of the substance to begin in 2025. It’s not entirely clear how Gov. Youngkin will act on the legislation. He has not explicitly threatened a veto but has been vague on the issue for years, saying his focus was elsewhere or that he just wasn’t interested.

Another piece of legislation that passed both chambers would legalize skill games, the slots-like betting machines that proliferated in businesses around the state before an on-again, off-again ban took effect. The bill would tax and regulate the devices, which also are known as gray machines because of the murky area of the law in which they previously operated.

The skill games debate is a rare issue that doesn’t split along partisan lines, and lawmakers have gone around and around on it for years. Gov. Youngkin’s press office previously told the Virginia Mercury it had “serious concerns” about earlier versions of the bill. He did not

respond to a request for comment about the legislation after it passed the General Assembly earlier this month.

Lawmakers also approved raising the state hourly minimum wage from $12 to $13.50 next Jan. 1 and to $15 the following year.

Republicans cited as a victory the defeat of the so-called second look bill, backed by Democrats, which would have let people with lengthy prison terms petition a court for sentence reduction after they serve 15, 20 or 25 years, depending on the crime.

This is the third consecutive year that a second look measure failed.

House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert said the bill “would have given every single offender — including violent offenders, sex offenders, everything you can imagine ... the opportunity to petition for a second sentencing event.”

Gov. Youngkin took final action on 84 pieces of legislation Friday, signing 64 bills into law and vetoing eight others, including one adding adding more restrictions on firearms transfers.

The 64 bills Gov. Youngkin signed had bipartisan support. One enshrined the legality of same-sex marriage in Virginia, while another prohibits public universities from giving preferential treatment in admissions to relatives of donors or alumni.

Among legislation he vetoed was a bill requiring the commissioner of elections to rejoin the Electronic Registration Information Center, an interstate data-sharing compact aimed at fighting voter fraud that Virginia withdrew from last year.

Biden hails Fudge’s dedication to boosting supply of affordable homes

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that America lives up to its promise of liberty and justice for all.”

Ms. Fudge’s statement did not indicate a reason she was resigning now, saying only that she planned to “transition to life as a private citizen.”

The White House, in a statement, hailed Ms. Fudge’s dedication to increasing the supply of affordable housing and protect the housing needs of some of the country’s most vulnerable residents.

“From her time as a mayor, to her years as a fierce advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives, Marcia’s vision, passion, and focus on increasing economic opportunity have been assets to our country,” said President Biden. “I’m grateful for all of her contributions toward a housing system that works for all Americans, and I wish her well in her next chapter.”

Since taking over at HUD, Ms. Fudge has focused much of her efforts on addressing homelessness and making housing more affordable — problems that worsened during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, HUD announced a series of measures aimed at reducing barriers to affordable housing, such as zoning restrictions that

in some places have become a hurdle to increasing the supply of affordable housing.

Ms. Fudge has touted the fact that her agency extended rental assistance to 100,000 additional families. HUD also has built and repaired more than a half million units of affordable housing, issued more new rental assistance vouchers in the last three years than have been issued in same period over the past two decades and housed more than 1.2 million people experiencing homelessness.

White House principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton said President Biden “certainly will nominate a replacement”

for Ms. Fudge, but she offered no timeline for the process.

For now, Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman will serve as acting HUD secretary when Ms. Fudge departs, the White House said. Under Ms. Fudge, HUD “worked closely with partners at the federal, state and local levels to increase the housing supply, particularly the supply of affordable homes, while allocating historic resources to address homelessness,” Ms. Dalton said. “And with Secretary Fudge at the helm, HUD strictly enforced fair housing laws and took a stance against racial bias and discrimination

in the appraisal market.”

David M. Dworkin, president of the National Housing Conference, said in a statement that Ms. Fudge’s tenure at HUD had “surpassed all expectations,” and he praised her for helping Americans navigate the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic while prioritizing affordable housing policies.

Mr. Dworkin called Ms. Fudge a steadfast advocate for equitable housing policies, saying she championed initiatives aimed at “alleviating homelessness, expanding access to affordable housing, and fostering sustainable communities.”

Ms. Fudge’s resignations follow that of another well-known Black politician, longtime South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn. Rep. Clyburn resigned in February as assistant House Democratic leader while simultaneously committing to run for re-election.

Rep. Clyburn, a staunch supporter of President Biden, said he aims to focus on conveying the message of inclusivity and unity that defines the greatness of the United States.

When stepping down, Rep. Clyburn, 83, expressed his continued disdain for former President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” mantra,

asserting that the country is already great but needs to ensure accessibility and affordability for all citizens. He encouraged President Biden to emphasize his experience, wisdom, and commitment to maintaining connections with the American people during the upcoming presidential campaign.

“I am fond of saying, this is a great country in no need of being made great. We just got to figure out ways to make this country’s greatness accessible and affordable for all of our citizens. And Joe Biden is doing that. And we have got to stay focused on that,” Rep. Clyburn stated emphatically.

Gov. Youngkin

Jennifer McClellan’s historic first year in Congress

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Democratic Party.

Mia Love (R-UT) has been the only Black Republican congresswoman, serving as a member of the House from 2015 to 2019.

Ms. Carr noted that women running for office often lack access to early money and face challenges fundraising and navigating the political process. Many are not encouraged or are even discouraged from running. When they are elected they often are faced with threats and harrassment, states a recent Brennan Center for Justice report.

Although these barriers can be heightened for women of color, Ms. Carr said more Black women have been running and getting elected, something she said leads to better policy decisions.

her constituents.

“That was a lesson I learned very early, and it has really helped shape the type of legislator I’ve been and what I’ve been able to do,” Rep. McClellan said.

In 2017, Rep. McClellan went from the Virginia House to the Senate, representing the 9th District until her election to Congress.

Impressive record

Her current legislative colleagues have been impressed with how she has been able to hit the ground running. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Bobby Scott, 3rd District representative and dean of the Virginia congressional delegation, and Abigail Spanberger of the 7th District all spoke to her effectiveness as a legislator and advocate in her first year in Congress.

“These women are uniquely qualified and come from a lived experience that I believe has pushed innovation into our public policymaking and has ensured that our voices are heard in very important debates,” Ms. Carr added.

Petersburg and politics

Being heard is something Rep. McClellan began to understand even as a young girl growing up in Petersburg.

She said her early interest in politics was because of her parents. They both worked at Virginia State University — her father, James Jr., was a professor and her mother, Lois, worked as a counselor. They often spoke at home about growing up during the Depression and Jim Crow.

“Listening to their stories got me interested in government and politics because they saw the best of government and the worst of government,” Rep. McClellan said.

In 1994, the congresswoman earned her bachelor’s from the University of Richmond, majoring in political science and English. She then earned her Juris Doctorate at the University of Virginia’s School of Law in 1997.

The self-confessed “huge history nerd” said that studying the past helped her understand that “if you have the right people in place, government can be a force for … solving problems.”

One of her political science professors, Daniel Palazzolo, remembered Rep. McClellan from her days at UR.

“She viewed politics from the very outset as a way of making a difference in people’s lives and she has never forgotten that purpose,” Dr. Palazzolo wrote in a email, describing the congresswoman as “approachable, likable and personable, but also serious and deeply committed to creating opportunities and improving the lives of people who might otherwise be neglected or forgotten.”

Rep. McClellan said it was a phone call from then-sitting Delegate Viola Baskerville that made her realize she wanted to use political office to help people and solve problems. In 2005, while Ms. Baskerville pursued the office of lieutenant governor, Rep. McClellan ran for her seat representing the 71st District and won.

She recalled walking into a General Assembly that was mostly white, Republican men over 50. She was a 32-year-old single, Black woman. She said she quickly figured out that people’s life experiences shaped their political views and policy votes. If she was going to be a voice for those not fully represented at the decision-making tables, she would need to meet other lawmakers where they were, find common ground and then work to influence them toward positions that would allow her to address the needs of

“What I have seen in her since she arrived in Congress is the total level of seriousness and thoughtfulness and a clarity that I have always seen in her, but also a sentiment of responsibility of the shoes she has to fill in representing the people of the 4th District,” Rep. Spanberger said, referring to Rep. McClellan’s predecessor, the late A. Donald McEachin, in a recent telephone interview. “She’s already established herself as just a really steady legislator.”

Her accomplishments this freshman year are something Rep. McClellan is proud of –especially being able to get five amendments into the National Defense Authorization Act.

One amendment ensured that a president cannot unilaterally withdraw from NATO, something she felt especially momentous given the upcoming presidential elections.

Former President Donald Trump was confirmed as the GOP presidential candidate this week. He has long been critical of NATO and, on the campaign trail last month, Mr. Trump said that, as president, he would withhold U.S. help from NATO member nations he referred to as “delinquent” for failing to devote enough to military spending. He also said he would “encourage” Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to America’s allies.

Other amendments from Rep. McClellan included one that addressed mental health for U.S. service members and another that dealt with traction alopecia, an issue that particularly affects Black women.

“It’s hard to get anything passed,” Rep. McClellan said. “The fact that I got, as a freshman, five amendments in that bill was pretty exciting.”

She said she also was excited by what she was able to defeat, leading the floor fight against an amendment from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) that would have prohibited the use of federal money for diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the armed services.

She added that Republicans have been one of the biggest challenges she has faced this first year.

“It’s frustrating for me because their inability to do their job makes it harder for me to do my job from a legislative perspective,” Rep. McClellan said. “I can still do a lot to help people through case work and I’m still their voice, but not being able to see things across the finish line that I know my constituents want is incredibly frustrating.”

Mental health, housing and child care

She sits on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee as well as the House Armed Services Committee, where she has focused on quality of life issues such as access to mental health care, housing and child care.

“Child care is a big issue for me anyway, and has been since I was a state legislator,” the congresswoman said.

With both Virginia and the nation facing issues around accessibility and affordability of child care, the expiration of the American Rescue Plan Act funding last September only worsened the crisis. According to the Century Foundation, up to 70,000 child care programs could close nationwide and 3.2 million children are at risk of losing their child care placements.

A United Way NCA report from October 2023 lists Virginia as one of the states with the highest child care costs in the nation.

Rep. McClellan said conversations shift when people with varied experiences are at the policy table. As an example, she talks about her own experience of being the first member of the House of Delegates to be pregnant in office.

“That gave me a different perspective from other members on health care policy and how it impacts pregnant women,” she said. “I was a working mother trying to find child care while working on child care policy. I had kids in public school while working on education policy.”

Jatia Wrighten is an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. She conducts research on Black women, state politics and leadership. In a recent email, she shared why Rep. McClellan embodies the importance of political representation.

“McClellan advocates for policies and issues that directly impact Black women and their communities,” Dr. Wrighten said. “(Her) presence in politics serves as a symbol of leadership and capability for Black women … and can inspire other Black women and girls to pursue careers in politics and public service.”

She also noted that Rep. McClellan was effective at the state level, passing more than 370 pieces of legislation on issues including education, health care, criminal justice reform and women’s rights.

“Her current record in Congress suggests she has the same priorities,” Dr. Wrighten said. “Winning elections is an important first step, but the real power, the ability to create substantive change, comes from being in leadership positions within the institution.”

Rep. McClellan said she wants to continue to address the racial disparities in just about every issue, as well as pushback on threats to women’s reproductive freedoms and the backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion for the remainder of this Congress.

She said these issues will figure in her bid for re-election this year. In what will likely be a safe seat for the Democratic incumbent, she mentioned protecting democracy, especially the progress made to ensure voters can vote easily and have it count, as another issue of concern for her constituents.

“Hopefully, I’ll come back in the majority and we can move legislation that has not even been getting heard now,” Rep. McClellan said.

The First Step To Their Good Health — Is Yours

From left, Mary Crutchfield, Denise Harrington, Roxan Rucker, Rep. Jennifer McClellan, Alice Tousignant and Doris Bey.

Photos by Julianne Tripp Hillian Rep. Jennifer McClellan, center, greets members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Metro Richmond during a democracy roundtable discussion Feb. 17 at Virginia Union University. From left, Betty Watson Garris, Dr. Allison Davis, Anita Edwards, and Orlando Glasby. The community roundtable discussion focused on the significance of efforts to pass pro-democracy legislation such as the Freedom to Vote Act. Other attendees, left, included Virginia Delegate Debra Gardner of Chesterfield County, Elijah Lee of Voters of Tomorrow, and Richard Walker, executive director of Bridging the Gap Virginia.

Congratulations, Congresswoman

March is Women’s History Month, and on this week’s front page, we feature the energetic Rep. Jennifer L. McClellan, who recently marked her one-year anniversary as the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia.

Her accomplishments are so vast that we ran out of space to publish a companion article that details her move from the state legislature to Congress. So, what’s it been like?

Rep. McClellan compares leaving Richmond for Washington to going from the minors to Major League.

“I was in the state legislature for 18 years, so it’s similar, but different,” she said in a recent interview. “It’s like bigger and smaller than I expected all at the same time.”

Rep. McClellan’s constituency has grown to 750,000 people in more than 15 localities representing Virginia’s 4th District from four localities and 250,000 people. She also went from being one of 40 state senators to one of 435 members of the House.

That’s a huge adjustment, but one that the freshman congresswoman has handled with aplomb. Stay tuned for next week’s Free Press to learn how Rep. McClellan balances her work at home and in the Halls of Congress.

The City and FOIA

Following media reports detailing issues faced in obtaining timely responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and a $250,000 lawsuit filed March 1 by the City of Richmond’s former FOIA officer, the city plans to overhaul how it receives and handles those requests.

This breaking news came after whistleblower Connie Clay told media outlets she was fired from her position as FOIA officer by Petula Burks, the city’s strategic communications and civic engagement officer, on Jan. 19. In her suit, Ms. Clay alleges her firing was retaliation because of her refusal to go along with actions by the city, which intentionally withheld or delayed the provision of public information requested through FOIA, or quoted exorbitant fees in order to deter requestors.

The day after Ms. Clay’s lawsuit was filed, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer Lincoln Saunders sent an email to City Council outlining five changes it is planning to implement to improve the speed and efficiency of the FOIA process.

According to the memo, a copy of which was provided to the Free Press, the steps would entail:

• Reinstating a decentralized system to process FOIA requests

• Appointing Matthew Welch, former FOIA adviser for the City Council, as the city’s interim FOIA officer

• Establishing a new FOIA email to be overseen by Mr. Welch

Creating new interdepartmental standards for processing FOIA requests

• Considering the hiring of an outside legal firm to assist with FOIAs moving forward

While the city had been working to centralize the FOIA process to “take the burden off individual departments,” Mr. Saunders acknowledged it had faced “several challenges, including hiring enough people with the appropriate expertise to effectively build out this new function.” He also stated that FOIA requests had “significantly increased” in recent months, with up to 80 requests a week, many of which were “expansive in nature.”

The Virginia Freedom of Information Act requires public bodies to supply public information and documents to residents and media in the state. They have five business days in which to respond to any request or seek an additional seven-day extension before they are considered not in compliance with the law and face possible legal action.

The lawsuit by Ms. Clay is still ongoing. A statement issued by City Attorney Laura Drewry said, “The city believes the claims are baseless and intends to defend the lawsuit in court.”

Baseless claims or not, media outlets, along with people filing “up to 80 (FOIA) requests a week” eagerly await a decision in Ms. Clay’s lawsuit.

Baseless claims or not, no city employee should be fired for refusing to go along with questionable actions by the city that result in lengthy delays and exorbitant fees forced upon residents and taxpayers.

Remember the parable of the blind men and the elephant? As each approached an elephant and tried to describe it, they came up with wildly disparate answers. One thought it a snake, another a tree, another a trunk. Because they were blind, they could not see the big picture; they described the part of the elephant they could touch.

10% the year before. The Federal Reserve has been grappling with ways to lower inflation, but they need help fixing supply chain issues and corporate greed.

sugar that they are a health risk.

Frosted flakes, for example, have 13 grams of sugar per serving.

Healthy? Hardly.

Inflation is something like that. People describe it based on the way it hits them, and it hits each family differently. Those with incomes below the median salary of $56,420 per year are hit hardest and most likely counting their pennies. Those with higher incomes shrug off some of the ways inflation hurts. But make no mistake, it hurts. Grocery prices are up by 25% in the past four years, so you are now spending $125 for food you paid $100 for four years ago. To be sure, inflation is waning. Groceries increased by 2.6% between January 2023 and January 2024, compared to

Still, inflation reminds us how disparate our lives are. Some chafe at inflation, while others shrug it off. Then, a corporate CEO, Gary Pilnick, who earns at least $4.9 million a year as CEO of Kellogg, offered a novel solution for families fighting inflation. Let them eat cereal, he says.

Really? Cereal, he says, is nutritious and delicious. And it’s also relatively cheap. A bowl of cereal and milk is not an adequate replacement for a protein, vegetable, and starch (say chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans), nor is it quite as rib-sticking. But Mr. Pilnick arrogantly and glibly dared offer a Marie Antoinette-like solution to family meal planning. Let them eat flakes.

A 13-serving box of Kellog’s Sugar Frosted Flakes costs $18.70, or about $1.45 a serving. Six ounces of milk costs about

40 cents. So a bowl of cereal costs $1.85, maybe more depending on the kind of milk you use (low-fat, almond, skim). In contrast, a chicken leg, mashed potatoes, and green beans will run you about $2.50 a serving, and it has more protein than the cereal dinner, which may have as few as two grams of protein.

I am trying to figure out what Mr. Pilnick was thinking or if he has any children. His rather glib response to many working families’ daily challenges was out of line, out of order, and highly self-serving. Sure, some families occasionally do breakfast for dinner and even have fun with it. But offering flakes is no solution for families who are fighting inflation. Mr. Pilnick has been getting appropriate flack for his careless remarks, but those remarks reflect how divided our nation is. Some say, “Let them eat flakes,” while others may not even be able to afford the flakes the $4.9 million earning CEO so glibly offers. Cereal prices have risen 27% in the last four years, faster than other grocery prices. Flakes are not a nutritious substitute for a balanced meal; some are so laden with

For one night, Biden was media master

Ah, such embarrassment. Presidential campaigns will always surprise you, but I didn’t expect Donald Trump, a tireless master of media, to be tripped up by his own social media platform.

Mr. Trump had announced before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address began that he would supply his own special com mentary in real time on “Truth Social,” the social media platform in which Mr. Trump has a financial stake.

But, when showtime arrived, the webcast was disrupted by a series of power outages. There were more than 3,000 reported outages on the site in its first half hour, according to Downdetector, a website that tracks user reports of web disruptions.

said it. After all, as just about everybody knows, age is our 81-year-old president’s most serious vulnerability as he seeks a second term that would make him the oldest president in the nation’s history. At 77, Mr. Trump is no spring rooster, as my grandpa used to say, but — master of fast-talking showmanship and salesmanship that he is, regardless of whether he really

knows what he’s talking about — Mr.Trump has gotten really good at looking and sounding less aged than Mr. Biden. In the real world, that gives a distinct advantage to Mr. Trump.

Let’s give President Biden credit, though. He performed well enough to reap the full benefit of our low expectations.

Even the master media manipulator hits static, among other perils, sometimes.

After the Trumpcast finally got underway, the former president unleashed a predictable burst of derogatory posts about the current president’s speech and fitness for office. Similar barbs were voiced by Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans and other conservatives, who criticized the speech as too “angry” or “political” or “divisive.” But few, if any, described him as “showing cognitive decline,” for which President Biden can declare “mission accomplished.”

This was a speech in which what he said was possibly less important than how well he

In another Truth Social post, even Mr. Trump grudgingly acknowledged that President Biden held his own. “The story is that he got through it, he’s still breathing, and they didn’t have to carry him out in a straitjacket.”

Of course, in his next sentence, Mr. Trump seemed to realize that maybe he was sounding too charitable for the good of his brand: “Other than that, he did not do a very good job.”

Which probably means he did a spectacular job, judging by the smiles I see on Democrats and other never-Trumpers I know.

President Biden’s mission was to reframe his stumbling re-election campaign and ease questions about his age and mental acuity. Somebody probably suggested that he get angry.

President Biden has always tried to be something like everybody’s buddy, but voters appreciate passion sometimes, especially when it is expressed on behalf of their legitimate concerns. And, yes, he was heckled, a sign of how civility has declined at this annual event. But when it’s the likes of the right-wing Queen of Excesses (yes, I’m looking at you, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene) who is coming after you, it’s not so hard to look good.

On the flip side, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, a rising star on the right, shows promise but got negative reviews for her official State of the Union response to President Biden. My high school drama teacher would say she “overplayed” her role. With touchy issues like abortion and IVF playing poorly for Republicans after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it was smart of Republicans to ask the young married mom to do it. But it didn’t work well.

I do not often agree with Charlie Kirk, founder of the far-right Turning Point USA youth group, but he nailed it in an interview with The Guardian: “I’m sure Katie Britt is a sweet mom and person, but this speech is not what we need. Joe Biden just declared war on the American right and Katie Britt is talking like she’s hosting a cooking show, whispering about how Democrats don’t get it.”

A lot of people have been wondering if Presient Biden gets it too. At least for one night, and with the election still months away, President Biden showed he’s not too old to learn.

The writer is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

The COVID pandemic sparked inflation-related challenges, and those challenges, while decreasing, continue. Wages have not risen as quickly as inflation has, and those on the bottom are encountering significant difficulties. Hunger is a national problem that requires income supplements for people experiencing poverty, like the child tax credit. It certainly doesn’t need the glib myopia of an intellectually challenged CEO who perhaps thought he was being cute. His solution, let them eat flakes, is no solution for the already nutritionally threatened folk on the bottom, especially those with children. The author is an economist and author based in Washington, D.C.

Clarence Page

Julianne Malveaux

JXN Project to VUU: Do not contribute to efforts to erase Black histories

ATTN: Virginia Union University President Hakim Lucas and Board of Trustees

The JXN Project, also known as JXN, is a research-based reparative historic preservation non-profit organization that is dedicated to driving restorative truth telling and redemptive storytelling. As part of this mission, the project is committed to capturing the pivotal role of Richmond, in particular Jackson Ward, in the evolution of the Black American experience by recontextualizing its origin story as the nation’s first historically registered Black urban neighborhood.

JXN’s work is guided by eight key pillars to include public art, public engagement, public programming, and public service, policy and or planning, as well as pedagogy, philanthropy, proprietorship — and most importantly — preservation. Currently, the project is engaged in a historic preservation initiative called “The Skipwith-Roper Homecoming,” which is a campaign to reconstruct the home of Abraham Peyton Skipwith as the ward’s first known Black homeowner and whom the project regards as “The Founding Father of Jackson Ward.”

With it being said that 1 in 4 Black Americans can retrace their roots to the rivers in the Richmond region, the reconstruction site plans to emerge as a destination of choice during America 250. This homecoming initiative is timely as the role of infrastructure projects, like the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, in disconnecting communities of color, like Jackson Ward, which was recently on the annual America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places List by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is

replace it with housing.

currently at the center of public discourse.

As part of this discourse, Jackson Ward has an opportunity to emerge as a leading case study in how the field of historic preservation reconsiders which sites are worth saving to ensure

AAGHS GRVA: ‘Our history matters’

Founded in 2010, the AfroAmerican Historical and Genealogical Society of Greater Richmond, Virginia Chapter (AAGHS GRVA) strives to be at the vanguard of providing important historical context and the ability to use research skills and techniques to further the field of scholarly genealogy. Local chapter members are networked to over 35 other local chapters across the country. While our focus is genealogy, we realize that all genealogy is grounded in a historical context. African- American genealogy matters. Our history matters.

Central to the history and African-American experience in the Richmond region is the journey from the auction blocks in Shockoe Bottom, to the founding of Virginia Union University in the aftermath of slavery, to reconstructing the social and political fabric of the region to assist Black Virginians in the transition to full and dignified citizenship. Today, we applaud the efforts of many area organizations to preserve Black history at such sites as Shockoe Bottom, the Shockoe Hill Burial Ground and the City’s recent acquisition of Evergreen and East End cemeteries.

We, however, disagree with the announcement by Virginia Union University officials to demolish the 1932 Richmond Community Hospital building; and we strongly oppose its destruction. The development of this health care institution was necessitated by the unequal care provided to African-Americans in our city. Black health care providers like Dr. Sarah Garland Boyd Jones and others found a way to encourage the community to join ranks and offer professional health care services to scores of AfricanAmerican patients, services

that were administered with humanity and compassion.

In Newport News, Va., my own family history stands preserved because of its status as the location of the first Black hospital in the area. James Apostle Fields was enslaved at birth in Hanover County but made his flight to freedom during the Civil War. He was in the first graduating class at what is now Hampton University and was the last Black man to serve in the Virginia General Assembly after Reconstruction. In the years after my ancestor died in 1903, his descendants gave his house to four Black doctors who founded what would become Whittaker Memorial Hospital.

The building became the only place where Black people were provided medical care outside of the city jail. Because people like Gregg and Sandra Cherry of Newport News cared enough to step in and preserve the site of the city’s first hospital for Black residents from demolition, I can walk the rooms of my ancestor’s home. I can see the place where my beloved great-grandmother was born on the third floor in 1914. Our family can continue to gather at this site of our heritage as we have year after year.

Richmond deserves the same. A space where the community can see their history, their heritage, and reflect upon their future. They deserve to be able to walk where their grandparents were born and learn about the struggles that their ancestors overcame. They deserve this space to stand as a place of inspiration for how far we have come and how far we still can go. The Richmond community deserves Richmond Community Hospital to remain and be reused for the good of all.

As AAHGS GRVA, we support a path forward that includes the professional rehabilitation and appropriate adaptive reuse of this building within the context of the history of the community and the University’s long-standing role as an educational anchor and beacon for African-Americans.

Our history matters. Our community matters. Our institutions matter. We urge the University and the developers to collaborate with the community and the community of professional preservation organizations to structure a win-win outcome for this building and the City.

JOSEPH S.H. ROGERS President, AAHGS GRVA

that conservation efforts are diverse, equitable, inclusive, accessible, and just as many Black and Indigenous sites have either been forcibly and or unfairly dismantled, displaced, dilapidated — or all together destroyed. In the spirit of the project’s mission and vision for the city’s sixth ward, we would ask that you please consider this letter of opposition to the proposed destruction of the Richmond Community Hospital by Virginia Union University.

As you know, this historic hospital was built in 1932 under the leadership of its founder Dr. Sarah Garland Boyd Jones – the first Black woman to earn certification by the Virginia Medical Examining Board on April 27, 1893.

Dr. Boyd Jones, born in February 1866, hailed from a local family whose contributions to Jackson Ward can be dated to earlier than the Civil War – with her father helping to construct Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church and the Great Hall for the Grand Fountain United Order of the True Reformers. She attended the Richmond Colored Normal School with John Mitchell Jr. and Maggie Lena Walker and taught alongside Rosa L. Dixon Bowser at the Baker School –which too was constructed by her father. After graduating from Howard University Medical School in 1893, she practiced with the Southern Aid and Insurance Company and Woman’s Corner Beneficial Association. She also founded the Medical and Chirurgical Society of Richmond and Richmond Hospital Association.

In 1903, she and her husband, Dr. Miles B. Jones, opened what would become known as the Richmond Hospital Association and Medical College, as well as the Training School for Nurses, which was located at 406 E. Baker St. She died at her home, which was located at 908 N. 3rd St., on May 11, 1905, and was laid to rest at Evergreen Cemetery.

Both of these since demolished properties are particularly important to our project as they once bookended the location of the reconstruction site for the Skipwith-Roper Cottage at the intersection of Bates, Preston, and 3rd Street.

With that said, in closing, as the city’s only Historically Black College and University, The JXN Project fervently hopes that Virginia Union University will not further contribute to the many concerted efforts across the city, commonwealth, and country to erase Black histories, like the Richmond Community Hospital, as well as Dr. Miles Jones and Dr. Sarah Garland Boyd Jones.

Signed with hopes of sincere consideration,

SESHA JOI MOON, Ph.D.

The JXN Project, Executive Director and Virginia Union University Donor, Inez Orzene Jaudon Johnson Endowed Scholarship Fund

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Laura Thornton Wesley views posters that show the history of Richmond Community Hospital during a March 3 rally to save the hospital from being demolished. The rally was organized by Richmonders Viola Baskerville and Farid Alan Schintzius at the former Richmond Community Hospital on Overbrook Road. Virginia Union University, which owns the long vacant hospital, several weeks ago announced plans to raze the building and

Young entrepreneurs display business skills

The 2024 Richmond Children’s Business Fair, also known as Central Virginia’s premier youth entrepreneurship expo, saw dozens of young innovators ages 5 to 17 showcase their businesses on Sunday, March 10, at the Dewey Gottwald Center on Leigh Street. Sponsored by the Metropolitan Business League, the free event featured inspiring business owners who shared their products and services to the general public.

Plus you’ll get benefits like these:

HealthKeepers, Inc. is an HMO plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in HealthKeepers,

Left, Acacia Smith, 12, prepares a tasty Cajun pasta dish at the Culinary Coach.

Top right, Amenptah Haskins, 9, started his business, Ptahs Penny Candy, at age 5.

Above left, Makenzie Gilbert, 12, right, created Sassy Girl Cosmetics, which sells an array of cosmetics such as body butters and lip oils. Makenzie set up her booth next to her twin sister, Mariah, who also showcased her products during the fair.

Right, Jade Bryant, 4, shoots a basketball while his dad, Demon Bryant, gives him a boost at the business fair’s Richmond Ram Chargers Basketball booth. The Richmond Ram Chargers is a new pro basketball team in Richmond. Demon Bryant is a neighbor to the team’s owner, Hassan Fountain.

Photos by Julianne Tripp Hillian

John Marshall High School did not compete in 2021 due to the pandemic. Many say that would have been the Justices’ strongest team.

JM won the State Class 1 (highest enrollment) in 1920, ’36, ’37, 48 and ’54 prior to integration and when JM was located downtown on Marshall Street.

Turn up the music, kick up your heels and let the good times roll. This is a story of talented young men, past, present and likely the future.

At John Marshall, the basketball beat goes on and on.

“No, it never gets old,” Coach Ty White said of his three-peat as state champ.

Sports

Stories by Fred Jeter

March 7,

an 89-

14 points and

Pride of North Side wins … again

record of 75-7, including 25-3 this season.

“The only thing that stopped him from four (state titles) was COVID,” Coach White said of the canceled 2020-21 season. “It’s been an unreal run.” With no pandemic, there was nothing in the Justices’ way. With minimal resistance, they routed Virginia High of Bristol, 89-32, in the Class 2 final at the Siegel Center. It could have been worse.

Coach White

Coach White first addressed Damon “Redd” Thompson in his postgame presser. The senior has been the shining star of the program during the glory run.

In three seasons, Thompson has been a key cog in three state championships and an overall

A running clock (after JM went up by 30) shortened the game in the second half, denying the North Siders a shot at a rare triple-digit showing in the finals.

“We play hard, with a lot of confidence and we specialize in our defense,” said Thompson, a 6-foot-1 guard who’s headed to James Madison University.

Thompson also is a strong candidate for State Player of Year.

JM was never threatened in the postseason.

The average victory margin for six playoff games was 60 points. You read that right — 60!

JM’s belly-to-belly defense, never allowing the opposition to take a deep breath, forced 24 turnovers with 16 steals, many leading to theatrical dunks and transition layups.

“We’ve played good teams, but the difference is JM’s length … we haven’t played anyone with that kind of length,” said Virginia

High Coach Julius Gallishaw. “We thought we had good shots, but then there was someone blocking them or creating a miss.”

At times, JM had 6-foot-8 sophomore Latrell Allmond, 6-foot-9 junior Marcus Jackson and 6-foot-6 junior Desmon Rose clogging the lane. Known as the “Blue Forest,” all should be back next year.

Thompson, always on the go with blistering speed, concluded his brilliant career with 12 points, four rebounds and six assists.

Fellow guard, Chowan-bound Dominique Bailey, finished with 14 points and five rebounds.

The Justices have made a clean sweep of All-State honors in Class 2.

Damond “Redd” Thompson was named Player of Year and joined in the All-State squad by teammates Latrell Allmond, Dominique Bailey and Aiden Argabright. Ashram Moore made the second team.

John Marshall’s Ty White was named Coach of Year.

UR women to play in ‘Big Dance’

Grace Townsend and the rest of the University of Richmond (UR) women’s basketball team are packing their dancing shoes for what lies ahead.

As champion of the Atlantic 10 tournament last weekend at the Henrico Sports & Events Center, UR will be competing in the NCAA “Big Dance” next week. Brackets will be announced this Sunday.

Townsend, a 5-foot-5 senior point guard from James River High in Midlothian, had 13 points,

A

six rebounds and five assists as UR scored a 65-51 win over Rhode Island in the A-10 finals. She was named to the all-tournament team.

UR will carry a 29-5 record into the NCAAs.

VCU, despite finishing 26-5 overall, was a 65-63 upset loser to St. Louis in the tourney quarterfinals.

Rams senior Sarah Te-Biasu was named A-10 Player of Year. On the season, the Montreal native averaged 16 points, four rebounds and three assists.

ning two regular season titles, three tournament crowns and three times going to the NCAA playoffs.

Coach Joyner served at Hampton 2009 to 2018 in the MEAC, from 2018 to 2022 in the Big South and 2022 to present in CAA tournaments. His Pirates also earned berths in the NIT, CBI and CIT postseason tournaments.

Joyner’s star players featured Jermaine Marrow, who passed Rick Mahorn as HU’s all-time scorer with 2,680 points.

Bacot in contention for top NCAA center

The nation’s top college basketball center might be from Richmond.

Ex-Richmonder Armando Bacot is among five finalists for the Kareem AbdulJabbar Award, which goes to college basketball’s top center.

The 6-foot-11, University of North Carolina graduate student is joined on the finalist list by Purdue’s Zach Edey, Hunter Dickinson of Kansas, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner and D.J. Hall of Clemson.

The 7-foot-4 Edey is seeking to become the second back-to-back winner, following Iowa’s Luka Garza in 2020 and ’21.

Bacot played his first three years of high school basketball at Trinity Episcopal in South Richmond, leading the Titans to the 2017 Virginia Independent Schools crown.

He finished his senior season at IMG Academy in Florida.

Entering this week’s ACC tournament, he has 2,239 career points, 1,640 rebounds and 209 blocked shots. He trails only Tyler Hansbrough (2,872) and Phil Ford (2,290) on UNC’s all-time points list. Bacot is UNC’s all-time rebounder.

Bacot’s brother, seventh-grader King

Former Petersburg High and Hampton University standout Jerome Mathis was the fastest man in 2005 at the NFL Combine. Mathis’ 40-yard clocking of 4.26 still ranks ninth fastest all-time. After excelling as a receiver and kick return at Hampton, Mathis earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors in 2005 as a rookie with the NFL’s Houston Texans.

In 1996, Bryan Still (Huguenot High, Virginia Tech) ran a 4.40 at the Combine, second to Texas A&M’s Leeland McElroy’s 4.39.

And Xavier Worthy also has “X-ceptional” speed.

The former University of Texas wide receiver has sped into the NFL Scouting Combine record book with the fastest 40-yard dash in the event’s history.

The 6-foot, 170-pound native Californian ran a 4.21 to break the previous mark of 4.22 set by John Ross in 2017.

Worthy was a two-time, All-Big 10 selection for the Longhorns, catching 197 passes for 2,755 yards and 26 touchdowns in three seasons. He passed on his senior year to enter the NFL.

He figures to be a high round pick in the NFL Draft April 25-27 in Detroit.

The NFL Combine has been held in Indianapolis since 1987 after originating in 1982 in Tampa. Fully electronic timing (instead of a hand-held stopwatch) has been used since 1999.

While the Combine came along before his time, Bob Hayes is generally regarded as the fastest man to ever play in the NFL. Hayes, who competed in track and football at Florida A&M, set world records for 60 yards (5.9), 100 yards (9.1) and 100 meters (9.9). At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Hayes won the 100 meters and anchored the U.S. to a world-record in the 4x100 relay.

Long before the Combine, “Bullet Bob” did all that while still also training for football. He went on to a brilliant NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, scoring 71 TDs and earning Hall of Fame honors.

The great Auburn athlete, Bo Jackson, also enters any “fastest man” conversation. Weighing about 230 pounds, Jackson ran a hand-timed 4.13 at Auburn’s Pro Day in 1986.

Jackson did not attend the Combine. Like Hayes, Jackson was a multi-sport legend, starring in baseball, football and track.

Photos by James Haskins/Richmond Free Press

Finishing 26-4 with five one-sided playoff victories, the John Marshall Lady Justices fell short in the Class 2 finals, falling to Central Wise, 58-41, at the Siegel Center. Left, Kiyah Lewis leaps for the basket. John Marshall’s Boy’s Basketball team won their third consecutive state championship at the Siegel Center on Thursday,

with

32 win against the Virginia High School Bearcats from Bristol. Dominique Bailey, No. 4 above, finished with

five rebounds.

Photos by Ellis Henderson

As champion of the Atlantic 10 tournament last weekend at the Henrico Sports & Events Center, UR will be competing in the NCAA “Big Dance” next week. Grace Townsend, right, a senior point guard from James River High in Midlothian, had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists as UR scored a 65-51 win over Rhode Island.

We are committed to being a Great Place to Work for our teammates in Richmond and around the globe. This includes providing industryleading benefits, minimum wage at $23/hr on track to $25/hr by 2025 and opportunities to build a career with us. These are a few reasons we’ve been named one of America’s Most JUST Companies.

Victor Branch President, Bank of America Richmond

Our team is committed to delivering for our clients. We celebrate their commitment with initiatives like Sharing Success, which awarded 97% of colleagues additional compensation this year, nearly all in stock. This is the seventh consecutive year teammates received this award, totaling more than $4.8 billion. Go to bankofamerica.com/richmond to learn more.

What would you like the power to do?®

In 2016, family led Meredith Hertzler to reach out to the nonprofit He She Ze and We. She found a supportive community that she continues to rely on each day.

Ms. Hertzler, a Richmonder, is a wife and mother of two sons, ages 17 and 20. When her eldest son shared that he was transgender, she and her husband searched for information and resources they could use to help support him. A phone call to HSZ&W led her to the organization’s co-founder, Shannon McKay, who invited her to attend a support meeting.

The Human Rights Campaign defines transgender as “an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from cultural expectations based on the sex assigned at birth.”

While HSZ&W started in 2012 as a small support group for five families with transgender or nonbinary children, it has grown over the past 11 years. Its mission to support transgender and nonbinary individuals through education and advocacy that helps families, communities and allies to create life-saving, inclusive environments now has a statewide reach.

About eight years ago, Ms. Hertzler helped the Richmondbased organization gain its 501(c)(3) status, and this month she starts her second two-year term as board president. She says that working with the group allows her to make an impact on families like her own.

“We watched my son turn inward around 12 years old. He slowly became more quiet, introverted, and sad,” she said in a recent email, sharing that even with an open and accepting family, coming out was still a tortuous decision for him.

“When he finally shared (that he was transgender) and we found resources, medical

Personality: Meredith Hertzler

Spotlight on He She Ze and We board president

support and community, he was a new child. At 13, he came out socially, meaning we used his pronouns and new name outside of the house,” Ms. Hertzler added. “Today he is a thriving, loving and joyful man — this is why I do what I do. I want others to see that no matter how many questions you have about the transition, the simple answer is to support your child.”

While the use of preferred pronouns is often met with questions, Ms. Hertzler explains that it is about basic decency and dignity.

“Referring to someone by their pronouns is respectful and the first step in affirming someone’s gender identity,” she explained.

She also says there are many misconceptions about the transgender and nonbinary community. Some of those include the belief that it is “only a phase” or that it is a mental illness.

“That is absolutely incorrect,” Ms. Hertzler stated.

She argues that for many, political debates about their identity, bullying in schools and fear that the genderaffirming care they need may be stripped away all affect their mental health and happiness.

“If we, as a society, stopped debating their right to exist and let everyone be free to be their true authentic selves with all of the resources available to use as needed, then we would see trans and nonbinary people not only survive, but truly thrive!” she said.

Meet an advocate for transgender nonbinary communitiesand this week’s Personality: Meredith Hertzler.

Volunteer position: President,

board of directors for He She Ze and We.

Occupation: Director of sales and staff operations for Sola Salons of Virginia.

Birthday: Sept. 28.

Residence: Glen Allen.

Education: I went to VCU for a few years but couldn’t find the right major. I found work much more appealing.

Family: I live with my husband and have two sons.

He She Ze and We is: A brave space in the current political and social climate that we find our Transgender and NonBinary loved ones living in. We focus on creating an affirming and inclusive community through education, support and advocacy. Not only educational support groups for loved ones and family

members to learn and get resources, but training for the greater community, schools and businesses who want to understand how to be allies. The fact is, our work is suicide prevention and violence prevention. Over the past 11+ years, we have worked with almost 1,000 families and we are proving that family and community acceptance and support is vital for ensuring Trans and Nonbinary young people grow up and become citizens making valuable contributions to our society.

Mission: He She Ze and We supports Transgender and Nonbinary people by empowering their families, communities, and allies to create life-saving, inclusive environments.

When and why founded: He She Ze and We began in 2012, as a small support group for 5 families with young transgender or nonbinary children. Quickly, we expanded to support families with children of all ages with a focus of educating and supporting the adult family members which directly improved the lives of the gender expansive individuals.

Founders: Shannon McKay

— current executive director, He She Ze and We.

Why He She Ze and We is meaningful to me: Nothing

compares to being able to help someone in a time of great need. It fills me with so much joy watching a child or teen that is depressed, quiet and unengaged grow into an amazing, thriving adult because a parent took one small step and used their pronoun or a new chosen name. It is the smallest gestures that plant the seed.

No. 1 goal and strategy as board president: To be a partner to the executive director in order to build, grow and sustain this amazing organization.

Biggest challenge: Being overwhelmed. Fortunately, we have an amazing, diverse community of board members, partners and advisers that have given wonderful advice and support. I am grateful.

No. 1 joy I have witnessed working with He She Ze and We: Listening to a parent, through happy tears, describe their child’s transformation after being affirmed. It will never not make my own tears flow.

Upcoming event: We also invite you to come out and have fun with the community on March 23 at Diversity Richmond, where we will host our 2nd Annual Community Connections Fundraiser — True Colors, An 80s Dance Party! Additional information is available by visiting https:// bit.ly/3VharT7

How I start the day: I am lucky to be greeted by two cats. Being loved awake is always a positive.

The three words that best describe me: Grateful, insightful, but silly.

Best late-night snack: French fries.

My music playlist: What is the saying, “You always love the music of your teens”? I am no different. I can’t go wrong with an ’80s flashback — Depeche Mode, George Michael, Madonna. No wonder our fundraising event is so amazing!

I love to: Have a couple of gin and tonics with my husband and watch TV sitcoms that we have both seen many times before, love on my cats and read memoirs of people who fascinate me.

A quote that inspires me: “Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” ― Fred Rogers

The best thing my parents ever taught me: That I can accomplish whatever I put my mind to.

The person who influenced me the most: This is going to sound so silly, but in 1983 when I was just 11, I saw a performance by Culture Club on TV. I was enthralled. There was Boy George, who was so outside of the norm but looked so confident! I thought it was brilliant and refreshing, someone who truly was his own person. I am fortunate that I was able to meet him in 1995 and tell him how much that shaped me.

Book that influenced me the most: “She’s Not There, A Life In Two Genders” by Jennifer Finney Boylan. I picked this up on a whim in 2003, the year my son was born. Ms. Boylan shares her story about being a transgender woman. Call it fate or a premonition, but I have often recalled her struggle, her strength and her resilience in my work with He She Ze and We.

Next goal: To launch child No.2 into adulthood and spend some much needed time with my husband.

March 19-24 at Richmond Ballet Studio Theatre

New Works Festival

Choreography by Emily Adams, Ricardo Graziano, Andrea Schermoly, and Ira White

Tickets start at $25 804.344.0906 x224 | etix.com

Presented by:

With additional support from:

Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins Oscar for ‘The Holdovers’

Trained opera singer never dreamed of being an actor

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

While tears rolled down Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s face, she collected her first Oscar then delivered a powerful speech about her realizing that she’s good enough as an actor.

“I always wanted to be different. Now I realize I just need to be myself,” said Ms. Randolph, who won the best supporting actress statuette Sunday for her role as Mary Lamb in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.” She concluded with a heartfelt shoutout to the women who helped her through her career, and to her publicist.

“I pray to God I get to do this more than once,” she added.

Ms. Randolph portrayed a New England boarding school cafeteria manager dealing with grief and loss. She continued her awards season sweep, previously winning at other shows, including the Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA and Golden Globes.

“I don’t think I was supposed to be doing this for my career,” said Ms. Randolph, who is a trained opera singer but had no dreams of being an actor growing up. Her mother convinced her to take an acting class.

“My mother said to me, ‘Go across that street to that theater department. There’s something for you there,’ and I thank my mother for doing that,” Ms. Randolph recalled. “I thank you to all the people who have stepped in my

A list of winners at the 2024 Academy Awards

The Associated Press

path and ushered me and guided me.

I’m so grateful to all you beautiful people out there.”

“My stride for authenticity and quality allows there to be a new standard set where we can tell universal stories in Black and brown bodies,” she said. “It can be accepted and enjoyed among the masses. It’s not just Black TV or Black movies for Black people.”

Ms. Randolph’s tears first started to pour while sitting in her seat as Oscarwinner Lupita Nyong’o stood on stage and paid homage to “The Holdovers” actor. Ms. Nyong’o spoke about the stellar performance by Ms. Randolph,

BEST PICTURE “Oppenheimer”

BEST ACTRESS Emma Stone, “Poor Things”

BEST ACTOR Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”

SUPPORTING ACTOR Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”

who wore her grandmother’s glasses in the film.

“What an honor to see the world through her eyes and yours,” Ms. Nyong’o said.

Along with her grandmother’s glasses, Ms. Randolph said she used other accessories in the film as a “love letter to Black women.”

“I knew this would be a difficult role to take on. It was going to require a lot of vulnerability from me,” she said. “I knew (my grandmother) was someone in my life that would allow me to get back to my center. But it was many other women. I did a lot

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”

DIRECTOR Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”

SOUND

“The Zone of Interest,” Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

ORIGINAL SCORE “Oppenheimer,” Ludwig Göransson

ORIGINAL SONG “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” VISUAL EFFECTS “Godzilla Minus One”

FILM EDITING “Oppenheimer,” Jennifer Lame

Mr. Randolph

of research and did a little subliminal messages with hairdos, details and accessories. Beyond the glasses, the homage to women from ‘The Jeffersons’ I included all these women who left an impression on me.”

Ms. Randolph earned a Tony Award nomination in 2012 for “Ghost The Musical” and her film roles include “Dolemite Is My Name ” and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” On the small screen, she was in “Empire” and “Only Murders in the Building.”

For her win, Ms. Randolph beat Emily Blunt in “Oppenheimer,” Danielle Brooks from “The Color Purple,” America Ferrera in “Barbie” and Jodie Foster from “Nyad.”

Another win for Black actors in Hollywood came during Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony when Cord Jefferson accepted an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his 2023 film “American Fiction.”

his journalism career after graduating from the College of William & Mary. He wrote for several publications, including The Root before turning to television and film with “Survivor’s Remorse,” “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” and Aziz Ansari’s beloved Netflix show “Master of None.” He received the Writers Guild of America nominations “The Good Place,” but his first writing award came from his work on HBO’s righteouslyBlack 2019 adaptation of “Watchmen,” according to TheRoot.com.

Mr. Jefferson

Mr. Jefferson, 42, adapted “American Fiction” from the 2001 Percival Everett book “Erasure.” The film — which stars Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross and Erika Alexander – is also Mr. Jefferson’s directorial debut.

The Tucson, Ariz., native started

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM “The Last Repair Shop”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE “20 Days in Mariupol”

CINEMATOGRAPHY “Oppenheimer,” Hoyte Van Hoytema

ANIMATED SHORT FILM “WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”

“Technically precise and infused with empathy, Solomon’s performance makes for a singularly enlightening and engrossing

But despite hitting the Oscars stage for the first time in his career, Mr. Jefferson kept his cool during his acceptance speech — making a point to shout out the production of smaller films; “American Fiction had a $10 million production budget, which it more than doubled, noted the Root. com.

“I understand that this is a riskaverse industry, but $200 million movies are also a risk. But you take the risk anyway,” Mr. Jefferson said during his acceptance speech. “Instead of making one $200 million movie, make 20 $10 million movies or 50 $4 million movies.”

ANIMATED FILM “The Boy and the Heron”

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING “Poor Things,” Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston

PRODUCTION DESIGN

“Poor Things,”

James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek

COSTUME DESIGN

“Poor Things,” Holly Waddington

INTERNATIONAL

FEATURE FILM

“The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom)

Chia-Hsuan Lin, conductor Marvel Studios’ Black Panther Live In Concert is a new dimension of superhero cinema. Featuring the brilliant Chadwick Boseman. Travel to the kingdom of Wakanda as the Richmond Symphony

The Associated Press

This image released by Focus Features shows Da’Vine Joy Randolph, from left, Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa in a scene from “The Holdovers.”

David

Style Weekly

Richmond favorite, Jerold E. Solomon, portrays Louis Armstrong, the greatest of all jazz trumpeters; Joe Glaser, his manager; and Miles Davis, a rival musician, in this one-man, three-character play.

Faith News/Directory

A new generation of readers embraces bell hooks’ ‘All About Love’

By Hillel Italie The Associated Press NEW YORK

In the summer of 2022, Emma Goodwin was getting over a breakup and thinking hard about her life and how to better herself. She decided to try a book she had heard about often, bell hooks’ “All About Love: New Visions.”

“I loved it. It takes seriously a subject that is scoffed at in popular culture, that a lot of people see as silly,” says Ms. Goodwin, 26, a social media coordinator who lives in Philadelphia. “What has stuck with me over the past couple of years since I read it is the idea that to be a loving person is something you have to work at and not something that comes naturally.”

Brianna Pippen, a visual artist in the Washington, D.C., area, has read “All About Love” a couple of times, and values it for how it explores not just romantic love, but families and friends and relationships in general. Tiffany Stewart, a writer and producer in Los Angeles, first read “All About Love” two years ago with her reading group and re-read it recently.

Just from the book’s introduction, she knew it was going to “crack open” her mind and change everything she had believed.

“We’ve always been told that love should just feel good. It should be fluffy and light and easy. And that means you’re looking at the media version of love,” she said.

Published by William Morrow and Company in 2000, “All About Love” endures as a word-of-mouth favorite — the kind of book that continues to be read and discussed even without any breaking news event, movie tie-in or publicity campaign. Friends recommend it to friends. Fans post about it on Instagram and TikTok and review it on Goodreads, where more than 190,000 members have included it on their to-read list.

According to Circana, which

tracks around 85% of physical book sales, “All About Love” sold more than 170,000 copies in 2023, compared to just over 27,000 in 2018. Morrow editor Rachel Kahan cites the murder of George Floyd in 2020 as a turning point, although sales already were rising.

“I think this is one of those situations where the book’s been around a while and the

sectionality holds that racism, sexism and economic inequality reinforce each other and shape (and distort) the ways we see ourselves, and each other.

Author of more than 30 books, Ms. hooks explored everything from the lasting impact of slavery on Black women to the failure of white feminists to work more closely with their Black contemporaries.

culture rises up to meet it,” says Ms. Kahan, who was working with Ms. hooks at the time of her death in December 2021.

A few months before, Ms. Kahan had told the author that “All About Love” made The New York Times bestseller list.

“We were kind of laughing and crying,” the editor said. “She was so excited that the book was getting all this attention from readers and influencing the conversation.”

Scholars of Ms. Ms. hooks welcome the late feminist’s ongoing popularity, but some worry that readers are gaining only a selective understanding of her, viewing her more as a self-help author than as a political and social thinker.

The pen name for Gloria Jean Watkins, bell hooks helped popularize the idea of “intersectionality,” a concept coined by Black civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw, also known for her work on the concept of critical race theory. Inter-

In her lifetime, she was often cited for the 1981 book “Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism,” its title taken from the memoir of 19th century abolitionist Sojourner Truth. She wrote often about love, family and community, but within the framework of a society that Ms. hooks saw as isolating us and setting us against each other. In “All About Love,” she rejected the “dangerous narcissism” of New Age thinkers, and contended that love had been distorted by “our obsession with power and commodity.” The problem often began at home, she wrote, where too many children were subjected to “chaos, neglect, abuse and coercion.”

“There can be no love without justice,” Ms. hooks wrote. “Until we live in a culture that not only respects but also upholds basic civil rights for children, most children will not know love.”

M. Shadee Malaklou, who directs the bell hooks center at

Berea College in Berea, Ky., where Ms. hooks taught over the final decade and a half of her life, says that some find it “convenient to flatten out a feminist of color.”

“bell was never depoliticized,” she says. “For bell, the love she talks about is a love for justice. ‘All About Love’ is a love letter to justice.”

Tiffany Stewart said she found that “All About Love” had both a personal and political message, aligning the “individual journey” with the ”communal and societal one.” We are affected on many levels by “this hyper-individualistic energy and temporary satisfaction,” Ms. Stewart added, and the book “teaches us to think outside of ourselves, which is important because we can’t get through life without one another.”

The author was in her mid40s and had been publishing books for 20 years when she signed with William Morrow for “All About Love,” the first of a “Love Song to the Nation” trilogy that also included “Communion” and “Salvation.” The original editor of “All About Love,” Doris Cooper, says she and Ms. hooks would work on the book at the author’s Greenwich Village apartment.

“I remember how beautiful that apartment was, and that is was so light-filled. And when I look back, I think that was not insignificant. bell believed in beautiful things as a representation of love towards oneself,” says Ms. Cooper, now vice president and editor-in-chief of Simon Element, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

“One day, I was walking in the Village with her, and we passed a little jewelry store. She admired something in there and she bought it for herself. I was really struck by the idea of buying yourself jewelry.”

Lily Edelman-Gold, who lives in Monterey, Calif., and works for the state’s energy

commission, was going through a time of “intense loneliness” when she borrowed a copy of “All About Love” from a friend, and wrote down favorite passages in a notebook. She responded to Ms. hooks’ insistence that love was more a verb than a noun, an act of will as opposed to an abstract ideal. Ms. Edelman-Gold also found herself discovering love’s once-hidden presence.

“It was almost as though I could feel all the love in my life wrapping itself around me, filling me up and making

itself known,” Ms. EdelmanGold said. “The differences between romantic and familial or friendship-based love had suddenly gotten much smaller and less consequential. I realized that I had been conflating love and romance, as she says many do, and assuming that love needs to come from the same source as intimate and romantic satisfaction.

“It has allowed me to appreciate the fun and happiness intimacy can bring without the expectation that it also provides all the love in my life.”

Richmond Symphony meets the ‘Black Panther’

Richmonders are invited to take a special trip to Wakanda on Saturday, April 13, when the “Black Panther in Concert” comes to the Richmond Symphony in the Altria Theater at 6 N. Laurel St. as part of their Pops Series.

Conducted by Chia-Hsuan Lin, the Richmond Symphony will perform the Oscar-winning score from the “Black Panther” movie, as the film itself will be presented on the screen above the orchestra as they perform.

The concert begins at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. Information on ticket prices and purchases can be found at www.etix.com/ticket/p/8767847/popsblack-panther-in-concertrichmond-altria-theater-richmond-symphony.

Sorority announces ‘March into Fitness’ event

The Chesterfield Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will host a “March into Fitness” program Friday, March 22, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Meadowbrook High School, 4901 Cogbill Road. The event is free and open to all ages. Attendees can receive free health screenings and participate in chair aerobics and Double Dutch. The event also will feature line dancing with Break It Down Line Dancers, Zumba by Bennie, Black Girls RUN!, and personal training with Sleek Physique and Gridiron Gym. A live DJ, giveaways and demonstrations for growing your own food also will be part of the activities.

For more information, please contact Annette McFarland at (804) 216-7798.

Educator Wilbert H. Brooks remembered

By George Copeland Jr.

Wilbert H. Brooks Jr., 83, died Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, leaving behind a decades-long legacy in Virginia education.

Mr. Brooks was born on June 6, 1940, in Richmond to the late Wilbert Henry Brooks Sr. and Celestine Boone Brooks. He attended Blackwell Primary and Secondary Schools before graduating from Armstrong High School in 1959.

During his time at Virginia State College, before it became Virginia State University, Mr. Brooks balanced his academic and athletic pursuits and accomplishments. He served as captain of the championship wrestling team and was inducted into the VSU Hall of Fame for wrestling. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial arts and administration supervision.

Mr. Brooks

Mr. Brooks began his education career teaching at East End High School in Mecklenburg County, later moving to Binford Middle School to teach, before transferring to Henrico County and Highland Springs High and Moody Middle.

Mr. Brooks assumed many roles throughout his career, from teacher to department chair at Highland Springs and assistant principal at Moody Middle.

Since 1962, he had been a committed Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He also served as a member and the 26th president of Club 533, alongside work with the Theban Beneficial Club, a Connecting Link, Diques,

Honorary street sign to recognize Bishop Melvin Williams Jr.

By Hazel Trice Edney Free Press contributor

For more than 50 years, Bishop Melvin Williams Jr., pastor of the Temple of Judah at 2120 Venable St. has made his mark on Richmond and Virginia – primarily through giving. For years, his words of wisdom through his daily radio show; Christmas bicycle giveaways for children; care packages for incarcerated people; Thanksgiving giveaways; daily prayer at 5 a.m. at the church and now online; housing for the homeless and marches against crime and for community safety are just some of the services the church has provided over the years.

Now, the city of Richmond is recognizing that service in a major way. On Friday, March 15, at 11 a.m., the Richmond City Council, Bishop Williams, members of the

church and the community will gather to unveil an honorary street sign – Melvin Williams Jr. Way – as a designation of the 2100 block of Venable Street. The celebration will continue 9 a.m. Sunday with a special worship service to commemorate Bishop Williams’ 75th birthday and his 50th year in ministry. Bishop Williams, who last year retired from the office of chief chaplain at the city of Richmond Justice Center, has pastored the Temple (formerly the True Apostolic Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ) since 1983. The church had been previously pastored by his father, Bishop Melvin Williams Sr. for more than two decades.

In addition to the pastorate, Bishop Williams currently serves as presiding bishop of the Judah Ecumenical Covenant Fellowship, a position in which he was enthroned in 2017. He is a graduate of the Virginia Union University Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, where he assisted now retired Dean John Kinney in founding and establishing the Center for African American Pentecostalism and Leadership Development and was appointed by Dean Kinney as co-chair of its board. The citation for the work of Bishop Williams by the Richmond City Council is a culmination of dozens of honors by public officials over the years. His work also has been recognized with awards and citations by Gov. Chuck Robb, Gerald Baliles, L. Douglas Wilder, James “Jim” Gilmore and Tim Kaine.

Morehouse School of Medicine receives cancer grant

in a statement.

Free Press staff report

A researcher at the Morehouse School of Medicine has been awarded a historic $25 million grant for her team’s efforts in studying inequities in cancer outcomes for people and communities of African descent.

Melissa B. Davis, director of the MSM Institute of Translational Genomic Medicine, and her group Team SAMBAI were announced as one of five global research teams to receive the grant, funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute through Cancer Grand Challenges on March 6.

Dr. Davis

This award marks the first time it has been given to a group focused on health disparities and to be led by an African-American woman, the first awarded to a researcher at a Historically Black Medical School and the first given to an institution in Georgia.

“We are looking forward to engaging into what we hope will be groundbreaking research that will shift the paradigm for cancer inequity amongst people of African descent and hopefully helping to save lives in the future,” Dr. Davis said

The proposal from Team SAMBAI, which stands for Societal, Ancestry, Molecular and Biological Analyses of Inequalities, seeks to understand the complex interactions between genetics, environment and social factors in cancer outcomes. It also focuses on breast cancer and the value of patient partnership, advocacy and support in tackling the disparities present. “We are so incredibly proud of Dr. Davis’ leadership in

directing the effort to create a truly historic and precedent setting winning proposal to Cancer Grand Challenges that holds the potential to have a tremendous impact on how we treat cancer for people with

African ancestry,” said MSM President and CEO Valerie Montgomery Rice. More information on Team SAMBAI, its members and their work can be found at www. cancergrandchallenges.org.

Mules and the D’JENTS.

Mr. Brooks also served for years as a deacon and co-chair of the Scholarship Committee for Zion Baptist Church South Richmond, where he was baptized, and later was a part of the Pastor’s Aid Committee at St. Peter Baptist Church, after transferring his membership.

Mr. Brooks is survived by his wife, Evelyn Carter Brooks; their two children, Tasha Brooks Dickerson and Wilbert H. Brooks III; two grandsons, Reginald O. Dickerson Jr. and Carter A. Dickerson; uncle Carlton T. Brooks, aunt Lois Brooks Johnson and several nieces, nephews, cousins, inlaws and friends.

A funeral for Mr. Brooks was held Saturday, March 9, at St. Peter Baptist Church in Glen Allen.

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Library5820 Report X.61.27.20cc Slide transparency FIC.037504 Fashion publications X.2019.22 Abacus OM.503.01-02 Andirons OM.42.01; V.68.1357 Animal artifacts FIC.007763 Banner OM.528.02; V.68.284.1 Basins FIC.002606a-h Bed rails V.88.250.37-.38; V.91.24.06 Belts OM.64.17a,b; V.72.525.12.01-.02; V.72.525.20; V.75.169.05; V.88.161 Bracelets V.72.525.07-.09, .14; V.75.169.04; V.88.166.01; V.89.89.02a-b, .04; V.94.34.01 Brooches X.49.59a,b Buckles V.75.169.6.01-.02 Buttons V.88.250.72-.73 Caps FIC.002851 Cart FIC.012490-.012503a-i; V.88.149a-k Cigarette cartons FIC.001090-1091 Case type V.92.59.25; V.2001.03.01 Card cases V.90.07 Chain X.49.17 Chatelaine FIC.010901

V.90.24 Sculpture fragment FIC.002304a-c; V.88.158.01a-c; V.88.159.01a-c; V.88.160.01a-c Shirt studs V.92.57.21a,b-.22 Shoes FIC.006309-10; X.44.59; X.49.51.05; X.61.33.01, .04; X.62.12; X.2019.30.01-.03 Textile fragments FIC.002308 Tie Clip FIC.007649; FIC.007688.007700; FIC.007708; FIC.008319a-b; FIC.008330a,b-.008334a,b; FIC.008339a,b-.008353; FIC.008355a,b-.008359a,b; FIC.008361a,b-.008373a,b; FIC.008375-.008400; FIC.012225a,b-.012231a,b; FIC.012255; FIC.012506; FIC.012517; FIC.012542; FIC.028001-.028031; FIC.028033-.028034; FIC.028036a-b; FIC.028051.028056; FIC.032298; V.86.223.01a-t, .11a-b; V.88.153.03, .09, .11 Tobacco Boxes FIC.012260; FIC.008291; FIC.008294; FIC.008300.008318; FIC.08320.008328; FIC.008338; FIC.012237-.012254; FIC.012256; FIC.012262.012267; FIC.012488; FIC.028032; FIC.028035; FIC.028048; FIC.028057; FIC.028060; V.88.153.02, .12 Tobacco packs

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.02

Lambert Way

Glover Park Access Road ProjectHenrico County Virginia

Notice of Willingness to Hold a Public Hearing

The County of Henrico proposes constructing a public road connection to be known as Lambert Way from Phase II of Glover Park to the recently completed Woodman Road, totaling 2,139 linear feet in length. The project will include a two-lane roadway with graded shoulders and ditches, a shared-use path,stormwater management, pavement markings, and signs and be constructed entirely on properties already owned by Henrico County. Construction is currently planned for September 2024.

Project information which includes the construction plans, project schedule, National Environmental Policy Act documentation in the form of a Categorical Exclusion (CE), National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106 and 36 CFR Part 800 information, and funding information can be reviewed at the County of Henrico, Department of Public Works, 4305 E. Parham Road, Administration Annex Building, 3rd Floor, Henrico, VA. Telephone: (804) 501-5532.

If your concerns cannot be satisfied, the County is willing to hold a public hearing. You may request a public hearing by sending a written request to Charley Sessoms, PE, County of Henrico, Department of Public Works, Transportation Development Division, P. O. Box 90775, Henrico, VA 23273-0775, on or before March 29, 2024.

If a request for a public hearing is received, notice of the date, time, and place of the public hearing will be provided.

The County ensures nondiscrimination and equal employment in all programs and activities in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

If you need more information or special assistance for persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency, contact Charley Sessoms at the above address or phone number or at ses016@henrico.us.

UPC: 123292

State Project #: 9999-043-038

2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act Demo ID: VA298

copies of the above solicitations are available by contacting Procurement Services, at the City of Richmond website (www.RVA. GOV), or faxed (804) 646-5989. The City of Richmond encourages all contractors to participate in the procurement process.

Thalbro Street Sidewalk Improvements

County of Henrico, Virginia

Notice of Willingness

The County of Henrico proposes constructing approximately 900 linear feet of sidewalk along the northern side of Thalbro Street between Staples Mill Road (Route 33) and Maywill Street to join with existing sidewalks in the area. Construction is currently planned to begin in April 2025.

Information related to this project includes the proposed sidewalk addition, project schedule, and funding information which can be reviewed by appointment at the County of Henrico, Department of Public Works, 4305 East Parham Road, Henrico, VA 23228, Telephone: (804) 501-4687. Project information is also available online at the following address: https://henrico.us/projects/ thalbro-st-and-maywill-st-sidewalks/

If your concerns cannot be satisfied, the County is willing to hold a public hearing. You may request a public hearing by sending a written request to Charley Sessoms, County of Henrico, Department of Public Works, Transportation Development Division, P. O. Box 90775, Henrico, VA 23273-0775, on or before March 22, 2024.

If a request for a public hearing is received, notice of the date, time, and place of the public hearing will be provided. The County ensures nondiscrimination and equal employment in all programs and activities in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you need more information or special assistance for persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency, contact Charley Sessoms at the above address or phone number or at ses016@henrico.us. UPC: 117041

Project: VDOT # 9999-043-R76

East Laburnum Avenue Sidewalk Improvements

County of Henrico, Virginia

Notice of Willingness to Hold a Public Hearing

The County of Henrico proposes to provide approximately 475 feet of 5-foot-wide sidewalk on both sides of E. Laburnum Avenue between Mechanicsville Turnpike and Ronnie Avenue including ADA ramps, and upgrades to two existing GRTC transit stops. Construction is anticipated to begin in July 2025.

Information related to this project including the plans, project schedule, and funding information can be reviewed at the County of Henrico, Department of Public Works, 4305 E. Parham Road, Administration Annex Building, 3 rd Floor, Henrico, VA 23228, Telephone: (804) 501-4624.

If your concerns cannot be satisfied, the County is willing to hold a public hearing. You may request a public hearing by sending a written request to the Department of Public Works, Attn: Michael Elander, P. O. Box 90775, Henrico, VA 23273-0775, on or before March 29, 2024. If a request for a public hearing is received, a notice of the date, time, and place of the public hearing will be provided.

The County ensures nondiscrimination and equal employment in all programs and activities in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you need more information or special assistance for persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency, contact Michael Elander at the above address, phone number, or ela013@henrico.us.

VDOT UPC #: 117053

Maude Trevvett Elementary Sidewalk Connection

Henrico County, Virginia

Notice of Willingness to Hold a Public Hearing

The County of Henrico proposes providing approximately 450-feet of concrete sidewalk and ADA ramps from Maude Trevvett Elementary School (Trevvett Drive) to Carters Bridge Place (east side of Woodman Road just south of E. Parham Road). Construction is anticipated to begin in May 2025.

Information related to this project including the plans, project schedule, and funding information can be reviewed at the County of Henrico, Department of Public Works, 4305 E. Parham Road, Administration Annex Building, 3 rd Floor, Henrico, Virginia 23228, Telephone: (804) 501-5532.

If your concerns cannot be satisfied, the County is willing to hold a public hearing. You may request a public hearing by sending a written request to the Department of Public Works, Attn: Kevin Newcomb P. O. Box 90775, Henrico, VA 23273-0775, on or before March 22, 2024. If a request for a public hearing is received, a notice of the date, time, and place of the public hearing will be provided.

The County ensures nondiscrimination and equal employment in all programs and activities in accordance with Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

If you need more information or special assistance for persons with disabilities or limited English proficiency, contact Kevin Newcomb at the above address, phone number, or new038@henrico.us.

VDOT UPC #: 117039

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