Rapper uses 804 Day event to seek bone marrow donor for nephew
By George Copeland Jr.
The second annual 804 Day, set for Friday in Shockoe Bottom, promises to be a vibrant celebration of Richmond’s community spirit. While over 15 bands across various genres will join local artists, musicians and merchants, the event holds a deeper significance for one performer.
Daniel W. Jones, known by his rap moniker Nickelus F, sees the day as a crucial opportunity to help save the life of his 7-year-old nephew, Cayden Addison. Cayden is in urgent need of a bone marrow donor to treat a rare form of leukemia, and Jones aims to use his platform at the event to spread awareness and potentially find a match.
Jones, one of the headliners of the event, recently began using his place in the music community to help spread Cayden’s story. It’s a major change for Jones, who tends to keep his personal life separate from his work, but he sees this as a worthwhile exception.
“The position that I’m in — being able to reach a lot of people at one time,” Jones said, “What else would that ability be useful for if it wasn’t to help somebody that I love?”
Qualifying participants who donate during 804 Day will be asked to swab both sides of the inside of their mouth for roughly 10 seconds each with swabs for samples of their genetic type. Participants will be informed if they’re a match with Cayden within four to six weeks using the contact information they will be asked to provide when registering for the cheek swab. All who qualify are welcome to contribute, though organizers are encouraging
Unseated Bench for Confederate marker removed
By George Copeland Jr.
Without prior notice or announcement, a bench adjacent to the Confederate marker near the Department of Public Utilities substation on Wise Street was removed. Only the four bolts that anchored the bench remain, stuck in the concrete on the spot where it was installed in 2023.
The bench, alongside fencing that was removed recently, was part of recent additions to the almost century-old memorial. The marker was placed by the Richmond branch of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1939 to honor the lives of Confederate soldiers who died in a makeshift hospital across the street from where the marker and substation are now. The additions, which cost over $16,000, were made at the
Black
students
Union deal boosts pay for Richmond schools staff
Free Press staff report
Approximately 200 custodial and plant services workers at Richmond Public Schools have ratified their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 322, union officials announced Tuesday.
The contract, which follows Virginia’s 2021 decision to allow public sector collective bargaining, includes a 22% wage increase over three years, improved uniform policies, and a significant boost in paid time off.
Brian Peyton, president of Local 322, praised the agreement. “This contract is a testament to the hard work and determination of our members,” Peyton said. “The improvements in wages, benefits, and working conditions reflect the value and respect these workers deserve.”
The new contract introduces wage decompression, addressing long-standing pay inequities among workers. It also enhances the uniform policy, providing workers with more appropriate attire for their duties.
Lawrence Pope, a custodian with RPS, expressed satisfaction with the outcome. “We fought hard for this contract, and I am thrilled with the outcome,” Pope said. “The wage increases and improved working conditions will make a significant difference in our lives.”
sue Shenandoah School Board for restoring Confederate names
Attorneys for School Board ask court to dismiss case
By Nataniel Cline
After the Shenandoah County school district made headlines around the world for rebranding two schools with Confederate leaders’ names, two rising seniors at one of the schools are leading community opposition to that decision.
The two said they were “disappointed” after the school system voted to rebrand schools with Confederate names May 10, four years after the district stripped the names.
The students are now taking responsibility for representing a small population of Black students in a Virginia NAACPbacked lawsuit against their School Board for allegedly “reaffirming discrimination” after voting to revert Mountain
View High School back to Stonewall Jackson, and Honey Run Elementary School to Ashby-Lee after Confederate Gens. Turner Ashby and Robert E. Lee. The Confederate names were removed in 2020. According to recent data
from the Virginia Department of Education, the two students represent 2.9% of Black students in Shenandoah County Public Schools.White students make up 73% of the student popula-
African Americans in particular to help, as they are more likely to be a genetic match for Cayden due to sharing an ethnic background. Cayden’s battle with leukemia began in April 2020
Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury Briana Brown speaks June 11 in front of the Shenandoah County Circuit Court.
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Seven-year-old Cayden Addison of Chesapeake, center, has been searching for a bone marrow donor for over a year. Seen here with his mother, Courtney Addison, and his big brother, Christian, he is the focus of a donor drive being held at the 804 Day music festival Aug. 2.
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
A stone bench that sat near a burial marker to Confederate soldiers at a utility substation is now gone.
Daniel W. Jones, known as Nickelus F
Community meeting set for VUU’s plans for former hospital
By George Copeland, Jr
Virginia Union University President Hakim J. Lucas will take part in a discussion of the university’s plans for the former Richmond Community Hospital building next week. The meeting will mark the latest community discussion of the hospital and its future since the Save Community Hospital group paused its gatherings in front of the building every first Sunday afternoon of the month due to the summer heat.
The meeting is open to the public and will be held 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8 at the
By Sam Brown
Could you do a better job than your local politicians? Are you interested in politics but need help knowing where to start? Have you ever wanted to learn more about your local government? If so, Chesterfield County may just have the solution for you: the Government Citizens Academy.
Established in 2017, the GCA provides Chesterfield residents with an in-depth look at county government operations through interactive sessions and tours of public facilities. Participants gain comprehensive knowledge of locally administered programs and services, understanding both the how and why behind them.
Registration for the Fall 2024 academy is now open, with a deadline of Aug. 30. The program runs from Sept.11 to Nov. 6, consisting of nine Wednesday sessions from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The academy operates on a first-come, first-served basis with limited class size. Due to the program’s structure, those unable to attend all nine sessions may be placed on a waiting list.
To participate, interested individuals must fill out and submit an application via the Chesterfield County website. Accepted applicants will receive an email notification.
The GCA welcomes a diverse group of participants, including high school students, new business owners, longtime residents, prospective residents, those seeking volunteer opportunities and any interested resident of Chesterfield.
For more information, email the Government Citizens Academy at gca@chesterfield.gov or call (804) 796-7141.
Free community testing for COVID-19 continues
For the week ending on Saturday, July 20, confirmed hospital admissions for COVID-19 in Virginia rose 24.8% from the previous week, though new admissions remain low. No deaths associated with COVID-19 were reported statewide during that timeframe. COVID-19 wastewater levels in the Greater Richmond area last week, on average, have plateaued.
The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:
• Thursday, Aug. 1, 1 to 5 p.m. - Henrico Arms Apartments, 1566 Edgelawn Circle.
• RHHD’s Resource Centers are providing free at-home tests at these locations:
• Creighton Court at 2150 Creighton Road, call 804-371-0433.
• Fairfield Court at 2311 N. 25th St., call 804-786-4099.
• Gilpin Court at 436 Calhoun St., call 804-786-1960 .
• Hillside Court at 1615 Glenfield Ave., call 804-230-7740.
• Mosby Court at 1536 Coalter St., call 804-786-0204.
• Southwood Court at 1754 Clarkson Road. Unit #B, call 804230-2077.
• Whitcomb Court at 2106 Deforrest St., call 804-786-0555. Call the Richmond and Henrico Call Center at (804) 205-3501 for information on testing sites or visit vax.rchd.com. The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID-19 testing locations at vdh.virginia.gov.
Want a COVID-19 vaccine?
Those interested can schedule an appointment with RHHD by calling (804) 205-3501. Vaccines.gov also lists pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine, and those interested can also text their ZIP code to 438829 or call 1-800-232-0233.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children between the ages of 6 months to 4 years old may need multiple doses of the updated vaccines depending on their vaccine status and whether they had previously received Pfizer and Moderna.
Waiting periods for additional vaccines can range from three to eight weeks or four to eight weeks, depending on the vaccine dose previously received.
Children between the ages of 5 and 11 years old who are unvaccinated or received a vaccine before Sept. 12, 2023, should get one updated Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Those age 12 and older who are unvaccinated should get either one updated Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two doses of the updated Novavax vaccine. People in that age range who received a vaccine before Sept. 12, 2023, should get one updated Pfizer, Moderna or Novavax vaccine.
People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may get additional doses of updated COVID-19 vaccine, and are encouraged to talk with their health care providers.
Information compiled by George Copeland Jr.
Cityscape
Slices
Free Press staff report
The Richmond Crusade for Voters, the city’s oldest political organization, has announced a series of public forums to be held in August, giving voters the opportunity to hear directly from candidates for mayor, City Council and the School Board.
The first forum will feature five of the city’s mayoral candidates, according to a press release and is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug.1, at Third Street Bethel AME Church in Jackson Ward. City Council member Andreas Addison, Danny Avula, former council president Michelle Mosby, Maurice Neblett and Harrison Roday have been invited to participate.
after our founding.”
The forums are open to the public, offering Richmond residents a chance to gain a better understanding of the candidates and their positions on key issues facing the city.
Following the public forums, the Crusade’s membership will convene Tuesday, Aug. 20, at Club 533 in Jackson Ward. At this meeting, they will consider endorsements for the upcoming election, scheduled for Nov. 5.
Bernice E. Travers, chair of the Crusade’s Research Committee, emphasized the importance of these events. “Our mission is to help educate the voters,” Travers stated. “These forums are one way we are carrying on that mission nearly 70 years
Subsequent forums for City Council and School Board candidates will be held at the same location on Aug. 8 and Aug. 15, respectively. All forums are set to run from 6 to 8 p.m.
These forums come at a crucial time as Richmond prepares to elect its next mayor, City Council members, and School Board representatives. For more information about the forums or the Richmond Crusade for Voters, visit richmondcrusadeforvoters.org
Free Press staff report
Virginia State University has received a $150,000 grant to preserve Azurest South, a historic home designed by one of the first documented female African American architects.
The grant, awarded through the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, will support conservation efforts for the building, also known as the Alumni House. Built in 1939 by VSU alumna Amaza
Lee Meredith, Azurest South was considered groundbreaking in residential design for its time. Meredith, who founded the university’s Fine Arts Department, lived in the home until her death in 1984.
The structure, one of Virginia’s few examples of International Style architecture, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
Laurie Carpenter, national president of the VSU Alumni Association, expressed gratitude for the grant. “It is a significant building representing the hard work and dedication of Ms. Meredith, who laid the
groundwork for African Americans in architecture,” Carpenter said.
VSU was one of eight applicants selected from a pool of candidates for the 2024 funding cohort. Since 2018, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has raised over $91 million and supported 242 preservation projects nationwide.
The grant fulfills Meredith’s long-held dream of establishing an Alumni House on campus. In 1986, two years after her death, the VSU Alumni Association designated Azurest South as the official Alumni House.
Science Museum lauded for accessibility efforts
Free Press staff report
The Science Museum of Virginia was recently recognized for its efforts to increase accessibility and inclusiveness during Disability Pride Month.
On July 27, the Autism Society of Central Virginia presented the museum with its Autism-Friendly Community designation at the Minds of All Kinds event. Hundreds of community members attended the event to celebrate the designation.This recognition follows the museum’s earlier achievement of Richmond Region Tourism’s VisitAble Advocate Certification.
“These new designations showcase our continued commitment to accessible and inclusive offerings,” said Chief Wonder Officer Rich Conti. “The Science Museum is wholly invested in building strong science advocates – in both adults and children – from all walks of life.”
The museum worked with ASCV to provide staff
training on accommodating individuals on the autism spectrum. They also enhanced their Sensory Guide, social narrative, quiet zone and sensory bags.
“Minds of All Kinds is a game changer,” said Ian Young, an ASCV Self Advocate, praising the museum’s efforts. “ I commend the Science Museum for providing an evening of inclusivity not only to the ASCV, but to other organizations and community members as well.”
In May, the museum received the VisitAble Advocate Certification, which involved comprehensive training to accommodate guests, co-workers and stakeholders with disabilities.
The museum plans to maintain these certifications through annual training and continued partnerships with organizations like ASCV. They aim to pursue further growth in diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion, according to a press release from the museum. More information about the museum’s accessibility efforts is available at smv.org.
of life and scenes in Richmond
Courtesy of Science Museum of Virginia
Society
Virginia
Director Ann Flippin, left,
Cherita
Courtesy of Virginia State University
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
President Lucas
HOMEGROWN AT THE HIPP
FEATURING TERISA GRIFFIN ALSO FEATURING
AT THE HIPPODROME THEATER FRIDAY, AUGUST 9TH, 2024 — DOORS OPEN AT 6PM
CHIELI MINUCCI
LAO TIZER
Harris calls Trump’s false claims about race ‘the same old show’ of divisiveness, disrespect
The Associated Press By Chris Megerian
Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that former President Trump’s false assertions about her race were the “same old show” as she emphasized the need for Black women to organize for his defeat this November.
Addressing members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority — one of “Divine Nine” historically Black fraternities and sororities — in Houston, Harris told the crowd, “When I look out at everyone here, I see family.”
She drew knowing chuckles from the audience as she mentioned Trump’s comments earlier in the day at the annual meeting of the National As-
sociation of Black Journalists. Trump said Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past promoted only her Indian heritage. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said while addressing NABJ in Chicago.
Harris responded briefly during her address to the sorority, saying Trump’s display was “the same old show: the divisiveness and the disrespect.”
She added: “And let me just say, the American people deserve better. The American people deserve better.
“Our differences do not
divide us, they are an essential source of our strength.”
Referencing the combative tone of Trump’s interview at the NABJ convention, she said, “The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth, a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts.”
Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation’s most prominent HBCUs, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Speaking to Sigma Gamma Rho members, Harris said, “Our
nation is counting on you” to register people to vote and ensure they go to the polls.
“When we organize, mountains move,” she said.
Black Greek life is often seen as a lifelong involvement, leading many members to return to annual gatherings bringing together tens of thousands of members each. Harris has attended three such events in the last month, including the boulé for her own Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
The Divine Nine organizations, which are officially apolitical, emphasize public service as a mission and have deep networks in politics, business and media.
June Penny, 66, of Georgia, an attendee at Harris’ speech in Houston, said Trump’s com-
ments about Harris’race remind
ed her of how he tried to discredit then-President Obama.
“I’m not surprised he would try to find something like that,” Penny said.
She said Trump’s views don’t reflect the reality of race in the country, noting, “I have biracial grandchildren” — her son-in-law is white — “and the world views them as black.”
Rapper uses 804 Day to seek bone marrow donor for nephew
Continued from A1
However, Cayden relapsed in February last year. When attempts at therapy failed to keep the disease at bay, his family turned to an idea that would require community support.
“When he was first diagnosed, it wasn’t something that we really considered,” Cayden’s mother and Jones’ sister Courtney Addison said. “But once he relapsed, that was when we first started (talking) about the possibility of him needing a bone marrow transplant.”
Since the summer of 2023, Cayden’s family has worked to find a viable bone marrow donor through a wide range of community events and outreach. They have been assisted by NMDP, formerly known as the National Marrow Donor Program and Be The Match and others.
The family’s outreach has spread from their home in Chesapeake across Virginia and beyond, with family and friends coordinating events in Oregon and New York.
Community interest has been high so far, with an event at Midlothian’s Triple Crossing Beer in early June attracting over 50 people. Combined with other events held over the last several months, over 100 people have participated in the donor search so far.
“I’ve had an incredible amount of people in our corner just helping to spread the word,” Addison said. “It’s honestly overwhelming and a good way just to know how many people care about Cayden, and care about him really, finally beating this once and for all.”
Jones has been among the most dedicated contributors to this effort. Alongside helping care for Cayden and his brother, Christian, when their parents are busy, he also has been utilizing
from its perch in front of a Confederate marker in South Side.
Bench for Confederate marker removed
request of a resident who claimed their ancestor was among the Confederate soldiers memorialized by the marker.
These claims have been challenged by research, emails and documentation from Mike Sarahan, a former employee in the City Attorney’s Office who has criticized the Confederate memorials still present in the city. Sarahan first noticed the missing bench Sunday evening.
“I hope this is just the first step in carrying out [Deputy Chief Administrative Officer] Robert Steidel’s original plan to dismantle and remove the whole thing, marker and all,” said Sarahan in an email, referring to internal communications over how to handle the marker he was provided as part of his research.
“The City people certainly owe the public an explanation of everything that has happened here.”
City of Richmond officials didn’t provide a response to a request for information about the bench ahead of publication.
Union deal boosts pay for Richmond schools staff
Continued from A1
“This victory demonstrates the power of collective bargaining and the importance of standing together for better working conditions,” said Dwayne Johnson, director of organizing at Local 322. He emphasized the importance of the workers’ unity, adding, “The solidarity and persistence of our members have been instrumental in securing this agreement.”
The agreement comes after a lengthy organizing campaign that began when Virginia lifted restrictions on public sector collective bargaining in May 2021. This change in state law opened the door for public employees to negotiate collectively for better working conditions.
Teamsters Local 322 represents more than 2,000 workers in Virginia.
his connections to spread his nephew’s needs to more people.
“My main thing was spreading the word when it came to organizing the events,” Jones said. “I just wanted to get the word out to as many people as possible, and use whatever connections I had to reach out.”
Cayden’s struggle to find a matching donor is not unique, according to NMDP, as Black and African American patients tend to find matching bone marrow donors 29% of the time compared to 79% for white patients.
For those who volunteer to be a donor for Cayden but aren’t a match, their contributions are still valuable according to Rayshawn Graves, a member recruitment coordinator for NMDP. Those who provide their information could be a match for children and adults who have waited just as long, if not longer, for help and potentially save other lives.
“What we want people to know is that when they’re signing up, they could be signing up to help Cayden,” Graves said, “but they can also be signing up to help hundreds if
Black
not thousands of patients who are on the registry who they could potentially be a match for.”
When a match is found, the NMDP will handle the costs and logistics of the transplant process, including travel and lost income from jobs, working with donors and their schedules to find the best times available.
The transplant process could last up to 100 days if a viable donor is found, as doctors will need to prepare Cayden’s body for the process, and give him time to recover after the transplant is complete.
The process of the search and the transplant would weigh heavily on most people in Cayden’s position. Yet, those who care for him say he remains a beacon of optimism and energy.
“He’s incredibly resilient,” Addison said. “Despite everything that he’s been through physically, he remains positive and, if he doesn’t feel well, he has the ability to just bounce back super fast and just go on living like a normal child.”
Those who qualify and are looking to contribute during 804 Day can find the cheek swab tent among other vendors at 17th Street from 4 to 9 p.m. Signs will be placed throughout the event area to direct people toward the tent. Potential donors must be between the ages of 18 and 40.
Those interested in participating in the donor search also can text CaydenCFC to 61474 to start the process and see if they’re a potential match.
students sue Shenandoah School Board for restoring Confederate names
Continued from A1
tion, Hispanic students represent 17% and the remainder being Asian, Indigenous and Pacific Island students.
“Nobody really cared about how this mentally affects students, makes them feel unsafe and unwanted in their learning environment and that’s something that should have never been the case,” said student Briana Brown, who attends Massanutten Regional Governor’s School, based at Mountain View High School.
Brown, one of the rising seniors on the lawsuit, said some of her peers felt hopeless during the renaming process and after the decision. She said she’s pleased that she’s gained support following her decision to speak out against the board’s decision.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, local leaders in Shenandoah County named public schools after Confederate leaders. Some did it in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision to desegregate schools.
A.D. Carter V, the son of a government teacher and a student plaintiff in the lawsuit, said at the announcement of the lawsuit in June that history upsets him.
“The reason they had done that was that they were trying to disincentivize Black people from attending that high school … and so they had used it specifically as a scare tactic to try and keep them out,” Carter said.
Attorneys from Guynn Waddell representing the School Board are requesting the court dismiss the case because the complaint fails to prove that any student has been coerced into supporting the board’s decision against their will or harmed for refusing to do so.
“The only alleged harm is emotional and psychological, or speculative and potential,” the attorneys wrote. “The claims are simply not ripe for adjudication because no student has alleged that they suffered actual harm. Hurt feelings will not suffice.”
The Virginia NAACP alleges in the suit that the School Board violated the U.S. Constitution, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act. The plaintiffs seek to remove the Confederate names, mascots and vestiges, and to prevent any future school naming involving Confederate leaders or references to the Confederacy.
Some Virginians believe the Confederacy represents a heritage of Southerners’ courage against the federal Union while fighting for the rights of Southern states. Others, like the students and lawsuit’s plaintiffs, view the Confederacy as defend-
ers of slavery and a foundational part of America’s history of racism.
In recent years, Virginians have been working to address the Commonwealth’s history of white supremacist ideology and historical practices of creating unfair advantages for white people by implementing policy changes and hosting community discussions on these topics. Signs, symbols and statutes of the Confederacy also have been renamed or removed.
Immediately following the board’s decision to reverse the school names, the monikers were changed with the help of the donations collected by the Coalition for Better Schools.
Mike Schiebe, a spokesperson for the group, said approximately $70,000 in private donations have been spent to help with name-changing expenses, compared to the approximately $300,000 in 2020.
Former board members said the 2020 costs were covered by $135,000 from unused salary accounts for frozen positions, and $133,284 from residual Shenandoah Valley Regional Program for Special Education tuition. Shenandoah Forward, which was founded by community members, raised the remaining amount, under $40,000.
Students will start school in Shenandoah County on Aug.13.
“We stand with our clients as they’re about to experience having to walk into the doors again of these schools with these Confederate names and certainly understand that this presents a real challenge for them,” said Kaitlin Banner,
deputy legal director for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
Attorneys from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and Covington & Burling LLP are representing the plaintiffs — the NAACP and five current students in Shenandoah County Public Schools including Brown and Carter.
Before the lawsuit, Virginia NAACP President Cozy Bailey urged the School Board to oppose renaming the schools after Confederate leaders.
“Memorializing that historical reality by naming your public schools after Confederate military leaders and sympathizers subverts part of your district’s mission that claims that ‘all members of the learning community are valued and respected,’” Bailey wrote in a May 8 letter. “Students must believe they are valued and protected in order to thrive.”
Many of the School Board members did not directly comment on the lawsuit during a June 19 business meeting.
However, Board Member Gloria E. Carlineo defended division staff for taking “nasty” and “harassing” calls following the board’s decision to put the Confederate school names back in place.
“We are fully committed to fighting this lawsuit to the fullest extent of the law and we are confident that the whole truth will come out,” Carlineo said.
Banner said the court is considering a hearing between September and early October.
Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury
Briana Brown and AD Carter speak June 11 in front of the Shenandoah County Circuit Court.
File photo/Richmond Free Press
Have you seen this bench? It’s gone
AP Photo/Mat Otero
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks July 31 at a Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority gathering in Houston.
-
More than 30 members of Congress are affiliated with a Black Greek letter organization. Close advisers to President Biden, including Stephen Benjamin, Cedric Richmond and Keisha Lance Bottoms, are members of Divine Nine organizations. Harris has welcomed such connections to staff her operation and build her own network in Washington.
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Civil Rights Movement Freedom Riders urge younger activists to get out the vote
By Charlotte Kramon The Associated Press
Charles Person, one of the Civil Rights Movement’s original Freedom Riders, echoed organizers across Georgia when he urged a group of Generation Z and millenial activists to encourage young people to vote.
Young leaders from across the country gathered in Atlanta at a conference organized by the New Leaders Council, a nonprofit that encourages civic engagement.
They landed in the swing state at a critical moment, just days after President Biden’s campaign withdrawal gave many Democrats hope for victory in November. More than 15,500 volunteers have signed onto ground efforts in Ga. in the week since Vice President Harris announced her run, her campaign said.
But even among these young activists, there was a palpable feeling of uncertainty about this political moment.
After Person urged the group to organize turnout efforts, Bessie King, a 39-year-old Mexican-American community organizer in Boston, stood up and confessed that even she might not want to vote.
“What I’m facing is people’s disillusionment,” she told him. “Despite the change in candidates, I’m still not convinced they’re representing my values.”
Person said he gets it — watching the news can frustrate anyone — but said voters must look beyond any one issue to the greater good. He urged King and her peers to educate others about how the government works, to understand their struggles, to share ideas, but most of all, to use the resources they have to act, now.
“Don’t give up,” Person said. “You have to believe in you. I believe in you because the future is in your hands.”
Person also appeared alongside Joan Browning, another Freedom Rider now in her 80s, at Emory University, where they are donat-
ing their archives. Emory’s Rose Library is commemorating the interracial groups of activists who rode buses into the Deep South in 1961, aiming to force the Kennedy administration to enforce a Supreme Court ruling declaring segregation unconstitutional in interstate transportation.
The rides were organized by the Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights group that championed nonviolent direct action. But they were met with violence.
Browning’s ride landed her in jail in Albany, Ga. Person, just 18 at the time, was attacked by the Klu Klux Klan. He’s donating to Emory a photograph of a tennis ball-sized lump on the back of his head, which bulged after a KKK member beat him with a
Sonya Massey said, ‘I rebuke you in the name of Jesus’ What’s the significance?
Massey’s words, said shortly before she was fatally shot by a deputy, have taken on a life of their own
By Kathryn Post Religion News Service
As video footage of the fatal police shooting of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who lived in Springfield, Ill., circulates online, many viewers are memorializing her near-final words: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Massey initially called 911 from her home on July 6, citing concerns of an intruder. The body-camera footage, which was released Monday by the Illinois State Police, shows sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson shooting Massey in the head following a brief exchange over a pot of hot water. Grayson has since been fired and charged with first degree murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct, and the U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Massey’s death.
According to some faith leaders and scholars, Massey’s near-last words, spoken twice in an even voice to the deputies before her death, carry a spiritual and cultural weight specific to Black church communities.
“Every person raised in a certain kind of black church knows the power and gravity of those words,” biblical scholar Wil Gafney wrote on her website on Tuesday. “Those are the words to be said when facing the evil that has walked in your door and
will soon take your life. It is not a prayer to save one’s life or for God to come down and prevent the flagrant act of violence to come. It is something between a benediction and a malediction, laying bare the wickedness of the soul encased in human skin standing before her.”
In an Instagram Live last week, author Austin Channing Brown noted her own “churchy” background before providing context for the rebuke.
“Because white people think they have the corner market on what is normal, we are misinterpreted all the time,” she said.
The phrase has begun to take on a life of its own, becoming “memeified” and posted by faith leaders and others, including Essence magazine, whose post about Massey and her parting phrase has been shared over 12,000 times on Facebook.
“It’s becoming, whether it’s on T-shirts or bumper stickers, that statement is flowing through everywhere,” said the Rev. T. Ray McJunkins, a pastor at Union Baptist Church in Springfield who has been serving as an informal liaison between Massey’s family and government officials.
McJunkins agreed that the phrase is a cultural one that’s especially common in Black charismatic church contexts. He said it’s typically invoked when something feels out of one’s hands, and certainly when there’s a sense of the demonic.
Massey, who leaves behind two children, was a member of Second Timothy Baptist Church in Springfield. The Rev. Cary Beckwith, a pastor at nearby Springfield Grace United Methodist Church, was asked to officiate the July 19 funeral service, which included a sermon on Psalm 46 and a soloist performing Yolanda Adams’ anthem, “The Battle Is the Lord’s.” Several family members who spoke at the service remarked on Massey’s Christian faith.
“The darkness of that day cannot and will not extinguish the light of Sonya Massey,” Beckwith said to the packed funeral home.
Beckwith provided his own explanation of Massey’s nearlast words.
“For Sonya to say that I rebuke you in the name of Jesus, she, in that moment, saw something demonic in the eyes of that officer,” he said. “She felt something in her spirit that did not line up with the love of Jesus Christ.”
Some news outlets report that Massey had been managing a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia with medication. Massey was several feet away from the deputies when she was shot. She was not in a position to harm them, Beckwith said. He added, her mental illness “was not justification for her leaving this earth the way she did.”
In the days since the funeral, Beckwith told RNS that local faith leaders have responded to the tragedy by “taking cues” from local community groups, including the local Black Lives Matter chapter and Intricate Minds, a grassroots harm-reduction organization, which have organized peaceful marches and community events.
At a news conference on Monday, Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney representing Massey’s family, spoke to reporters after the release of the video footage. “Until we get justice for Sonya Massey, we rebuke this discriminatory criminal justice system in the name of Jesus,” he said.
McJunkins, who co-founded the faith-based social justice group Faith Coalition for the Common Good in 2008, has been working behind the scenes in recent weeks, connecting Massey’s family with decisionmakers and advocating on their behalf, particularly in conversations with Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell. Earlier this week, Massey’s father, James Wilburn, and others began calling for Campbell’s resignation following news that Grayson had two prior DUI convictions and has worked at six different law enforcement agencies since 2020.
McJunkins hosted conversations between Massey’s family and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton at his church on July 22 and held a community listening session at the church on July 29.
“My community needs to heal,” said McJunkins, who added that Massey’s death has hit close to home for many in Springfield. “Whether they know it or not, we’re going through the five stages of grief. As a community leader and religious leader, I’m not doing justice if I don’t step up to bring the community together, to walk them through a grief process.”
Amid that process, McJunkins said, Massey’s rebuke will continue to be a focal point and a rallying cry.
pipe on arrival in Birmingham, Ala.
Person didn’t brag about putting his life on the line for the freedoms many Americans take for granted today. He didn’t even tell his wife that he was a Freedom Rider until about 15 years into their marriage, when the couple and their children saw a video of him at an exhibit at the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum.
“The causes that we were fighting, we realized it was bigger than we,” Person said.
Both Person and Browning remain optimistic about the country’s future even as courts chip away at legislation they helped achieve, such as the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Their main source of hope? Young people.
But on the final morning of the conference — days before Harris rallied a packed arena in Atlanta — King said she ate breakfast with five other attendees, all in their late 20s or early 30s and struggling to overcome their frustration. They agreed that Person’s talk was the highlight of their trip, but they still have questions: How can they have hope when politicians aren’t responding to their needs? What can they do to hold them accountable when they never seem to listen?
“We’re so exhausted of that rhetoric” about hope, King said. “We want answers. We want solutions. We want steps.”
Others at the conference strongly disagreed — and said Person’s talk shows that now is not the time to surrender.
“It makes me angry because I see so many people taking their vote for granted,” said Ashley Nealy, 36. “This person is a living reminder of what they had to overcome and why we shouldn’t take the vote for granted.”
Person said he has plenty of his own grievances, but he still votes. And Browning compared it to taking the bus — you won’t reach your destination right away, but you’ll get somewhere.
“I have voted for some people who were total scoundrels,” preferring them to the other side of the ticket, Browning said. Change, she said, is a “long haul.”
AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon
Freedom Riders Joan Browning and Charles Person chat July 26 at Emory University in Atlanta. They were activists who rode buses into the Deep South in 1961, aiming to desegregate interstate transportation. Browning and Person are donating their archives to the Emory University.
AP Photo/John O’Connor
Malachi Hill Massey, 17, center, speaks at a news conference, July 23 at the NAACP headquarters in Springfield, Ill., about his mother, Sonya Massey, who was shot to death by a Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy July 6 in Springfield after calling 911 for help.
On the left is civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Massey family. On the right is Sonya Massey’s daughter, Jeanette Summer Massey, 15.
August 1-3, 2024
Inviting disrespect
When word got around that the National Association of Black Journalists had invited the Republican Party’s presidential nominee to its annual convention, things got bad for the 48-year-old organization pretty fast. Some members refused to attend, others dropped out of roles on panel discussions and the convention’s co-chair resigned. On social media, African American journalists expressed their outrage and disdain.
“While NABJ does not endorse political candidates as a journalism organization, we understand the serious work of our members, and welcome the opportunity for them to ask the tough questions that will provide the truthful answers Black Americans want and need to know,” NABJ President Ken Lemon wrote on the association’s website.
A day after the Chicago interview, we’re still waiting for answers from the former president. Instead of responding to queries from the three black female journalists on the panel, he disrespected them, talked over them and questioned their legitimacy. After taking the stage late, he used much of the time he was given to disparage the record and reputation of another black woman, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris.
I’m not sure why the organizers didn’t see this coming. This is a man who has the opposite of the midas touch and taints everything that he’s allowed to get his hands on. On their website, the NABJ found it necessary to explain that they hadn’t been paid off to give the convicted felon and presidential candidate a platform at their convention. Not a good position to be in.
While providing a platform for diverse voices is crucial, it’s also important to consider the consequences of giving airtime to those who have repeatedly shown disrespect for journalists and Black folk in general. Don’t invite people over that will wipe their feet on the carpet and expect a full tour.
It appears there needs to be some serious discussions about leadership at NABJ. Fortunately, many of the members are all under one roof until Aug. 4, so maybe there can be some real talk about the direction of the organization.
No sitting zone
Sometime last week, the chair was pulled out from beneath Confederate sympathizers. A bench that was placed, at taxpayers expense, in front of a stone marker in the 2400 block of Wise Street in South Side, is gone now. As it should be.
The city’s attention to this historical marker, donated by the Richmond chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1939, continues to perplex us. Last year, a fence and bench appeared at the site without warning or fanfare. City officials have claimed the structure shouldn’t be lumped in with confederate monuments, since it is “a marker for the dead.” Other research done by the city’s Department of Public Utilities, indicates the bodies that the writing on the marker refers to were relocated decades before the substation was built.
We hope the City is on the path to doing the right thing and that’s why features that adorned the marker have vanished. We also hope some transparency is forthcoming as to what happened here and who is responsible. Building and protecting monuments to the Confederacy is something that we can’t stand for.
Pollinators in the West End
Sonya Massey should still be alive
In many ways our nation has changed, but it hasn’t changed. When the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, informally known as the National Lynching Memorial, opened in Montgomery, Ala., it was to commemorate the Black victims of lynching in the United States. Its focus was to acknowledge past racial terrorism and advocate for social justice throughout our nation. Symbolically placed on high ground overlooking the city, it is located approximately a mile from the state capitol building and the city’s Confederate statues.
The powerful museum explains lynching as a direct legacy of slavery and a way of enforcing white supremacy. Lynching often involved amputations, mutilation, torture and castration. The bodies were publically lifted up and displayed in full view because they wanted to intimidate and traumatize Black communities. Exhibits explore a consistent history of violence and control over Black Americans. More than 4,400 Black people were killed in racial terror lynching between 1877 and 1950. They are remembered having their names engraved on more than 800 monuments – one for each county where a lynching took place. As this memorial confronts the shameful history of racial terror, it also reminds us that this legacy of fear and trauma continues today by way of unjust killings of Black people at the hands of law enforcement.
George Wallace once occupied the Alabama state capitol as governor. He provoked public
violence in the south where people were inspired to put violent action behind their feelings of resentment and rage. Many of Wallace’s speeches were rallying cries which indirectly motivated acts of domestic terror, harassment and murder. During the same year as his infamous “segregation now” speech, Wallace in a newspaper interview, said he believed Alabama needed a “few first-class funerals” to stop racial integration. One week later,
four young girls were killed and over 20 others were injured in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Wallace changed, but he didn’t change. In his case, while campaigning for president in Maryland, Wallace was shot as part of an assassination attempt leaving him permanently paralyzed. Being bound to a wheelchair can make a person humble. A contrite Wallace met with various civil rights activists and addressed Black congregations to personally ask for their forgiveness. While speaking before a Black church in Montgomery, Wallace showed that a man can change his ways. “I think I can understand some of the pain that Black people have come to endure,” he said. “I know I contributed to that pain, and I can only ask for your forgiveness.” In Wallace’s public campaign for forgiveness, John Lewis said that while he could never forget the hatred Wallace unleashed and his “political opportunism” he could forgive him. “George Wallace should be remembered for his capacity to change,” Lewis wrote years later in The New York Times. “And we are better as a nation because
of our capacity to forgive and to acknowledge that our political leaders are human and largely a reflection of the social currents in the river of history.” The forgiveness helps to address the personal and community trauma, but did Wallace go far enough?
History makes it clear that Wallace, who once had Ku Klux Klan members for advisers, went to the Black community for their forgiveness. It is not clear what message a contrite Wallace had for the white church and community. As Wallace went to Black congregations for forgiveness, did he return to white congregation with a message of racial reconciliation? Did he ask for forgiveness from the white church and community for perpetuating their racial hatred toward Blacks for his political gain? Did he challenge the white power structure to change? The oppressed can forgive, but can the oppressors repent?
The forgiveness by members of one community is only part of the equation if we are to see a true end to America’s legacy of lynching. Forgiveness is really the second part. The first and critical half is the repentance by specific members of the white church and community who still uphold this legacy of white supremacy and the lack of value for a Black life. Wallace changed, but he didn’t change enough to boldly correct to his counterparts. Today, the Black community is still paying a heavy price as a community as whites fail to boldly confront their counterparts. This out of control legacy of lynching is one of the root causes behind our police misconduct problem.
For the hanged and beaten.
For the shot, drown, and burned.
For the tortured, tormented and terrorized. For those abandoned
Russian trolls back to disrupt U.S. elections
from voting.
by the rule of law. We will remember. William Donnegan was a shoemaker and once a conductor on the Underground Railroad. During the Springfield massacre of 1908, a white mob unsuccessfully attempted to lynch Donnegan and left him for dead. Police later cut him down from a tree outside his home. He was transported to the hospital where he later died from his injuries. In July 2024, Sonya Massey was shot by law enforcement in her home over a pot of hot water. Massey was a descendant of William Donnegan. She, like any concerned citizen, called police in fear of a home intruder. As we make the generational connection, Sonya Massey and William Donnegan died at the same St. John’s hospital 116 years apart. Two lives cut short over a senseless attack. Things change, but they don’t change. The writer is the founder of the faith-based organization, TRB: The Reconciled Body.
“Russia remains the most active foreign threat to our elections. The Russian governments goals in such influence operations tend to include eroding trust in U.S. democratic institutions, exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the United States, and degrading Western support to Ukraine. Russia relies on a vast multimedia influence apparatus, which consists of its intelligence services, cyber actors, state media, proxies, and social media trolls. Moscow most likely views such operations as a means to tear down the United States as its perceived primary adversary, enabling Russia to promote itself as a great power.” — U.S. Director of National Intelligence
In the spring of 2019, the National Urban League’s State of Black America report was the first to highlight the extent of Russian efforts to deceive, manipulate and exploit Black voters in the 2016 presidential election. Five months later, a Senate Intelligence Committee report confirmed our findings: Russian trolls targeted Black Americans more than any other group to dissuade them
Now, as the 2024 presidential election approaches, the Russians are at it again, armed with new technology and new techniques. Videos, spewing disinformation, with voices and images manipulated by artificial intelligence, are the medium of choice for Russian operatives. Falsely represented as the work of independent journalists or whistleblowers, the videos are considered more likely than
simple blog or social media posts to enter the mainstream discourse.
Though the tactics are new, the goal remains the same: The election of Donald Trump and the implementation of Trump’s pro-Russia policies. Trump has said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want to our NATO allies who don’t meet defense spending guidelines. He would end U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
Key to Russia’s disruptive plan is the promotion of racial strife and the suppression of Black votes.
“By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign
designed to divide the country in 2016.” the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee concluded Of Russian operatives’ top 10 Instagram accounts, five were focused on African-American issues and audiences. Their Twitter content was “heavily focused on hot-button issues with racial undertones such as the NFL kneeling protests.” And 96% of their YouTube content was targeted at racial issues and police brutality. “Some of the videos featured expressly voter suppressive content intended to dissuade African-American voters from participating in the 2016 presidential election,” the committee found.
Russia continued to target Black Americans through the 2020 presidential election.
Our best defense against disinformation, national security experts say, is identifying and publicizing the propaganda push.
“The great antidote to all of this is being able to shine a light on it,” former NSA director Gen. Paul M. Nakasone told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “If they are trying to influence or interfere in our elections, we should make it as hard as possible for them.”
The writer is the president and CEO of the National Urban League.
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
David W. Marshall
Marc H. Morial
President Biden demands Supreme Court overhaul
President Biden has called for a sweeping overhaul of the Supreme Court and a constitutional amendment to limit presidential power, signaling his intent to tackle deep-seated issues within the American judiciary. In a compelling op-edpublished this week, Biden underscored the need for reforms to restore public trust and integrity in the nation’s highest court.
president, said he maintains great respect for America’s institutions and separation of powers.
“I served as a U.S. senator for 36 years, including as chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee,” the president wrote. “I have overseen more Supreme Court nominations as a senator, vice president, and president than anyone living today.” Biden, who in July stepped aside and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the next
“What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach,” Biden stated.
The president’s most striking proposal is a constitutional amendment to ensure former presidents are not immune from federal criminal indictments, trials, convictions, or sentencing.
“We are a nation of laws — not of kings or dictators,” Biden remarked. His assertion comes in direct response to a recent Supreme Court ruling that shields certain presidential actions from prosecution, a decision that
has provided a lifeline to former President Trump amid his ongoing legal battles.
Biden further advocated for imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices, suggesting 18-year terms to prevent any single presidency from exerting multigenerational influence over the judiciary. “Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity and reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come,” he insisted.
Biden also called on Congress to enforce stringent ethics requirements on Supreme Court justices, akin to those governing other federal judges. Criticizing the current voluntary ethics code as insufficient and selfenforced, he argued for robust regulations concerning gifts, political activities, and financial dealings. “This is common sense,” he wrote. “The court’s current voluntary ethics code is
weak and self-enforced.”
Biden is scheduled to elaborate on these proposals in a speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Civil Rights Act. The event, initially slated for mid-July, was postponed following an alleged assassination attempt
on Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Last week, from the Oval Office, Biden addressed the nation, explaining his decision to end his re-election campaign and outlining his plans for his remaining time in office, including his call for Supreme Court reform. Reports had previously revealed that Biden had already
Courts need to slap down SLAPP suits
communicated his ambitious reform agenda to Congress, marking a significant departure from his previous reluctance to endorse substantial changes to the court. The shift follows recent controversies involving Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and contentious rulings by the conservative majority on pivotal issues like abortion rights.
A group of Texas cattle ranchers sued Oprah Winfrey for more than $12 million in 1996. They claimed that one of her shows, called “Dangerous Food,” that featured experts on mad cow disease and in which she said she would not eat another hamburger, was an attack on their business. The ranchers did not really have a legal leg to stand on. But at the time, Texas did not have an anti-SLAPP law on the books so Winfrey had to fight the frivolous lawsuit in court for six weeks before a jury ruled in her favor.
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, known as SLAPP suits for short, are a type of lawsuit intended to silence or punish people who speak out on matters of public interest. They often attack protected free speech and have mostly been used by powerful and wealthy interests to harass. The suits are usually not built to win in court, but rather to leverage the deep pockets of those filing the suits to bully less wealthy groups and individuals and force them to divert their time and resources to defending themselves in court. This is a tactic increasingly used by the fossil fuel industry and other corporate polluters to suffocate environmental activism and advocacy.
Winfrey obviously had the
resources to fight back in that 1996 suit. Many targets of SLAPP suits are not so lucky.
Right now, Energy Transfer, the corporate behemoth behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), is suing the organization Greenpeace for more than $300 million in damages in a SLAPP suit. Energy Transfer alleges Greenpeace orchestrated the massive protest movement against the pipeline, defamed the company, and cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.
In doing so, Energy Transfer fails to acknowledge that the movement to stop this pipeline was led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who simply wanted to protect their water supply, sacred sites, and cultural resources. Tribal leaders attracted the support of hundreds of organizations and thousands of activists, who promoted their
efforts, joined the Tribe in North Dakota to protest, and signed letters in solidarity with their opposition to the pipeline.
Energy Transfer’s suit is built on the assumption that Indigenous peoples did not have the authority, agency, or wherewithal to organize the anti-DAPL movement. In that way, the SLAPP suit is a slap in the face to those Indigenous activist leaders.
Greenpeace’s role in the protests was fairly limited. They joined sign-on letters, had a small handful of organizers in North Dakota who joined the effort, and shared information from allies and the news on social media.
That is according to Greenpeace’s Chief Program Officer Tefere Gebre. Tefere and I go back a long way as brothers in the movement for working
people. He says, “At the end of the day, it’s not just Greenpeace we worry about. We believe this is going to be a blueprint for corporate America to go after whoever they want and scare their opposition out of existence.”
That is 100% correct. This SLAPP suit is not just about tying up Greenpeace in court to hamper the organization’s work.
Energy Transfer and their legal team are trying to sue Greenpeace out of existence.
Gebre says, “We don’t want people to just say ‘poor Greenpeace,’ we want people to speak up and actually stop this from happening. We’re not asking for sympathy, we’re asking for solidarity.”
The writer is the executive director of the Sierra Club and a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania.
Justice Elena Kagan has also recently advocated for a more robust code of ethics for the Supreme Court, emphasizing the need for enforceable mechanisms to uphold judicial accountability. Despite the presidential push for these reforms, passing such legislation through a divided Congress remains a formidable challenge. Senate Democrats, including Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, have expressed strong support for Biden’s proposals but acknowledge the political hurdles ahead.
“Our democracy depends on the integrity of our institutions,” Biden stated. “This is not just about reforming the Supreme Court—it’s about safeguarding the future of our nation. We must act now to ensure justice and fairness for all Americans.”
The writer is a veteran journalist and author of the new book, “Celebrity Trials: Legacies Lost, Lives Shattered, So What’s the Real Truth.”
Stacy M. Brown
By Megan Janetsky
Associated Press
The
A record number of athletes openly identifying as LGBTQ+ are competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, a massive leap during a competition that organizers have pushed to center around inclusion and diversity.
191 openly LGBTQ+ athletes competing in 2024 Olympics
the athletes are women.
That number has quashed the previous record of 186 out athletes counted at the COVID19-delayed Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, and the count is only expected to grow at future Olympics.
“More and more people are coming out,” said Jim Buzinski,
There are 191 athletes publicly saying they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary who are participating in the Games, according to Outsports, an organization that compiles a database of openly queer Olympians. The vast majority of
co-founder of Outsports. “They realize it’s important to be visible because there’s no other way to get representation.”
The number of people willing to take the spotlight as an LGBTQ+ Olympian has skyrocketed in past decades.
Free Press staff report
Buzinski said that when they started tracking the numbers at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, they counted only around five people.
Organizers of the Paris Olympics have underscored diversity and inclusion as major themes, showcasing drag queens and refugee athletes in Friday’s opening ceremony. That has received some blowback from religious conservatives
“In our Olympic world, we all belong,” Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee president said in a speech during the opening ceremony.
Because of that and Paris’ reputation as the “City of Love,” Buzinski and LGBTQ+ advocates see the Paris Games as an opportunity for athletes who hail from parts of the world where competitors can’t be openly gay because of harsh restrictions on queer populations.
“Coming to Paris, coming to France, they are able to be their true selves,” said Jérémy Goupille, co-chair of the Pride House at the Paris Olympics.The Pride House, which debuted at the 2010 Olympics, is located on a boat floating on the Seine River and will feature live music and speeches from Olympic organizers as it opens Monday night.
Goupille said security concerns still remain for many
athletes. Dating apps like Grindr, Bumble and Tinder have long been used as a shield for gay athletes who want to connect with other queer people in the countries where they are competing but don’t want to feel publicly exposed.
But he said in previous Games, some have tried to expose athletes that are not officially out by checking heights, weights and locations of people on those apps.
Because of that, Grindr announced that in Paris they have
disabled location-based features within the Olympic village where athletes stay and other official Games areas, saying it would allow LGBTQ+ athletes to connect “authentically without worrying about prying eyes or unwanted attention.”
The app made the same decision for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
“If an athlete is not out or comes from a country where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal, using Grindr can put them at risk of being outed by
in the Olympic village.
“You have to protect them because so many bad people exist. At the same time, there are so many beautiful athletes,” Goupille said. “They want to meet someone and it’s difficult.”
SAU retains accreditation as football program suspended for 2024-25 VCU basketball faces
tough nonconference slate
Free Press staff report
Virginia Commonwealth University’s men’s basketball team faces a challenging 202425 non-conference schedule, including potential matchups with five NCAA Tournament teams and two recent Final Four participants.
The Rams’ 13-game nonconference slate, released Monday, features possible games against nine teams that finished last season in the top 125 of the NCAA NET rankings. Seven of these potential opponents were top-100 NET teams last year.
According to Barttorvik. com’s 2024-25 NET Forecast, VCU’s schedule includes six potential Quad 1 and Quad 2 road or neutral contests.
The Rams open their 57th season on Nov. 4, hosting Bellarmine at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.
VCU will play Boston College in the Veterans Classic in Annapolis, Md., on Nov. 8. The team will face Colorado State in the Jack Jones Classic in Las Vegas on Dec. 14, followed by a Dec. 18 game at New Mexico.
The Rams will participate in the Shriners Children’s Hospital Charleston Classic from Nov. 21-24 in South Carolina. The tournament field includes three 2024 NCAA Tournament teams and 2024 NIT Champion Seton Hall.
VCU also will host Merrimack, Loyola (Md.), Georgia Southern, Penn, and William & Mary at home.
Second-year Coach Ryan Odom leads VCU after a 24-14 season in 2023-24, which saw the Rams reach the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship Game and the Postseason NIT quarterfinals.
The team returns three starters and nearly 70% of its scorers, including All-Atlantic 10 First Team selection Max Shulga from Kyiv, Ukraine.
The 2024-25 Atlantic 10 Conference schedule, game times, and TV information will be announced later. Season tickets are on sale.
Saint Augustine’s University, the nation’s oldest historically Black Episcopal university, will retain its accreditation following a unanimous decision by an arbitration panel to reverse a previous ruling, school officials announced recently.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) had moved to revoke SAU’s accreditation in late 2023, which would have made students ineligible for federal financial aid. The university appealed, and the decision was put on hold during arbitration.
“The unanimous reversal by the arbitration committee rightfully cor-
rects the injustice inflicted upon SAU by SACSCOC’s initial ruling,” said Brian Boulware, chairman of the SAU board of trustees, in a statement.
Despite the reversal, SAU remains on probation and faces significant financial challenges, including IRS tax liens totaling nearly $10 million according to a report from North Carolina Public Radio.
The university, founded in 1867, also has experienced recent leadership turnover. Interim President Marcus Burgess was appointed after the previous president was dismissed in November for undisclosed reasons.
SAU officials affirm their commitment to welcoming students for the fall semester, but enrollment impacts remain unclear following the publicized accreditation issues.
Athletic Director Dr. J. Lin Dawson emphasized the university’s dedication to both academic and athletic success.
“SAU Athletics is committed to winning championships, graduating student-athletes, and developing them as leaders,” Dawson said in “The Bird’s Eye View,” the university’s e-newsletter.
The university has suspended its football program for the 2024-25 academic year but plans to maintain its other 11 NCAA Division II sports and compete in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The SACSCOC will review SAU’s status again at its December board meeting.
Free Press staff report
The Florida A&M Rattlers, the defending HBCU national champions, will enter the 2024 season as the top-ranked team in the Preseason HBCU FCS Coaches Poll, released Thursday by Boxtorow. The Rattlers, who clinched the top spot last year, received 11 of 18 first place votes.
As they gear up for the new season, the Rattlers face several challenges. James Colzie steps in as head coach, succeeding Willie Simmons, who left for a position as running backs coach at Duke. Additionally, first team All-SWAC quarterback Jeremy Moussa has exhausted his eligibility, leaving a gap at the pivotal position. However, the Rattlers’ defense remains a strong suit, bolstered by the return of HBCU AllAmerican defensive back Kendall Bohler, who has been named to the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000 Watch List. North Carolina Central, the 2022 MEAC
champions and last year’s HBCU national champions, begins the season ranked No. 2. The Eagles also are grappling with quarterback uncertainty following the departure of HBCU Offensive Player of the Year Davius Richard. Walker Harris, who appeared in all 12 games last season and threw five touchdown passes without an interception, will start at quarterback. North Carolina Central earned two first place votes. Defending MEAC champions Howard, who finished second in last year’s final poll, are ranked No. 3. They are followed by Alcorn State at No. 4 and Alabama State at No. 5. Each of these teams received one first place vote. The Preseason HBCU FCS Coaches Poll, now in its 16th year, is conducted by Boxtorow, a nationally syndicated sports talk show and is voted on by HBCU Football Championship Subdivision coaches.
Free Press staff report
In a testament to their outstanding performances this season, Virginia Union University’s track and field program has seen two of its athletes named to the 2024 VaSID All-State Indoor Track & Field Team.
Junior sprinter and hurdler Jalen Hinton, hailing from Chesapeake, secured a spot on the First Team, showcasing his exceptional speed and technique. Freshman Zachary Jones from Chester, made his mark in the throws category, earning a place on the Second Team.
VUU Track & Field Coach Franck Charles expressed his pride in the athletes’ achievements. “I am very proud of both guys for getting recognition,” Charles stated. “They truly deserve it, as they have worked very hard and overcome a lot this past season.”
The Virginia Sports Information Directors selects these prestigious teams annually, recognizing top performers across 44 All-State teams in 23 sports. The organization, open to media relations professionals from universities and conferences throughout Virginia, also names an Academic All-State squad and crowns All-Sports champions in both University and College Divisions. Hinton and Jones’ selections not only highlight their individual talents but also underscore the strength of VUU’s track and field program. All eyes will be on these rising stars to see how they build on this recognition in future competitions.
Jalen Hinton and Zachary Jones
Courtesy Saint Augustine University
As the school confronts financial challenges, Saint Augustine's football team will remain on the sidelines this year.
AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
Artist Jaydena
AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
Jeremy Goupille shows his nails painted with the rainbow colors and the Olympic rings at the opening of Pride House, the safe space for the LGBT+ community of athletes, during the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Personality: Cheryl Groce-Wright
Spotlight on The Innerwork Center board president
Cheryl Groce-Wright’s journey with mindfulness began after a work burnout in 2019. Seeking solace, she was guided by a colleague teaching a mindful, self-compassion course. This experience ignited a transformative journey of self-discovery that enhanced her well-being.
Groce-Wright firmly believes in the transformative power of mindfulness, self-compassion and meditation. She explains that these practices are a gateway to self-improvement, fostering a deeper connection with oneself, reducing stress and nurturing joy and gratitude.
Her mindfulness journey has been a testament to her resilience. Despite facing multiple losses within a short span, including her mother, godmother, aunt and mother-in-law, she found solace and strength in the practice of self-awareness and personal development.
Groce-Wright believes the unknown prevents most people from self-discovery. She understands it’s a personal journey but thinks everyone should take it. She encourages people to try the broad array of methods for introspection available at The Innerwork Center, cautioning that there’s no one “right” way.
“Be open. You need the tools,” Groce-Wright explains. “People need to try because there’s so much more to enjoying life when you understand your thinking better. It makes us better partners, parents, friends, or whatever relationships we have.”
A Philadelphia native, she came to Richmond in 1993 when her husband was accepted into a doctoral program at Virginia Commonwealth University. Given its smaller size and population, they felt Richmond offered a more manageable urban experience than Philadelphia. Now Richmond is home for them.
She’s also an avid runner, having completed a number of half and full marathons. She is the head coach for the Sports Backers Half Marathon Training Team, which motivates and trains runners for the Allianz Partners Richmond Marathon.
Running and helping people
find and live better lives are Groce-Wright’s passions. Her path to finding her joy is at The Innerwork Center. Meet Cheryl Groce-Wright, a wife, mother, runner, coach and this week’s Personality.
Volunteer positions: Board president for The Innerwork Center, Sports Backers Half Marathon Training Team head coach.
Occupation: Consultant, health and wellness coach and instructor.
Date and place of birth: Oct. 3 in Philadelphia.
Where I live now: Richmond.
Education: SUNY Oswego, University of Pennsylvania, VCU.
Family: Spouse, son Nigel and son Carson.
The Innerwork Center is: A place to gather and do the most essential solitary work that cannot be done alone.
Location: 213 Roseneath Road.
When founded and by whom: 1994 by Nancy Milner.
Mission: The Innerwork Center is a catalyst for well-being through programs that inspire curiosity, cultivate mindfulness, and awaken the spirit. We envision an individual and collective human experience rich with compassion, authenticity and meaning.
Why I accepted the position as board president: The Innerwork Center has been an essential support to my own personal journey after a period of family loss and burnout. Through learning methods of restoration like mindfulness, meditation, self-compassion, I found my way to a place of peace and harmony that I never thought was possible. Serving as the board president after the organization and its people have given so much to me was an absolute no-brainer.
When elected board president: April 2024.
Length of term: Two years. No. 1 goal or project: Guided by our new staff leadership, The
Innerwork Center is positioned for expansion, sharing our intentional approaches for personal evolution and processes for growth and transformation with a wider, more diverse community — both locally and beyond our region.
Strategy for achieving goals: The Innerwork Center offers award-winning keynotes, single and multi-session programs, retreats, donation-based drop-ins, and other unique opportunities to do inner work individually and collectively.
No. 1 challenge facing The Innerwork Center: Financial sustainability continues to be a priority and where we place great emphasis. After 30 years of serving this community, we are committed to finding the secret sauce that will allow us to serve another 30 years and more.
Ways I have witnessed The Innerwork Center make a difference: Through programs and classes in mindfulness, movement, and through concentrated offerings like our annual silent retreat, I have seen many individuals achieve a sense of peace and calm in their lives.
What it means to do inner work: For me, it is the journey into my own inner world, my soul if you will, to meet, commune with, and become reacquainted and reunited with my true self.
The Innerwork Center and racial equity: Through belonging – We are creating an organizational culture where everyone feels welcome to be their true selves. That can only happen with explicit effort from all key stakeholders including staff, board, faculty and volunteers. We value each other’s diverse experiences, our common humanity and our interconnectedness.
Ways The Innerwork Center intentionally addresses race-based stress and trauma: Our programs in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Somatic Healing and several other classes and offerings help participants begin their personal healing journey. We also offer an intentional BIPOC monthly gathering opportunity for participants to share in their personal and collective healing journey.
Richmond and compassion: Through methods in mindful compassion, I would offer this: May we all be well, may we all find peace, may we all live in harmony, may we all be free from attitudes and experiences that separate us rather than unite us, may we all heal from the wounds of the past, may we find our way back to each other.
Inner work Richmond needs to do in 2024: Honest and open dialogue aimed to build people up, focused on supporting people’s journeys however different or diverse they may be from our own.
How The Innerwork Center, truth and reconciliation work together: The difficult work of truth and reconciliation must truly start within each one of us, by understanding our own attitudes, biases, prejudices and examining our innermost feelings is the only place to truly begin to build what great things can happen between us on the outside, however those relationships are built over time.
Mindfulness is: Allowing oneself to be in the present moment.
Ways mindfulness can improve Richmond and its relationships: By being present with one another, and not focusing on the past or where we are racing off to next, we can really connect more deeply with others affording us many chances to connect, educate, understand and grow in relation to one another.
The Innerwork Center is intended for: Any and everyone seeking a closer and deeper understanding of self, and understanding how when we begin within, we open ourselves to the entire universe of opportunities that await us every day.
Upcoming events and details:
Rites of Passage: an Interfaith Panel on Sept. 26; Creative Contemplation for Radical Change on Sept. 12 & 13; Death Café on Aug. 15; Healing with Ayurveda on Sept. 11 & 18; Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (Mondays) Sept. 9 - Nov. 4; The Power and Inner Peace of Your True Nature on Aug. 17, and others listed on our website innerworkcenter. org.
The Innerwork Center partners with: Richmond Public Schools, Chesterfield Public Schools, Henrico Public Schools, ACTS, YWCA, SOAR, Fit4Kids, Junior League of Richmond, Habitat for Humanity, VCU Health, University of Richmond, Robins Foundation, Special Olympics, Four Paws Veterinary and others.
Other ways readers can participate with The Innerwork Center: Attending programs, being mindful and intentional about seeking joy in all things, being kind and compassionate wherever possible, donate to support our programming, become a member of the center, become a sponsor of our programs and offerings.
Ways to contact The Innerwork Center: hello@ innerworkcenter.or g , www. innerworkcenter.or g , (804) 359-0384, or visit us at 213 Roseneath Road.
How I quiet my mind during challenging times: I have a meditation practice of at least 30 minutes each day, I get out
in nature and I play with my dog LoKee.
Three daily self-care tips: 1) Meditate or a mindfulness time, 2) get the appropriate amount of sleep for your optimal health, 3) take a walk of any length. How I start the day: Yoga and meditation.
The three words that best describe me: Vibrant, enthusiastic and compassionate.
If I had 10 extra minutes in the day: I would remember to do my gratitude journal.
If I hosted a dinner party my dream guest would be: My grandmother Ruby because I miss her so deeply.
Best late-night snack: Sourdough pretzels.
Something I love to do that most people would never imagine: Listen to birds singing to get my day started.
A quote that inspires me: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”— Marianne Williamson
At the top of my “to-do” list: Complete my life coaching course.
The best thing my parents ever taught me: How to be respectful and giving to others.
The person who influenced me the most: My mother, Marcella B. Groce. She taught me how to work hard, and to always have the interest of others at the forefront of my intentions.
Book that influenced me the most and how: “Ubuntu” by Steven Lundin. It’s an inspiring story about teamwork and collaboration and how that is possible to have in all spaces in our lives.
What I’m reading now: “A Promised Land” by Barack Obama, still early in the text. Everything we do in life is a journey and some are more arduous than others.
Next goal: Pursue my health and wellness goals through teaching and coaching others to live their best and healthiest life.
Deacon Tyra Eugene Dunson, Sr.
e family of Deacon Tyra E. Dunson, Sr. celebrated a colorful and exciting 99th birthday dinner and social event on Sunday, July 21st at the Hobson Lodge. Many friends from his church family and the community in general, shared in the evening’s activities. During Deacon Dunson’s active involvement at the Lodge, he served as a Worshipful Grand Master. His family and friends are extremely blessed to have the privilege of enjoying him at this stage in his life. May he be blessed with many more years!
Richmond musicians receive $12,500 from Newlin Music Prize
Free Press staff report
The Newlin Music Prize has awarded $12,500 to 40 Richmond area musicians, recognizing past winners and nominees from its inception in 2022. This distribution follows an increase in prize money for the 2024 award and honor artists from previous years.
Established in 2022, the Newlin Music Prize celebrates the best full-length album from the Metropolitan Richmond area, based solely on artistic merit. Each year, a jury of over 100 members from the local arts community selects 20 albums for consideration.
Initially offering $1,000 to winners in 2022 and 2023, the
prize increased to $2,500 in 2024. Additionally, $4,750 was raised to award $250 to each nominee on the short list. This supplemental payout ensures that artists from the first two years receive similar recognition.
“We are very excited to be able to bestow this money to artists from the previous two years of the award,” said Newlin Music Prize President Doug Nunnally. “Their contributions have greatly enriched Richmond’s diverse musical landscape, and we are thrilled to celebrate their achievements and support their future creative endeavors with this endowment.”
Artists receiving payments
include Abby Huston, Angélica Garcia, Ant The Symbol, Armagideon Time, Big Fundamental, Book Of Wyrms, Butcher Brown, Caro, Cassidy Snider & The Wranglers, Deau Eyes, DJ Harrison, Drook, Dumb Waiter, Erin & The Wildfire, Frames, Giant, Gnawing, Illa Styles, Jewell Booker, Junnie Mac, Justin Golden, Mackenzie Roark, Matthew E. White, McKinley Dixon, Monday Night, Ms. Jaylin Brown, No BS! Brass, Piranha Rama, Prabir Trio, Radio B, Spooky Cool, Strawberry Moon, T V L P A, Tennishu, Terminal Bliss, Tiara
Andrew, Timothy
And The
and
Looking ahead, the organization will begin fundraising for its 2025 award, celebrating albums from the Richmond-Petersburg metropolitan region released in 2024. A kickoff event is scheduled for Aug. 4 at the Kava Club, featuring performances by past nominees and a raffle to benefit the prize fund. The Newlin Music Prize is as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity. For
Library of Virginia names finalists for 2024 Literary Awards
Free Press staff report
The Library of Virginia recently announced the 12 finalists for its 27th Annual Virginia Literary Awards.. This year’s finalists represent a broad range of genres, highlighting the Commonwealth’s vibrant literary culture.
Chosen from over 200 submissions by an independent panel of judges, the finalists will be honored at a gala ceremony Sept. 21 at the Library of Virginia. Each winner will receive a $2,500 prize and distinguished recognition for their work.
For nonfiction, the finalists are Edward L. Ayers for “American Visions: The United States, 1800–1860,” Ashley Shew for “Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement,” and Elizabeth R. Varon for “Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South.”
“We are thrilled to honor literary excellence within our state and celebrate Virginia’s contributions to literature,” said Librarian of Virginia Dennis T. Clark. “The Virginia Literary Awards Celebration not only showcases exceptional writers but also brings together a community of readers and authors.”
In fiction, the finalists are Rachel Beanland for “The House Is on Fire,” Sadeqa Johnson for “The House of Eve,” and Angie Kim for “Happiness Falls.”
In poetry, the finalists are Ariana Benson for “Black Pastoral: Poems,” Bob Hicok for “Water Look Away,” and Janine Joseph for “Decade of the Brain: Poems.”For the Children’s Virginia Literary Award, the finalists are Kwame Alexander for “An American Story,” Andrea Beatriz Arango for “Something Like Home,” and Vashti Harrison for “Big.”
Finalists for the Library’s People’s Choice Awards in fiction and nonfiction also will be recognized during the event. The gala will include the presentation of the honorary Patron of Letters degree to poet and lawyer Reginald Dwayne Betts, founder and CEO of Freedom Reads.
Presented by Dominion Energy and supported by Carole and Marcus Weinstein, the Virginia Literary Awards gala will feature a cocktail re-
Juicy fun awaits at Watermelon Festival
Free Press staff report
42nd Annual Carytown Watermelon Festival, presented by Publix, returns to Richmond on Sunday, Aug. 11, from 10 a.m. to 6
and Parkwood Avenues. Organizers advise attendees to seek parking on side streets or in nearby parking decks, noting tow-
ing will be enforced in restricted areas. The festival, which has grown to become Virginia’s largest one-day event, will showcase 80 musicians and over 100 exhibitors. Organizers discourage bringing pets due to hot pavement conditions. Admission is free, but cash is recommended for watermelon slice purchases. ATMs will be available on site. For more information, visit CarytownWatermelonFestival.com.
ception, dinner,and awards ceremony. Proceeds from the ticketed event and silent auction will benefit the Library’s conservation, education and community
Kwame Alexander
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Bailey
Humans, Ty Sorrell, Tyler Meacham
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Photo courtesy of
Butcher Brown
Writer and illustrator Vashti Harrison
Ant The Symbol
Middlesex church to dedicate state historical marker
Free Press staff report
Antioch Baptist Church of Saluda will dedicate a state historical highway marker on Saturday, August 3, at noon. The ceremony will take place at the church, 159 Oakes Landing Road in Saluda.
Established in 1866, Antioch is recognized as the oldest African-American church in Middlesex County and one of four founding churches of the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association. The Virginia Board of Historic Resources approved the marker in June 2022.
The dedication program will include historical reflections by Dr. Leonard L. Edloe, pastor of New Hope Fellowship in Hartfield. Musical performances will feature soprano Mary Ann Holmes, a triple great-granddaughter of William Corr, one of Antioch’s founding trustees, and the Southside Rappahannock Baptist Association Choir directed by Marcellus Dungee.
The Rev. Fred D. Holmes Jr., originally from King and Queen County, has served as Antioch’s pastor for nearly 54 years.
The Middlesex Museum & Historical Society and Antioch Baptist are co-sponsoring the highway marker. Following the dedication, the marker will be unveiled in front of the Middlesex historic courthouse at 865 General Puller Highway, with a reception to follow on the courthouse green.
Faith
Antioch Baptist Church, located in Middlesex County, will
a state historical marker at
3.
The event is open to the public and will be livestreamed on Antioch’s Facebook page. For additional information, call (804) 651-8753.
Rev. Barber’s new book demystifies poverty: Black people are not the problem
By Yonat Shimron Religion News Service
When Tim Tyson first invited the Rev. William Barber II to meet with a group of white residents of Mitchell County, in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Barber half jokingly replied, “I knew you were gonna get me killed.”
Barber, a Black anti-poverty activist, knew that in 1923 nearly all the county’s Black residents were driven out of Mitchell County. Even in 2013, when the invitation was extended, the county had fewer than 100 Black residents out of 15,000 people, or less than 1%.
But Tyson, a historian who teaches at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, convinced Barber to trek up the mountain to meet a group of white citizens who were fed up with the state legislature’s cost cutting, especially in public education.
What Barber found at an Episcopal church in Mitchell County were a group of like-minded working-class white people eager to hear his message.
“There were about 300 people there standing all along the walls and Rev. Barber just spoke to them from his heart and spoke from his faith,” said Tyson. “He got three standing ovations. People just wept. They were so touched.”
When it was over, the assembled crowd said they wanted to start a branch of the NAACP — even though they were all white.
It was then that Barber first realized he could not be a moral leader and stand up only for Black people. Many white people too are poor and struggling. In fact, they form the largest single demographic group of the estimated 40 million Americans who are poor accord-
ing to the U.S. Census, which Barber considers an outdated and significant undercount.
That trip up to Mitchell County convinced Barber that he ought to follow in the tradition of the biblical prophet Jeremiah, who was called to be a watchman. “The ancient prophets remind us that when we cannot see a problem, a watchman must sound the alarm.”
As he outlines in his new book, written with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, who is white, it’s time for poor Black people, white people and other minorities to unite and fight for better living conditions.
In “ White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy,” Barber and Wilson-Hartgrove urge an end to the political ploys that set poor Black people against poor white people.
“The history of America, like the history of the world,” Barber writes, “is filled with stories of powerful people who’ve stolen from the poor and used their power to pit poor people against one another so the masses would not rise up against them.”
As an example, he notes how Republican politicians have portrayed government programs such as welfare benefits as handouts from hardworking white people to poor Black people, even though more white people benefit from those programs than Black people. Attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs are another recent example experts point to as conservatives trying to use racial resentment to undermine class solidarity.
“This is the longest power play in the U.S. South, certainly, but across America: to divide people whose interests are shared and whose needs are very painful and urgent, by race,” said Nancy MacLean, a historian at Duke University who has become an ally of Barber’s and whose work is cited in his book.
As he has before, with his Poor People’s Campaign, Barber is calling for a “Third Reconstruction.” The first was the work of the Reconstruction
era after the Civil War that guaranteed the rights of former slaves with the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution. The second was the Civil Rights Movement that ended formal segregation, dismantled Jim Crow and removed legal barriers to voting.
For Barber, white people uniting with Black people to fight poverty is the work of the Third Reconstruction, informed by a deeply moral and Christian mandate.
Before talking to a group of white people up in Mitchell County a decade ago, he had them sing a hymn, “Blessed Be the Tie That Binds.” Reference to that hymn is repeated throughout his new book.
“In communities across the land, I’ve had the opportunity to see and touch the ties that bind poor people,” he writes. “These are my people, just as much as the multicolored ancestors my daddy taught me to remember.
… I am a witness that every shade of America’s poor has a great deal in common.”
dedicate
noon Aug.
Julian Tripp Hillian
The Rev. William Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign and founder of Repairers of the Breach at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on June 9 in Richmond.
v.
ADAMS, Defendant. case No.: cL24001675-00 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON
The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.
It is ORDERED that the defendant, who is a nonresident, appear here on or before the 3rd day of September, 2024 and protect his interests.
A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR.,
Clerk I ask for this: Dorothy M. Eure, Esquire VSB# 27724 Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667
virGiNiA: iN THE circUiT cOUrT FOr THE ciTY OF ricHMOND DOrOTHY cUrTiS, Plaintiff v. ricKY D. WEBB, Defendant. case No.: cL24-2192JSM OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON
The object of this suit is for the petitioner to obtain a divorce from defendant. It is ORDERED that the defendant, Ricky D. Webb, whose last known address was 6717 Carnation Street, Apt. D, Richmond, Virginia 23225, and whose whereabouts are now appear here on or before the 5th day of September, 2024 at 9 a.m.to protect his interests. I ask for this:
Susan Gerber, Counsel for Plaintiff 206 DeSota Drive Richmond, Virginia 23229 (804) 741-3438 Email: dagny44@aol.com VSB #30901 cUSTODY
virGiNiA: iN THE circUiT cOUrT FOr THE cOUNTY OF HANOvEr iN rE: LOGAN ZAHArA SiriNiTY JAcKSON cA-24000010
OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON
The object of this suit is to obtain the adoption of the above-named child by the Petitioners, Ronnie Damron and Summer Damron. It appearing by affidavit filed according to law that the father of the child, Cody DeMarcus Jackson, cannot be located and his whereabouts are unknown, and that due diligence has been used to ascertain his location without effect, it is therefore ORDERED that the said Cody DeMarcus Jackson appear on or before August 16, 2024, at the Hanover Circuit Court, and do what is necessary to protect his interests. NOTicE TO cODY DEMArcUS JAcKSON TAKE NOTICE that on April 26, 2024, Ronnie Damron and Summer Damron filed a petition in the Circuit Court of Hanover County to adopt Logan Zahara Sirinity Jackson. You are required to appear and protect your interests on or before August 16, 2024. I ASK FOR THIS: Michael P. Tittennary, Esq. (VSB #79142) Tittermary Law, PLC 9097 Atlee Station Road, Suite 116 Mechanicsville, Virginia 23116 (804) 508-7300 (804) 508-7301 (facsimile) Counsel for Petitioners
virGiNiA: HANOvEr circUiT cOUrT 7530 cOUNTY cOUNTY cOMPLEx rOAD HANOvEr vA 23069 cHASE ANTHONY rEES v cHASE ANTHONY WOODFiN case No. cL 24001499-00 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON The object of this suit is to: OBTAIN A NAME CHANGE FOR MINOR Chase Anthony Rees. It is ORDERED that Amber Lynn Sheets and Zackery Lowell Rees appear at the above named court and protect his/her interests on or before August 19, 2024 at 1:30 p.m.
virGiNiA: HANOvEr circUiT cOUrT 7530 cOUNTY cOUNTY cOMPLEx rOAD, HANOvEr vA 23069 JADE ALExANDriA rEES v JADE ALExANDriA WOODFiN case No. cL 24001498-00 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON The object of this suit is to: OBTAIN A NAME CHANGE FOR MINOR Jade Alexandria Rees. It is ORDERED that Amber Lynn Sheets and Zackery Lowell Rees appear at the above named court and protect his/her interests on or before August 19, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. virGiNiA: HANOvEr circUiT cOUrT 7530 cOUNTY cOUNTY cOMPLEx rOAD HANOvEr vA 23069 BrOOKLYN SKYE rEES v BrOOKLYN SKYE WOODFiN case No. cL 24001497-00 OrDEr OF PUBLicATiON
The object of this suit is to: OBTAIN A NAME CHANGE FOR A MINOR Brooklyn Skye Rees. It is ORDERED that Amber Lynn Sheets and Zackery Lowell Rees appear at the above named court and protect his/her interests on or before August 19, 2024 at 1:30 p.m.
PrOPErTY Tax ID: W0220295056 TrUSTEE’S SALE OF 4803 LOcKGrEEN circLE, ricHMOND, virGiNiA 23226 In execution of a Deed of Trust in the original principal amount of ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY THOUSAND AND NO CENTS ($1,380,000.00), with a monthly interest rate of one and a half percent (1.50%) dated July 1, 2024, recorded among the land records in the Clerk’s Office of Richmond City Circuit Court as Instrument 240005737, the undersigned trustee will offer for sale at public auction
that
piece or parcel of land with the improvements thereon, and appurtenances thereto belonging, lying, and being in the City of Richmond, Virginia, known and designated as
27 of Lockgreen, Section A, as shown on Plat entitled “LOCKEGREEN SECTION A,” prepared by Youngblood, Tyler and Associates, date August 28, 1985, and recorded August 30, 1985
Richmond website (www.RVA. GOV), or faxed (804) 646-5989. The City of Richmond encourages all contractors to participate in the procurement process.
The City of Richmond announces the following project(s) available for services relating to: RFP No. 240011728: Cathodic Protection Services
For all information pertaining to this RFP conference call, please logon to the Richmond website (www.RVA.GOV).
Pre-proposal Meeting August 16, 2024
Proposal Due Date: Tuesday, September 3, 2024/Time: 11:00 A.M.
in Plat Book 37, Pages 2 and 3, to which plat reference is hereby made for a more particular description of the property, on
Information or 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. Continued on next column
Med Technologists, Richmond, VA.
Provide testing & results to physicians & other health care professionals for use in disease diagnosis/treatment. Ensure proper function/maintenance of area instrumentation & troubleshooting instrument assays or analytical problems. Mail resume to J. Fleming, VCU Health System Authority, 830 E. Main St., Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23219.
Radiologist, Richmond, VA. Diagnose & treat diseases of human body using x-rays, CT scans, MRIs, & mammography. Read radiology studies including radiographs, CTs, & MRI, in cardiothoracic & emergency radiology subspecialties. Mail resume to J. Fleming, VCU Health System Authority, 830 E. Main St., Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23219.
• Take photographs to accompany stories as needed Collaborate with editors and other reporters
• Engage with the community via social
• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation
Preferred:
• 1-3 years of reporting experience Knowledge of Richmond area and its diverse communities Understanding of the paper’s historical significance and commitment to community journalism
• Multimedia skills (photo, video, audio)
We’re also seeking a passionate sports enthusiast to join our team as a part-time Sports Editor
Key Responsibilities: Oversee sports coverage for our weekly print edition Write and edit sports articles, focusing on local high school and college athletics Develop story ideas and maintain a calendar of local sporting events Collaborate with other editors to ensure comprehensive local coverage
Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, or related field Strong writing, editing, and organizational skills Knowledge of AP style and sports terminology Familiarity with Richmond area sports scene, especially high school and college Ability to work flexible hours, including occasional evenings and weekends
Preferred:
• 2+ years of experience in sports journalism or editing Understanding of the
