Band camp
Professor pens history of voter organization B2
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Lining up for action A8
Richmond Free Press © 2017 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 26 NO. 32
President Trump
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
President Kim Jong-un
Tensions high over North Korea Free Press staff, wire reports
www.richmondfreepress.com
AUGUST 10-12, 2017
New VUU president
On the cutting edge
get ready to head back to classes next month.
Public to Monument Avenue Commission:
By Saraya Wintersmith
Please turn to A4
Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Gregg D. Kimball, director of education and outreach at the Library of Virginia, and Christy Coleman, CEO of the American Civil War Museum, are co-chairs of the Monument Avenue Commission.
Charlottesville braces for alt-right rally over Confederate statues
sands, city officials have said the alt-right group’s permit would be valid only if the As the City of Charlottesville braces rally is moved to McIntire Park, about 1.5 for a potentially volatile confrontation miles away. between supporters at a “Unite the Right” At a meeting on Aug. 1, Congregate rally organized by white supremacist Jason C’ville, an interfaith organization, called Kessler and counterprotesters, city officials for 1,000 clergy and faith leaders to attend and faith leaders are taking precautions. Saturday’s rally. The group announced that The rally is scheduled for noon to 5 p.m. activist, author and commentator Cornel Mr. Kessler Saturday, Aug. 12, at Emancipation Park West, professor emeritus at Princeton in Charlottesville’s downtown to protest the University, will join the counterprotesters and that Charlottesville City Council’s decision in April to an interfaith service with Dr. West and others will have the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee be held the night before. removed from the park. With rally attendance expected to be in the thouPlease turn to A4 By Holly Rodriguez
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
They’ve been rivals forever, but Virginia Union and Virginia State universities soon will have one thing in common — a first-time president with executive credentials honed at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. Twenty months after VSU hired Bethune-Cookman Provost Makola M. Abdullah as its 14th president, VUU announced that the Florida university’s chief fundraiser, Dr. Hakim J. Lucas, would become its 13th president, effective Sept. 1. Dr. Lucas’ appointment was announced Tuesday by Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, VUU’s board chairman, following a 14-month search to replace former President Claude G. Perkins, who stepped down in June 2016, first taking a sabbatical and then retiring. Dr. Joseph F. Johnson has served as acting president since Please turn to A4
George Mason Elementary to stay open with repairs By Holly Rodriguez
Is statue removal off the table? Can the Monument Avenue Commission recommend that the statues of Confederates be removed? That was the pressing question at the first full meeting Monday of the commission assembled by Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney to deal with the statues to vanquished traitors along the tree-lined thoroughfare. Mayor Stoney, in announcing the commission’s formation on June 22, said he was insulted by the monuments “designed to keep the free African people of Virginia in bondage.” But he said he would not call for the statues to be taken down. Instead, Mayor Stoney said the statues need to be put “in context,” and charged the commission with figuring that out. But at Monday’s meeting, which was monitored by about a dozen people from the public, Mamie Taylor, a former member of the Richmond School Board, asked if the commission is willing to recommend removal of the statues if Richmond citizens resoundingly call for it. “No,” replied Gregg D. Kimball, director of education and outreach for the Library of Virginia and the commission co-chairman. “The commission’s specific charge was interpretive rather than removal. That’s what the mayor asked us for.” But after the commission was pressed about it by a man in the audience, Christy Coleman, CEO of the American Civil War Museum and the commission’s other co-chair, said, “Nothing precludes us from saying that these (other) very strong sentiments have come forward. I think that’s our responsibility as commissioners.” Commission member Coleen Butler Rodriguez, a member of the Historic Richmond Board of Advisors, read aloud from a notebook that she said contained the official charge from the mayor: “The commission will be tasked with soliciting public input and pooling its collective centuries of
Dr. Lucas
Dr. Hakim J. Lucas of Bethune-Cookman tapped as school’s 13th president
WASHINGTON Are we facing a nuclear war with North Korea? Amid all the issues people are facing in Richmond and elsewhere, President Trump pushed that question front and center this week. In an out-of-the-blue threat Tuesday, he said the nation would respond with “fire and fury and, frankly, power the likes of which this world has never seen before” if North Korea persists in threatening the United States. He sounded ready to push the button, and follow-up remarks from members of his administration did little to ease the tension he created. That includes a comment from U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis that North Korea must stop any action that would “lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.” Seemingly unimpressed, North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un and military came back the same day with a threat to teach America a “severe lesson,” and sent word through the state news agency that plans are being dusted off for missile strikes against U.S. military bases on the Pacific island territory of Guam. At the moment, the exchange is being called a war of words that will not change the status Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press quo of a threatening North Korea and a concerned world, a situation that has existed since Jakhai Wilson, 9, sits perfectly still as Damond Gurley of the Virginia Barber School puts the final touches on his North Korea first exploded a new haircut. Jakhai got the free cut while participating in the WE CARE/Northside Coalition for Children Back-tonuclear weapon in 2006. School Rally and Festival last Saturday at the Hotchkiss Field Community Center in Highland Park. The festive By Wednesday, President event included the donation of hundreds of bookbags stuffed with school supplies to students like Jakhai as they Please turn to A4
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George Mason Elementary School’s students, teachers and staff are staying put for the 2017-18 school year. The Richmond School Board voted Monday night to back Interim Superintendent Thomas Kranz’s recommendation to make repairs at the Church Hill building that is more than 100 years old. He insisted that while its not an ideal environment, the school is safe. He also said a new school needs to be built. “The administration takes very seriously the safety of school buildings,” he told the board. “No one — no one — on the facilities team or in the administration would say that George Mason is an ideal school building.” Mr. Kranz’s recommendation, one of several options presented at a community meeting at the school on July 31, would include $105,000 for some renovations, mechanical repairs, installation of an exhaust system and deep cleaning and painting of restrooms. He also proposed — and the School Board accepted — monthly indoor air quality tests of the building. School Board member Jonathan Young, 4th District, proposed moving George Mason students to Franklin Military Academy, and moving Franklin students to Richmond Community High School. But Mr. Kranz said “the timing is difficult to do by Please turn to A4