Civil rights lawyer discovery continues B2
Richmond Free Press © 2023 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 32 NO. 47
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
richmondfreepress.com
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Meet this week’s Personality B1
NOVEMBER 22-25, 2023
The spirit of giving
Meadowbridge market offers free groceries to local residents By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Photos by Jeremy M. Lazarus/Richmond Free Press
Right, people line up as early as 8 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18, to receive numbers that allow them to shop at the Meadowbridge Community Market when it opens at 10 a.m. The market, which provides free grocery items, is at 3613 Meadowbridge Road. Barbara Forrest, above, is thankful for the no-cost grocery items available on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Dark and silent most days, the Meadowbridge Community Market comes alive on Saturdays. More than 100 individuals and families will stream through the store at 3613 Meadowbridge Road that single day to fill grocery bags with apples and other produce, canned items, eggs, toilet paper and other household necessities. They leave with armloads of items without paying a dime. Welcome to the free store that the all-volunteer Mutual Aid Distribution RVA or MAD RVA has created in North Richmond. Opened in September, the unique store serves all comers, without any checks on credit, income, family size or any other criteria. As Ayanna Ogaldez, a founding member of MAD RVA who is credited with the store idea, put it, “We trust people when they come to us and say that they need things. Being low barrier is a tenet and a value that we as a collective hold.”
Of course, this is not the only food distribution outlet in the Richmond area. At this time of the year, food giveaways are even more commonplace in the Richmond area, along with free dinners on the Thanksgiving holiday through groups such as The Giving Heart. During the past two weeks, more than 3,000 turkeys and related holiday food items have been given out by various organizations — ranging from the Richmond Police Department
to the National Pan-Hellenic Council of Metro Richmond, private businesses, members of City Council, churches and nonprofit groups. That surplus of food is a main reason the store is taking a break this weekend. But the Meadowbridge store is not a one-off holiday operation. Like the Food Bank, the homeless services group Blessing Warriors and food pantries across the area, MAD RVA Please turn to A4
New state NAACP president chastises Democrats for selecting Scott Surovell instead of Mamie Locke for leadership role By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The Rev. Cozy E. Bailey Sr. used his first public statement as the new state NAACP president to tongue-lash the Democratic Caucus in the state Senate for failing to elect Hampton Democratic Sen. Mamie E. Locke as the next majority leader. The Prince William County minister, who was installed as state president Nov. 11 at the abbreviated 88th State NAACP convention, expressed deep disappointment in the vote of the 21-member Democratic Caucus. The caucus bypassed Sen. Locke, 69, who has served five terms, and instead jumped a more junior member, two-term Fairfax Sen. Scott Surovell, 52, previously
vice caucus chair, over her for the top job, stated Rev. Bailey, who took over from Robert N. Barnette Jr. The action was even more notable given that Sen. Locke is Black and Sen. Surovell is white. “By every conceivable metric, Sen. Locke should have been elected majority leader,” Rev. Bailey stated on behalf of Sen. Surovell the state’s oldest civil rights group. “We believe she was the natural choice given her level of seniority and demonstrated leadership,” including raising more than $2 million to help ensure
Democrats retained control of the General Assembly’s upper chamber. Rev. Bailey described the decision as “an opportunity missed” to have the first ever Black majority leader of the Senate in 2024 at the same time that the House will have its first ever Black speaker, Portsmouth Democratic Delegate Don L. Scott Jr. The Senate vote “broke from the historic precedent of the majority caucus chair becoming the majority leader,” Rev. Bailey stated, adding that even though“ the Virginia NAACP will continue to work with the leadership of both houses and both parties, political sharecropping must end.”
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON A divided federal appeals court on Monday ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act, a decision that contradicts decades of precedent and could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis found that only the U.S. attorney general can enforce Section 2 of
Free Press staff report
Please turn to A4
Sen. Locke
Federal appeals court deals a blow to Voting Rights Act, ruling that private plaintiffs can’t sue
Hanover County bans books in schools “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Wicked” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” are among the 75 books Hanover County school administrators directed teachers and librarians to remove from their schools last Friday, according to various news reports. Members of the Hanover County School Board voted to give themselves the authority to remove books from school libraries without the input of parents or teachers in June, with 19 books immediately removed following that decision. In a statement to the news media, Hanover School District Spokesman Chris Whitley said the books were chosen for removal after a panel of principals, teachers and librarians
Please turn to A4
Please turn to A4
Ms. Lakin
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter dies at 96 The Associated Press
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Talkin’ turkey Brothers Darian Threatts, 7, and Dermon Threatts, 8, volunteer for the “Michael Jones Presents The Giveback: Turkey Giveaway,” providing some 1,000 Richmond families, seniors and organizations with a free turkey in time for Thanksgiving. This year’s event took place Nov. 18 at River City Middle School, 6300 Hull Street Road. Please see more photos on A2.
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the closest adviser to Jimmy Carter during his one term as U.S. president and their four decades thereafter as global humanitarians, has died at the age of 96. The Carter Center said she died Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, after living with dementia and suffering many months Please turn to A4