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VOL. 24 NO. 27
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JULY 2-4, 2015
‘I don’t think God wants us to stop’ at removing the Confederate flag, President Obama tells mourners at Rev. Pinckney’s funeral in S.C. Free Press wire reports
For a moment, President Obama stood alone on the stage. With an audience of about 5,500 people looking on at the College of Charleston TD Arena, the president then passionately burst into song. “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,” he began, singing the 18th-century hymn solo. The ministers beside him smiled, stood up and joined in. Then a church organ was played and the crowd added their voices as they held hands. The stirring scene took place June 26 at the funeral of the
Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor who was slain along with eight church members at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., during a June 17 Bible study by a white gunman. Dylann Roof, 21, a white supremacist, was arrested the next day and is now behind bars awaiting trial. After the hymn, President Obama called out the names of the Charleston shooting victims into the microphone. The crowd responded, “Yes!” to every name. In a speech likely to be considered one of the most memorable of his presidency, President Obama paid an emotional tribute to Please turn to A5
David Goldman/Associated Press
‘New America’ prevails in U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decisions
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Free Press wire reports
Old America largely conceded to New America in the latest round of major U.S. Supreme Court decisions. New America is the coalition that came to power with President Obama in 2008 and gave him the winning majority. It’s a coalition of groups marginalized for most of U.S. history: African-Americans, Latinos, religious minorities, young people, gays, single mothers, working women and Americans who claim no religious affiliation. What holds the coalition together is a commitment to diversity and inclusion — precisely the values the nation’s highest court affirmed when it upheld President Obama’s signature health care law on Thursday and affirmed constitutional support for same-sex marriages on Friday. The high-stakes health care ruling is a clear example. That ruling prevented upheaval in the insurance market and protected the huge changes in health coverage the president’s Affordable
Analysis Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Kaci Easley is the picture of confidence as the executive director of the grand 202-year-old home in Capitol Square where Gov. and Mrs. Terry McAuliffe now live. The Hampton University graduate has a staff of five to help her look after the first couple’s needs and makes arrangements for the varied public and private parties, receptions and dinners hosted by the McAuliffes.
By Joey Matthews
Charles City native a first at state’s Executive Mansion
Kaci M. Easley is carrying on a proud family tradition of public service. Her late maternal grandmother, Iona W. Adkins, served as clerk of Charles City County Circuit Court from 1967 to 1988. She was the first African-American woman to be elected clerk of a court of record since Reconstruction. The Virginia House of Delegates honored her in a resolution shortly after her death in 2004. Her mother, Mona Adkins-Easley, was named director of
the Virginia Council on Human Rights under former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. Ms. Easley, 27, has stepped into her own place in history as the first African-American to serve as executive director of Virginia’s Executive Mansion. Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed her to the position in April. “It’s very humbling,” she says. “I feel honored. “I come from Charles City County, a rural area,” she adds, Please turn to A4
Care Act has ushered in, including ensuring that Americans cannot be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions and eliminating lifetime caps on coverage. Throwing out Obamacare proved impossible for the court, including two of the justices considered conservative. “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority in a sentence that outraged Old America foes. “If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter.” To President Obama and his supporters, the chief justice got it right in his New America opinion. After the court upheld federal subsidies that enable lowerincome Americans to afford health insurance in every state, President Obama said, “We finally declared that, in America, health care is not a privilege for a few but a right for all.” That’s inclusion. So is the 5-4 ruling upholding same-sex marriage in all 50 states and U.S. territories. Please turn to A5
‘Future Centers’ to help students with life after high school By Joey Matthews
Students in at least three of the city’s five comprehensive high schools will have new centers in their buildings this fall designed to help connect them to college and career opportunities. They will be called “Future Centers,” and will launch later this year at three yet-to-be identified Richmond high schools.
The aim of the centers is “to lift lifetime earnings and transform the trajectory of our young people’s lives,” Mayor Dwight C. Jones said last Thursday at a summit marking the first anniversary of the Mayor’s Office of Community Wealth Building. The centers will be dedicated spaces staffed with a coordinator to “engage students in planning their lives after high schools,” the mayor said to applause from about 150 Mayor Jones people attending the summit at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the East End. The audience was comprised largely of state and local officials, educators, members of nonprofit organizations and community members. The daylong event also featured panel discussions on themes such as education, employment and economic security, and the “My Brother’s Keeper Initiative” launched by President Obama in February 2014 to address opportunity gaps faced by boys and
young men of color. The Future Centers would help address a huge need at RPS, where currently each full-time high school guidance counselor faces the gargantuan task of serving 350 students, according to standards set by the Virginia Department of Education. Mayor Jones said the centers are being funded by an initial city investment of $425,000 in RVA Future, a collaborative Dr. Williamson initiative between Richmond Public Schools and the nonprofit RPS Education Foundation. RVA Future is designed to help high school students in Richmond plug in to college and career training opportunities after they graduate. The business community has donated another $110,000 to the initiative, the mayor added, nearly enough for a fourth Future Center, he said. Please turn to A4
Regional computer programming school proposed By Jeremy M. Lazarus
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Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Friends happily play a three-way version of the hand game “Hesitation” in Abner Clay Park in Jackson Ward. They are, from left, Tonye Fox, 11; Lucy Stancell, 10; and Kyndal Caleb, 5. In the game, one person rests hands palms down atop the upturned palms of another. The person whose hands are on top quickly tries to move their hands before they are slapped by the person whose hands are on the bottom.
Ten school districts, including Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico, are embarking on a bold educational experiment aimed at overhauling career training for area high school students, particularly those struggling in traditional classes. The first step: Creation of a regional school that would give students the skills to become computer programmers and open doors to careers in engineering,
computer science and other technology fields, according to a grant application the alliance of schools submitted to the state Department of Education. “The overarching goal is to create a school” that would provide students from low-income families and others who are underserved or marginalized with “equal access to college and career preparation in a unique, highly engaging and relevant environment,” according to the document submitted on behalf of the alliance by
Donna Dalton, chief academic officer for Chesterfield County. Among other things, the unique school would allow students to take online classes in order to complete high school diploma requirements within two years. In the final two years, students would gain real world experience in computer programming by working part time for a private company that would pay them $10 or more per hour. Please turn to A4