The people, the price and the promise By Jack W. Gravely
Mr. Gravely
A worship experience was why they were there. Racism would not allow them to leave alive. I have never seen the power and dignity of a people so draped in pain and blood that they could rise above such a murderous moment that engulfed them. The people from Mother Emanuel are really who we are. Walter Anderson once wrote, “Bad things do happen;
how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have — life itself.” Nine families of Emanuel AME Church, the community and the nation paid a high price for the acts of a coward. African-American people have paid a high price to be who Please turn to A4
Richmond Free Press © 2015 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 24 NO. 26
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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When race, politics, history and religion meet at the social intersection that we all negotiate at different periods in life, changes can pull you down a road that you never thought was possible. The nine beautiful people who lost their lives at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., are a true portrait of dignity, strength, grace and faith that really colors who we are as a people. We are at that intersection today.
Commentary
JUNE 25-27, 2015
Charleston church massacre spurs removal of racist symbols
Dylann Roof
We shall overcome By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The nation is still reeling from the bloodbath in a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C. — evidence of the racial hatred that lies just below the surface. In one of the most deadly domestic terrorist hate crimes in recent years, a white supremacist spent an hour in Bible study last week and then pulled out a gun and began blasting those who had welcomed him into their midst at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He killed nine people, including the pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, 41, a much admired
and long-serving South Carolina state senator who fought for the underserved. Six women and two other men, ranging in age from 26 to 87, also died in the rampage. The perpetrator, 21-year-old Dylann Storm Roof, was captured a day later, on June 18, more than 100 miles away in Shelby, N.C., after a sharp-eyed florist in the small town spotted him and his car. President Obama expressed the feelings of many when he said, “There is something particularly heartbreaking with (this) happening in a place in which we seek solace and we seek peace.” Please turn to A4
Brian Snyder/Reuters
The Confederate battle flag, a symbol of racial hate, ironically waves Wednesday over the horse-drawn carriage bearing the casket of beloved African-American minister and state Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney to the South Carolina State Capitol in Columbia, where he will lie in state.
Portrait of civil rights giant in Governor’s Mansion By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Oliver W. Hill used the law to battle segregation and to promote justice and equality in Virginia in schools, in the workplace, the courthouse and a host of other areas. Now the portrait of the civil rights giant graces a spot in the Executive Mansion — one of the first African-Americans to be showcased in the house where Virginia governors have lived since 1813. Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his wife, First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe, unveiled the portrait Tuesday to happy applause from more than 100 invited guests, including members of the Hill family, friends and admirers. Among them was Mr. Hill’s son, Dr. Oliver W. Hill Jr., an experimental psychology professor at Virginia State University, and Henry L. Marsh III, a former law partner of Mr. Hill.
The governor said after his family moved into the mansion, the couple immediately noticed a lack of diversity in the portraits hanging in the various rooms. Their first step was to hang a painting of an African-American worker. This was the second step — and appropriate, the governor and his wife said. “Mr. Hill was a trailblazer like no other,” Gov. McAuliffe said of Mr. Hill, who died in 2007 at age 100. During the administration of Gov. Mark R. Warner, the Old Finance Building on Capitol Square was named for Mr. Hill, the first African-American to be so honored. The building houses the offices of the lieutenant governor, the state Agriculture Department and the state Compensation Board. Tuesday’s ceremony unveiling Mr. Hill’s Please turn to A5
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Gov. Terry McAuliffe, right, and his wife, Dorothy McAuliffe, are joined by Oliver W. Hill Jr., as they unveil a portrait of his father, legendary civil rights attorney Oliver W. Hill, at the Executive Mansion.
School Board votes 4-2 to back Bedden’s ‘leveling’ plan By Joey Matthews
Are arts and music programs and foreign language classes now an endangered species in some Richmond Public Schools? That’s what some School Board members, students, parents and supporters fear in the wake of Monday night’s 4-2 vote by the board to back Superintendent Dana T. Bedden’s “leveling” plan. His administration is asking about 24 RPS teachers to accept reassignment to other schools or to divide their time between two schools in the district. Dr. Bedden and his leadership team say the moves are necessary to help achieve his goal of having an average student-to-teacher ratio of 22 to 1 in core classes throughout the district. He said no teachers would lose their jobs in
the plan. On the flip side, the changes would eliminate many elective courses, including some in choir, band, foreign languages, music and the arts, according to School Board member Mamie L. Taylor, Dr. Bedden 5th District, who was not present at Monday’s meeting. Charlotte Hayer, president of the Richmond Education Association, lamented that such a discussion was even necessary. “For me, the real sad, sad thing is that our school system is not funded at a level by the city where we can offer all of those electives and courses that have made our children well rounded,” she told the Free Press on Tuesday.
“If no one ignites their spark for music, for drama, technology and other things they might otherwise be exposed to, then those children might never know what their calling is for a career.” Board members voted in May in favor of a 2015-16 budget that is about $9 million higher
than the current year’s, but about $15 million shy of the $24 million Dr. Bedden originally requested. Dr. Bedden said there isn’t enough money in Please turn to A4
McAuliffe expands rights restoration By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Eric Branch still owes the state government more than $9,000 in court costs and fees from a 1988 felony conviction that sent him to prison for nearly five years. But that debt no longer will keep him from voting. In a major policy change, Gov. Terry McAu-
liffe is lifting the money barrier that has kept released felons like Mr. Branch from regaining the right to vote and having their other civil rights restored. Going far beyond any other Virginia chief executive, Gov. McAuliffe announced Tuesday he would restore the rights of such people to cast Please turn to A4