The Commonwealth Times; February 17, 2021

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VOLUME 62 — SPECIAL

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

COMMONWEALTHTIMES.ORG

THE COMMONWEALTH TIMES THE BLACK HISTORY MONTH ISSUE

‘BLACK SHEEP’ VCU alumni reflect on lack of Black presence in student media See ‘BLACK SHEEP’ on page 2

Reporting by Iman Mekonen Illustration by Lauren Johnson

2 The Commonwealth Times

News

STORIES OF THE WEEK

national: Winter storm leads to power outages across the country international: South Africa switches from OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine to Johnson & Johnson

'BLACK SHEEP'

Four issues from The Vine, a Black student-led publication that ran from 1994 to 2008.

Photos by Andy Caress IMAN MEKONEN Managing Editor

O

The fall 1978 cover of Reflections in Ink, VCU’s first Black student-led publication that ran until 1994. Source: Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries “We were very comfortable calling out actions for what they were,” said Siona Peterous, a former spectrum editor. “We weren’t interested in following the political correctness of traditional journalism.”

Peterous, who worked on the staff in 2017, said her time at The CT gave her a chance to nurture her nuanced ideas while creating a s pace for herself.

“The CT gave me space to really cultivate my ideas, and to like, advocate for stories, even if someone else might consider them ‘too opinionated,’” Peterous said.

Former Illustrations Editor Chris Kindred, along with Wright, started The Comics Anthology at VCU, currently known as Emanata. Kindred became the first illustrations editor of The CT in 2013 and said one of his regrets was not being able to see more Black-led publications formed.

Kindred said he would’ve loved to see more stories about the history of Richmond and the surrounding Black communities. The alumnus said his great-grandfather used to travel into Richmond with a horse and carriage to do business as a sharecropper in the 1940s and ’50s, because the city was a “Black center of wealth.”

“I think that will be super important, and it could also instill some sense of duty in the people who want to change their community,” Kindred said. “There is a lot that you can still do, for the people that live there.”

For those working at The Vine in the ’90s, it was a labor of love, Canty said.

“We did it because we loved it, we did it because we believed in it and most importantly we did it because it was Black, and it was unapologetically Black,” Canty said.

VCU alumni reflect on lack of Black presence in student media

N A WEEKEND IN THE late ’90s, someone in VCU’s communications building would find a group of Black students gathered in a computer lab, playing music and having fun. What looked like a high-energy party was a glimpse into the production schedule of The Vine, VCU’s former Black studentled publication.

“It was just Black. It was super Black,” said former staff member Michele Canty. “One day you might come in and we might be listening to Frankie Beverly & Maze, another day we were listening to The Roots, D’Angelo … it was fun.

We made the best of what many would’ve considered a bad situation.”

The Vine was one of two Black student-led publications at VCU that were created out of a need for an outlet for Black student writers and artists. It ran from 1994 to 2008, following its predecessor, Reflections in Ink, which ran from 1978 to 1994. The publications have since been replaced by Ink Magazine, a student-led arts publication, in 2008.

The Commonwealth Times, which was founded in 1969, was also present alongside these publications. Staff members at The CT weren’t inclusive to the ideas of Black students, Canty said.

Canty worked at The Vine from 1995 to 1998 as a copy editor and said that the publication was one of the only places on campus where Black students could have their ideas heard. She also worked at The CT, which was required for journalism students at the time.

“The idea was for us to collaborate and to let Black writers write, us to edit their work and us to publish it and give them a platform in the form of The Vine,” Canty said.

Arts activist and alumna Lorna Pickney was the first editor-in-chief of The Vine and went on to organize Tuesday Verses, a series of jazz

poetry cafes located in Jackson Ward and Shock“Since we were on our own, we just did what oe Bottom. Canty described Pickney, who died in we wanted to do,” Canty said. “We covered the 2017, as “the glue that held everything together.” issues that we thought were important for Black Members of The Vine didn’t have a faculty ad- students, we interviewed Black students and had viser and would face hostility from The CT’s staff an almost all-Black staff of writers.” members, who called The Vine “trash,” Canty Sharon Richardson worked at The CT as the said. Members of The CT would cut out typos associate art editor in the early 1980s. The alumin issues of The Vine and post them in the com- na decided to join Reflections in Ink after seeing puter labs where the Black student publication how the Black student publication was being worked, she said. treated by The CT staff. Richardson remembers being among the students laughing at the Black student publication, on a staff she said was “overwhelmingly white and male.”

“One day, I found myself saying, ‘Sharon, why are you sitting here snickering at this paper? Why We did it because we don’t you go and volunteer or apply to be a copy loved it, we did it because editor here and fix the copy?’” Richardson said. “‘Stop snickering at it — go fix it.’ So I did.” we believed in it and most Richardson became executive editor of Reimportantly we did it beflections in Ink and held the position for more cause it was Black, and than two years.

More recent members of The CT said that staff it was unapologetically Black.” makeup during their time at the paper was majorMichele Canty, ity white, but allowed for an acceptance of ideas. former staff member at The Vine Artist Shannon Wright started working at The CT as a staff illustrator in 2014 and became the “They kind of made picking on The Vine a illustrations editor her senior year. She said her sport,” Canty said. “It was funny to them that we experience working at The CT was “relatively were trying to do our little Black thing without good” and that the lack of diversity made it feel having a bunch of guidance, without having a isolating at times. bunch of oversight.”

“I know that isolation can really push people Working at The Vine without faculty support away. And it just makes you not want to be in helped Canty understand what working in a pro- those positions,” Wright said. “When you are the fessional newsroom would be like, she said. It only person there … it makes you not want to also gave the publication freedom over its cov- stay in that space.”

News Editor Katharine DeRosa contributed erage. The alumna said members of The CT staff She said finding a “good set” of people on the to this report. looked down on The Vine, what Canty referred to staff helped her get through isolating moments as as feeling like “literally the Black sheep.” a Black woman.

Wed. February 17, 2021

Illustration by Marisa Stratton

Students, faculty weigh in on modern-day conspiracy theories SAHARA SRIRAMAN Contributing Writer DYLAN SEAY Contributing Writer Mary Ann Owens was on her way to work as an international wire editor for USA Today on Sept. 11, 2001, when she heard a deafening noise. She looked up to see a plane moments before it crashed into the Pentagon.

Owens rushed to get pictures of the building with a towel on her head to protect her from falling ash, she said. She received minor burns on the side of her face from the heat.

Conspiracy theories began spreading instantly after 9/11 — various blogs used Owens’ photo to claim the terrorist attacks were fabricated, she said. Today, some elected officials at the federal and state levels are spreading similar theories, and Owens said their actions led to the Jan. 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol building.

“You cannot ignore the insurrection,” Owens said. “And I cannot ignore Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, has suggested that a plane did not hit the Pentagon on 9/11 and that the 2018 mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was a hoax.

Owens said QAnon followers are loyal to people like Trump and Greene to the point that they are blind to truth.

QAnon is a conspiracy theory claiming that the country’s Democrats are part of a satanic pedophile ring trying to bring down former President Donald Trump.

Owens said people have died from COVID-19 due to Trump’s claims that face masks are not needed to help slow the spread of the virus.

Masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by both close contact and airborne transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“How many lives have really been lost through Trump’s conspiracy theories?” Owens said.

Virginia reported 553,308 total COVID-19 cases and 7,037 deaths as of Tuesday, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Owens said that if conspiracy theories continue to spread, more people will die from the disease.

first introduced in 1949, is a policy from the Federal Communications Commission that regulates broadcast news in order to keep it fair and honest.

Sociology instructor Volkan Aytar said that although there are many causes of current events and problems, people find themselves unable to explain the causes and reasoning behind them.

“Conspiracy theories are always around, but they gain more support and power when we are in an environment of rapid social change,” Aytar said.

Aytar, who holds a doctorate in sociology, said humans find it comforting to reduce Conspiracy theories are problems down to a single explanation and always around, but they blame one group. Aytar said that it makes gain more support and people feel empowered to know what is going on “behind the scenes.” power when we are in When people fall down conspiracy theory an environment of rapid “rabbit holes,” Aytar said they reach a surreal social change.” place that seems to answer all their questions.

It presents them with scapegoat groups such Volkan Aytar, sociology instructor as religious and racial minorities, and women.

“It’s the easy explanation and spreads very Along with mental health services and leg- easily over the internet,” Aytar said. islation, a new Fairness Doctrine needs to be Conspiracy theories are nothing new to created, Owens said. The Fairness Doctrine, American politics, political science professor

Alexandra Reckendorf said. The recent impact they’ve had can be attributed to uncertainty and emotional uproar due to the pandemic and increasingly polarized politics, she said.

“What we see right now are a couple different conspiracies that have a real impact on our politics,” Reckendorf said in an email. “Conspiracies about the origins of COVID-19 and the vaccines that are being rolled out, and conspiracies about election fraud in the presidential election.”

Reckendorf, who holds a doctorate in political science, said these theories provide a cause for people who feel that they have been ignored and excluded compared to those “less deserving than them.”

“It’s been part of the Republican playbook for years, whereby they win through subtraction, rather than through addition, meaning that they focus more on restricting who can vote rather than trying to appeal to those who do vote,” Reckendorf said.

Despite any substantiated evidence, there’s a portion of Americans who feel the 2020 election was stolen. More than 60 lawsuits were filed by the Trump administration, but no courts held that significant voter fraud had occurred, according to the New York Times.

Reckendorf stated that Virginia politics are likely to draw attention over the next few years as the state breaks from traditional primary systems and the influence controversial candidates have in state politics by proliferating conspiracy theories.

“What we do in Virginia might set the pace for other states,” Reckendorf said.

CORRECTION Jody Rogers’ name was misspelled once in last week's issue of The CT. Crews extinguish wreckage of a plane that hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. VCU professor Mary Ann Owens captured the wreckage on a disposable camera. Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Owens

The full version of the story is available online at commonwealthtimes.org.

News

4 The Commonwealth Times

‘ORGAN THIEVES’

ANYA SCZERZENIE Staf f Writer

author calls on MCV to apologize for 1968 heart transplant controversy

In 1968, a Black factory worker named Bruce Tucker suffered a head injury while out with friends.

He was taken to the hospital at the Medical College of Virginia, or MCV, where he died.

Without the consent of his family, doctors took Tucker’s heart for donation to a white patient — the first heart transplant in Virginia, and the 16th in the world, according to VCU Health.

Now, author Chip Jones is calling on VCU Health to issue a public apology for its treatment of Tucker.

“I don’t know what will be done,” Jones said.

“But at this point all I can do is be an advocate for something to be done.”

Jones’ book, “The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South,” was published in August. It is the culmination of three years of research and work that began in 2017.

The book details the story of Tucker’s injury, his death and his family’s struggle with medical and legal systems after he died.

“That’s really the gist of my book,” Jones said. Author and former VCU professor Chip Jones poses for a portrait near his home in Henrico, “How do these things happen, and why do they Virginia. Jones recently published a book culminating three years of research, “The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South.” Photo by Enza Marcy matter today?”

Jones was a communications director at the Richmond Academy of Medicine when he found “There was a system in place to prevent it,” Jones out about the story of Bruce Tucker’s heart in the said, “but for a Black factory worker with no social records of the Tompkins-McCaw library at VCU. influence and no privilege, the law was violated.”

A law dating back to 1884 called the “AnaBruce Tucker’s name was first revealed in tomical Act” established a 24-hour waiting period The sense of the weight a Richmond Times-Dispatch article headlined in which a family member could claim a body “Heart Donor Identified,” written by Beverly Orof history was definitely before organs could be taken to use in research ndorff in 1968. This article was published only a upon me. It wasn’t just applications, Jones said. few days after the front-page news of the transHowever, the doctors took Tucker’s heart bea book about the first plant with the headline “Heart Transplant Operfore the 24-hour period had passed, Jones said. ation Performed Here by MCV,” which did not heart transplant, it was Doctors made a cursory search for family mention Bruce Tucker’s name. what happened to this members but did not notice a business card in VCU spokesperson Laura Rossacher said in Tucker’s pocket, which was for his brother’s nearBlack man whose heart an email that the university reached out to the by shoe repair business. William Tucker, Bruce’s Tucker family with a formal apology after Jones’ was taken from him.” sibling, had been frantically calling the hospital book was published. and searching for his brother the whole time, acChip Jones, author “Institutionally, we very much wanted to help cording to Jones.

Tucker and were hoping to do so by working

VCU begins condensed minimester courses to assist students

FEBRUARY END OF ADD/DROP: Monday, Feb. 15 LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW: Friday, March 19 LAST DAY TO CHOOSE THE PASS/ FAIL OPTION: Friday, March 19 Held from Feb. 15 - March 19

closely with his family,” Rossacher said.

The university wanted to talk to the family about how to “most meaningfully recognize his memory,” Rossacher said. The only family member the university was able to locate was Bruce Tucker’s son, who hasn’t responded to the university’s requests for communication, she said.

VCU professor Shawn Utsey, director of the Department of African American Studies, focuses his research on something similar — medical abuse of Black bodies that precede the Tucker case.

Utsey made a documentary titled “Until the Well Runs Dry: Medicine and the Exploitation of Black Bodies” in 2011 about the history of grave robbing for medical dissection in Richmond.

More than a hundred years before Bruce Tucker’s heart was taken, “grave robbers” would dig up bodies from enslaved people’s graveyards and bring them to the medical college, Utsey said.

There, white students used them for research and dissection.

Utsey is quoted in Jones’ book, but he said he did not know the story of Bruce Tucker before Jones told him about it.

“I was horrified, but I wasn’t surprised,” Utsey said.

Utsey said that while a public apology is a good start, the university needs to go further by compensating the family or naming a university building after Bruce Tucker.

Utsey said VCU should acknowledge that much of their past research came from stolen bodies and organs.

Jones said he felt he had a moral obligation to write his book. While it was initially intended to be about the first heart transplant in the southern United States, it became a book about the story of Bruce Tucker.

“The sense of the weight of history was definitely upon me,” Jones said. “It wasn’t just a book about the first heart transplant, it was what happened to this Black man whose heart was taken from him.”

TERM

Minimester Schedule

MARCH TERM departments are participating in the minimesters.

END OF ADD/DROP: Among the instructors offering minimester Monday, March 29 classes, professor Joshua Eckhardt will be LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW: SPRING MINIMESTER teaching an eight-week accelerated course Tuesday, May 4 END OF ADD/DROP: Monday, March 8 VCU is offering students the choice to enroll on Shakespeare’s poems and publishers LAST DAY TO CHOOSE THE PASS/ LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW: in various accelerated courses for the spring beginning in March.

FAIL OPTION: Tuesday, May 4 Wednesday, May 5 2021 semester, for individuals who may be “It’s pretty unique; I doubt that any other uniHeld from March 29 - May 4 LAST DAY TO CHOOSE THE PASS/ struggling with maintaining a full course load versity is offering a class that introduces students FAIL OPTION: Wednesday, May 5 in a virtual learning environment. to the hand-written and printed excerpts from Infographic by Andy Caress Held from March 8 - May 5 The minimesters are being offered in three Shakespeare’s poems,” Eckhardt said in an email.

Information compiled by Christina Amano Dolan separate terms during the spring, with one Although shorter courses may offer a chalterm lasting for eight weeks and two lasting lenging workload for students, Eckhardt believes for five weeks. The first term began Monday that his course will not be “terribly demanding.” returning after taking a semester off, accord- maintain her grades through remote learnand will be held until March 19. The second He said the course will require at least three hours ing to VCU News. ing. She said she will also recommend this term will be held March 8 to May 5, and the of asynchronous work outside of the three hours By offering shortened classes, the university opportunity to other students that she knows final term will run March 29 to May 4. of Zoom class a week. aims to offer options to those who have taken have fallen behind.

Similar to condensed intersession courses, Other classes currently offered include The- time off of school for mental health or other Registration is currently open for the two the minimester classes are designed to help atre Appreciation (THEA 291), Critical Thinking personal reasons. remaining minimesters. The deadline to regstudents fulfill certain credit requirements About Moral Problems (PHIL 201) and Inquiry Ashley Zicafoose, a sophomore double-ma- ister for classes in the second term is March within a shortened time frame. and Craft of Argument (UNIV 200). joring in biology and chemistry, believes that 8, and the deadline for the third term is March “VCU is utilizing this as a pilot to gauge THEA 291 is a workshop class limited to the- the introduction of minimesters will be a great 29. The last day to add or drop a class for the student interest in shorter term courses during atre majors that will involve performance and the help to students, as she believes the COVID-19 first term was Monday. the fall and spring semesters,” said university study of theatre’s theory, literature and history. pandemic has “turned everyone’s world upside spokesperson Joanne Jensen in an email.

PHIL 201 will allow students to enhance and down.” She said the flexibility of minimesters News Editor Katharine DeRosa contributed Based on the current number of courses employ critical thinking skills to a wide range shows the university is helping students when to this report. offered, enrollment is full at 550 to 600 stu- of topics involving moral philosophy, including they need it the most. dents, Jensen said. issues such as abortion, animal rights and world “I think it is a great idea for VCU to offer this Minimester classes are currently being hunger. UNIV 200 is a research and writing opportunity during this challenging time because offered from the School of Business, the course that will allow students to practice critical not only are students struggling with education, but TYPEFACES: THE NEUE BLACK BY VOCAL TYPE CO. College of Humanities and Sciences, and the analysis, investigate important issues and craft many students are suffering from family, financial AND TIMES NEW ROMAN School of the Arts. Academic departments effective arguments. and mental health problems,” Zicafoose said. have until Monday to add courses to the Students generally struggle with a virtuZicafoose said she will “definitely sign up for second and third minimester terms. Not all al learning environment and may have trouble a minimester this year,” as she has struggled to

CHRISTINA AMANO DOLAN Contributing Writer

Wed. February 17, 2021

Sports

STAT OF THE WEEK

Freshman middle blocker Lauren King was named A-10 volleyball Rookie of the Week, her third weekly honor of the season.

Black athletes continue legacy of fighting for equality JOE DODSON Staf f Writer Athletes around the world utilized their platforms last summer to invoke social dialogue regarding racial justice. The killing of George Floyd in May sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and brought many to call for change.

Floyd was an unarmed Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody after an officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck.

Although social media can be used to amplify social activism, many athletes have long advocated for equality through history. These athletes are key figures in both sports history and American history for the ways they used their platforms to demand change.

ARTHUR ASHE Arthur Ashe, a native of Richmond, burst onto the tennis scene in 1963 when he became the first Black man named to the United States Davis Cup team.

In 1968, Ashe became the only player ever to win both the United States Amateur Championships and the U.S. Open championship in a single year. Ashe was the first Black man to win the Australian Open singles title in 1970, as well as the first to ever win the Wimbledon singles title in 1975.

Ashe was also an accomplished doubles player. Ashe and Marty Riessen won the 1971 French Open doubles title. In 1977, Ashe teamed up with Australian Tony Roche to win his final Grand Slam in the Australian Open doubles match.

Off the court, Ashe fought for racial equality. In 1969, Ashe was denied a visa to travel and compete in the South African Open due to the country’s strict apartheid policies that enforced racial segregation. He then advocated for the International Lawn Tennis Federation to expel South Africa from the federation.

Ashe was allowed to participate in the South African Open in 1973. Although many boycotted the South African competition, Ashe believed he could break down stereotypes through tennis and proceeded to play in the match. He also was a member of a delegation of 31 prominent African Americans who visited South Africa in 1991 as the country began racial integration.

Ashe retired from the sport in 1980 with 818 wins, 260 losses and 51 titles.

In retirement, he continued to advocate for civil and human rights, as well as educating the public about AIDS. Ashe contracted the illness in 1983 after receiving a blood transfusion during a heart operation.

After his death in 1993, Ashe was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for his contributions to tennis.

ALTHEA GIBSON Althea Gibson broke racial and gender boundaries in tennis and golf. Her athletic career, which spanned from the 1940s until the 1970s, was full of many firsts.

Gibson struggled to break into the female amateur tennis circuit in the ’40s because many clubs that hosted tournaments were exclusive to white people. In 1950, after retired pro tennis player Alice Marble wrote a letter to the American Lawn Tennis magazine, Gibson became the first Black player invited to the United States National Championships — known as the U.S. Open.

By 1952, she was ranked No. 7 in the nation and became the first Black person to play and win at Wimbledon in 1957, winning both the singles and doubles titles. A year earlier, Gibson became the first Black person to win a Grand Slam when she won the singles event at the French Championships.

Gibson was awarded Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958 by the Associated Press.

Tennis was not a professional sport for women

at the time, so Gibson made little money throughout her tennis career.

Her existence in the predominantly white sport was her form of protest, paving the way for athletes like Serena and Venus Williams.

“For me, she was the most important pioneer for tennis. She was Black, she looked like me and she opened so many doors,” Serena Williams told the Women’s Tennis Association in their profile on Gibson.

Gibson retired from amateur tennis at the peak of her powers in 1958 due to monetary issues. She finished her tennis career with 56 national and international titles.

In 1964, she became the first Black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour. She faced discrimantion since many clubs did not allow her to compete, and the ones that did didn’t allow her to change in the clubhouse.

Once she retired from golf in 1978, she was hired as the New Jersey Commissioner of Athletics. Gibson held the position for 10 years and was the first woman to hold such a position in the U.S. KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR The former six-time NBA MVP has been an activist voice for racial equality since before his professional basketball career.

While at UCLA, Abdul-Jabbar was the youngest member of the Cleveland summit, a committee of notable Black athletes who supported boxer Muhammad Ali when he refused to be drafted into the military in 1966 due to his religious beliefs and opposition of the Vietnam War. The movement was led by former NFL running back Jim Brown.

In 1968, one year before he was selected first in the NBA draft, Abdul-Jabbar boycotted playing in the Summer Olympics as an act of anti-racism protest. He converted to Islam in 1968 and changed his name from Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. to the Arabic name, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The Arthur Ashe statue stands on Monument Avenue. Photo by Jon Mirador Like Ashe, Abdul-Jabbar used literature as a way to tell the story of African Americans after he retired. He has written over 15 primarily historical books including “Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII’s Forgotten Heroes” and “Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievements.”

Former President Barack Obama awarded Abdul-Jabbar the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

“He stood up for his Muslim faith when it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t popular,” Obama said at the White House ceremony. “He’s as comfortable sparring with Bruce Lee as he is advocating on Capitol Hill or writing with extraordinary eloquence about patriotism.”

The all-time NBA scoring leader continues to be a steady voice in social justice through his role as an opinion writer for the Los Angeles Times. Abdul-Jabbar wrote several articles this past summer in support of Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality.

“You can’t be in the business of social reform without a deep reservoir of hope and faith in the general goodness of people,” Abdul-Jabbar said in a July 7 op-ed.

Men’s basketball to host Richmond on 5-game winning streak NOAH FLEISCHMAN Sports Editor Coach Mike Rhoades said he wanted the late-game Jan. 20 loss against St. Bonaventure to serve as a learning experience for the men’s basketball team before they played in Friday’s rematch.

The Bonnies erased the Rams’ 15-point halftime lead during the Jan. 20 match in Olean, New York, winning the game 70-54.

“If we don’t learn from this second half, then it’s a failure,” Rhoades said after the Jan. 20 game.

“I don’t think these guys are failures.”

Since the blowout loss, the Rams won their last five games, bringing them to the top of the Atlantic 10 conference standings for the first time this season. The black and gold knocked off St. Bonaventure from the top ranking after Friday’s rematch with a score of 67-64 in the friendly confines of the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

“I told our guys the way we get out of that is together, and we’ve got to grow and learn,” Rhoades said after the win on Friday. “All of this stuff is a learning experience if you accept it that way. … I think that has been the biggest thing in the last five games.”

Sophomore guard Bones Hyland said the win streak has been a “confidence booster” for the team and that the Rams are a target now in A-10 play.

Richmond’s offense ranks third in the A-10 in points per game with 77.2, trailing UMass and Saint Louis. The Spiders lead the conference in field goal percentage with a 48.9% clip.

The way to stop Richmond is to disrupt their flow of offense, Rhoades said.

“Our defense, we want to try to disrupt them,” Rhoades said. “We want to make it really hard for them to do what they do because on defense, it’s what we do.”

Jacob Gilyard leads the Spiders on the defensive end, leading the NCAA in steals per game.

Rhoades said he and Blake Francis are two defenders that have a knack at finding the ball.

“They have guys like [Blake] Francis and [Jacob] Gilyard — they hawk the ball,” Junior guard KeShawn Curry attempts a layup against Dayton on Jan. 23.

Rhoades said. “They cause issues just because Photo by Enza Marcy they pressure and have such great feel on “Just never get relaxed or comfortable,” Last season, the two teams split their meetings, the defensive end.”

Hyland said. “I would say each and every game each winning at home. The Rams knocked off The rivalry game will provide a matchup of we have to come out like we’re basically com- Richmond at the Siegel Center 87-68 and then two of the A-10’s top defensive point guards ing off a horrible season. We just have to come fell 77-59 at Richmond less than a month later. with freshman guard Ace Baldwin on Gilyard. out and play hard.”

Richmond — fifth in the A-10 standings — Gilyard ranks first in the conference in steals per VCU will host Richmond on Wednes- has an experienced group with 10 players who game with 3.8 and Baldwin is tied for second day, the first of two meetings between the two are juniors, seniors and graduate students. Rhoad- with Hyland at 2.1. crosstown rivals. es said his young team with eight freshman and “It’s going to be a big matchup because those The game was originally scheduled to be sophomore players will have to learn from expe- two are going to play a lot of minutes and probplayed at the Robins Center on Richmond’s rience in late-season games. ably guard each other,” Rhoades said of the two campus, but the venue was switched to avoid “Some of our guys are going through this guards. “It’s not one-on-one, man, it’s five-ona scheduling conflict. Richmond will now host for the first time with meaningful games at the five. It’s our team against their team.” the black and gold in their final matchup of the end of the year,” Rhoades said. “We just got season on March 6. to go through it.”

Sports

6 The Commonwealth Times

Hyland’s work ethic shows, men’s basketball takes control of A-10

GAME RESULTS FEB. 12 LACROSSE @ ODU

NOAH FLEISCHMAN Sports Editor

Won 11-7 Savannah Slack: 3 goals

A

N HOUR AFTER SOPHOMORE

guard Bones Hyland dropped 22 points and logged eight rebounds in a win over St. Bonaventure, the athlete was still putting up shots in his game shorts and undershirt.

The sound of the ball bouncing echoed through the Stuart C. Siegel Center as Hyland started with layups, transitioned to midrange jumpers and finished with a cycle of 3-point shooting. Whenever he missed a 3-pointer, he put another up from the same spot, making sure he nailed it.

“You see great players do that, right. And you love that,” coach Mike Rhoades said of Hyland’s post-game practice session. “When your best player loves the game the most and is one of the hardest workers … that’s a good sign for your program.”

Hyland’s 22 points came on 5-of-16 shooting from the field, including 3-for-12 from beyond the arc in his 37 minutes of play in the 67-64 win.

“He wants to play a perfect game because he loves basketball so much,” Rhoades said. “You don’t play a perfect game, but he’s always trying to get close.”

Hyland sunk two of his successful 3-pointers from deep outside the arc with ease against the Bonnies.

Overall on the night, Hyland provided most of the 3-point offense for the black and gold as they only converted four from deep. Freshman guard Ace Baldwin added the other, connecting on one of his three attempts from long range.

Hyland, who was coming off his first 40-minute game against Dayton on Feb. 9, was three minutes shy of repeating the full-time effort against the Bonnies. Baldwin logged 37 minutes in the victory over St. Bonaventure on Friday — a new career high for the Baltimore native.

“Me and him both, we came from high school, where we played the whole game,” Hyland said of Baldwin. “It’s really no different, honestly. Just coming out there and continuing to be aggressive each and every moment. … All we worried about is winning.”

Baldwin recorded seven points, six rebounds and four assists against the Bonnies. Junior forward Vince Williams added 11 points and nine rebounds in the contest.

The win propelled the Rams to first place in the Atlantic 10, but that’s not the end goal for the team, Hyland said.

“We all feel as though we can do way more honestly,” Hyland said. “It’s a great achievement, but we’re just not walking around here with happy faces. … I mean, it’s regular to us, honestly.”

The Rams host Richmond on Wednesday night at the Stuart C. Siegel Center at 7 p.m. The contest will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

VOLLEYBALL @ DUQUESNE WON 3-0 Qairo Bentley: 12 kills

MEN’S BASKETBALL vs. ST. BONAVENTURE WON 67-64 Bones Hyland: 22 points

From left: Junior guard KeShawn Curry, sophomore guard Bones Hyland and freshman guard Ace Baldwin warm up against St. Bonaventure on Friday. Photo by Megan Lee

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL @ SAINT LOUIS LOST 66-50 Taya Robinson: 18 points

FEB. 13 WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. ETSU WON 4-0 Alessia Cicua: firstcareer singles win

FIELD HOCKEY @ ODU Senior forward Corey Douglas contests a shot against St. Bonaventure on Friday.

Photo by Megan Lee

POSTPONED (WEATHER) Feb. 14

MEN’S SOCCER @ UNCW POSTPONED (WEATHER) Date TBD

FEB. 14 WOMEN’S TENNIS vs. TEMPLE POSTPONED (WEATHER) Date TBD

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL @ DAYTON Left: Sophomore forward Hason Ward attempts a dunk against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 12.

Right: Senior forward Levi Stockard III attempts a layup against St. Bonaventure on Friday. Photos by Megan Lee

VCU vs. St. Bonaventure

67 Bones Hyland Jalen Adaway 22 8 23 8 64 LEADING SCORERS

VCU

POINTS

REBOUNDS

ST. BONAVENTURE

POINTS

REBOUNDS

Infographic by Jayce Nguyen Information compiled by Noah Fleischman

LOST 67-62 Taya Robinson: 18 points

VOLLEYBALL @ GEORGE WASHINGTON POSTPONED (COVID-19) Date TBD

FIELD HOCKEY @ ODU WON 3-2 Gillian Belfiore: 10 saves

Wed. February 17, 2021

Spectrum

ON THIS DAY

In 1997, the Virginia House of Delegates voted to retire the state song, “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny,” which glorified slavery.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROFILE:

Richmond activist seeks end to disparate marijuana law enforcement EBONIQUE LITTLE Spectrum Editor

A

FTER BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS erupted in Richmond last May, supporting the work of protesters and leading demonstrations became a full-time career for Chelsea Higgs Wise.

“People were getting physically beaten by the police, the tear gas was impacting people’s bodies,” said Wise, a clinical social worker and VCU alumna. “So by June, I had quit my job.”

Months of protests ensued following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed after a Minneapolis police officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes.

Wise said protesting and redistributing monetary donations to others involved in the movement was all she did from June to September.

Wise dedicated more time to her own organization, Marijuana Justice, a nonprofit that works to legalize marijuana and achieve social equity.

She co-founded it in 2019 with Ed Miller. Wise said its founding was in direct response to Virginia’s 400-year commemoration of the first African slaves brought to the commonwealth.

“There were many conversations about reconciliation for our people, and a real promise at ending Jim Crow and a reinvestment,” Wise said.

“And so when we heard that call, we noticed the national narrative of legalizing cannabis.”

Through lobbying efforts, weekly panel discussions and social media, Wise cites marijuana legalization as a step toward racial reconciliation.

“And we could do that through legalizing cannabis the right way — actually decriminalizing it, legalizing it, legalizing being Black behind the wheel, legalizing being Black and walking down the street and not having marijuana as a gateway to the criminal punishment system,” Wise said.

I try and keep myself immersed in what the narratives are happening locally, nationally, internationally, and reframe them for a social justice to really interrogate the racial narratives in the former capital of the Confederacy.”

Chelsea Higgs Wise, co-founder of Marijuana Justice Gov. Ralph Northam proposed legislation in January to legalize recreational cannabis use with a 21% state tax and licensing program intended to ease restrictions for those previously impacted by the disparate enforcement of marijuana laws, according to Northam’s press release.

With marijuana’s potential legalization in two years, Marijuana Justice advocates for the automatic expungement of previous convictions, divestment from police and reinvestment in Black communities affected by the war on drugs.

Miller, who serves as the organization’s president and leads corporate partnership efforts,

Wise said subsequent convictions and penalty fines can impact credit, employment opportunities and housing access. She said such is still the case in states where marijuana has been legalized.

“It’s these folks that have already had the disenfranchisement of having their human rights and human needs met, and that we’re seeing across the country,” Wise said. “So whatever is still illegal around marijuana, we know that enforcement is going to be Black and brown people.”

Asma Alomari, the strategic project coordinator for Marijuana Justice and a VCU alum, said they work with Wise on a daily basis to repair some of these disparities.

Alomari and Wise closely follow any marijuana or expungement bill updates from Virginia’s legislature and hold meetings with delegates and senators to create documents about their concerns and recommendations.

“Not just like, ‘Oh, we want social equity,’”Alomari said. “It’s more of like, ‘We want social equity, and this is what we think it looks like.’”

Wise said her personal journey to becoming a voice for social equity began after the death of her Sigma Gamma Rho sorority sister, Sandra Bland, in 2015.

Bland was a Black woman who was found hanging in her jail cell three days after being arrested for a routine traffic stop in Waller County, Texas.

“I was really radicalized and politicized back in 2015,” Wise said. “Watching her story as someone that spoke out about injustice, and then was murdered while in police custody — where folks are sworn to protect us — really pushed me.”

Wise said this moment paralleled a turning point in her personal life.

“I was also going through a personal transformation with a divorce and a one-year-old daughter,” Wise said. “And within finding my own role, and as a mother, I really wanted to be able to say that I was more involved in my community.”

Her community involvement expanded in 2018, when she began her weekly radio show Race Capitol after the killing of Marcus-David Peters, a VCU alumnus who was shot by a Richmond police officer while experiencing a mental health crisis on Interstate 95.

“I saw the media really painting him as this out-of-control nonhuman that had to have been shot down,” Wise said. “And as a clinical social worker, I worked with people like Marcus every day that derobed and were having this type of breakdown, and there was never a need to shoot Chelsea Higgs Wise is the co-founder of Marijuana Justice, a nonprofit and kill them.” organization that works to legalize marijuana by focusing on racial justice and Wise said she started Race Capitol to change social equity. Photo by Jon Mirador the narrative. She invited Kalia Harris, another activist and co-executive director of Virginia Stusaid the Virginia House and Senate approval of reinvestment in the communities harmed by dent Power Network, to join the show last March.

Northam’s proposal has made the group move marijuana prohibition.

Together, they discuss Richmond political with a greater sense of urgency.

“The way that we use criminalizing Black peo- news such as the new shared policing system be“It’s definitely accelerated a lot of what we’re ple around the plant is feeding into our carceral tween VCU and the Richmond Police Department. doing,” Miller said. “At the end of the day, if system,” Wise said.

“We just saw that the city council keeps saying we have legalization without equity, then we’ve According to the American Civil Liberties that they want to address the police issues or isfailed as an organization.”

Union of Virginia — one of the supporters of the sues of trust in our community,” Harris said, “but Marijuana Justice and more than 20 so- letter — Black people are 3.4 times more likely they continue to vote to give them more power.” cial justice groups sent a letter to Northam on to be arrested for marijuana possession than their Wise said she will continue to question policFeb. 9 outlining five demands — repeal the white counterparts in Virginia, despite similar ing in the Black community. marijuana prohibition, take no action that usage rates.

“I try and keep myself immersed in what the will criminalize another generation of The ACLU found that Hanover Coun- narratives are happening locally, nationally, interyouth, repair the harm done by marijuana ty has the highest rate of racial disparity nationally,” Wise said, “and reframe them for a prohibition, ensure that impacted commu- in marijuana arrests with Black people be- social justice to really interrogate the racial narnities have access to the new legal markets ing 20.7 times more likely to be arrested for ratives in the former capital of the Confederacy.” and implement meaningful and specific possession of the drug.

Spectrum

8 The Commonwealth Times

The Historic Evergreen and East End cemeteries, located in Richmond’s East End, are being restored by Enrichmond, a local nonprofit. Photo by Jon Mirador

Richmond volunteers work to restore neglected African American cemeteries CLAIRE DARCY Contributing Writer The Historic Evergreen and East End cemeteries have faced decades of neglect and overgrowth.

Thick shrubbery and large trees engulf the graves, placing two monumental African American burial sites at risk of being lost without proper restoration.

The Enrichmond Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to conserve Richmond’s public spaces, recently stepped in to begin restoring these cemeteries located in the city’s East End. While they are two distinct sites, the cemeteries are connected by geographic, historic and familial ties.

“Everybody who was interred in these two cemeteries were either part of slavery and released from slavery or part of the freedom’s first generation,” said John Sydnor, the executive director of Enrichmond. “They’re connected in that — a similar struggle, a similar heroic effort to survive.”

Enrichmond is currently operating a multimillion-dollar restoration project for the Historic Evergreen and East End cemeteries. Although

currently budgeted for more than $18 million, The plan was created by a group of family Sydnor projects it could reach up to $30 million. members descended from individuals buried in “The Enrichmond Foundation supports the the cemeteries, known as the Executive Planning people, parks and public spaces in the city of and Review Team, or ExPRT. The team laid out Richmond, and Evergreen and East End cemeter- six guiding principles for the restoration project, ies are a historic African American public space,” including celebrating and honoring the African said Genifer Ross, volunteer manager at Enrich- American legacy in Richmond, long-term sustainmond. “It’s just something that as a community ability and community stewardship. we knew we should be doing.”

“It had to be led by descendant family memThe Enrichmond Foundation was established bers, period,” Sydnor said. “It’s theirs, spiritually.” in 1990 by the Richmond Department of Parks, On-site restoration efforts by the Enrichmond Recreation and Community Facilities. Since then, Foundation at Evergreen Cemetery began in 2019, it has separated from the city and now operates as though the foundation is not the first to try restoran independent nonprofit organization that runs ing the land. In 1999, groups such as the National community-based volunteer efforts to conserve Park Service and Friends of Evergreen led volunRichmond public spaces. teer efforts to clean up the cemetery.

Enrichmond purchased Evergreen Cemetery Overgrowth and years of neglect may prevent in 2017 from its previous owners, the Entzminger the cemeteries from being fully restored to their family. The foundation went through a four-week- original state, Sydnor said. He said there was no long public process in late 2018 and early 2019 to removal of underbrush or trees in most sites for obtain ownership of the previously unowned East more than 50 years.

End Cemetery. After acquiring ownership of both “It was completely overtaken by nature,” cemeteries, the foundation began the process to Sydnor said. “You can’t remove those trees or draft a master plan for the restoration of the sites. it’ll disturb burial sites. So you have to balance “It’s overdue,” Sydnor said of the restoration what needs to be removed. If the goal is to plans. “It’s time to save these places.” get it back to its natural state, you really can’t

get there with the way nature has encroached on the property.”

As part of its restoration efforts, the Enrichmond Foundation has staff at the cemeteries on a daily basis to perform tasks such as clearing overgrowth and removing excess dirt. Sydnor estimates that since their work began, the foundation has cleared around 30 of the 60 acres of land at Evergreen.

“My job is to take all the overgrowth away from the headstones so they can be revealed to either us or descendant family members,” said James Shadoian, the operations manager for Evergreen and East End cemeteries.

The foundation also hosts volunteer opportunities such as Saturday cleanups, in which three shifts throughout the morning and afternoon are offered for up to 20 volunteers — 10 at each cemetery — to assist in restoration efforts.

Beyond restoration of the infrastructure and gravesites at the cemeteries, Enrichmond is working to preserve the history and tell the stories of the individuals laid to rest at the sites.

Notable African American figures such as Maggie L. Walker, John Mitchell Jr. and Dr. Sarah Garland Boyd Jones have been laid to rest in Evergreen Cemetery. Walker and Mitchell each founded a bank and served as their respective presidents — Walker being the first African American woman in the United States to do so — and were leaders in civil rights activism. Jones was the first African American woman to pass the Virginia Medical Examining Board exam.

Evergreen Cemetery was recognized by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization as a site of memory for the organization’s Slave Route Project, which aims to open conversation about and further the understanding of slavery and the slave trade. Preserving these records has been a challenge, Sydnor said.

An arson attack on the caretaker’s house in the 1960s at Evergreen Cemetery destroyed 90% of the records, Sydnor said. In order to reconstruct these lost records, volunteer opportunities that include writing biographies, transcription of records and cemetery research are available and offered remotely.

“We make sure to reach out to all ages because this volunteer opportunity is generational,” Ross said. “We want all ages … so that as they get older they also bring their children, and our hope is that it will not be lost again for that reason.”

OMSA events aim to dismantle misperceptions of Black women ZAREEN FARHAD Contributing Writer

W

HEN ONE BLACK WOMAN SHARED her experience as being deemed unapproachable by co-workers, more than 100 audience members joined by giving nods of agreement and supportive words. A lively discussion about the complexities of the “angry Black woman” stereotype followed.

“We’re objectified and pathologized and forced into stereotypes that don’t represent the fullness of our humanities,” said Dawn Johnson, an adjunct professor of gender, sexuality and women’s studies. “Because Black women sit at the intersection of both race and gender, they’re often subject to multiple stereotypes that are both racist and sexist.”

In celebration of Black History Month, VCU’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs is presenting a weekly “Lunch and Learn” discussion every Tuesday in February to dismantle prominent stereotypes about Black women. Johnson led “The ‘Angry Black Woman’” discussion on Feb. 9.

“It starts the conversation. It starts the process of people really looking inside of themselves, to say, ‘What can I do to be better in how I treat women of color, or how I am as a woman of color?’” said Tameika McCoy, advocate coordinator for University Counseling Services. “It provides

space for women of color to come together for healing and empowerment.”

A university-wide Black History Month committee of 26 people organized the event, McCoy said. This committee has planned several events, and a complete calendar is available on OMSA’s website.

Committee members submitted potential Illustration by Lauren Johnson programming ideas, streamlined broad topics and formed subcommittees. In addition to the derstand that stereotypes can be truly damaging,” popular culture and to initiate a discussion about four-part “Lunch and Learn” series, the “More Johnson said. “People that live with the stereotype pushing back on the stereotype, Johnson said.

Than Enough”’ subcommittee, led by McCoy, can have their own internalized oppression, and it’s Wilma Robinson, an event coordinator for the organized a fifth event, titled “Black Girl Boss: just a way to prevent that from happening.”

VCU School of Dentistry, is hopeful about seeing Professionalism According to the Black Woman.”

Johnson’s presentation focused on the fact more programs like this one facilitated by the uniOrganizers held the lunch event around to at- that pervasive stereotypes and controlling im- versity in the future. tract more people on breaks, McCoy said. They ages placed upon Black women stem from slav“People just don’t get it, and I don’t know if coordinated with Fraternity and Sorority Life at ery and are constantly reinforced in modern they even want to get it. So, to have more events VCU to arrange a limited amount of free lunch- popular culure. showing up, I think that would really help,” es that students could register to pick up at The Such stereotypes result in a variety of unin- Robinson said.

Commons prior to each event. tended consequences, Johnson said. Black womTurnout for the events has reached over 140 McCoy said the discussion topics came nat- en are routinely overlooked for promotions or attendees, and the sessions seek to foster an open urally. “More Than Enough” brainstormed about careers in academia because of stereotypes and environment in which attendees are enthusiastic the most persistent and detrimental stereotypes negative portrayals in media. about sharing thoughts and experiences. against Black women and decided on four topics “Furthering the stereotype also restricts Black “The discussion on the angry Black woman hit — “The Jezebel Syndrome: Hypersexualization women from feeling like they can have emotion home,” Robinson said. “It hit home because it’s of Black Women,” “The ‘Angry Black Woman,’” without people layering that stereotype on them,” so routine to hear, and it is sad and discouraging “The Mystery of the ‘Strong’ Black Woman” and Johnson said. that people feel that way. With women in general, “Misperceptions of Black Women in Politics.”

The objectives of the presentation were to un- people think we’re emotional or angry or upset, “The program is a real exercise in trying to derstand the history of the stereotype, acknowl- just for being a person.” dismantle stereotypes and helping people to un- edge the ways in which it manifests in media and

Black Lives Matter art show showcases social justice dialogue GRACE MCOMBER Contributing Writer A virtual art show organized by Richmond artists presents viewers with powerful self-portraits, experimental collages and political imagery, each demonstrating a unique take on the Black Lives Matter movement.

The fourth annual installment of the open call RVA Black Lives Matter Art Show premiered Feb. 5 with a Zoom webinar. Held entirely online, the event features more than 130 works of art from over 80 Virginia-based artists. It will remain available on the show’s website until February of next year.

The virtual gallery is broken into six smaller categories titled Injustice in America, The Black Pastoral, Inspiration & Aspiration, Identity, In Memoriam and Black Lives Matter - Uncategorized.

It also includes an Emerging Voices category, which encouraged young artists under 17 to participate. Within these categories, submissions that best exemplified the theme were selected by local artists and the exhibit’s curators, Emily Smith and Francis Thompson.

VCU communication arts senior Eric Robinson’s piece, “Reflections,” was selected to represent the Identity gallery. “‘Reflections’ was very technically challenging, due to all the angles I had to take into account,” Robinson said. “I was really honored to be exhibited.”

In the self-portrait, Robinson gazes into his own eyes with his arms crossed over his torso. His dyed-blue hair adds a pop of eye-catching color.

Despite his work chosen to represent the category, Robinson said he felt his paintings did not necessarily fit the show’s categories as he did not create them to be inherently political.

“There wasn’t a specific narrative,” Robinson said of his painting, “Dusk,” a brown and black portrait depicting a close friend. “I just wanted to make my friends look a little more ethereal.”

Robinson said he hopes those who view his and the other artists’ work consider the diverse narratives presented in the show.

“Everyone being exhibited has a different perspective centered around Blackness,” Robinson said. “Whether it be an outside looking in, a time-capsule, someone’s experiences or even just what it means to be Black and alive.”

The annual show began in 2017 after a group of Richmond artists, distraught with the results of the 2016 presidential election, felt the need to create a show centered around Black Lives Matter, according to the exhibit’s website.

Richard Bargdill, an associate professor of psychology at VCU and chair of the art show’s steering committee, said planning for this year’s event began last July after he reached out to previous organizers.

Following an initial agreement that the event would have to be moved online due to COVID-19, the steering committee held weekly meetings from August until the opening night of the event.

“It was pretty clear that it wasn’t going to happen unless we jumped on the ball right then,” Bargdill said. “And it was difficult, especially for an organization that really doesn’t have any infrastructure.”

Bargdill said advertising for past exhibitions relied heavily on physical means — through fliers and word of mouth. This year, the steering committee utilized personal connections and social media to spread the word, he said.

“We had people from very different worlds, including myself in psychology, that allowed us to reach out into different pools and gather partners,” Bargdill said. “It was sort of a true networking type of opportunity.”

Bargdill also submitted two paintings to the show, both depicting famous photographs of female protesters. “Threat to Order” is based on a 2016 viral photograph of protester Ieshia Evans, standing stoically as police seize her during a protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

His other painting, “Remove that Flag,” depicts activist Bree Newsome Bass physically

Wed. February 17, 2021

EDITOR'S LIST OF FILMS TO WATCH “The Photograph” (2020) Starring Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield, this film captures the blossoming romance between a New York couple. Mae, played

by Rae, starts investigating the circumstances surrounding an old photo of her deceased mother, which leads her to Stanfield’s character, Michael, a rising journalist.

Available on HBO Max | 74% Rotten Tomatoes

“If Beale Street Could Talk” (2018) Based on James Baldwin’s 1974 novel of the same name, this heartwrenching drama follows a young woman as she seeks justice for her partner, who was falsely accused of rape before the birth of the couple’s child.

Available on Hulu | 95% Rotten Tomatoes

Eric Robinson, a senior communication arts student, poses for a portrait in front of his two submissions for the RVA Black Lives Matter art show. From left: “Dusk” and “Reflections.” Photo by Kaitlyn Fulmore removing the Confederate flag that flew in front ture of the show allowed for a broad range of of the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia. artists to participate.

The professor said he was inspired to create more “I think the event was pretty amazing,” Dworpolitically themed art following the 2015 police kin said. “I think seeing different artists’ expreskilling of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. sions of Black Lives Matter is really important.”

Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died after being denied medical care while suffering a spinal injury in a police vehicle. Following his death and the subsequent acquittal of the six police officers involved, protests broke out in the city.

“I realized after those incidents in Baltimore that my art could be doing a little bit more,” Bargdill said. “And then, I started to make some pieces based on the uprising there.”

In lieu of an in-person opening night reception, this year’s RVA BLM Art Show opened with a Zoom webinar, hosted by actress Daphne Maxwell Reid.

During the webinar, artists presented a two-minute speech about their work.

“That’s rare in most gallery shows,” Bargdill said. “This is sort of a unique opportunity that Zoom allowed us to do Richmond artist Mona Dworkin works on her and include folks that are all painting “Change Comes Slowly” in her art studio. over the country.”

Photo courtesy of Tony Giammarino Holding the show virtually had some advantages, Bargdill said. With unlimited space and no travel or shipping costs for artists, a wider range of submissions was possible.

“There are some great advantages to doing it this way,” Bargdill said. “And we were very pleased with the outcome after eight to nine months of work.”

Mona Dworkin, a Richmond sculptor and mixed media artist, said she preferred in-person shows, but thought the online format was successful.

Her mixed media pieces, “Their Unresolved Past” and “Race” were created using clippings from magazines and paint to represent race relations and violence toward Black people.

“It’s my reaction to the long simmering racial tensions and violence toward African Americans,” Dworkin said. “It’s all of what the last hundreds of years have been about. But 2020 was The exhibit features “Their Unresolved Past” by particularly stirring.”

Mona Dworkin, a painting about the subjugation Like Robinson, Dworkin of African Americans throughout history. Photo believes that the inclusive na- courtesy of Mona Dworkin

“Moonlight” (2016) This drama showcases three troubling stages — childhood, adolescence and early adulthood — of the young Black character’s life. Chiron navigates his sexuality and identity and endures physical and emotional abuse from his family, but eventually finds support within a new community.

Available on Netflix | 98% Rotten Tomatoes

“Creed” (2015) Directed by Ryan Coogler, this drama serves as a sequel to the “Rocky” film series. In “Creed,” Michael B. Jordan portrays Adonis Johnson who never met his father Apollo Creed, a famous boxing champion. He is determined to learn how to box and seeks help from trainer Rocky Balboa, ultimately providing him a chance at winning a title.

Available on Amazon Prime Video | 95% Rotten Tomatoes

“Black is King” (2020) This visual album by Beyoncé proclaims Black pride. The superstar weaves imagery and symbols of the African diaspora with choreographed dance routines to create a compelling narrative for her songs from “The Lion King: The Gift.”

Available on Disney+ | 95% Rotten Tomatoes

“Just Mercy” (2019) Based on Bryan Stevenson’s 2014 bestselling book, “Just Mercy” follows the Alabama lawyer who represented the wrongly accused or those without means to seek legal counsel. Stevenson details his experience fighting for Walter McMillian, whose path to freedom is burdened by several racist encounters. McMillian, played

by Jamie Foxx, is a Black man sentenced to death after the murder of an 18-year old girl in 1987, despite proof of his innocence.

Available on HBO Max | 85% Rotten Tomatoes

“All Day and a Night” (2020) An aspiring rapper, played by Ashton Sanders, lands in the same prison as his father after committing murder. The drama retraces his steps preceding the arrest, relating his troubled childhood to how he ended up in this predicament.

Available on Netflix | 57% Rotten Tomatoes

Have suggestions for our watchlist? Email spectrum@ commonwealthtimes.org

10 The Commonwealth Times

Opinions

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“In the future, as in the present, as in the past, black people will build many new worlds.” ― N.K. Jemisin

Illustration by Isabelle Roque

AAVE is not your internet slang.

It is Black culture.

vocabulary from the standard American that affect their community, a dangerous stereotype. Instead, I allowed her to run with English dialect. duo is formed. the notion that her blaccent helped my dumb, AAVE is more than what you hear in hipLet me break it down. AAVE is seen as this Black brain understand what she was saying.

“You talk white.” hop and rap songs. It holds such a unifying form of uneducated, Black talk. It is also comIt is infuriating to be dumbed down to a I’ve never been quite sure how I should cultural force that is far too complex to ex- monly linked to the violence in Black com- certain set of misconceptions that you had no feel when I hear that. Am I supposed to be plain to a non-Black person. munities. This reinforces that false perception hand in creating. honored or offended?

So, next time you’re lit, slaying and/ that Black people are committing crimes beNow, I understand that AAVE has been I am articulate. I speak eloquently with or on fleek, thank your friendly cause they are uneducated. incorporated into social media lingo, howminimal pauses and stutters. I formulate well- Black community for sharing their You see, Ebonics is far more ever, many of you find yourselves code “Woke.” than your internet slang. It is a switching in an effort to be more relatable to thought-out responses and provide my direct culture with you. opinion. Words come easily to me.

It always disappoints me to stem of Black history and culture. Black people.

But I am also Black. Because of the mis- see how this country neglects the accomNow that I’ve given you a bit of history Similarly, code switching is going back conceptions and stereotypes placed on Black plishments of Black people by taking the behind AAVE, let’s dive into how offensive it and forth between languages and dialects people, it’s generalized that we must not speak community’s work and making it their own. is to have a dialect created by my community in conversation. proper English. Therefore, I must speak like The appropriation of AAVE has been so nor- used as a relatable trait.

According to an NPR article, one of a “white person.” malized that many of us haven’t I worked in a retail store in the main reasons people code Nobody seems to find such even noticed it.

Carytown last semester. Most of “Turn up.” switch seems to be in an effort “Period.” commentary offensive. There’s To a majority of the social me- my coworkers and the shoppers to fit in. Now, before you tell a false narrative that speaking dia community, we don’t even no- were white. One day, a group of me that you don’t mean to do it, properly and refraining from using slang tice how immersed into AAVE we are. It’s a white VCU students made their way into the code switching can be both a conscious and means that one is speaking “white.” A nar- commonalty in everything we say. Yet, many store. I greeted them, and one of them made unconscious act. rative that was created by the same victors Black people — including myself — have sure to call me their “sis” before they went Keep that in mind the next time you have of it: white people and their superiority com- been bullied for our utilization of AAVE. to look around. an urge to call every Black girl your sis and plex. But that generalizes Black people to the Ebonics has been heavThey shopped for a bit, every Black man your dawg. bare slang and “ghetto talk” of their stereo- ily associated with the before they came back to On the inverse, code switching is a surtype; it instills some belief that Black people negative connotation of the “No tea, no shade.” the front for some help. vival tactic for many Black people. Because are uneducated. ghettos and the crimes that The same one started every we’ve been shoved into this false box of imYet, the same uneducated slang that the occur in them. Rap music, films and televi- sentence with “girl” and ended it with “sis.” I proper English, we have to switch back and Black community — my people — were rid- sion that discuss the brutal realities of grow- fought the urge to ask her to stop. It’s almost forth between Ebonics and Standard Ameriiculed for using growing up is now your pop ing up in impoverished Black communities like she thought I wouldn’t understand what can English frequently. How we talk at work culture and internet lingo. detail the actions committed in the community she was saying if she didn’t add that bit of a or a job interview, versus how we speak when We’ve all heard these terms in our con- with AAVE. An unintentional link between “blaccent” into the conversation. we’re with our family and friends. versations or on our social media feeds. But violence and Ebonics is therefore formed.

A blaccent is popularly known in the Black AAVE is being swallowed into internet many of you haven’t stopped Artists like Tupac Shakur community as a non-Black culture and erased from the to think about where these and The Notorious B.I.G. are person of color or white percollective. But Black people “Whew chile.” prime examples of this link. son speaking in what they “Yas queen!” will popular phrases come from. never forget the dialect So, in honor of Black History They have paved the way for believe is AAVE. they created. Ebonics is not Month, let me give you a quick lesson. much rap and hip-hop music describing the That interaction is a normality for Black ghetto talk. It is not violent. It is not your inAfrican American Vernacular English, struggles of Black America, while utilizing people. Unfortunately, many non-Black peo- ternet lingo. It is the dialect of thousands of more famously known as AAVE or Eb- Ebonics and AAVE in their lyrics. ple of color and white people think speaking in people. Give them the respect they deserve. onics, is a dialect of American English What people tend to forget is that the a blaccent is necessary for our comprehension.

So, no matter how hard your TikTok or spoken frequently in the Black communi- Black community is more than just the vioAt that moment, I couldn’t even react Twitter feeds try to convince you that Ebonty. AAVE is commonly associated with a lence we experience. By associating the way properly. If I had asked her to stop calling me ics is simply just internet slang, remember the difference in pronunciation, grammar and Black people talk with the grave injustices that, I would’ve fit my angry Black woman complex history I shared with you today.

Tagwa Shammet Opinions Editor

Wed. February 17, 2021

Comics Never Ending Negotiations by Audrey Garrett

THE CT STAFF EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andrew Ringle ringlea@commonwealthtimes.org MANAGING EDITOR Iman Mekonen mekonenib@commonwealthtimes.org COPY EDITOR Rachel Rivenbark rivenbarkrs@commonwealthtimes.org NEWS EDITOR Katharine DeRosa news@commonwealthtimes.org SPORTS EDITOR Noah Fleischman sports@commonwealthtimes.org SPECTRUM EDITOR Ebonique Little spectrum@commonwealthtimes.org OPINIONS EDITOR Tagwa Shammet opinions@commonwealthtimes.org PHOTO EDITOR Enza Marcy photography@commonwealthtimes.org AUDIENCE EDITOR Sarah Elson elsonsp@commonwealthtimes.org ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR Lauren Johnson illustrations@commonwealthtimes.org STAFF WRITERS Anya Sczerzenie, News

Let Them Eat Rocks by RenNewport

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Wishful Dreaming by Sarah Brady

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12 The Commonwealth Times

Puzzles Los Angeles Times Crossword Puzzle LOVE IS ...

Sponsored by

L o s A n g el es Ti m es YOUR HERE S u n d ay AD C r o sswo rd Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

By Jake Braun

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Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Contact Dominique Lee @ leeds3@vcu.edu

LOVE IS ...

Lo s A n g el es Ti m es S unda y C r o ssw o r d P u z z l e Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Love Is ... by Jake Braun

Level

Sudoku

1 3

By The Mepham Group

3

4

Complete the grid so each row, column, and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) containsSolution to Monday’s puzzle every digit, 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk

Solution to Tuesday’s puzzle

1/15/19 Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit

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2

sudoku.org.uk

2/17/21

4

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, please visit sudoku.org.uk

DIFFICULTY LEVEL 1

2

© 2019 The Mepham Group. Distributed © 2021byThe Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

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YOUR AD HERE Contact Dominique Lee @ leeds3@vcu.edu

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