Vinegar Hill Magazine: Spring 2021 Issue by Vinegar Hill Magazine

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VINEGAR HILL MAGAZINE SPRING 2021 ISSUE

CONTENTS 4 A LETTER TO HIMSELF Quinton Harrell writes a letter to his youngerr self about what he now knows. 12 MUSICAL HEIGHTS Tenor Sax player and Charlottesvelly native Tim Wicks talks about his musical journey. 17 STITCH PLEASE Dr. Lisa Woolfolk talks about her podcast that has more than 100,000 downloads.

Charlottesville Inclusive Media Project and journalist Samantha Willis revisit the Determined series and embark on a new community storytelling project called “Still Determined”.

Vinegar Hill Magazine is a space that is designed to support and project a more inclusive social narrative, to promote entrepreneurship, and to be a beacon for art, culture, and politics in the Central Virginia region. | Contributing Writer Sam Heath l Advertising and Sales Manager(s) SteppeMedia Publisher Eddie Harris Layout & Design Sarad Davenport Feature Photography Derrick Waller, Locs Image, Issa Doughman © 2021 Vinegar Hill Magazine. All rights reserved. w w w. v i n e g a r h i l l m a g a z i n e . c o m | V I N E G A R H I L L M A G A Z I N E 3

A Letter to my

Younger Self Business Leader Quinton Harrell Glances Back While Moving Forward

Contributed by Quinton Harrell Before my wife and I were married, before we were even dating, I would often marvel over her recurring references to her parents in our conversations about life, love, and learning. I was quite fascinated with the hyperbole, which it seemed to be to me, of Mom’s running of a tight ship, her home management style, and dinner is served every evening at the same time; then the ensuing three- to four-hour discussions and debates at the dinner table. Particularly fascinating was learning of the security she felt like a little girl with her dad checking all the doors each night before bedtime. Or as a working adult, traveling from state to state early in her corporate career with Dad monitoring her trip via cell phone - checking in on her in half-hour or hourly intervals, depending on the length of her trip. Then, there was all the time she spent under the hood and literally under the family vehicle as Dad’s assistant mechanic, as an adolescent. As a boy who did not grow up with my father in the house, all this was fascinating hyperbole to me until I met her family and saw the family dynamic in action. As we got closer through courtship and subsequently got married, I learned more about the male role models of my wife’s life. My wife’s father worked in calibration and electronics by trade but was proficient in carpentry, brick-masonry, and a host of other skills. At one point, he was planning to build his own home. Then, there was my wife’s maternal grandfather, the legendary Toy Ballard, who was revered and feared in their small town of Ashland, Alabama. Known for his hon-

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esty, loyalty, work ethic, and propensity toward violence for anyone who disrespected him or his family, regardless of their race in the JimCrow south, Toy kept his word and kept a gun at every door and most windows of his home. With all the cross-burnings and lynchings that occurred during his adult life in rural Alabama, Toy’s family never had any visits from the Klan. Functionally illiterate, Toy was proficient in farming, mechanics, electricity, and so on - a literal jack of all trades – regularly went hunting with white men (in rural Alabama in the 60’s) and had a pet bull, yes, an actual bull, that rode with him to town in his pick-up. Not only were their stories fascinating, but inspirational. Part of the inspiration led me to reflect on my upbringing and my formative years as an African American male in society. What contrasts in cultural norms and knowledge in comparison to my wife’s male role-models?! The depth of the generational differences in terms of ex-

periences with racism, teachings, life outlook, familial structure, and regional perspective is too vast for this writing; however, what is significant in my reflection is the distortion of black male roles and definitions of manhood in the culture I grew up in. The notion that boys are not to show emotion, was, for me, couched in a sub-culture of bravado, fast cash, and cars. Simultaneously, the battered black male image of the near-extinct, ultra-aggressive, “super-predator” of the 80’s, found masculine validation in a racist society through multiple conquests of the “female species”. I grew up in a culture where my peers’ motto was “five twenties equal a hundred, and hundreds are easier to count”. Hustling for fast cash and spending it just a quick was our calling card and paying older cats to do stuff for us was the norm. The ability, as a teenager, to give orders to older men, who may have fallen victim to alcohol or drug abuse in the late 70’s and early 80’s, to

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conduct tasks and run errands for us was, at the time, an extraordinary badge of respect and source of pride. Upon reflection, it was a horrendous destruction to a social hierarchy in the black community and deterioration of a fundamental knowledge exchange needed from the elder to the youth. The consequences have been recursively devastating, which finally leads me to the point of this seemingly aimless diatribe that has no data nor statistics. These older men of my youth that I refer to were the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and big brothers in the

Black community that fixed the cars repaired the appliances, built the houses, poured the concrete, maintained the landscapes, and defended the

lives of my wife’s grandfather and father, it dawned upon me the realization of a great loss suffered by me and legions of other African American males. Many of us never learned how to work on a car. Many of us do not know how to repair anything. Many of us have no interest in maintaining lawns, lifting, or building anything. And many of us lost our right to bear arms with the felony charges we acquired as youngsters. So, that means some of us cannot “lawfully” defend our own homes. These losses are significant, and I believe contribute to the depression stemming from societal oppressions on the black male psyche. Therapy Link w/ stats. As I grew, matured, and got to the place where I had a true desire to settle down, I took a deep look at the word husband and what that truly meant. I looked up the word husband and beyond its ubiquitous noun meaning as a male spouse, there was also a verb that led me to the word husbandry. (See John 15:1 in the Bible KJV). The definition of husbandry alluded to management and conservation of resources; the care, cultivation, and breeding of crops, etc. And there it was, like a bolt of lightning, I was struck upon reflection of what honorable men did and

It is critical for a young man to develop not only his mind intellectually and his spirit, but to acquire manual skills to be a good husband.

households of our mothers and grandmothers. They had skills to pay bills, protect what was theirs, and provide for their families. When I was ready to settle down and I reflected on the

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the stark contrast of what I had learned in my youthful subculture. A good man manages his resources, tends to, cares for, and cultivates not only his crops and resources but also his wife and family. The depth of it struck well beyond the agricultural origins of the word, yet still had a direct connection as it pertains to true wealth building. The true foundational components of wealth are rooted in land and natural resources; they are the fundamental sources from which all other levels of wealth emerge.

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to contribute to others’ lives changes your perspective!

It is critical for a young man to develop not only his mind intellectually and his spirit, but to acquire manual skills to be a good husband. Oddly enough, that is the point of this writing; to convey the deep physical, spiritual, mental, and financial benefit to acquiring manual skill sets. It can even facilitate a lucrative career in the trades! It played an indirect role in my founding Heritage United Builders. [Take a look at this interview with Kanada Simw w w. v i n e g a r h i l l m a g a z i n e . c o m | V I N E G A R H I L L M A G A Z I N E 7

mons from CEI Services as he uniquely articulates the point]. Sure, there is always someone else more skilled to provide services you do not have time or interest in performing and I am an absolute advocate for young women as well as young men learning manual skills. However, there is something special that happens in the spirit of a man when he accomplishes domestic tasks that provide or maintain com-

fort and security in his home for himself, for his wife, or for his family. And! I personally can admit I do not particularly care for ALWAYS needing to call other men into my home to provide comfort for my wife… aka the “honey-do” list. My wife’s mother, my mother, made a striking statement to me when I told her I was writing about Dad and his skills. She said when she looked

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back on them buying their first home, “If Dad didn’t know how to do the things he did in the house over the years, we wouldn’t have made it”. This, of course, alluded to the financial benefits of his skills and the financial implications of not having them. Within a general societal consensus that homeownership is a foundational component of wealth-building, there is a lot to be gleaned from this wife’s statement of a couple who raised a family, took care of and carried the load for other family, travailed many a trial, and now own their home outright with superb credit in their golden years of retirement. There is tremendous value in building, creating, repairing, and maintaining things, whether it is structures, vehicles, gardens, or relationships. I believe these things are the epitome of developing the type of wealth that provides for you, your family, and generations to come. Becoming a husband has been the best thing that has ever happened in my life and I pray to the Almighty that I will continue to grow in my role while enjoying opportunities to continue creating value for myself and others. I encourage you to learn a new skill or two, volunteer to help someone else, and then watch the additional doors that start opening in your mind, your spirit, and your life. Cheers to your development.

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VINEGAR HILL

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CHARLOTTESVILLE NATIVE TIM WICKS TALKS ABOUT HIS MUSICAL JOURNEY

by Sarad Davenport The truth is that the history of rich music Charlottesville has really yet to be told. Tenor Saxophone player Tim Wicks is a part of that rich history and spoke with us from his residence in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn or as he states it, ‘Do or die Bed Stuy.” Tim recalled that music was to him a calling or a gift of sorts, “And one the things I knew the Lord has given me is music. I enjoy music.” Even as we are talking, brother Wicks speaks in a rhythmic cadence and it obvious that he’s thinking ten steps ahead. And he probably is.

dolph Wicks, and he was a reverend. He told me that I was going to be a reverend one day.” Tim recalled a childhood experience at a family reunion where his uncle thought he would become a man of the cloth. “ I think he meant going to the music bandstand, I just wanted to have a good time. But I think he was talking about that in that way of spreading your musical message and touching people.” This is to say that Tim believes that his gravitation to music was an extension of his family’s deep spiritual roots.

“My uncle once told me, Randolph is his real name, Ran-

Tim Wicks is representative of the deep musical heritage

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of Charlottesville because he studied under renowned band director Calvin Cage when he was at Jefferson School. Mr. Cage for those who don’t know was reared in the deep musical and spiritual tradition. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee and after graduating from Dillard University in New Orleans, came to Charlottesville to teach music, first to the segregated Black schools. Mr. Cage poured all of this genius into the children of Charlottesville to include Wicks. After being under the tutelage of Mr. Cage, Tim went on to explore his musical gift in ways that other children just did not. “When I went to 7th and 8th

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Cambridge Circle ( Rugby Hills). “I stayed at the swimming pool,” he said paying homage to Washington Park Pool where Black youth from all over the city came to cool off and see their friends during the summer months. Wicks played baseball in the Jackie Robinson Baseball League at Washington Park also and even played Junior Varsity Football and on the 9th Grade Basketball team at Charlottesville High School— but that was when everything changed. That was when music became more serious than anything for him. Speaking of his family, Tim said, “All the Wicks could sing. We were a musical family. We used to practice at the house. There were always instruments lying around the house and we had one of those organs. I heard James Brown play in my home.” Wicks let off this litany to let me know that a life of music was inevitable for him and he would inevitably craft his life’s work through music.

grade at Walker Junior High School, I played in the Symphonic Band and the Jazz Band,” said Wicks. As much as Tim was deep into his music, he was still just another around-the-way kid. He lived on Preston Avenue near Zion Union Baptist Church in what was then called the ‘Heights’ or the Preston Height neighborhood. Wicks lived on Preston Avenue until 1971 and then moved to

I was in the marching band at Charlottesville High School. For two of those years, I was the drum major. For those who didn’t have a good technical definition for a drum major, he or she is the field commander and the leader of a marching band, usually positioned at the head of the band. The drum major is responsible for providing commands to the ensemble, leading them while marching, and directing them what to play, when to play, and what time to keep. To do this and become this at a time when the Charlottesville City Schools were only recently desegregat-

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ed, was a monumental feat for this young Black man from Preston Heights to achieve.

We reached out. We talked. He wanted to know my vision. He said, “I see it.”

The thing about Charlottesville is that there is this myth that Black children aren’t accustomed to achieving at the highest levels, yet there is a long history to the contrary. After graduating from Charlottesville High School, Tim enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and became a Business major. It was a practical choice but he knew that his true love was music.

Not only did Tim play with many of the A-list artists in the world, but he also went back and finished his degree. He went to the City College in New York and received his undergraduate and Jazz Performance in Music with Honors. He then went on to get a master’s in education so that he could help keep the musical tradition alive for the next generation much as Mr. Cage did for him. Tim said, “I went and got my master’s in education. I’m armed and dangerous in all kinds of ways.”

“I continued to play music in bands,” said Wicks. “I played in this band called ‘Dangerous Intersection when I was 14 years old’. We had the Johnny Gilmore on drums. We were tight. A guy named ‘Granger’ was our manager at the time. I think he ended up becoming a police officer,” he recalls. His love for music is what prompted him to change his major at VCU to music and become a professional musician. “I was playing with the group and having a great time.” He later played with a band named ‘Common Knowledge’ which included Carter Beauford on drums and LeRoi Moore on Sax, founding members of the Dave Matthews Band.

Tim sees music as a healing ministry of sorts. “A person said they were going through a troubled time. My music helped them get through it. There is only one true essence through this. The Lord has given me music. My uncle Randolph Wicks used to say, ‘You know you gone be a reverend one day.’ “He was just talking about spreading my musical message and touching people.” Visit and listen to Tim’s music at https://timwicks.net/

Inevitably, Tim left VCU saying, “I left school. I wasn’t happy at VCU. They didn’t show me no love.” But there was someone there who showed him love. He met the woman who would eventually become his wife, packed up everything, and moved to New York City. “I always had the dream of living in New York. My first gig was at the Apollo Theater. We were just playing at Mount Morris Park in Harlem. A group named Bodacious out of Harlem.” As if that wasn’t enough, Wicks, a kid from Charlottesville was making it as a professional musician in New York City. “I played in the pit band for an off-broadway play called ‘Characters’ for Doug Ashley. I started from the bottom and made it to the top.” One of Tim’s most recent accomplishments is having renowned, seven-time Grammy-nominated Jazz saxophonist Gerald Albright join him on his recent album Relevant playing bass guitar. “I found him on Facebook. w w w. v i n e g a r h i l l m a g a z i n e . c o m | V I N E G A R H I L L M A G A Z I N E 1 5

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sewing & stitching

with Radical Self-Love by Sarad Davenport Photos by Eze Amos

Lisa Woolfork and her ‘Stitch Please’ podcast has gained more than 110,000 downloads and is a show that “supports, celebrates, and inspires Black women sewists around the world.” Dr. Woolfork says that although, “I didn’t start sewing until I was in graduate school. My mother sewed. My grandmother sewed. My great-grandmother also apparently sewed, and I didn’t want anything to do with it.” She didn’t want anything to do with it until, well—until she did. For those who don’t know, Dr. Woolfork is a professor of African-American Literature and Culture at the University of Virginia. Born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, she came to Charlottesville through what

she calls ‘a pretty circuitous route.’ “I went essentially right from college. I went to undergrad in Boston. I went to graduate school right after college at the University of Wisconsin at Madison for my Ph.D.” After many years of settling into the grind of being a professor, mother, and active community member, Dr. Woolfork just needed something different. She said she needed something that wasn’t connected to work. Something for her. “I needed something that was just going to be a stress relief. I started sewing and I fell in love with sewing and it just became a wonderful, creative outlet, a creative release.” The Ancestral Craft

West Palm Beach is the place where Dr. Woolfork first witnessed what she describes as the ‘ancestral craft’ of sewing. “Sewing is an ancestral craft, not just in my family, but also in Black families all over in a variety of communities. You think about the work that black women did during the times of slavery—quilting, sewing, and making clothes. This was how you acquired the garments in your life.” At this time, I wanted to slow down a little and have Dr. Woolfork really unpack this concept of sewing being an ancestral craft. “I really feel like the past and the present are separated by a very fine line.” It is to say that the past, present, and the future are much more

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connected than we may think. What is more, the implication for Black people is that one of the ways to reestablish a connection with our ancestral past is to do things that our ancestors did such as sewing. Dr. Woolfork is adamant about the legacy that we individually and collectively share when she says, “When you look back at your parents and their parents and their parents as far back as you imagine, that’s a long line of people who lived and worked and loved and fought and struggled and created and did all of these things and lived full lives to the best of their ability in remarkably difficult circumstances. That is something of which to be proud.” Wholistic Black Safety When Dr. Woolfork initially got back into sewing and stitching, there was a community built around the craft, but it was observably White. This of course wasn’t an issue for Dr. Woolfork who, like many others, managed the double-consciousness of being Black in America with mastery. “Something that I had been able to just kind of tolerate was their casual racism, the microaggressions, just some of the things that happen when you are the only Black person in an all-White space.” Although this sewing group certainly provided a space where Dr. Woolfork could continue to detach and explore the ancestral craft; it proved to be an inadequate space at a most consequential time. “I was working with a lot of the anti-racist organizing in 2017,” said Dr. Woolfork. She then begins to sequence what lead to the inflection point. “We had that first torch rally back in May of 2017. Then in June, it was a smaller group that came to the statue. In July, it was the Klan rally. Then in August, there was the largest white supremacist gathering in modern history.” During the Unite the Right rally, Dr. Woolfork was among the group of counter-protesters opposing the rally. “We were just really involved and we were marching on Water Street.” Dr. Woolfork recalls being just steps away from the impact when

James Alex Fields drove his car through a crowd of counter-protesters that day, killing Heather Heyer. She went on, “I think it was an inflection point, not just for Charlottesville but for the nation and it ended up echoing around the world.” In the days and weeks after that tragic day, Dr. Woolfork recalls, “We woke up screaming for weeks. It just radically changed so much in our lives. It’s hard to summarize other than to say it was a lot of terror and fear and chaos.” It is in this backdrop that Dr. Woolfork was actively seeking healing. She sought a place of refuge—a community that could provide safety from the terrors of that day. What she found was that the predominately White sewing community that she had, for years, been giving her time to was incapable of being what she needed—and honestly had no desire to. “It was so disappointing—the reactions from those people in the sewing community were just racist. They cared more about their own comfort than they did my survival, my feelings, and at the end of the day, my actual life.” Evidence of this reality was when the group banned all talk about the Charlottesville attack, and also refunded Dr. Woolfork’s attendance fee, and uninvited her to an upcoming retreat. Yes, uninvited even though Dr. Woolfork did not initiate the ancillary conversations about Charlottesville in the group. This was actually the point where ‘Black Women Stitch’ and the ‘Stitch Please’ podcast was birthed. “It’s bizarre,” said Dr. Woolfork, But yeah, so I built what I needed and it turns out that lots of other people needed it too.” Where she couldn’t find empathy and psychological safety in other communities, Dr. Woolfork, at this moment, decides out of necessity to create her own not knowing that there were others who were hungry and thirsty for it also. Dr. Woolfork indicates the Black Women Stitch community is a space that was designed with Black women in mind. “This is not a place where you need to accept reasonable debate about your humanity,” said Dr. Woolfork. She went on

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to indicate that Black people need spaces that simply allow them to be their Black selves. “There are tons of opportunities for us to be in the minority,” she reminds. Through these ideas, Dr. Woolfork disrupts the idea that there is something fundamentally wrong with Black people and Black women in particular. The purpose of ‘Black Women Stitch’ as an organization, is to be the one group where Black Lives really Matter. Where they know that we do not tolerate fat-phobia, transphobia, homophobia, racist bullshit, or microaggressions. You know, we are very clear that this is a space of love. This is a space of care.” It seems that Black women

all over America are stitching things back together from Latasha Brown to Stacey Abrams in the interest of American Democracy. However, Dr. Woolfork forcefully states that communities like Black Women Stitch and the Stitch Please podcast are not in the interest of saving democracy but she says what Black women are really up to in this and all episodes of American history “is doing our best ‘to mitigate harm.” Dr. Woolfork argues that we spend far too much time thinking about ‘Black-work and Black labor and there is not enough time thinking about Black leisure, Black recreation, Black joy, and Black fun.’ She wanted to make certain that the public

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knows that this community has nothing to do with her role as a professor at the university or her work. Through this podcast, she is able to combine the knowledge of African-American literature and culture, of questions of social justice, having an understanding of Black history and Black liberation struggles in a quest for social justice as well as radical self-love.

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DEAR BLACK MAN,

The world is constantly pulling you down and attempting to dim your light but please don’t stop shining. We need you, we love you, we care for you. We support you. We hear you and we are listening. We see you. Keep taking up space because we need your existence—your strength, your style, your handsomeness, your swag, your soul, your smile, your eyes, and your mind.

Thank you Black Man. – a Black Woman named Rai

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Vaccine Vexation Black and Latinx people are dying disproportionately from COVID-19 in the Piedmont region; why have so few been vaccinated? by Samantha Willis | Photos by Lorenzo Dickerson | Art by Sahara Clemons In the final month of the turbulent year 2020, Sandra Lindsay – a New York City critical care nurse, who also happens to be a Black woman – became the first American outside of clinical trials to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Now, nearly two months later, Black Americans continue to die from the coronavirus at disproportionate rates, almost three times that of White Americans. Though Black people are impacted most severely by COVID, they make up less than six percent of the millions of Americans who’ve been vaccinated; Hispanic people account for only 11 percent of vaccinations in the country. In Charlottesville and the surrounding region, the statistics tell a similar story, and a chorus of community voices calls for change. According to an emailed statement by Blue Ridge Health District health director Dr. Denise

Bonds in response to community advocate Myra Anderson’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for racial demographic data of those vaccinated by the district, as of February 5, 2021, the Blue Ridge Health District (BRHD) had administered a total of 5,642 doses of the vaccine. Of those vaccinated, 4,873 of those people were white, and 426 were Black. Importantly, these numbers represent only the vaccines that BRHD has administered, not the total number of vaccines administered in the district; both the University of Virginia and Sentara Martha Jefferson hospital systems are coordinating their own vaccination efforts. To put into perspective the figures revealed by Dr. Bonds, consider that the Blue Ridge Health District serves more than 250,000 people in the city of Charlottesville and in Albemarle, Greene,

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Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson counties; the majority of these people are white, yet Blacks and Latinix people account for more than a quarter of the district’s total COVID case count, 43 percent of COVID hospitalizations, and 22 percent of COVID deaths, according to data gathered from its website on February 13. Although the area’s vaccine distribution has been admittedly hampered by limited supply, and hiccups at the state and federal levels, the process, spearheaded by the Blue Ridge Health District at the direction of the Virginia Department of Health, “has clearly been lacking,” says Dr. Ebony Hilton, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Virginia, a problem she attributes to a “trickle-down” impact from the flawed federal vaccination response. “So we say, ‘Phase 1a and Phase 1b makes sense,’ but let’s examine that,” says Dr. Hilton, referring to the phases of vaccination set by the Virginia Department of Health, which determines which groups are offered the vaccine first. Healthcare workers and residents and

staff of long term care facilities comprise Phase 1a; frontline essential workers, adults age 65 and older, people age 16 to 64 with preexisting health conditions that put them at greater risk of contracting COVID-19, and staff and residents of correctional facilities, migrant labor camps and homeless shelter round out Phase 1b. “Honestly, when we look at who’s dying most from COVID, who is being hospitalized with the most severe COVID symptoms, certain segments of the public – including Black [people] and Brown [people] and communities of color – are obviously at much greater risk.” Additionally, cultural norms fueled by inequality may put these communities at a disadvantage concerning vaccination, says Dr. Hilton. “Many of our [Black and Hispanic] elders are not living in long-term care facilities because many of their families don’t have the personal resources to access the care there. We know that Black families have less generational wealth than white families,” says Dr. Hilton, due to financial inequities that were present long before the pandemic. “So, often, these older folks of color are at home, sometimes living with multiple generations of their

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family under one roof. That’s a higher risk for COVID-19, but these types of folks can’t get the vaccine within the current phasing guidelines.” The Blue Ridge Health District, formerly the Thomas Jefferson Health District, changed its name at the start of the year. Removing the president and slave owner’s name from its moniker is reflective of the agency’s commitment to understanding and serving the diverse communities it serves, says Rebecca Schmidt, BRHD’s Director of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives. “It’s a symbolic change; it’s a signal that we’re committed to the work of improving equity in

health care, but it’s not the end of the work,” says Schmidt. She acknowledges the community concerns that the vaccine is not being distributed equitably, and says that technology has contributed to this challenge. “When we talk about equity, the IT systems that were built for [COVID vaccination] registration and appointments were not built with equity in mind,” says Schmidt. She says BRHD is working with its partners at UVa and Sentara – who are each leading their own vaccination efforts – to create a more localized dashboard that will include racial equity in its analysis of the vaccination process as it continues unfolding.

Dr. Ebony Hilton, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Virginia

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In the meantime, the BRHD says it is actively partnering with community advocates and organizations to host vaccination events throughout the district, in a targeted focus on improving Black and Latinx residents’ access to the vaccine. One such advocate, Myra Anderson, has been vocal about her community’s concerns, ranging from a perceived lack of transparency about who is getting vaccinated (hence her FOIA request) to issues with the way the district has disseminated vaccine information. “The forms to register for the vaccine, they are all online,” she says. “If you don’t have highspeed internet access or even a personal computer at home,” a reality for some members of marginalized communities in the Charlottesville region and across the state, “online-only forms are a barrier for you. We really need ... to be more inclusive in their thinking and planning of this process.” Anderson says she, and a group of the area’s Black leaders, helped to plan a vaccination event originally slated for Saturday, Feb. 13 but

rescheduled due to inclement weather. Several organizations, including BRHD and Sentara, backed the event, which was a targeted effort to vaccinate Black people and others of color in the region. Anderson says these events are also an opportunity for BRHD and other groups to build trust with the Black community. “Black people have a right to hesitancy! Especially with our history,” says Anderson, noting historic examples of the medical establishment’s mistreatment of Blacks, such as Henrietta Lacks. Lacks, a Black woman born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1920, unwittingly became the donor of “immortal” cells – taken from her cancerous cervix by white doctors without her consent – which changed the course of medical and scientific history. Lacks’ “HeLa” cells expanded research capabilities, contributed directly to a cure for polio, and were the first human cells sent into space; they remain an inconceivable gift to humankind. Lacks died in poverty in 1951 and was buried without benefit from the incredible cells taken from her body without her knowledge or

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permission. Considering Lacks, and other chilling examples like The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Anderson says a little lingering unease towards medical authority is to be expected, and should not block Black people from accessing the coronavirus vaccine. If Black people in the region express hesitancy or distrust about the vaccine, BRHD and other agencies should not “think that it’s a hard no; think it’s a slow yes, and take every opportunity to show us you care about equity like you say you do.” Schmidt says that the BRHD continues working to ensure its coronavirus vaccination rollout is as equitable and accessible a process as possible, and will build on the work it began with the publication of its MAPP2HEALTH report in 2019. The study highlighted the systemic, structural racism present in and supported by Virginia’s public health system since its inception, and pinpointed various means to mitigate these historic wrongs with the guidance and aid of its Black residents and other groups of color. Dr. Hilton

has some suggestions for them, the state, and federal health agencies, too. “The first would be [to implement] age adjustment along the lines of race,” into vaccine phasing, she says. “We know what the numbers show; instead of saying a blanket age of 65plus or 75-plus, when we know Black people are dying at an early age, it should be adjusted to reflect that.” She echoes Anderson’s calls for improved communication, including physically mailing vaccine registration information to all available addresses so that homes without reliable internet access don’t miss out, and collaborating directly with Spanish-speaking health workers to break down language barriers and increase access in Hispanic communities. Ultimately, local, state, and federal entities “need to build equity into every, single structure and strain of our health care systems.”

Circa 1956 at The HIPP on the famous 2nd Street in Richmond, Virginia

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Ally

Manny

Seth

Cultivate Charlottesville

Rosy

Lynaisha

2020 Food Justice Interns

Food justice is helping our community by making it easy for everyone to access food and coming together and talking to bigger organizations to make a change Keyshanna

Aina

Hallie

DaTayveyus

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BriAsia

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I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me

Yours

Contributed by Khalilah Jones | Photo by Jenaé D. Harrington Recently, my sister was telling me about some frustrations she has been confronted with at work. Something had happened and while it wasn’t directly anything to do with her she was basically getting reamed by her supervisor who’d been snarky, extremely unprofessional and, to be honest, just nasty to her. I sat there listening to her vent, thoroughly perplexed by what I was hearing. My overwhelming thought was “Don’t they know how selfless, hilarious and thorough you are? Don’t they know the untethered Black Girl Magic they have in their midst?” What I saw was a phenomenal woman (by anyone’s standards)

who inspires me to do my absolute best and supports me when I get overwhelmed. This woman navigates and negotiates the world with such style and her own razzle dazzle. I rudely interjected “...do I need to tell them who you are?” As I was getting ready this morning and fashioning my textured tight coils into a fauxhawk, I reflected back on that conversation. It’s almost second nature to see the best in our loved ones. I’d even venture to say even when they may be undeserving, we tend to see the gold where others may see dirt. But I digress. The point is, I feel pride. I appreciate their spark,

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their individuality, the special unique stuff that makes them uniquely them. I know of their trials and tribulations and I also know their testimony! How they are wonderfully and fearfully made and completely human. I wouldn’t want them to be any other way. So, as easily as all of that rolled off my tongue why can’t I think about myself in this way? I have moments when I do. Fleeting ephemeral moments when I catch myself thinking “that was alright” but they are so few and far between. I have never thought of myself as amazing let alone have the unmitigated gall to utter it out

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loud. If I’m being honest, I even opt out of repeating my positive affirmations out loud, instead, replaying them back in my mind. But there’s definitely something to be said for the quiet confidence in knowing that I deserve my own kindness, too. I deserve my own respect. Don’t I deserve my own appreciation? Not bravado. Not ego. Just simply being okay with liking who we are! We work so hard and we do so much for others. Now, don’t get it twisted there are a fair share of people who do not like me but for the most part I know that I am loved. I’d even go so far as to claim I have“ favor” like my Grandma would say. So, why is it so hard for me to extend that level of grace and love to myself?

I’ve been pondering on this a lot recently. I have never done anything halfway. But when I take a truly introspective look, I have to acknowledge that the “anything” that I try always has something in common. They are things that I knew I could do wearing a blindfold with one hand tied behind my back. Never really a challenge. But when it comes to the book I have been gradually working on (when I say gradually I mean as slow as molasses) I cannot seem to muster that Khalilah “confidence”, enthusiasm and fervor. Working as an independent wardrobe stylist and image consultant, I know my stuff. Yet I question my skills and my own credibility in the industry. No one else has voiced any dissent in regards to my

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talent or credibility. Only me. A few years back, I coordinated a fashion show as a fundraiser. The theme of that show was Always Rock Your Invisible Crown. I felt that was a poignant and timely message for the mentees we were working with at that time. It’s become bit of a mantra for me lately. Not because I want to sasahay around like an entitled princess. It definitively reminds me to recognize my power, harness my Black Girl magic and be proud of what I’m doing and most importantly who I am. Always rock your invisible crown. I’m rocking mine...do you promise to wear yours, Sis?

Economic Revival A year into the COVID-19 crisis, the city of Charlottesville helps local minority-owned businesses fight back from the brink, and assists community members in regaining employment. By Samantha Willis | Photos by Lorenzo Dickerson | Artwork by Sahara Clemons A year into the COVID-19 crisis, the city of Charlottesville helps local minority-owned businesses fight back from the brink, and assists community members in regaining employment By Samantha Willis | Photos by Lorenzo Dickerson | Artwork by Sahara Clemons Starting this week, the city of Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development will disburse $40,000 in grants to local small businesses, all of which are owned by people of color or women. The mini-grant program, facilitated through the city’s Business Equity Fund, is the latest effort specifically designed to aid area business owners and employees recovering from the coronavirus pandemic’s economic impact. By the executive order of Gov. Ralph Northam, most nonessential businesses closed to the public to stem the spread of the virus. This order – which also closed public schools and banned public gatherings of more than 10 people – effectively gutted many small businesses statewide, including Black-, Hispanic- and Asian-owned businesses in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. A December 2020 meeting of Virginia’s Small Business Commission revealed that 27% of small businesses in the commonwealth closed either temporarily or permanently during the pandemic, with more than 40% of those businesses in the hospitality and leisure industries. “A lot of our minority-owned

businesses were greatly impacted [by the coronavirus pandemic],” said Hollie Lee, chief of Workforce Development Strategies in the city of Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development and Downtown Job Center. “That includes barber shops, beauty shops, nail salons and other personal care businesses, as well as foodservice businesses.” Now, with the number of Virginians who have received a complete coronavirus vaccination steadily rising, some of these businesses are re-opening their brick-andmortar home base or pivoting to offer their services virtually. “We are starting to see businesses coming back to life,” Lee said. In the early days of the pandemic and in its continuation throughout 2020, Lee said her office focused on helping businesses stay afloat. To date, the agency reports it has disbursed more than “$2,000,000 in grants, loans and other supports” to city businesses since March 2020. That figure, said Lee, includes the first round of small business relief grants held last July, resulting in 129 awards to small businesses; 50% of these awardees qualified as “socially disadvantaged,” either by race, ethnicity or gender. As the pandemic continued, the agency focused especially on helping businesses owned by minority members of the Charlottesville community, usually identified as Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous and mixed-race people. The

numbers from subsequent grant disbursements reflect the success of this effort. In the second round of small business grants, 74 awards were disbursed to local businesses and 61% of those were businesses owned by a member of a minority community, a woman or both. Mini-grants of $2,500 each are rolling out to businesses this week; 100% of them are owned by socially disadvantaged groups, with Black business owners comprising 75% of grantees. While COVID-19 fomented a 22% drop in the number of small-business owners total nationwide, Blackowned businesses – in Charlottesville, the surrounding region, the state and across the country – were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that 41% of Black small businesses nationwide were forced to shut down as a result of the pandemic. Latino-owned businesses dropped by 32%, and Asian-owned establishments suffered a 26% decline. Conversely, “the number of white business owners fell by 17%,” the report found. Along with providing vital capital to keep businesses’ doors open and operations running smoothly, the OED grants equip grantees with business growth strategy training (via webinar), and one-on-one coaching sessions with a business consultant. In addition to helping business owners, Lee said her office’s work through the Downtown Jobs Center has shifted to assist individual community members find their

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way back to gainful employment. Prior to the pandemic, Lee said, the city’s unemployment rate was relatively low, hovering around 2.7% in January 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. As the pandemic bloomed, however, “we had many individuals who reached out saying they had lost employment, in the hospitality and food service industries especially,” Lee said. “So we had employers who no longer had open positions because they had to cut back their hours severely or close down altogether, and employees who lost their jobs. It was a spiral effect … [and] now things are still a challenge.” A number of these employees were people of color, another marker of the disproportionate impact the coronavirus continues

to levy onto minority communities in addition to the public health risks it imposes. The most recently-available data shows that the 2020 unemployment rates in the Charlottesville region peaked in April at 9.5% but gradually lessened as the year came to a close, with a 4% rate in December. Lee, an Augusta County native whose parents owned a variety of businesses throughout her life, said she was born with “an entrepreneurial spirit.” Her background enables her to relate deeply to local business owners and workers, whom her office will continue to help mitigate the financial fallout of COVID-19. While many local industries suffered during the thick of the pandemic, construction was not as hard hit, said Lee. “We did a trade builders training academy during the pandemic,

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because a lot of construction companies needed trained workers for a variety of projects.” she said. “Locally, we didn’t see the construction industry really grind to a halt, like we did after the 2008 recession, for example.” Screenshot of an email from Hollie Lee, Director of Workforce Development in the City of Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development, detailing the demographics of business owners who received grant funds from her office, totaling over $2 million since March 2020. Quinton Harrell agrees, and said there is renewed opportunity for Black subcontractors and laborers in the region. Harrell chairs the Minority Business Alliance — a group convened by the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce

to support, connect and elevate minority-owned businesses — and is the founder of Heritage United Builders (HUB Cville). Harrell said the impetus of his company’s existence was a conversation with Charlottesville City Council members and other leaders about the city’s track record of excluding Black builders and companies from city-backed general contracting projects. “I learned that in that 2017 budget, the [city’s] budgetary spend for local vendors was around $53 million; of that 53 million, 0.04% was African American vendors. So that was a startling number, and I wanted to help correct that,” said Harrell.

contracting system” Locally, groups including the Minority Business Alliance, the OED’s Minority Business Program, the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center (where, Harrell mentions, his wife Yolunda Harrell works part-time) continue collaboration with local and state government agencies, as well as private sector companies to boost Black and minority business representation in all industries and

ers (HUB Cville). “I owned a retail clothing store years ago, and I wasn’t managing revenues responsibly. I was going through the motions of bookkeeping, but I wasn’t using that financial knowledge to make business decisions. So when the economic [recession] came in 2008, I lost ... almost everything. But it taught me to stay as educated as I could on my business strategy and best practices, and to always be think-

To that end, Harrell launched HUB Cville in 2017; the company “connects African American and minority subcontractors to jobs with general contractors, institutional buyers, residential construction firms and clients.” So far, Harrell has connected about eight Black subcontractors to local projects and Hollie Lee, Chief of Workforce Development Strategies City of Charlottesville’s Office of Economic anticipates assisting Development and Downtown Job Center others in the future. The national tumult following the death of George Floyd increase the number of certified ing long-range. I’m of the mindspotlighted a plethora of Amerismall, women-owned and minoriset that we can’t let a crisis go to ca’s racial inequities last year; the ty-owned (SWaM) businesses. In waste.” pandemic, Harrell said, only exacthe meantime, Harrell advises erbated existing problems stemBlack business owners to learn Note: Anyone interested in ming from the structural racism from the economic burn of the shaping the continued revitalwoven into practically every thread COVID-19 pandemic and use that ization of the Charlottesville of the nation’s socioeconomic tap- hard-earned knowledge to build region’s economic landscape estry. With the renewed interest in up their businesses. may share their input with racial and social justice came more the Office of Economic Developportunities for Black businesses, Harrell chairs the Minority Busiopment this month. said Harrell, who points to Presiness Alliance — a group convened dent Joe Biden’s $400 billion cam- by the Charlottesville Regional paign commitment to aid small Chamber of Commerce to supbusinesses in recovery from the port, connect and elevate minoricoronavirus with specific measures ty-owned businesses — and is the to “tackle inequities in the federal founder of Heritage United Build-

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