Richmond Free Press April 14-16, 2022 edition

Page 1

Easter at Maymont B2

Richmond Free Press © 2022 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOL. 31 NO. 16

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

www.richmondfreepress.com

ee Fr

Fr ee

Meet this week’s Personality B1

APRIL 14-16, 2022

New lease on life Wize Shahid, aka Robert Henry ‘Wize’ Green, still seeks to help other inmates following his release from the Virginia prison system after more than two decades By George Copeland Jr.

It was in early January that the man formerly known as Robert Henry “Wize” Green learned he would be released from prison after serving more than 20 years behind bars. A public campaign by the Exodus Foundation and others sought his release through a pardon, which was granted by

former Gov. Ralph S. Northam. And Mr. Green, who changed his name to Wize Shahid, was alerted just the day before his release from Deep Meadow Correction Center in Goochland County that he would be going home. It was, for Mr. Shahid, an unexpected but welcome turn that left him “highly elated.” Last Friday, Mr. Shahid marked the occasion with family, friends and advocates

during a small celebration at First Baptist Church Centralia, where they took stock of the work to free him and the path forward for him and others. “I want to thank everybody who provided the support on my behalf,” Mr. Shahid said. “The support that you provided on my behalf is support for a multitude of others.” Please turn to A4

George Copeland Jr./Richmond Free Press

Dr. Madeline G. McClenney of The Exodus Foundation presents Wize Shahid with an award last Friday during a celebration of his release from prison held at First Baptist Church Centralia.

Incoming U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson celebrated at White House ceremony Free Press wire report

Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris applaud Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as she speaks during a ceremony April 8 on the South Lawn of the White House celebrating her confirmation as the first Black woman to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON “In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States.” With those words, incoming Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson acknowledged both the struggles and progress of Black Americans in her lifetime. Tearful and emotional in embracing the history-making moment, Justice Jackson said her confirmation as the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court showed the progress of America, declaring, “We’ve made it — all of us.” She spoke those words on the South Lawn of the White House last Friday, one day after her historic U.S. Senate confirmation, in paying tribute to previous generations of Black Americans who she said paved the way for her elevation to the nation’s highest court. “I have now achieved something far beyond anything my grandparents could have possibly ever imagined,” Judge Jackson said, noting they had gained only grade school educations before starting their family and later sending their children to racially segregated schools. “The path was cleared for me, so that I might rise to this occasion,” she said. “And in the poetic words of Dr. Maya Angelou, I do so now. I am the dream and the hope of the slave,” Judge Jackson said in quoting a line from the late Dr. Angelou’s famous poem, “And Still I Rise.” Judge Jackson, a 51-year-old appeals court judge with nine years of experience on the federal bench, achieved a dream she has had since childhood when the Senate voted to confirm her on April 7, to become the 116th associate justice and the first Black female justice ever. Judge Jackson will take her seat as a new justice when her mentor, Justice Stephen Breyer, for whom she clerked after earning her law degree at Harvard University, steps down following the end of the court’s current term on June 30. Please turn to A4

School Board breaks impasse with City Council by approving new 1,800-seat George Wythe By Ronald E. Carrington

After a year of internal disagreement and conflict with the mayor and City Council, the Richmond School Board voted 5-4 Monday to build a much-needed and long-overdue new George Wythe High School with a capacity for 1,800 students. The vote ends a long impasse with the Richmond City Council, which had refused

Ms. HarrisMuhammed

to turn over $7.3 million in design funding for the building to the School Board because it believed a 1,600-seat school sought by the School Board would be either at capacity or overcrowded on the day it opens. The City Council, which had pushed for a larger 2,000-seat school, signaled on Monday morning that they would support releasing the money if the School Board embraced a compromise to construct an 1,800-seat school.

The compromise had been proposed previously by Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District. The School Board vote Monday night ends the stalemate with the council and came about because of School Board Chairwoman Shonda Harris-Muhammed, 6th District, switching her position to support a slightly larger school than Please turn to A4

Council member Katherine Jordan submits plan for ranked-choice voting for City Council By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Filling her Easter basket Lydia Bayou, 4, of Glen Allen looks to fill her Easter basket Monday during an Easter egg hunt hosted by Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne S. Youngkin outside the Executive Mansion in Capitol Square in Downtown. The seasonal event was for the staff of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond and their children. Lydia was accompanied by her parents, Fisseha Bayou and Miheret Yitayew, and her 6-year-old brother, Aaron Bayou.

Richmond voters for the first time could cast their ballot for more than one candidate in the 2024 City Council elections. Voters could have that opportunity if an ordinance introduced by City Councilwoman Katherine Jordan, 2nd District, wins approval from Richmond’s governing body. The legislation Ms. Jordan is spearheading would install ranked-choice voting as the method for ensuring the winner in each of the nine districts secures a majority when there are multiple candidates running for a seat. Currently, the winner is the candidate with the most votes, even if that total is less than 50 percent. Ranked-choice voting allows election participants to rank their

preferences among the Limited for use candidates when three only in city council or more people are runand boards of superning, by listing them visors’ elections, the as 1, 2, 3, etc. system would drop the As proposed, if no bottom vote-getter, with that person’s one wins more than 50 votes distributed to the percent of the votes remaining candidates after the ballots are Ms. Jordan tabulated, the “instant based on the secondrunoff system” the General choice preferences of his or Assembly authorized in 2020 Please turn to A4 would kick in.

Free COVID-19 testing, vaccines Free community testing for COVID-19 continues. The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations: • Wednesday, April 20, 4 to 6 p.m.—Southwood Pool House, Southwood Parkway and Clarkson Road. • Tuesday, April 26, 1 to 3 p.m.—Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center, 1519 Williamsburg Road. Walk-up testing is provided. Appointments, however, can be made by calling (804) 205-3501 or going to www.rchd.com.

Please turn to A4

Lt. Gen. Williams

Hampton University announces new president By Jeremy M. Lazarus

A former three-star Army general has been tapped to become the next president of Hampton University. He is retired Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams, a 1983 Hampton University graduate who has commanded Fort Lee and also was the first Black officer to lead the Defense Logistics Agency, the U.S. military’s massive supply arm. Hampton University’s Board of Trustees, which received nearly 300 applications, announced on Wednesday the 61-year-old Florida native as the successor for the university’s longest-serving president, Dr. William R. Harvey, who will step down June 30. Lt. Gen. Williams will take over July 1 from Dr. Harvey, who built the private historically Black university into a nationally recognized instituPlease turn to A4


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Richmond Free Press April 14-16, 2022 edition by Richmond Free Press - Issuu