Missy Elliott brings it home
Putting families first B1
Richmond Free Press © 2019 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 28 NO. 35
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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AUGUST 29-31, 2019
Surviving the journey Thousands of people gather in a weekend of reflection and healing in Hampton to remember, honor the first Africans brought as captives to English North America 400 years ago By Brian Palmer
As day broke last Saturday, tides of people of all ages and colors flowed down the promenade at Hampton’s Buckroe Beach. Some were dressed for a day at the shore in shorts and T-shirts, with windbreakers or sweats. Others, all of them black people, were clad in white — gowns over skirts and dresses for many of the women; shirts and loose pants for the men. The line of people gave their names to two black women sitting at a table, the last step before they would begin the African cleansing ritual and name ceremony for which they had registered long before this day. A few yards away, three black men in colorful ceremonial robes stood silently on the beach, something they and every
Photo feature on A4 and A5 black person gathered there would not have been able to do a little more than 50 years ago because Buckroe was, by law, for whites only. Another robed man, Ancestral Master Drummer Joseph Ngwa from the central African nation of Cameroon, beat his drum to bring together the milling crowd, now in the hundreds. He then blew a horn to signal the pouring of a libation that would summon the ancestors. Professional photographers and videographers jockeyed for position with observers wielding their cellphone cameras. Then everyone settled in place, encircling the robed chiefs. Chief Asam Asam Eyong of Cameroon’s Bamoun people led the ritual, pouring liquid from a cow horn onto the sand, then bowing deeply onto a tortoise shell and animal pelt he laid on the ground. Please turn to A6
Brian Palmer
Queen mothers from the Institute of Whole Life Healing in Kentucky anoint participants at a sunrise cleansing and healing ceremony at Buckroe Beach in Hampton as part of the 400th anniversary commemoration of the first Africans landing in English North America. Left, Lariah Harris, 2, of Hampton walks with confidence Saturday along Fort Monroe’s waterfront, where the first “20 and odd Negroes” came ashore as captives at Point Comfort in 1619. The youngster was following her grandmother, Dee Wesley, a resident on the Fort Monroe property, which is now a part of the National Park Service. Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Yes, no and maybe Coliseum plan likely would fail if vote was taken today
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
The Navy Hill District Corp. plan to replace the Richmond Coliseum and bring more than $1 billion in new development nearby has yet to gain the backing of City Council. Despite a full-court lobbying press and continued op-eds from supporters close to the project published in Richmond’s daily newspaper, which is backing the plan, the project likely would fail if City Council were to vote on it after returning from the summer recess. As it now stands — and as a citizens’ group continues to battle to get the proposal on the ballot so voters can weigh in — at least four council members, and potentially five, would likely reject the proposal at this time, based on their public statements. The plan calls for taxpayer funds to build a new 17,500-seat arena, a linchpin of the proposal that the Navy Hill group led by Dominion Energy’s top executive, Thomas F. Farrell II, has presented and that Mayor Levar M. Stoney has embraced. At least seven council members are needed to support the ordinances that were introduced by the Stoney administration earlier this month because a key element of the plan involves the sale of municipal property, including parcels located north of Broad Street in the area bounded by Marshall, Leigh, Please turn to A6
New school year, new principals at 14 Richmond schools By Ronald E. Carrington
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Coliseum in Downtown Richmond
Fourteen new principals will lead public schools in Richmond when the school year starts next week. The appointments are designed to help Richmond Public Schools move toward greater accreditation. Currently, only 19 of the city’s 44 schools are fully accredited. RPS now has a mix of veteran administrators who have been named teacher or principal of the year in their previous school systems; have turned around poor performing schools where a majority of students are from low-income families; and have experience in English as a second language and/or worked in Spanish-speaking countries. Officials said the entire group of new principals consistently has worked closely with their school communities to improve communications. The administration looked for administrators working in environments similar to RPS
and demonstrating success. Each of the new principals was vetted through a rigorous, seven-step selection process, including panel interviews with teachers, staff and community members and formal interviews with RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras and members of the RPS leadership team. “First and foremost, we were looking for principals that could lead with love,” Mr. Kamras told the Free Press. “That means creating a culture in the schools that is positive and affirming, not just for students, but also for the staff. “For example,” he said, “Greene Elementary, where 90 percent of the families speak Spanish as their native language, wanted to prioritize candidates speaking their language.” This marks the third straight year that nearly a quarter of city schools have been appointed a new principal. The schools and their new principals: Please turn to A7
KKK targets Henrico neighborhoods, hits Hanover again By George Copeland Jr.
Henrico County Branch NAACP officials and top county officials urged residents to push back against white supremacy as the Ku Klux Klan targeted Glen Allen neighborhoods to distribute recruitment fliers in the dead of night last weekend. “We condemn their hate-filled messages and Mr. the disgusting mythology they represent,” said Henrico County Manager John A. Vithoulkas during a news conference Tuesday outside the Central Police Station off Brook Road near St. Joseph’s Villa. Mr. Vithoulkas was joined by the Rev. Tyrone Nelson, chairman of the Henrico County Board of
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Supervisors, and Raiford Beasley, president of the Henrico NAACP. “The message that these fliers are pushing will find no fertile ground to grow here,” Mr. Vithoulkas said. The news conference was called after recruitment
fliers from the Roanoke-based Confederate White Knights of the KKK were found on Sunday morning in more than 100 driveways in the Bluebell Court area off Mountain Road in Glen Allen. Along with the Klan’s typical racist invective, passages from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible were included on the fliers. Henrico Police was alerted around 9 a.m. Sunday morning, according to Mr. Vithoulkas. “I challenge every Henrico citizen to stand up and protect the quality of life that we are entitled to by standing against all hate organizations and individuals,” Mr. Beasley said. Please turn to A6