Free Press celebrates 30 years
Sidney Poitier
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Richmond Free Press © 2022 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 31 NO. 3
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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Legendary actor, director and ambassador dies B4
Meet Personality of the week B3
January 13-15, 2022
Past and future
The strange, roller coaster term of Virginia’s improbable governor, Ralph Northam By Bob Lewis Virginia Mercury
‘I’m tired of fighting people who look like me’
Lt. Gov.-elect Winsome Sears rails against criticism she said is leveled against her by the Black community By Brian Palmer
mannered Eastern Shore-raised country doctor who ambled into the Virginia Senate for the first time just 14 years ago literally turns the keys to the Executive Mansion over to the 74th governor, His Soon-To-BeExcellency Glenn A. Youngkin. (Yes, they really do use that royal-sounding honorific in official introductions of Virginia governors. It’s been a thing since Jamestown.) Gov. Northam, fare thee well in your return to civilian life. Whether it’s resuming your work as a pediatric
Just days before Winsome Sears’ historic swearing in Saturday, Jan. 15, as Virginia’s first female lieutenant governor and the first African-American woman elected to statewide office in the Commonwealth, she sounds more like a woman under siege than someone poised to enter the history books. In a 40-minute Zoom interview Jan. 6 with the Richmond Free Press, the 57-year-old Marine Corps veteran and Winchester area businesswoman who served two years in the House of Delegates two decades ago said she is under attack by a biased media, Democrats and many in the African-American community for stands she has taken on polarizing issues. “Do you know that I’m not given the benefit of the doubt? Do you know that?” she asked, accusing the media of being biased against her. Asked what media she was referring to, the lieutenant governor-elect responded, “Hollywood …The alphabets – ABC, NBC, CBS, all of them.” Ms. Sears, a Republican, campaigned on a conservative platform of “choice” in education, tax cuts, attacks
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Happy trails, Gov. Northam. By the end of this week, the strange, improbable four-year tour of Virginia’s 73rd governor, His Excellency Ralph Shearer Northam, will be over. In a time-honored ceremony on Saturday morning, Jan. 15, surrounded by living former governors dressed befitting a high-society church wedding, the mild-
Commentary
Gov. Northam
Lt. Gov.-elect Sears
City Council authorizes mayor to accept Lee monument and land from state Free Press staff, wire reports
New quarters honor Maya Angelou Free Press wire report
WASHINGTON The United States Mint said Monday it has begun shipping quarters featuring the image of poet Maya Angelou, the first coins in its American Women Quarters Program. Ms. Angelou, an American author, poet and civil rights activist, rose to prominence with the publication of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” in 1969. Ms. Angelou, who died in 2014 at the age of 86, was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010 by President Obama. The quarter design depicts Ms. Angelou with outstretched arms. Behind her are a bird in flight and a rising sun, images inspired by her poetry. The mint’s program will issue 20 quarters over the next four years honoring women and their achievements in shaping the nation’s history. Additional honorees in 2022 will be physicist and first woman astronaut Sally Ride,
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
A fence remains around the circle on Monument Avenue where the six-story monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee once stood. The statue was removed in September, and the pedestal was cleared away late last month. This week, City Council authorized Mayor Levar M. Stoney to accept the statue, pedestal and the land from the state. They are to be turned over to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia in Jackson Ward, along with other city-owned Confederate monuments.
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: • 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday through Tuesday, Community Testing Center Richmond Raceway, Gate 7, 4690 Carolina Ave. Appointments are required by calling (804) 205-3501 or going online at vase.vdh.virginia.gov • Thursday, Jan. 13, 2 to 6 p.m., Southside Plaza WIC Office, 509 E. Southside Plaza. Walk-up testing; no appointment necessary Call the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com. The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID-
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Meeting history Gov. Ralph S. Northam greets 3-yearold Kamara Townes following the Jan. 7 renaming and dedication of a row of stateowned historic homes on Governor Street in Capitol Square. Both the governor and the youngster occupy a place in Virginia history. Gov. Northam is the 73rd governor of the Commonwealth, serving from Jan. 13, 2018, until his term ends this Saturday, Jan. 15. Last week, he dedicated the three newly renovated buildings, formerly known as Morson’s Row, in honor of Dr. William Ferguson “Fergie” Reid, the first Black person elected to the General Assembly following Reconstruction. One of the three buildings now called Reid’s Row was dedicated as the “Townes House,” in recognition of the Townes family that has worked at the Executive Mansion since the 1970s. Kamara is the youngest of that historic lineage. Her father, Martin C. Townes Jr., and his parents and sister are the current Townes family members serving there. Mr. Townes is the deputy butler, while his father, Martin “Tutti” Townes, is the head butler.
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
The traffic circle at Monument and Allen avenues where the giant monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee once stood will soon belong to the City of Richmond. City Council unanimously cleared the way Monday by authorizing Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration to accept from the state a gift of the now empty circle, which is 200 feet in diameter. City Council also held a special session Wednesday to approve the state’s transfer of the statue and the pedestal upon which it sat to the city. Under the just-introduced ordinance, the Lee items, as well as other city-owned Confederate statues, would be transferred to the Richmond-based Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia in Jackson Ward, as previously announced by Mayor Stoney and Gov. Ralph S. Northam. The 9-0 council vote came on a night when the city’s governing body also backed the mayor’s proposal to pump an additional $1.3 million into the creation of a memorial campus to the enslaved in Shockoe Bottom. Please turn to A4
Councilwoman Trammell takes steps toward 2nd referendum on city casino By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Richmond’s plans to allow a private company to create a gambling mecca in South Side collapsed in November when voters opposed to a casino narrowly defeated it by just under 1,500 votes. Now one of the biggest supporters of the project, 8th District City Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, wants a do-over. Still smarting from the defeat, Ms. Trammell wants to revive media giant Urban One’s proposal to develop a $565 million casino and resort off the Bells Road exit of Interstate 95. On Monday, Ms. Trammell took the first step to renew the effort. Ms. Trammell She introduced legislation, which if approved by City Council, would authorize a second referendum in the next general election in November. The state law that authorized five casinos in Virginia, including one in Richmond, is silent on a locality’s ability to try again after voter rejection. The official result of referendum shows 40,243 voters rejected the casino plan while 38,750 supported it. Ms. Trammell’s hope is that if the proposal can make the ballot again, supporters would turn out in larger numbers to pass it and get back on track the project that, among other things, promised to create 1,000 new full-time jobs, to support minority businesses and to
generate tens of millions in new annual revenue for the city. The veteran council member faces several hurdles. One is potential opposition from the General Assembly. Another hurdle would involve corralling four other members of the nine-member City Council to go along with the idea. That could prove more difficult than she might anticipate. A majority of voters in only four of the nine City Council districts supported the casino—the 6th, 7th and 9th as well as the 8th District that Ms. Trammell represents. All four of the districts have majorityBlack populations. A majority of voters in the city’s five other districts, including the majoritySen. Morrissey Black 3rd District, rejected the casino-resort Urban One hoped to build. The majority-white 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th districts piled up big majorities of opponents, but the development lost by just 144 votes in the 3rd District, or 3 percent of the 4,766 votes cast. Even so, Councilwoman Ann-Frances Lambert, who represents the 3rd District, has scotched the idea of supporting a new referendum. Ms. Lambert issued a statement Tuesday announcing her opposition to Ms. Trammell’s plan to resurrect the original deal. Ms. Lambert stated she could only support an entirely new deal. Please turn to A4