Richmond Free Press January 23-25, 2020 edition

Community Leaders Breakfast B3

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VOL. 29 NO. 4

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How theater engages this award recipient B1

JANUARY 23-25, 2020

Full-court press

Navy Hill District Corp. is pulling out all stops as Feb. 24 vote by City Council on $1.5B Coliseum replacement and Downtown development nears

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

From robocalls to press conferences, the Navy Hill District Corp. that Dominion Energy top executive Thomas F. Farrell II heads is pulling out all the stops to generate public support for the $1.5 billion Richmond Coliseum replacement plan ahead of the scheduled vote by City Council in late February.

However, there is little sign that the campaign has created a groundswell of community backing or swayed any of the three to five City Council members who have signaled they are likely to vote “no” on the massive project.

The project needs the approval of at least seven of the nine City Council members.

Just as importantly, a last-ditch effort by Mr. Farrell and his team to adjust the project’s financing through state legislation to steer more state sales tax dollars to the project is seen as facing tough sledding in the General Assembly.

The bill was introduced by Richmond Delegate Jeff M.

Mr. Farrell

Delegate Bourne

Pamunkey Tribe launches plan for $350M casino resort in South Side

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Mayor Stoney

Bourne at the request of Navy Hill District Corp. and Mayor Levar M. Stoney.

The massive Navy Hill plan calls for replacing the closed Richmond Coliseum with a new, larger arena. The project also includes private development of about 2,000 new apartments, at least two office buildings, multiple retail stores and restaurants, a convention hotel, a food market and an entertainment center on about eight blocks north of Marshall Street near City Hall and two blocks south of Broad Street.

Despite the challenges, Navy Hill is continuing its robust lobbying campaign with only a month and one private consultant’s Please turn to A4

Courtesy of Pamunkey Indian Tribe

A rendering shows the $350 million, 275-room resort hotel and casino proposed by the Pamunkey Tribe on property at Ingram Avenue and Commerce Road in South Side.

A Virginia Indian tribe that includes Richmond as part of the territory where tribal ancestors lived and hunted before the English invasion is planning to make a splashy return to this modern city in the form of a $350 million resort hotel and casino.

The Pamunkey Indian Tribe, no longer confined as it had been for 362 years to a 1,200-acre reservation in King William County that nestles the river that bears the tribe’s name, announced its huge proposal Jan. 17.

According to a statement, the tribe is planning to put its gambling resort on a 36acre warehouse and storage complex at Ingram Avenue and Commerce Road in South Side — a property once eyed for a modern city jail before the current Shockoe Valley location north of the James River was chosen.

The only Virginia tribe with the right to develop casinos, Please turn to A4

Trump impeachment trial opens with GOP Senate majority rejecting Dems’ attempts to bring in new witnesses Free Press wire report

U.S. Senate Television via Associated Press

In this image from video, Rep. Val Demings of Florida, a House impeachment manager, speaks Tuesday in support of a rules amendment during the impeachment trial of President Trump held in the U.S. Senate. Still cameras are not allowed in the trial.

WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate plunged into opening arguments Wednesday in President Trump’s impeachment trial, with Democratic House managers detailing the case that the president abused his power and should be removed from office.

After late-night deliberations over the rules almost ensured no new witnesses will be heard, the trial picked up speed. There were few signs of Republican resistance to quickly assessing — and voting — on charges related to President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

With a Republican majority, the Senate rejected all attempts by Democrats to bring in new witnesses — including top Trump aides — to expose President Trump’s “trifecta” of offenses and are likely to do so again next week, shutting out any chance of new testimony.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled open the session as senators settled in for a several long days of proceedings.

President Trump, who was in Davos, Switzerland, attending a global economic forum, suggested Wednesday he would be open to his advisers testifying, then quickly backtracked, saying there were “national security” concerns that would stand in the way.

A marathon session of nearly 13 hours started Tuesday with a setback for Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the president’s legal team, exposing a crack in the GOP ranks and the growing political unease over the historic impeachment proceedings unfolding amid a watchful public in an election year.

But the session ended around 2 a.m.

Wednesday with Republicans easily approving the new trial rules largely on their terms.

“It’s about time we bring this power trip

in for a landing,” said White House counsel Pat Cipollone, the president’s lead lawyer, lashing out at the House Democrats prosecuting the case.

“It’s a farce,” he said about the impeachment proceeding, “and it should end.”

Chief Justice Roberts opened the trial Tuesday afternoon with House prosecutors on one side and President Trump’s team on the other in the well of the Senate as senators sat silently at their desks, under oath to do “impartial justice.” No cell phones or other electronics were allowed.

As the day stretched deep into the night, lawyerly arguments gave way to more pointedly political ones. Tempers flared and senators paced the chamber. Democrats pursued what may be their only chance to force senators to vote on hearing new testimony.

Please turn to A4

Gun rights demonstration Downtown attracts thousands, fear

By George Copeland Jr.

Richmond was on high alert Monday, as thousands of people — many with highpowered weapons — flooded Downtown to show their support for gun rights in Virginia as the General Assembly considers gun control measures.

A crowd estimated by Capitol Police at 22,000 stood in and around a fenced-

off Capitol Square to hear speakers from Virginia and as far away as Texas pump up the crowd with claims that Democrats in the Commonwealth are poised to confiscate their guns.

“This is what happens when you threaten the rights of Americans,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League that organized the rally on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday,

bringing parts of the city to a standstill, disrupting many plans for the annual Lobby Day and bringing the eyes of the world to the State Capitol.

People dressed in clothing ranging from everyday winter wear to full tactical gear carrying military-grade weaponry were joined by groups identified on social media Please turn to A5

RPS $311.2M budget for 2020-21 unveiled

By Ronald E. Carrington

Mr. Kamras

Superintendent Jason Kamras’ proposed $311.2 million general fund operating budget for the new fiscal year that will begin July 1 received mixed reviews at the Richmond School Board meeting on Monday night.

The budget plan seeks a $21 million increase in the city’s contribution to RPS, a bit more than the $18.5 million that the mayor and City Council funded for the

current 2019-20 budget year that will end June 30.

If approved, that would add to a $17 million increase in state funding that RPS is projecting to receive after July 1, according to the Kamras proposal.

The extra money would allow the school system to provide a 3 percent raise for teachers and staff, including a built-in step increase; absorb any rise in health care costs for employees; and provide $28.7 Please turn to A4

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

A gun rights advocate stands masked and armed near the State Capitol during Monday’s rally that drew thosands.

A2

January 23-25, 2020

Richmond Free Press

Local News

Richmond schools to be closed Jan. 27

Richmond Public Schools will be closed Monday, Jan. 27, because a large number of teachers will be attending the Virginia Education Association’s “Fund Our Future” rally at the State Capitol advocating for more state funding for public schools.

“It appears that nearly 700 (about a third) of our teachers will be taking personal leave to participate in the VEA rally,” Superintendent Jason Kamras stated in communication to RPS parents, families and the media on Sunday announcing the closure.

He said the school system would be unable to secure enough substitute teachers to fill in for the absent teachers, which would put an added burden on non-participating teachers who would face “unreasonable class sizes that would make meaningful instruction nearly impossible and potentially create significant safety concerns.”

The decision was made after Mr. Kamras conferred with the School Board.

In his statement, Mr. Kamras apologized for the late notice and “the unexpected childcare burden” it may place on working families.

He said because some families also depend on school meals for their children, the RPS nutrition team will prepare “to-go bags” for students to take home on Friday, Jan. 24.

Henrico County Public Schools already had designated Jan. 27 as a student and staff clerical day off when it adopted its 2019-20 school calendar last year. — RONALD E. CARRINGTON

Cityscape Slices of life and scenes in Richmond

Winter is pruning time, and landscaper George Crump takes advantage of a recent unseasonably warm day to get some pruning done. He is cutting branches of a tree at the corner of Marshall and Adams streets in Jackson Ward.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

VCU offers plan for historic Moore Street School

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

The historic, but largely vacant Moore Street School — one of the first built for black children in Richmond — could have a new role as a university-run day care center.

After months of talks and harsh criticism from community advocates about the building’s deteriorating condition, the Richmond School Board is mulling a proposal from Virginia Commonwealth University to make that happen.

The proposal from the VCU School of Education would transform the 19th-century building, attached to the rear of Carver Elementary in the 1100 block of West Leigh Street, into an expansion of the university’s nationally accredited child development program that also serves as a training program for students.

The School of Education currently operates its program in a Floyd Avenue building.

The proposal now before the School Board calls for Richmond Public Schools to give the 1887 building to the city with a request that the city transfer ownership to the VCU School of Education.

The plan is to turn the building into a day care center for at least 100 pre-school children ages 18 months to 5 years old.

According to VCU officials, $3 million to $5 million would be spent to improve the building to serve children of VCU faculty, staff and students, as well as children from the community.

Under the proposed agreement, VCU would earmark at least 48 slots for low-income children from Gilpin Court and the Carver community. VCU would offer a reduced rate to enroll them, with their parents also possibly qualifying for government subsidies for day care.

VCU also would be required to undertake efforts to improve literacy for the children and the adults in their lives, offer financial literacy and workforce programs that could create jobs and provide other programs that increase individual and family well-being, such as couples and relationship education.

The proposal has the support of City Councilwoman Kim B. Gray, 2nd District, who is concerned because months have passed since Dr. Andrew P. Daire, dean of the education school, presented the proposal to RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras.

Ms. Gray expressed concern that the slow pace of talks could lead Dr. Daire and VCU to look for another building, costing RPS and the community the connection with a high-quality, preschool program.

She considers having VCU occupy the building a win-win solution for the neglected building that the School Board declared as surplus property in 2009, but never officially transferred to the city.

Jerome Legions, president of the Carver Area Civic Improvement League, also is supportive of the VCU plan. Irate about the building’s declining condition, he views VCU as having the resources and ability to preserve and protect one of the oldest school buildings in the city and state and to use it for an educational purpose.

Details of new East End Boys and Girls Club expected next week Plans to turn a former East End shopping center into a new Boys and Girls Club focused on teenagers are gaining steam.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond is expected next week to provide more details of its plan to redevelop the now vacant Eastlawn Shopping Center into a new teen-centric addition to its offerings.

The nonprofit is projected to invest several million dollars to create the new club on the 2-acre property at 1815 N. 30th St. The specifics are expected to be announced during a news conference Monday, Jan. 27.

BGCMR completed the purchase of the property in December from the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which bought the shopping center 15 months earlier as part of its efforts to revitalize the area.

RRHA paid $1 million for the property in August 2017, according to city records, and sold it to BGCMR on Dec. 14 for $1.025 million, a bit extra to cover legal costs.

The arrival of the youth club won city and RRHA support as a complement to the new apartments and homes being built nearby in the Armstrong Renaissance development that is going up on the site of the former Armstrong High School and to bolster RRHA’s efforts to transform the Creighton Court public housing complex into a mixed-income community.

Although the property address is listed on North 30th, the shopping center that dates to the 1960s faces Creighton Road, the main entry into Creighton Court.

RRHA board takes major step to redevelop Creighton Court

By Jeremy M. Lazarus and George Copeland Jr.

New homes and apartments could begin to rise in Creighton Court within one to two years, if the financing can be arranged, according to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Brushing off housing advocates who came to raise issues, RRHA’s board took another step Jan. 15 to fulfilling the longstanding goal of replacing the 504-unit public housing community located off Nine Mile Road in the East End with a mixedincome community that could include 750 to 1,000 modern residences.

After sharply limiting public comment, the six members of the board who were present voted unanimously at the Jan. 15 meeting to authorize RRHA Chief Executive Officer Damon Duncan to submit a formal application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to redevelop the public housing community situated at the city’s border with Henrico County.

The approved resolution backed Mr. Duncan’s submission of an application two days before the meeting for HUD approval to demolish and dispose of 192 housing units in Creighton Court and cleared him to later submit an application to deal with the remaining 312 units.

“Some things don’t need to continue to be re-vetted over and over and over,” Mr. Duncan said. “This is just a step along the way in the process.”

Still, the action came with apparently little warning for residents and housing advocates, with RRHA listing it on its agenda only one day before the short but contentious meeting.

The application is required because HUD owns the property and must approve any changes.

The board, led by Veronica G. Blount, a city Health District community advocate, allowed only a few people attending the meeting to speak by imposing a rule permitting individuals to address the board once every 90 days. That enabled Ms. Blount to block some people who had spoken at past meetings.

HUD previously found RRHA in violation of regulations requiring it to receive comments from residents and the public before submitting applications and plans.

With RRHA optimistic of gaining approval for the redevelopment based on informal discussions with HUD, “revitalization efforts are anticipated to begin in Creighton Court in 2020, with new construction activities in 2021 and 2022,” RRHA spokeswoman Angela Fountain stated in a fact sheet distributed at the meeting.

Ms. Fountain stated that HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity would guide RRHA’s efforts to transform the community. She also stated that RRHA would “offer a range of housing options” to affected residents.

Chris Hester

Supporters of Carver Elementary School present a check for $107,395 to school Principal Tiawana Giles, third from right. Making the presentation, from left, are Jean Estes, Billy McMullen, Bill Gallasch, Edward Barlow, 2nd District City Councilwoman Kim B. Gray, Embrace Carver Elementary Foundation President Deborah Corliss, 2nd District School Board member J. Scott Barlow and Carver Area Civic Improvement League President Jerome Legions.

Monument Avenue group raises $107,000 for Carver Elementary

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

A new microphone system for the auditorium.

Whiteboards and projectors in every classroom.

Kidney-shaped desks in each room to allow teachers to work with small groups of children needing extra attention.

Those are the kinds of items that soon will be coming to Carver Elementary School, thanks to a successful fundraiser that a nonprofit group conducted on behalf of the school.

The Embrace Carver Elementary Foundation joined with the Monument Avenue Preservation Society, or MAPS, on Jan. 16 for the first of what they hope will be an annual fundraising challenge to benefit the school.

The amount raised in two hours:

$107,395, said Deborah Corliss, president of the foundation that was created about 14 months ago.

“I was expecting to raise about $15,000,” Ms. Corliss said, “and I was blown away by the results. The best part is that people in the West End worked with us to raise money to improve the education of children from Gilpin Court.”

She praised Bill and Ceci Gallasch, Rob and Jean Estes, Edward Barlow and Janet Brown for opening their homes for the event.

She said members of MAPS and others from the city and county attended.

She said the event produced more than double the $50,000 collected by the foundation in 2019, its first full year.

“As a result, we’re going to be able to fill some of the unmet needs at the school,” Ms. Corliss said. “This is just the beginning as we intend to push for more for this school.”

One potential roadblock to approval is RRHA’s apparent violation of HUD regulations governing submission of such an application. The includes failure to hold a public hearing and failure to include any notice of its plan to seek a “demolition and disposal” permit for Creighton Court from HUD in its 2020 annual plan, which has yet to be approved.

RRHA’s 2020 annual plan was rejected

by HUD in September for failure to adequately consult with residents. The housing authority has not publicly announced any steps to secure approval.

Omari Al-Qadaffi, a community organizer who has been advocating for RRHA to be more transparent and to engage more with the community, criticized the authority for the one-day notice.

Mr. Al-Qadaffi called that evidence of a continuing “crisis of democracy” involving RRHA’s failure to allow people to participate and be fully informed.

“Nobody wanted to stop the demolition because that’s something that’s been talked about for years,” Mr. Al-Qadaffi said after the meeting.“The main thing is whether residents are being meaningfully included.

You can’t just keep excusing the intentional suppression of the people’s voice.”

However, Ms. Fountain disputed his claim that tenants are not being kept abreast. She noted in the fact sheet that the authority has held six meetings with Creighton residents and listed five meetings in 2019 and the sixth on Jan. 14.

One of the absent board members was Marilyn Olds, president of the Creighton Court Tenants Council. Mr. Duncan said Ms. Olds supported the board’s action.

Eight years ago, the RRHA, with City Council approval and support from thenMayor Dwight C. Jones, put Creighton Court at the top of the list for redevelopment. RRHA has since been making plans to redevelop the city’s five other major public housing complexes, Fairfield Court, Gilpin Court, Hillside Court, Mosby Court and Whitcomb Court, along with 11 smaller complexes.

But progress has been slow.

The redevelopment of Creighton Court is expected to be done in phases and, based on RRHA’s past redevelopment, would take years to complete. RRHA has yet to finish a 30-year-old effort to revitalize the northern portion of Jackson Ward and is still seeking to wrap up an urban renewal program in the Blackwell area nearly 25 years later.

The Jan. 15 vote follows the completion of the first new units in Armstrong Renaissance across Nine Mile Road where some seniors and families from Creighton Court are being relocated. That development, in the 1600 block of North 31st Street, is on the site of the former Armstrong High School building, which was razed to make way for the project.

Creighton residents have begun moving into some of the new apartments, with others being marketed to the larger community in a bid to make it a mixed-income community.

The board’s vote also provided approval for Mr. Duncan’s decision last June to stop renting vacant units in Creighton Court, to the dismay of Legal Aid Justice Center lawyers who had threatened to sue RRHA for doing so.

“This is a continual pattern of creating blight to justify demolition,” said Art Burton, founder and leader of Kinfolk Community, in criticizing the policy of not renting vacant Creighton Court apartments.

“And this is at a time where we’ve got thousands of people” who have applied for public housing units and are on a waiting list, Mr. Burton said. “I’m not sure there is any justification for demolition at this point.”

Richmond Free Press

January 23-25, 2020

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Richmond Free Press

A4 January 23-25, 2020

News

Navy Hill District Corp. is pulling out all stops as Feb. 24 vote by City Council on $1.5B Coliseum replacement and Downtown development nears Continued from A1

report left to go until the long-awaited City Council vote, now set for Monday, Feb. 24.

Ignoring a previously filed complaint that the Farrell-led nonprofit’s effort to sway public opinion and influence City Council violates federal regulations governing tax-exempt groups, the company has sought take its case to the community, according to reports the Free Press has received.

Residents, mainly in the African-American community, tell of receiving repeated telephone calls touting the benefits of the project and its potential for creating thousands of jobs, as well as big payouts for black-owned construction companies.

Some people are concerned about what they perceive as divisive messages that portray the issue of Navy Hill in terms of opponents seeking to deny a project that would benefit African-Americans.

“This has become increasingly racialized,” said one concerned individual, who asked for anonymity. “I don’t think that is good for our city.”

Meanwhile, a group of 20 area AfricanAmerican ministers held a news conference Tuesday at Third Street Bethel A.M.E. Church in Jackson Ward with Mayor Stoney to endorse

the project as a positive for the city and for the his decision to vote for the project.

African-American community.

“I am still waiting for one piece of informaOne of the leaders, Dr. Patricia Gould-Champ tion,” he said of the consultant’s report. of Faith Community Baptist Church, said the At the General Assembly, Mayor Stoney is group has had its questions answered and now among those lobbying for passage of the bill believes it is time “to put trust and faith” that the Delegate Bourne introduced Jan. 7 just before city’s leaders and Navy Hill District the filing deadline.

Corp. know what they are doing.

The Free Press confirmed that Mr. She said the ministers believe that Farrell was involved in proposing this would not just benefit the city but the language for the bill that would also benefit people through the jobs authorize shifting a projected $85 it would create for those who are million in state sales taxes over 30 struggling and have been left out of years to help cover the construction the city’s booming economy. and debt costs on the arena.

While the project could mean that The Free Press has learned that the those “who have will get more,” she Dr. Gould-Champ mayor and others promoting the Navy said, the crucial aspect is that it is Hill project are meeting headwinds in inclusive and ensures those who do not have the state Senate, where members of the Richalso will reap rewards. mond delegation are not enthused about getting Among those who stood with Dr. Gould- enmeshed in the controversial proposal.

Champ were the Rev. F. Todd Gray of Fifth According to legislators, the General AssemStreet Baptist Church, the Rev. A. Lincoln bly generally does not approve such specialty James Jr. of Trinity Baptist Church and the legislation if the delegation is divided, particularly Rev. Dwayne E. Whitehead of New Canaan if the locality’s governing body has not issued International Church. a statement of support. That has not happened The participants also included City Council- in this case. man Michael J. Jones, pastor of Village of Faith.

And having Mr. Farrell’s name associated with He said later he came to “stand in solidarity the project is not helping. A number of Democratic with colleagues and their message of African- legislators around the state ran on not accepting American inclusion,’ but it did not yet signal campaign funds from Dominion Energy.

According to campaign records, Delegate Bourne accepted $22,000 in campaign donations from Dominion Energy and $2,000 from Mr. Farrell for the November 2019 election.

Under the Bourne bill, a portion of the state sales tax generated from services and purchases of food and other items at a new Coliseum or any Navy Hill-related development could be used to pay for the Coliseum’s construction and debt.

Those state dollars would join about $140 million in local sales tax on meals and other items that is projected to be generated by the project and are earmarked for arena debt repayment.

According to Mayor Stoney and Davenport & Co., the city’s financial adviser, the use of state sales tax dollars would sharply reduce the amount of city real estate tax dollars that would be needed to repay the arena’s cost and shrink the proposed Tax Increment Financing District, or TIF District, which would generate Coliseum financing through the future growth in real estate taxes in the area.

The revamped plan would reduce the TIF District from 80 blocks to 11 blocks, according to the revised projections. Those would include the blocks of city-owned land Navy Hill proposes to develop north and south of Broad and at least the block occupied by the new tower Dominion Energy has built on Canal Street.

Pamunkey Tribe launches plan Trump impeachment trial opens for $350M casino resort in South Side Continued from A1

Continued from A1

After one particularly bitter exchange, Chief Justice Roberts intervened, taking the rare step of admonishing both the Democratic House managers and the White House counsel to “remember where they are.”

“I think it is appropriate at this point for me to admonish both the House managers and the president’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body,” the usually reserved chief justice said.

He told them that description of the Senate stemmed from a 1905 trial when a senator objected to the word “pettifogging,” because members should “avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse.”

Over and over, Republicans turned back Democratic amendments to subpoena documents from the White House, State Department, Defense Department and budget office.

By the same 53-47 party line, they turned away witnesses with front-row seats to President Trump’s actions, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and John Bolton, the former national security adviser critical of the Ukraine policy.

Only on one amendment, to ensure a vote later on additional witnesses, did a single Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, join Democrats. But it, too, was President Trump rejected 52-48.

As the hours mounted, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer brushed back an offer from Sen. McConnell to more quickly stack the votes.

“It’s not our job to make it easy for you,” Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee leading the prosecution, told the Senate. “Our job is to make it hard to deprive the American people of a fair trial.”

As the visitors’ gallery filled with guests, actress-and-activist Alyssa Milano among them, and President Trump’s most ardent House allies lining the back rows, the day quickly took on the cadence of a trial proceeding over whether the president’s actions toward Ukraine warranted removal from office.

Earlier, Sen. McConnell stunned senators and delayed the start of proceedings with his decision to back off some of his proposed rules. Republicans were said to be concerned over the political optics of “dark of night” sessions.

Instead, 24 hours of opening arguments for each side will be spread over three days that started Wednesday, for a moment swelling Democrats’ momentum as they push to break the standoff over calling new witnesses.

Mr. Cipollone led the prosecution, scoffing that the House charges against President Trump were “ridiculous,” insisting the president “has done absolutely nothing wrong.”

The White House legal team did not dispute President Trump’s actions, when he called Ukraine and asked for a “favor,” which was to investigate Democrat Joe Biden as the United States was withholding military aid the ally desperately needed as it faced off with hostile Russia on its border. But the lawyers insisted the president did nothing wrong. “Absolutely no case,” Mr. Cipollone said.

Rep. Schiff, the California Democrat, opened for the prosecution saying America’s Founders added the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution with “precisely this type of conduct in mind — conduct that abuses the power of office for a personal benefit, that undermines our national security, and that invites foreign interference in the democratic process of an election.”

Said Rep. Schiff: “It is the trifecta of constitutional misconduct justifying impeachment.”

One by one, the House managers made the case against President Trump, drawing on their own life experiences. Rep. Val Demings, a Florida Democrat and former police chief, said she never saw anyone take “such extreme steps to hide evidence.”

Rep. Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, seemed to capture senators’ attention when he told them he knew the hour was late, but it was morning in Ukraine where soldiers were waking up to fight Russia, depending on U.S. aid.

Legal scholars have long insisted the framers of the U.S. Constitution provided impeachment as a remedy for “other high crimes and misdemeanors,” a particularly broad definition that doesn’t mean simply specific criminal acts.

Democrats point in particular to a General Accountability Office report that found the White House violated federal law by stalling money to Ukraine that had been approved by Congress.

No president has ever been removed from office by the Senate.

With its 53-47 Republican majority, the Senate is not expected to mount the two-thirds vote needed for conviction.

the Pamunkey stated the tribe has an option to purchase the property made up of three parcels. The tribe also has a separate option to purchase a 13-acre property at Walmsley Boulevard and Jefferson Davis Highway that was the site of a King’s Department Store, part of a now-defunct chain.

The tribe plans to initially use the old department store property as a training center for future casino employees and indicated that the space later could be converted into a community grocery store or health care operation.

The casino plan is not a done deal. The development currently awaits re-enactment of state legislation allowing casinos that was first approved last year. That legislation included a requirement for a referendum to allow Richmond voters to decide whether to allow casino operations.

Still, the tribe is bullish on the prospects for acceptance and eventual success.

Chief Robert Gray stated the tribe “is excited about our plans” to transform a commercial area on South Side into a high-quality gaming center to help “secure our future and provide an economic boost for the city and its residents.”

As currently envisioned, the resort would feature a four-diamond, 275-room hotel tower with views of the James River and Downtown from the upper floors. Along with a casino, the hotel also would feature a spa, fitness center and pool, high-end restaurants, a food court and at least 1,000 parking spaces.

The tribe projects the gaming resort would attract 4 million visitors a year, Tribal spokesman Jay Smith said unlike other businesses for whom a casino is a profit center, this casino is seen as a means for the tribe to gain a revenue stream to be used for other projects, such as creat-

ing a university for Native Americans, developing senior residences for tribal elders and others and other beneficial community projects.

The prospect of the casino development appears to counter Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s refrain that Richmond’s prosperity requires the $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement project, otherwise nothing would happen in Downtown or elsewhere.

“The mayor is excited about the opportunity to bring a resort casino to Richmond,” said Jim Nolan, Mayor Stoney’s press secretary, in responding to a Free Press query about the casino plan. “We’ll wait to see what happens in the General Assembly and what it means for the city.”

If it succeeds, the hotel would shake up a relatively nondescript business area that surrounds the property and create a job-rich environment just a few blocks from the Hillside Court public housing community. It also could put pressure on the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority to move on plans to transform the public housing complex into a mixedincome community.

The proposed development also raises the potential for major competition for other forms of gaming in this area, including the Virginia Lottery and Colonial Downs’ Rosie’s outlet in Richmond that is limited to offering slot machine-style games.

If approved, the casino legislation could lead Rosie’s to seek to expand to a full casino operation.

The tribe’s proposal is an outgrowth of bipartisan casino legislation that originally passed the General Assembly last year and essentially awarded the Pamunkey the right to develop casinos in Richmond and Norfolk. The tribe already has inked a deal with Norfolk officials to develop a similar hotel project if the legislature again endorses the legislation this session. The 2019 legislation required re-enactment in

this session to become effective.

Despite the tribe’s nervousness about alternative legislative proposals that have emerged and call for opening the door to other casino operators, the Pamunkey have sought to get ahead of the competition by announcing their casino plans for the two cities.

In Richmond, the tribe has found one of the few large pieces of land that has adequate space for a hotel and the parking that would be required.

The tribe also confirmed that it has the money to develop the casino project.

According to Mr. Smith, the tribe’s resort hotel-casino has the financial backing of Tennessee video game billionaire Jon Yarbrough, who reportedly has worked with at least 35 other tribes on 100 gaming projects.

Should the state casino legislation fail, the tribe would not have to give up its plan.

The Pamunkey, after a 35-year effort, secured federal recognition in October 2015. That enables the tribe to apply to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to have the various properties it has under option or has purchased placed into a federal trust so it could proceed.

While it takes time for a federal review, if the property were taken into a trust, the casino and the other projects could proceed without state permission.

“The tribe has agreed to wait to see what happens in the General Assembly before going the federal route,” Mr. Smith said.

“We want to be good neighbors. We want the communities to benefit from what we do, and we are willing to work with the local governments and residents to create quality projects that are beneficial.”

The Tribe has set up a Facebook page called “All In for Richmond Casino” that provides details at www.facebook.com/ AllinforRichmondCasino.

RPS superintendent unveils $311.2M budget for 2020-21 Continued from A1

million to cover school operational and maintenance costs, including an expansion of Mr. Kamras’ five-year educational improvement plan.

If all the money comes in, RPS would cover the entire cost of pay raises because the state’s biennial budget, as proposed, does not provide additional funding for teachers’ raises until the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Mr. Kamras said the plan also would fully fund Year 2 of RPS’ Dreams4RPS strategic improvement plan.

That would allow RPS to hire 10 additional art, music and foreign language teachers; provide transportation for an addition 150 children in the Virginia Preschool Initiative; upgrade the pay of school nurses; and add recruiters to reduce the number of teacher vacancies on opening day.

The additional funding also would pay for hiring more social workers and school nurses; funding student recognition activities in schools with high at-risk populations; opening a second RPS welcome center; expanding home visitation and mentoring programs; and purchasing 10 new buses, among other items.

If approved by the board, the budget would go into effect July 1. However, it

still must pass muster with the mayor and City Council that provide the funding.

City budget officials apparently notified Mr. Kamras that the mayor is unlikely to recommend any increase in school funding when the mayor releases his budget in early March.

Mr. Kamras’ budget plan did not go over well with at least one member.

“If enacted, this general fund budget would reverse all of our gains from last year,” said board member Jonathan Young, 4th District, referring to the cuts to the Central Office staff that saved $13 million.

“This budget calls for an increase in spending year over year without any belt tightening and does not comport with the cuts made last year.”

In a Free Press interview on Wednesday, Mr. Young said he has identified more than $18.9 million in spending cuts that can be made and will submit them for review at the board’s budget workshop on Thursday, Jan. 23.

The board is having four additional budget workshops through Feb. 11, with a vote anticipated a week later to meet the city’s submission deadline.

Elizabeth “Liz” Doerr, 1st District, had a positive reaction to Mr. Kamras’ presentation. She said she wanted to make

sure the board understood what line items were contingent on state funds.

“We have to be realistic about how much money we are going to spend and what we are going to put a cap on this year,” Ms. Doerr said. “I agree with Mr. Young.

We need to be good custodians as we look for more opportunities for efficiencies as we budget.”

Board member Kenya Gibson, 3rd District, thanked Mr. Kamras for presenting his budget plan earlier this year than he did last year, which she said rushed the board.

“We cut too much last year,” she said.

“We cut 20 attendance officers with a savings of $900,000. I am thankful to see we are going to correct that error and, hopefully, we can re-staff that department.”

Mr. Kamras said the goal is for the School Board to approve the budget at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18, followed by submission to Mayor Levar M. Stoney.

He said Mayor Stoney would submit his budget to City Council on Friday, March 6, with the council expected to complete its budget review and amendment process by mid-May. “At that point, the School Board will make any necessary changes and, by June, adopt the final 2021 fiscal budget,” he said.

Richmond Free Press

January 23-25, 2020 A5

Local News

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Thousands of demonstrators crowd Bank Street in Downtown, waving flags and signs during the Lobby Day rally by gun rights activists at the State Capitol on the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Antonia Okafor of Texas addresses the crowd inside Capitol Square, where guns were not allowed. She was the sole African-American speaker at the rally.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Men dressed in full military gear and carrying firearms stand in front of the state Supreme Court Building on 9th Street across from Capitol Square.

Gun rights demonstration Downtown attracts thousands, fear Continued from A1

as white supremacist and white nationalist groups, including The League of the South, Patriot Prayer and American Guard.

While Gov. Ralph S. Northam, citing intelligence reports of “credible threats,” issued a temporary ban on weapons in Capitol Square beginning last Friday, more than 16,000 people roamed outside the nogun zone and openly carried firearms, including handguns, long rifles and assault-style weapons, including one with a grenade launcher attachment.

Speakers inside and outside Capitol Square participated in cheers and chants, with some people calling gun safety legislation unconstitutional.

“I’m not sure what part of

‘shall not be infringed’ they don’t understand, said Delegate John J. McGuire III, a Republican who represents parts of Henrico, Goochland and Spotsylvania counties and all of Louisa County, in talking about Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms.

Culpeper County Sheriff Scott H. Jenkins declared his intention to deputize county residents if tough new gun laws are enacted.

A mass shooting in a Virginia Beach city office last May in which 12 people were fatally shot and four others were wounded prompted a wider public push to strengthen gun laws in the state, with Democratic candidates and some Republicans running on that platform.

For the first time in more

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

A Confederate flag is emblazoned on a sign carried by demonstrators at the gun rights rally.

than 20 years, Democrats won control of the General Assembly in November’s elections, and are committed, along with Gov. Northam, a Democrat, to approve a range of gun safety laws.

Already the state Senate has advanced legislation requiring background checks before all gun purchases; limiting handgun purchases to one gun a month; and authorizing localities to ban guns from public buildings, parks and at and near public events.

A bill to enact a “red flag” law, which is still in committee, would prevent people deemed a threat to themselves or others from possessing firearms.

While the VCDL called for rally-goers to exercise restraint, the FBI arrest last week of six members of a white nationalist group, the Base, heightened concerns and sparked fears that Monday’s rally could become another violent and deadly rally like that of white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups in Charlottesville in August 2017.

Organizations typically involved in Lobby Day and events honoring Dr. King opted to cancel their plans out of fear of potential violence.

“Citizens who represent the overwhelming majority of Virginians are prevented from lobbying their officials because of credible threats to their safety,” stated Lori Hass, state director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which revised its plans to lobby for tougher gun laws on Monday.

“This is a full-scale rejection of our democratic elections. This is mob rule. It is a grave threat to our democracy.”

Virginia Beach filmmaker John Scherig, while voicing support for the rally, noted that its size had made it harder for him to meet with legislators at their offices in the Pocahontas Building on Capitol Square as he has in previous years.

“There’s no way I’m getting near the Pocahontas Building,” Mr. Scherig said. “The closest

I’ve gotten to lobbying is tweeting at my delegates.”

Instead of risking potential confrontation with a rally of their own, those supportive of progressive gun control legislation took a different approach.

The Richmond chapters of Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety organized volunteers to telephone legislators to thank them for supporting gun safety bills.

A cross on the grounds of Second Presbyterian Church in Downtown was decorated with the names of victims of gun violence in Richmond.

Local religious leaders held a prayer vigil at Centenary United Methodist Church, just blocks from Capitol Square, and a march along Broad Street honoring Dr. King. They called for empathy and solidarity against the “dark and dangerous forces” that had come to the state and city “bringing hate and violence.”

“In the face of these threats, we seek to muster Dr. King’s moral courage,” read their statement signed by more than 30 faith leaders. “In a world of arrested justice and delayed peace, we must choose to speak words of community, affirm our common humanity and build a better world.”

Following the rally, Gov. Northam issued a statement Monday saying, “We are all thankful today passed without incident.”

Authorities said only one person was arrested. She was charged with wearing a face mask, although many people attending the rally wore masks and other covers that hid their faces.

“I want to thank the residents of our great city for their common sense and patience today,” Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney said in a statement, “and for the sacrifices they made to accommodate this event in Virginia’s capital city.”

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

A sign invokes the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a believer in the gun rights that drew about 22,000 people to the State Capitol.

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Roxanne Christley of Roanoke addresses the crowd outside the fencing on Capitol Square where thousands of people were able to openly carry weapons.

Richmond Free Press

Budding Marvel Mahonia Downtown

Editorial Page

A6

January 23-25, 2020

Lobby Day 2020: An affront to Dr. King There was something eerie and insulting about the thousands of gun-toting lobbyists who packed the area around Capitol Square on Monday to demand that Virginia lawmakers not step on their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

While we have great respect for the U.S. Constitution, particularly the First Amendment’s right to free speech and peaceable assembly, we found it offensive and disrespectful that gun rights advocates from across Virginia and the nation felt compelled to use the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to make their views known.

Dr. King, a peacemaker, was the personification of nonviolence, yet he is one of the world’s best known victims of gun violence. His life was cut short at age 39 by an assassin’s bullet in April 1968 in Memphis, Tenn., where he had gone to support city sanitation workers who were striking to eliminate dangerous working conditions and to boost their wages.

Many of the 16,000 demonstrators who were outside of Monday’s no-gun zone at the Capitol were armed and openly carried a dangerous array of weapons — military-style rifles, hunting rifles, shotguns, 9mm handguns, small caliber pistols and even a .50-caliber sniper rifle. Some of their shouts, chants, signs and props carried veiled, and not-so-veiled threats of what they will do if their gun rights are abridged; a guillotine was erected on Ninth Street just down from the Capitol and the state Supreme Court building.

While, fortunately, no violent incidents broke out, we don’t see anything peaceful about large crowds of people carrying guns. Their presence and message Monday was meant to intimidate — to strike fear in people, organizations and state lawmakers who back common sense gun safety proposals, such as background checks before all gun purchases, limiting handgun purchases to one a month, banning assault-style weapons and allowing local governments to ban guns in parks and public buildings.

These basic proposals, which are aimed at curbing the spate of violence and gun deaths in our communities, workplaces, schools, churches and synagogues and homes, are favored by a majority of Virginians, according to a December poll conducted by the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

But organizations, including Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, Everytown for Gun Safety and some groups hosting tributes to Dr. King, called off their efforts planned for Monday out of fear of possible violent clashes with the armed groups that took over Downtown. Bracing for white supremacists and other extremist groups who reportedly planned to attend the rally, many right-minded people simply stayed away from Downtown.

Gov. Ralph S. Northam also appropriately placed a temporary ban on weapons inside Capitol Square during the days surrounding the gun rights rally. We believe such a ban in that public space should be made permanent.

The FBI also last week arrested six people associated with the Base, a white extremist, anti-government group aiming to start a race war. Three of the men, authorities said, had weapons and discussed attending the rally.

We believe there is a way for gun rights advocates to make their point without their brazen intimidation tactics, including donning militiastyle clothing and parading around with assault-style weapons.

We also were offended by some of the signs the gun-toters carried, chiefly “Gun control is Jim Crow” and “MLK Believed in the 2nd Amendment.”

While there were few black faces in the crowd, we have seen no evidence that the gun rights groups understand or even care about the horrific violence perpetrated against African-Americans during the Jim Crow era or the threats and traumas suffered by Dr. King and thousands of others — black people and white people — during the Civil Rights Movement to spur our nation to a more just and equitable place.

For gun advocates to appropriate Dr. King’s life and message of nonviolence to support their right to bear arms is a clear indication they know little about Dr. King.

It is true that Dr. King applied for a concealed weapon permit in Alabama in 1956 but was turned down by local law enforcement authorities. His application was made after his home was firebombed in January 1956 by segregationists in retaliation for the successful bus boycott he led in Montgomery to end segregated seating on public transportation.

In the face of that violence and threats on his life and that of his wife and young children, Dr. King’s associates and unofficial bodyguards armed themselves to protect him, his family and themselves.

People also forget that Dr. King was stabbed at age 29 by a mentally ill woman at a book signing in September 1958 in Harlem where he was autographing copies of his memoir, “Stride Toward Freedom,” about the yearlong bus boycott.

The National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates fail to examine Dr. King’s life beyond his request for a weapon for self-protection. If anything, that violent act against Dr. King by Izola Ware Curry, who later was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and spent the rest of her life in a series of psychiatric hospitals, residential care facilities and a nursing home until her death in 2015, underscores the need for “red flag” laws sought by Virginia’s Democratic lawmakers to prohibit a person from purchasing, possessing or transferring a firearm if he or she poses “a substantial risk of injury to himself or others.”

Sadly, many of the gun rights advocates at Monday’s rally oppose the legislation, viewing it as a way for the state to confiscate their weapons.

While we believe in the power of transformation, we have no idea what could transform the thinking and positions of many of the rally-goers when it comes to gun safety laws.

Dr. King went through a transformation when it came to weapons and his personal safety. By 1963 when he was arrested during concerted civil rights efforts in Birmingham, Ala., Dr. King had wholeheartedly embraced the philosophy of nonviolence. Any type of violence — weapons and physically fighting back — was eschewed, even in the face of assaults by police using billy clubs, dogs and fire hoses against children and young adults.

That philosophy of nonviolence caused a strain among people in the movement, but garnered worldwide attention and support for civil rights efforts.

In “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.,” a collection of Dr. King’s speeches and writings edited by Dr. Clayborne Carson, founding director of Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, and published in 2001, Dr. King discussed how he gave up guns.

“I was much more afraid in Montgomery when I had a gun in my house,” he wrote. “When I decided that I couldn’t keep a gun, I came face to face with the question of death and I dealt with it. From that point on, I no longer needed a gun nor have I been afraid.”

Maybe if the thousands of demonstrators who flooded Capitol Square on the King holiday advocating for unlimited gun rights truly examine Dr. King’s life, there would be real peace in the Commonwealth.

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Resist efforts to divide people A report that hate crimes surged in America’s five largest cities last year has broken just as we honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the nation’s best known victim of a hate crime.

The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that hate crimes were at their highest level since Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, with the Jewish community being the most frequent target in all five of the cities.

“These data reflect several trends, including an escalating tribalism, where various prejudices like anti-Semitism, xenophobia and homophobia, among others, are widely shared across a diverse grouping of people,” said Brian Levin, the report’s lead author.

“Next, local demographic

changes in densely populated cities means more people are coming in contact with each other right at a time when fearful stereotypes are increasingly become the kindling for violent behavior.”

In the wake of the shooting and stabbing attacks on Ortho-

Marc H. Morial dox Jews in New York and New Jersey, far right trolls hoping to exacerbate racial tensions have been posing online as Jews to post racist screeds against African-Americans.

Online sleuths who traced the racist plot back to the website 4chan — a site that author Elad Nehorai called “a radical breeding ground” — found slur-ridden comments such as, “You are throwing high-quality octane fuel” on the “fire” of Jewish-Black relations, “Let’s see some riots,” and “If you break the Black-Jewish alliance, it’s all over for the Jews.”

It’s instructive to note that the goal of white nationalists is to drive a wedge between

marginalized groups. It is vital that we actively and forcefully resist these efforts.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Dr. King wrote in Letter from a Birmingham Jail. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

The National Urban League, as one of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Racial Equity Anchor Institutions, was proud to celebrate the fifth annual National Day of Racial Healing on Tuesday, Jan. 21, the day after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The day is a call to action to mobilize communities, organizations and individuals across the United States in support of truth, racial healing and transformation.

More than 70 events around the nation were scheduled, and you can follow the conversation on social media using the hashtag #HowWeHeal.

As one of the Anchor Insti-

Can a woman win in 2020?

In a most unusual endorsement, the New York Times has endorsed both U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota for the Democratic nomination for president.

Apparently, the editorial board of The Times disagrees with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who allegedly told Sen. Warren that a woman could not win the presidency.

I’d love to see the right woman in the White House, but I’ve been among the many who have wondered openly if, in a polarized and sexist United States, a woman can win both the nomination and the presidency.

Though polls are not a definitive measure of who will win an election, Sen. Warren and Sen. Klobuchar tend to poll more weakly than the men in the race — former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Sanders, and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Have we come such a long way since 2016 that a woman is electable? Can so-called progressive men who want to get 45 out of the White House overcome their gender bias to vote for a woman?

Clearly, The Times not only thinks a woman can win, but in endorsing two women for the Democratic nomination, they are saying that women are the best of the Democrats in the race. And in the past two years, we’ve seen signs that women are gaining politically. The women’s sweep of the 2018

elections certainly bodes well for women. At the same time, is gender a sufficient qualification for the presidency? Three years after the first flawed but overwhelmingly successful Women’s March in 2017, the realignment of that movement has illustrated cracks in the

Julianne Malveaux foundations of feminism.

These flaws perhaps go back to the scuffle over who should get the vote first that was argued over by some of our nation’s first feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and civil rights activists like Frederick Douglass. In resenting the fact that black men got the vote before white women, those early feminists used extremely disparaging language against black men, using terms like “savage” to suggest these men did not deserve to vote.

Can anybody say “intersectionality?” Or to make it more clear, use the words of Sojourner Truth and say, “Ain’t I a Woman?” The Women’s March movement fell apart because women were not on the same page. Accusations against Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, two of the cochairs of the march, caused so much discussion and rancor that the second Women’s March attracted a fraction of the people who showed up to the first one. And the third march was operated on a different model. It did not equal the excitement or momentum of the first march, although there were many more local marches and other activities associated with the marches.

Women can’t come together unless they acknowledge our differences, as well as our similarities. Thanks to Tarana Burke and people like Professor Kimberly Crenshaw, some black women are openly addressing issues of race and class in feminism. But I’ve heard few white women, either politicians or intellectuals, deal with issues of racism in the women’s movement. There are women’s issues and women’s marches, and an exhilarating display of anti-Trump sentiment three years ago (don’t forget that 53 percent of white women voted for that man), but when do women come together?

In other words, gender is not a qualification for higher office.

And if the women endorsed by the New York Times do not fully explore the concept of intersectionality and speak on it, they will likely sideline some votes, even though many others would vote for Bubba the Fool to get rid of 45.

Both Sens. Warren and Klobuchar are exciting candidates. Sen. Warren’s progressive ideas endear her to the left, and Sen. Klobuchar’s more moderate approach to social and economic challenges appeals to others. But can either win the presidency?

When then-Sen. Barack Obama ran for president, l liked him very much but didn’t think a black man could succeed in a presidential race in this racist nation. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Can a woman win in 2020?

I’m hoping the best candidate will win, and the best candidate may well be a woman.

The writer is an economist, educator and author.

The Free Press welcomes letters The Richmond Free Press respects the opinions of its readers. We want to hear from you.

We invite you to write the editor. All letters will be considered for publication. Concise, typewritten letters related to public matters are preferred. Also include your telephone number(s). Letters should be addressed to: Letters to the Editor, Richmond Free Press, P.O. Box 27709, 422 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23261, or faxed to: (804) 643-7519 or e-mail: letters@richmondfreepress.com.

tutions, we stand side-by-side with racial justice and organizations representing Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and other ethnic and religious communities — tied together, as Dr. King said, in a single garment of destiny.

As disheartened as we may be by the rising level of hate crimes, and as disgusted as we may be to read the words of online trolls, we must guard against meeting hate with hate.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”

The monster of racism feeds on hatred. The only way to kill it is to starve it.

The writer is president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League.

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Richmond Free Press

January 23-25, 2020 A7

Letters to the Editor

Rep. McEachin a ‘Johnny-come-lately’ on removing Confederate statues

Re “McEachin, Wexton call for replacement of Lee statue in U.S. Capitol,” Free Press Dec. 26-28 edition: There are three types of politicians. Some lead, some follow and some simply wait to see which way the political winds are blowing before jumping on board the bandwagon.

Such is the case with Congressman A. Donald McEachin of Richmond who recently called for the removal of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s statue from the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

During his 15 years as a member of the Virginia General Assembly, Rep. McEachin, never called for the statue of Gen. Lee to be removed from the State Capitol or for the image of Gen. Lee to be removed from the Richmond floodwall. Not once!

Further, in 2016 when then-mayoral candidate Joe Morrissey held a press conference in front of the Jefferson Davis statue on Monument Avenue

calling for its removal because President Davis, the leader of the Confederacy, was a supporter of the institution of slavery, Rep. McEachin was inexplicably silent.

I can only guess that was because the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue or Lee’s image from the floodwall wasn’t politically popular at the time.

Fast forward 3½ years, and because the political winds now favor the removal of the statues Rep. McEachin is now on board.

Fascinating!

Where was Rep. McEachin back in the day when it wasn’t popular to advocate for the removal of these types of statues?

Rep. McEachin appears to be a “Johnny-comelately” who wets his fingertip, puts his finger in the air to assess which way the political winds are blowing, then acts accordingly.

In conclusion, real leaders — be they local,

Central Va. African American Chamber of Commerce supports Navy Hill project The Central Virginia African American Chamber of Commerce has enthusiastically endorsed the proposed $1.5 billion Navy Hill District Corp. program because the Navy Hill developers have promised to “maximize the capacity” of minority business owners.

CVAACC recognizes that the project will complement much of the building and growth underway in Downtown and pave the way for minority businesses to play a critical role in Downtown development.

Initiatives in place through Richmond’s Office of Minority Business Development convinced CVAACC board members to support the Navy Hill project, which promises to provide $300 million in contracts to minority-owned businesses. Clearly, the project aligns with CVAACCs’mission, which seeks to strengthen business development and growth in the African-American community.

The decision to endorse the project came after thoughtful discussions.

On Nov. 7, CVAACC hosted an informational meeting that was attended by representatives of the OMBD and Navy Hill. Michael Hopkins, coordinator of the city’s Minority Business Enterprise Office, delivered an impressive presentation outlining the potential roles for minority businesses in the project. He acknowledged the barriers that prevented minority businesses from participating in city-related contracts in the past.

Further, Mr. Hopkins pledged to help minority businesses access resources to mitigate concerns with bonding, insurance, financing, banking and licensing. He also noted that “$300 million is planned to be spent with MBEs across professional

services, construction, suppliers, vendors, wholesalers and retailers over a five-year period.”

Many CVAACC members are proficient in those areas and look forward to new opportunities.

What’s clear is that this project has the potential to help businesses and boost many aspects of the minority community.

To show their commitment to engage minority businesses, Mr. Hopkins said that working together, OMBD, the Metropolitan Business League and CVAACC will establish a database of local, regional and national minority businesses. The list of professional services, construction firms, suppliers, vendors and others across all business sectors will match the various scopes of skills needed for the project.

The matrix will be categorized by Capital City Partners, the firm responsible for conceptualizing, financing, designing and managing the redevelopment project. The matrix will be used to identify opportunities for minority businesses and increase participation, track outreach, document results and house monthly reports.

No major development is without risks. Some contend that the publicly financed $300 million arena jeopardizes our tax dollars. But others, including CVAACC, disagree. We see the project as an opportunity to further revitalize Downtown and finally give minority businesses the opportunities they deserve to participate in a major development.

ERVIN B. CLARKE The writer, publisher of Urban Views RVA, is founder and board chairman of the Central Virginia African American Chamber of Commerce.

state, or federal — advocate for an issue that is not popular at the time (i.e. school desegregation, civil rights, stopping police brutality, equal pay and the Equal Rights Amendment, to name a few) and then bring others around to their way of thinking. I only wish Rep. McEachin was

this type of leader.

KING SALIM KHALFANI Richmond The writer is the policy and advocacy director of Nexus Services of Virginia.

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Richmond Free Press

A8 January 23-25, 2020

Sports

Pounce

Stories by Fred Jeter

VUU Panthers drub the VSU Trojans 83-62 in Freedom Classic If the Virginia Union University Panthers were homesick, it While Leach has been a constant for Coach Butler’s squad, didn’t show.

Railey is just coming into his own. The Jacksonville, Fla., native In the midst of an epic road trip, the Panthers looked com- comes to VUU after two seasons at Little Priest Tribal College, fortable and confident in routing host Virginia State University a Native American school in Nebraska.

82-62 in the 25th Annual Freedom Classic last Saturday at the The 6-foot guard averages nine points per game and is second VSU Multi-Purpose Center. on the team behind Leach for 3-pointers. Railey was 5-for-5 Terrell Leach scored 34 points and Tyriek Railey 22 points as from the distance against VSU. the Panthers slammed the brakes on While VUU came into the an agonizing four-game skid — all Freedom Classic on a losing streak, Long and winding road nail-biters away from Richmond.

VSU had won three straight games Here are the games on Virginia Union VUU had lost its previous four and seven out of eight under Coach University’s arduous nine-game road trip: games by a combined five points.

Lonnie Blow.

Jan. 6: St. Augustine’s University 79, VUU 78 “We’re not afraid of anyone in The Trojans had moved up to Jan. 9: Claflin University 85, VUU 84 the CIAA,” said VUU Coach Jay No. 10 in the regional rankings.

Jan. 11: Winston-Salem State University 63, VUU 61 Butler. “In this league, we can beat “Anytime you can beat VSU Jan. 15: Lincoln University 74, VUU 73 anyone — and anyone can beat us. it’s a great win,” Coach Butler Jan. 18: VUU 82, Virginia State 62 Tonight, I told the players to just said. “VSU is always one of the have some fun and that the bad best teams in the CIAA and one Jan. 20: VUU 85, Shaw University 73 luck was going to change.” of the best in the country.”

Jan. 22: at Elizabeth City State University That victory, and the Panthers’ Lual Daniel Rahama led the Jan. 25: at Johnson C. Smith University win Monday night over Shaw UniTrojans with 12 points. But points Jan. 30: at Bowie State University versity, lifts VUU to 11-8 overall and were hard to come by following Feb. 3: Panthers return to Barco-Stevens Hall to 4-2 in the CIAA. VSU falls to 12-6 halftime. face St. Augustine’s University overall and 6-1 in the CIAA. VUU led just 37-34 at halftime.

Leach, a senior guard from High Unable to crack VUU’s signaPoint, N.C., was 12-for-23 from the field, including 7-for-13 ture “circle zone” defense, VSU shot 7-for-27 during the second beyond the arc in Ettrick. half, including 1-for-12 from beyond the arc.

Averaging 22 points per game, Leach is in a tit-for-tat race Coach Butler is trying to make the most of this monthlong, with Livingstone College’s Ray Roger for the CIAA lead. five-state bus tour.

VUU’s all-time record for season scoring average was set by “It’ll get us ready for the tournament,” he said.

Mike Davis in 1966 with a 36.3 margin that led the NCAA Division A team could play as many as five games in the CIAA TourII. Davis went on to be drafted in the first round by the NBA’s nament Feb. 24 through 29 in Charlotte, N.C. Baltimore Bullets and made the NBA All-Rookie team.

It helps that five of the Panthers’ last six regular season games Panther A.J. English, who became a second round NBA draft will be at Barco-Stevens Hall on the VUU campus. That includes selection, led the nation in 1990 with a 31-point average. a VSU rematch on Feb. 22.

The Freedom Classic traditionally was played on a Sunday night at the Richmond Coliseum preceding the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. With the Coliseum closed, the Freedom Classic relocated to the VSU Multi-Purpose Center last year, also moving from Sunday to Saturday.

In January 2019, VSU defeated VUU 88-73 in the first Freedom Classic away from the Richmond Coliseum. VUU then won the

Photo by Clement Britt

Virginia Union University’s Tyriek Railey leaps while teammate Charles Tart III, right, puts the ground pressure on Virginia State University’s Ryan Jones during the first half of the Freedom Classic last Saturday at VSU’s Multi-Purpose Center.

rematch 75-67 at a jam-packed Barco-Stevens Hall.

It figures to be hopping again later next month, with a possible CIAA Northern Division title at stake.

One HBCU alum to play in Super Bowl

Alex Brown

Photo by Clement Britt

Virginia Union University senior guard Kishona Sutton, left, passes the ball around Autumn Hopson of Virginia State University during last Saturday’s matchup at the 25th Annual Freedom Classic.

Classic win for VUU Lady Panthers The Virginia Union University Lady Panthers would prefer to have two McNeills in its lineup, but the team will settle for one.

Even with Shareka McNeill sidelined with a knee injury, the Lady Panthers continue to be a dominant team in the CIAA and in the NCAA Division II. Coach AnnMarie Gilbert’s squad improved to 13-2 overall and 5-1 in the CIAA with a 61-47 win over host Virginia State University in last Saturday’s Freedom Classic at the VSU MultiPurpose Center.

Shareka’s twin sister, Shameka O’Neill, scored 18 points while passing for five assists and making four steals.

When Shareka was injured in December, she was leading the NCAA Division II in scoring with 32 points per game.

The McNeill twins are ultraquick 5-foot-6 juniors from Charlotte, N.C. Shareka was named Most Valuable Player of the CIAA Tournament last year held in her hometown.

Breonn Hughey, a 5-foot-6 transfer from Towson State University, added 11 points, while Dy’Manee Royal, a 6-foot-1 transfer from Florida A&M University, had 10 points.

Senior post player Jasmine Carter from Richmond’s John Marshall High School had six points and 11 rebounds.

VUU is now 9-0 against VSU since Coach Gilbert took over as coach.

Autumn Hopson had 11 points and five rebounds for the Trojans, who fall to 8-11.

Devyn Coles makes FCS Freshman All-America team It didn’t take long for Devyn Coles to become a force for Norfolk State University football.

The freshman defensive back from Henrico’s Highland Springs High School has been named to the Steele Magazine FCS Freshman All-America team.

In his first collegiate season, Coles tied for the MEAC lead with five interceptions.

He also contributed 38 tackles and six pass deflections.

Devyn Coles

The Kansas City Chiefs are returning to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years, and much has changed in the last half century.

After defeating the Tennessee Titans 35-24 in Sunday’s AFC final, the Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Feb. 2, in Miami.

San Francisco advanced to the Superbowl with a 37-20 win Sunday • Bishop College defensive back over the Green Bay Packers in the Emmitt Thomas. vs.

NFC final.

• Alabama State University running The current composition of Kansas back John Pleasant.

Super Bowl LIV City’s roster shows a major differ• Arkansas AM&N (now University ence from the Chiefs that defeated Who: The Kansas City Chiefs (12-4) of Arkansas Pine Bluff) defensive back the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 on Jan. versus the San Francisco 49ers (13-3) Caesar Belsar.

11, 1970.

When: Sunday, Feb. 2, Other African-Americans on that This year’s roster has just one at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. team included Hall of Fame linebacker HBCU athlete, backup defensive back Kickoff: 6:30 p.m.

Bobby Bell from the University of Alex Brown from South Carolina State Game to be televised on FOX. Minnesota and Heisman TrophyUniversity. winning running back Mike Garrett By contrast, the 1970s Chiefs team showcased 14 HBCU of the University of Southern California. alumni, most notably NFL Hall of Famers-to-be Richmond naAbout 70 percent of the Chiefs’ players currently are tive Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan and Emmitt Thomas.

African-American, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes The 1970 Chiefs even came to be known as “Black from Texas Tech.

America’s Team.”

It’s reasonable that a half century ago, Texas native Mahomes The 1970 Kansas City Chiefs-HBCU club: might have enrolled at Texas Southern or Prairie View.

• Morgan State University linebacker Willie Lanier.

Grambling State produced four NFL Hall of Famers — • Prairie View A&M University receiver Otis Taylor and Buchanan, Willie Brown, Willie Davis and Charlie Joyner. defensive back Jim Kearney.

The late Grambling Coach Eddie Robinson would have • Tennessee State University kick returner Noland Smith, de- much more difficulty recruiting those stars today. fensive back Jim Marsalis and defensive back Willie Mitchell.

Only about 30 HBCU alumni suited up regularly for the • Grambling State University defensive tackle Buck 32 NFL teams this season. The premier athletes that once Buchanan and defensive back Goldie Sellers. attended HBCUs now are filling the rosters of the major • Clark College tight end Morris Stroud.

Power 5 conferences.

• Southern University receiver Frank Pitts.

No HBCU alumni are on the San Francisco 49ers’ Super • Jackson State University receiver Gloster Richardson.

Bowl bound squad.

Coach McKay putting Liberty U. on the map

One of college basketball’s most alluring stories is unfolding just 114 miles west of Richmond in Lynchburg.

Coach Ritchie McKay has stapled Liberty University — not exactly a hoops heavyweight — on the national basketball rankings map.

Coach McKay is the main man on the sidelines behind Liberty’s meteoric rise in college basketball.

After serving six years as an assistant under the University of Virginia’s Coach Tony Bennett, Coach McKay returned as Liberty’s head coach in 2015.

Now in his fifth season at the Atlantic Sun Conference school, Coach McKay has guided the Flames to a 19-1 record and No. 24 (out of 353 NCAA Division I schools) in Net power rankings, which determine NCAA berths.

That’s the highest Net power ranking in Virginia, followed

by Virginia Tech, 33; Virginia

Coach Ritchie McKay Age: 54 Hometown: Indianapolis.

College: Played basketball at Seattle Pacific University; among the career leaders in steals and assists.

Coaching résumé: Head coaching stops at Portland State, Colorado State, Oregon State, New Mexico and Liberty University (two stints: 2007 to 2009 and from 2015 to present).

Assistant gig: Associate head coach at the University of Virginia, 2009-2015.

Commonwealth University, 45; the University of Richmond, 56; and U.Va., 60, through games of Jan. 18.

Liberty’s lone loss was Dec. 29 at Louisiana State University.

Not coincidentally, Liberty University is among the nation’s defensive leaders. The Flames are holding opponents to 51.5 points per game, a paltry 36 percent shooting from the field and anemic 28 percent from beyond the arc.

There is a local connection.

Senior guard Georgie PachecoOrtiz averages 10 points per game and is among the team’s top ball handlers and perimeter defenders.

The Puerto Rican native starred locally at Deep Run High School in Henrico County.

Liberty went 29-7 last season, winning the Atlantic Sun title and upsetting Mississippi State University in the NCAA opener.

The Flames were eliminated in the round of 32 by Virginia Tech.

Coach McKay’s glowing résumé would seem to place him on a short list of upward

bound coaches. But while black athletes have dominated college basketball for decades, there is still a scarcity of black coaches in the high-dollar Power 5 conferences — the plum jobs.

The ACC, for example, has just three — Leonard Hamilton at Florida State University, Kevin Keatts at North Carolina State University and Danny Manning at Wake Forest University.

The Big 10 has one black coach, Juwan Howard at the University of Michigan. The Southeastern Conference has two, Cuonzo Martin at the University of Missouri and Vanderbilt University’s Jerry Stackhouse.

There are two black coaches in the Big 12 — Mike Boynton at Oklahoma State and the University of Texas’ Shaka Smart.

When job vacancies pop up, as they always do after March Madness, Coach McKay deserves serious consideration for a big time post.

January 23-25, 2020 B1

Richmond Free Press

Section

Happenings

B

Personality: Dr. Patricia Herrera Spotlight on 2019 Collaborative Research Award winner Dr. Patricia Herrera was in college when her sense of self was expanded.

The daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants, Dr. Herrera spent much of her early life with only a basic grasp of herself and her heritage’s power until reading several Latinx novels during her undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College.

Discovering “how transformative it was to read stories of your own community” greatly shifted Dr. Herrera’s view of herself and the world she lived in, and set her on the road to her current role as an associate professor of theater at the University of Richmond.

“That moment when you realize who you are in relationship to society is one that I aspire to cultivate in my students,” Dr. Herrera says.

The 45-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y., was recognized along with her colleagues from the University of Maryland and University of Texas Rio Grande, with the 2019 Collaborative Research Award from the American Society for Theatre Research for their work on a public symposium “Revolutions in Sound,” set for Feb. 28 to 29 at the University of Maryland.

The symposium, with an additional editorial forum, will bring together scholars from the United States and Canada “to explore how marginalized communities use and produce sound as a strategy of survival, resistance and radical world-making,” according to Dr. Herrera.

“This award gives me the opportunity to continue to work in a more intimate way with colleagues who are interested in pushing against the dominant historical narrative and unearthing histories that reveal the agentive nature of communities of color,” she says.

Dr. Herrera has been dedicated to this type of work for some time. She has collaborated for the last decade with UR Assistant English Professor Laura Browder, producing most recently a project called, “Civil Rights and Education in Richmond, Virginia: A Documentary Theater Project.” The two also have produced six documentary plays exploring topics and issues critical to the Commonwealth.

This isn’t the first time Dr. Herrera has won accolades for her work, and it isn’t the first award that acknowledges the professor’s deep interest in teamwork. Collaboration “opens my mind to different possibilities,” Dr. Herrera says.

She views theater as “a vehicle for social change and social action,” with the classroom serving “as a laboratory to critically explore and examine the power dynamics in our everyday life, including the social institutions we belong to.”

This semester Dr. Herrera is applying that methodology to two courses she is coteaching, “Collaborative Arts Lab: Dance, Humanities and Technology” and “Gender, Race, and Performance Across the Americas.” Both courses seek to explore the experiences of the marginalized in relation to performance and representation using dance, theater and the examination of race, gender and sexuality, with a focus on local and worldwide issues.

She’s also preparing to coedit the journal “Performance Matters” in November, which will include academic work supported by the symposium. Her first book, “Nuyorican Feminist Performances: From the Poets Café to Hip Hop Theater” is scheduled for release in May. It’s a sizable slate for a single year, and it all speaks to the core motivations that underpin Dr. Herrera’s work, all sparked in part by books that spurred a life of raising social awareness through education and performance.

And “awareness,” as Dr. Herrera says, “must always

start from within.”

Meet an award-winning professor and this week’s Personality, Dr. Patricia Herrera: Occupation: Professor of theater, University of Richmond.

What I do: I use the arts, specifically theater, movement and museum exhibition, to prompt difficult conversations.

Latest accomplishment: Recipient of the 2019 Collaborative Research Award from the American Society for Theatre Research. My book, “Nuyorican Feminist Performances: From the Poets Café to Hip Hop Theater,” will be coming out in mid-May. Date and place of birth: March 2 in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the Crown Heights area.

Current residence: North Chesterfield.

Alma maters: Bachelor’s in theater and Spanish, with a concentration in Latinx Studies, Dartmouth College, 1996; and a Ph.D. in theater studies, City University of New York, Graduate Center, 2007.

Family: I am the mother of three amazing children with a very supportive husband. My parents arrived in the United States from Ecuador 44 years ago.

Reaction to winning award: I am thrilled!

I decided to enter this competition because: We wanted to be in conversation with other scholars working at the intersection of sound studies, critical race studies and performance studies.

What this award means to me: This award gives me the opportunity to continue to work in a more intimate way with colleagues who are interested in pushing against the dominant historical narrative and unearthing histories that reveal the agentive nature of communities of color. This award also supports the mentoring aspect of our upcoming symposium, “Revolutions in Sound,” as we will be providing extensive feedback to those involved.

Biggest prize winnings for work awarded: I received the University of Richmond Distinguished Educator Award in August 2018 and the Collaboration for Change Award, Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, September 2018.

Details of upcoming symposium: “Revolutions in Sound” is a symposium followed by an editorial workshop that will bring together scholars who explore how marginalized communities use and produce sound as a strategy of survival, resistance and radical worldmaking. It will take place Feb. 28 and 29 at the University of Maryland and will support the development of academic work that will be featured in the November 2020 special issue of the journal “Performance Matters,”

which I will co-edit.

How collaboration works: Collaborating with colleagues and community partners is intellectually and creatively stimulating. It opens my mind to different possibilities, deepening and expanding my understanding of the world we live in.

For the last 10 years, I have collaborated with Laura Browder.

We have engaged with the Greater Richmond community on a public humanities project entitled, “Civil Rights and Education in Richmond, Virginia: A Documentary Theater Project,” and have produced a series of six documentary plays, including the most recent performance, “Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic.” It is a docudrama based on oral histories of people living with HIV/AIDS, health care providers, activists and allies. This public humanity project has led to the creation of a digital archive, “The Fight for Knowledge,” as well as three community exhibitions at The Valentine — “Made in Church Hill” in 2015, “Nuestras Historias: Latinos in Richmond” in 2017 and “Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic,” which will open Thursday, Jan. 23. It offers a nuanced look at the HIV/AIDS crisis through the eyes of survivors, caregivers, activists and health care workers on the front lines.

“Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic” features personal accounts from 30 individuals about their experiences with HIV/AIDS in Richmond. Each narrative, which appears on a panel below the black-and-white portrait taken by photographer Michael Simon, was collected

by Ms. Browder and me. The exhibition also includes cascading books created with the guidance of Book Arts Studio Program Director Jen Thomas, and by members of a HIV/ AIDS support group from St. Paul’s Baptist Church, working alongside UR students.

ergizing, inspiring, engaging, communicating, offering different world views, collaborative.

Why I became a teacher: I did not read my first Latinx novel until I got to college and discovered how transformative it was to read stories of your own community.

That moment when you realize who you are in relationship to society is one that I aspire to cultivate in my students.

Teaching philosophy: I use the classroom as a laboratory to critically explore and examine the power dynamics in our everyday life, including the social institutions we belong to. I use the time with my students to address social problems with views of social justice.

Together, we explore how we can use the arts to raise awareness on topics such as AIDS/ HIV, gentrification, massive resistance, busing, segregation and the first black high school in Richmond — Armstrong.

Awareness, however, must always start from within.

What is the relevance of using theater for social change to the growth and development of our youth: You are able to model how to be agents of social change.

How I start the day: My planner has two entries that I love doing in the morning: “What I am grateful for” and “What I am excited about.” It gets me started in a positive frame

to America to start a new life, to make their dreams come true.

As a first generation, they passed on a legacy of hard work and discipline. Education was at the root of success and instilled a sense of curiosity and willingness to listen and learn.

The person who influenced me the most: My longtime mentor and friend, Tiffany Ana López. We meet more than 20 years ago at Dartmouth College. At the time, she was the first Cesar Chavez Dissertation Fellow and she was trying to finish her dissertation. I was a sophomore and just getting my feet wet in the world of theater.

When she shared with me that she was working on Latinx theater, I was blown away. I didn’t know I could write about my culture and community. A whole new world opened up.

A decade later, I returned to Dartmouth as the Cesar Chavez Dissertation Fellow.

The book that influenced me the most: “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches” by Audre Lorde.

What I’m reading now: “Boys Will Be Men: Raising Our Sons for Courage, Caring and Community” by Paul Kivel.

If I’ve learned one thing in life, it is: I feel at peace when I think and feel with my body, mind and soul. See the world not as it is, but as what it could be.

Imagine the unimaginable.

My next goal: Turning the exhibition into a book project with my collaborator, Laura Browder, and planning my next cross-country road trip.

Theater, for me, is: A vehicle for social change and social action.

Teaching, for me, is: En-

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of mind.

A perfect day for me is: A beach day with my family.

How I unwind: There is nothing like a great yin yoga class — I always feel like I just got a massage — or a beautiful hike in the woods. Nature has a way of soothing the mind and soul.

At the top of my “to-do” list is: Travel. I’ve taken several crosscountry trips with my family and have traveled to Ecuador, Cuba and South Africa.

Something I love to do that most people would never imagine: I like surrounding my space with plants and learning about the medicinal properties of different plants.

Best late-night snack: I love my chocolate or sweet dessert at night. Not a healthy choice but, oh, so comforting.

A quote that I am inspired by is: I’ve been re-engaging with Chicanx feminist Gloria Anzaldúa’s work and she has been on my mind. Here are three quotes that still resonate with me today: • “Write with your eyes like painters, with your ears like musicians, with your feet like dancers. You are the truthsayer with quill and torch. Write with your tongues on fire.”

• “A woman who writes has power, and a woman with power is feared.”

• “Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out.”

The best thing my parents ever taught me: My parents arrived in New York for their honeymoon and never left. They have been honeymooning for more than 40 years. They came

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Richmond Free Press

B2 January 23-25, 2020

Happenings ‘Saving Black Men, Empowering Black Families’ symposium scheduled for Jan. 25

Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Honorary airman

Rep. A. Donald McEachin of Richmond, left, is congratulated

by Howard L. Baugh of Portsmouth after the congressman was made an honorary Tuskegee Airman during a ceremony last Saturday by the Howard Baugh Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. in Petersburg. Mr. Baugh is the oldest son of the late Lt. Col. Howard Baugh of Petersburg who was one of the famed airmen of the 99th Pursuit Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group that escorted bombers on combat missions over Europe during World War II. Lt. Col. Baugh was honored during his lifetime with

numerous commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the U.S. Air Force Commendation Medal, along with the French Legion of Honor Award bestowed by the French government. The ceremony was held at the Richmond Executive Airport in Chesterfield County. The Petersburg group is one of 56 Tuskegee Airmen chapters in the United States dedicated to honoring the accomplishments and preserving the legacy of the airmen who trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.

Thirteen speakers and panelists will address the subject “Saving Black Men, Empowering Black Families” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, during a symposium at Virginia Union University’s Claude G. Perkins Living and Learning Center, it has been announced.

Open to the public without charge, the event is the annual MLK Beloved Community Symposium co-sponsored

by VUU, Living the Dream Inc. and Success Motivation.

The event will be broken into two sessions, with the session on saving black men 9 a.m. to noon and the session on empowering black families from 1 to 4 p.m., the release stated.

The list of speakers includes Richmond General District Court Judge D. Eugene Cheek Sr.; Elijah ColesBrown, a youth social justice advocate; former Richmond City Councilman Sa’ad El-Amin, employment and restorative justice advocate; and Traci

J. DeShazor, deputy secretary of the commonwealth.

Also, Dr. W. Neal Holmes, Virginia State University professor of AfricanAmerican Studies; Dr. Gregory M. Howard, interim dean of the VUU School of Theology; the Rev. Rodney Hunter, president of the Richmond Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Dr. Renata Jones, author and faculty member at Walden University.

Also, Dr. Monekka L. Munroe, chair of the VUU Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Bobbie Newell Jr., student president of the VUU College for AfricanAmerican Men; Valerie Slater of RISE for Youth; Paul Taylor, co-founder of RVA League for Safer Streets; and Dr. Shawn Utsey, Virginia Commonwealth University professor of African-American Studies.

D e t a i l s : B e r n i c e Tr a v e r s , bernicetravers@yahoo.com

Duke and Duchess walk away from ‘royal highness’ Free Press wire report

LONDON Goodbye, your royal highnesses. Hello, life as — almost — ordinary civilians.

Britain’s Prince Harry and his American wife, Meghan Markle, no longer will use the titles “royal highness” or receive public funds for their work under a deal that lets the couple step aside as working royals, Buckingham Palace announced last Saturday.

Releasing details of the dramatic split triggered by the couple’s unhappiness with life under media scrutiny, the palace said Harry and Meghan will cease to be working members of the royal family when the new arrangements take effect in the “spring of 2020.”

The radical break is more complete than the type of arrangement anticipated 10 days ago when the royal couple stunned Britain with an abrupt announcement that they wanted to step down. They said they planed to combine some royal duties with private work in a “progressive” plan, but that is no longer on the table.

Harry and Meghan will no longer use the titles His Royal

Highness and Her Royal Highness but will retain them, leaving the possibility that the couple might change their minds and return sometime in the future.

Harry’s late mother, Diana, was stripped of the Her Royal Highness title when she and Prince Charles divorced.

The young couple will be known as Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Harry will remain a prince and sixth in line to the British throne.

The agreement also calls for Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, to repay 2.4 million pounds, or $3.1 million, in taxpayers’ money spent renovating Frogmore Cottage, a house for them near Windsor Castle. The use of public funds to transform the house’s five separate apartments into a spacious single family home for them had raised ire in the British press. They will continue to use Frogmore Cottage as their base in England.

The deal came after days of talks among royals sparked

by Harry’s and Meghan’s announcement Jan. 7 that they wanted to step down as senior royals and live part-time in Canada.

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Figures of Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, are now situated apart from their original positions next to Queen Elizabeth II, rear from left, Prince Philip and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London following the couple’s announcement earlier this month that they are stepping down as working royals.

The departure of the couple and their infant son, Archie, is a wrench for the royal family, and Queen Elizabeth II said earlier last week that she wished the couple had wanted to remain full-time royals, but she had warm words for them in a statement last Saturday.

The 93-year-old queen said she was pleased that “together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family.

Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family.”

“I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life,” Queen Elizabeth said.

It is not yet clear whether Harry and Meghan will continue to receive financial support from Harry’s father, Prince Charles, who used revenue from the Duchy of Cornwall to help fund his activities and those of his wife and sons.

The duchy, chartered in 1337, produced more than 20 million pounds, or $26 million, in revenue last year. It is widely regarded as private money, not public funds, so Prince Charles may opt to keep details of its disbursal private. Much of the royals’ wealth comes from private holdings.

Though Harry and Meghan no longer will represent the queen, the palace said they would “continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty” while carrying out their private charitable work.

The withdrawal of Harry from royal engagements will increase the demands on his brother, Prince William, and William’s wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Buckingham Palace did not disclose who will pay for the

couple’s security going forward.

It currently is taxpayer funded and carried out primarily by a special unit of the Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard.

“There are well established independent processes to determine the need for publicly funded security,” the statement said.

Harry and Meghan have grown increasingly uncomfortable with constant media scrutiny since the birth in May of

their son, Archie. They married in 2018 in a ceremony that drew a worldwide TV audience.

Meghan joined the royal family after a successful acting career and spoke enthusiastically about the chance to travel throughout Britain and learn about her new home, but disillusionment set in fairly quickly.

She launched legal action against a newspaper in October for publishing a letter she wrote to her father. Harry has complained bitterly of racist undertones in some media coverage of his wife, who is biracial.

The couple’s desire to separate from the rest of the family had been the subject of media speculation for months. But they angered senior royals by revealing their plans on Instagram and a new website without advance clearance from the queen or palace officials.

Queen Elizabeth summoned Harry, William and Charles, to an unusual crisis meeting at her rural retreat in Eastern England in an effort to find common ground.

The result was last Saturday’s agreement, which is different from Harry’s and Meghan’s initial proposal that they planned to combine a new, financially independent life with a reduced set of royal duties.

It is not known where in Canada the couple plan to locate.

Happy Birthday Celebrating 90 years…

Corine R. Farrar Wonderful mother, believer in Christ and retired Richmond Public School Teacher (39 years), avid Teacher’s League bowler, world traveler, proud alumni of Elizabeth City State University.

Current Bid Whist player with the Card Sisters and, in her heyday, active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. The Drifters Inc., the Wednesday Girls, the Birthday Friends and sociable friend to many.

We celebrate your Birthday and wish you many, many more…

Your loving daughter, Kim Y. Farrar, family and friends

Richmond Free Press

January 23-25, 2020

B3

Happenings Gov. Northam acknowledges his own uncomfortable truths

By Ronald E. Carrington

Nearly a year after public revelations of racist photos published on his medical school yearbook page, Gov. Ralph S. Northam offered a mea culpa at Virginia Union University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Leaders Breakfast and acknowledged the lessons he has learned confronting some of his own painful truths.

“Over the past year, I have met with people across the Commonwealth on a listening tour,” he told a hushed audience of more than 700. “I had to confront my own incomplete understanding” regarding issues of race, equity and inequality.

“Those truths were not comfortable,” he said. “But the more I know, the more I can do to right the wrongs,” he said.

“My first step was to hire Dr. Janice Underwood, Virginia’s first ever director of diversity, equity and inclusion, who will develop inclusive practices in the administration and across state government,” he said, introducing Dr. Underwood, who stood to audience applause.

He then went on to talk about a range of efforts he has undertaken during the past year to mitigate some of the racial inequities in Virginia law and policy that have negatively impacted theAfrican-American community.

Ironically, Gov. Northam was the keynote Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press speaker at last Gov. Ralph S. Northam outlines steps year’s Community Lead- he has taken in the past year to increase equity in Virginia law. ers Breakfast, traditionally held the Friday before the holiday honoring Dr. King. But about two weeks after his address last year, a conservative website exposed a racist photo on Gov. Northam’s 1984 yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School.

The photo showed two people, one in blackface and another dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood.

Gov. Northam initially apologized for appearing in the racist photo, but a day later changed his story and denied that he was either person in the photo.

The scandal rocked the state and nation, with people, including members of his own Democratic Party, calling for his resignation.

Gov. Northam refused to step down, instead vowing to listen, learn from the people and do better.

At the breakfast, he talked about two commissions he has appointed — one of which has identified “100 instances” of racist and discriminatory state laws that, while invalidated or no longer enforced, are still on the books from Virginia’s Jim Crow past.

He said he has requested that lawmakers work during the current General Assembly session to purge the racist language and laws. Among them are laws prohibiting interracial marriage, allowing a poll tax to prevent AfricanAmericans from voting and to hamper integration of schools, neighborhoods and public transportation systems.

“We must realize that black oppression is still alive, but in a different form,” he said.

Another commission, Gov. Northam told the audience, is examining Virginia history textbooks to improve the way African-American history is taught to ensure all students have a better and comprehensive understanding of Virginia’s past.

His stated commitment to telling a full story of Virginia history — from slavery to Reconstruction, from the terrorism of the Jim Crow era to the hard-fought victories of the Civil Rights Movement — was met with applause.

The governor also talked about additional resources included in his proposed budget to address disparities in infant and maternal mortality rates among Virginia’s African-Americans and to boost early childhood education programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.

He also talked about his support for legislation that would shift state dollars to preserve historic African-American cemeteries “to make sure they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” and for localities to have the authority to decide what to do with Confederate monuments.

“We are working to improve economic opportunities and diversity in state contracting by supporting more women-, minority- and veteran-owned businesses,” Gov. Northam continued. “This is the best way to honor Dr. King’s legacy.”

Photos by Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press

Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn of Fairfax County addresses an audience of about 700 people at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Leaders Breakfast on Jan. 17 in Downtown. She is the first woman and first Jewish speaker in the legislature’s 401-year history.

Speakers herald progress ahead at VUU’s 42nd Annual Community Leaders Breakfast

By Ronald E. Carrington

Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn, the first woman and first Jewish speaker in the 401-year history of the Virginia House of Delegates, offered a message about the value of inclusion, diversity and progress at Virginia Union University’s 42nd Annual Community Leaders Breakfast honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event, held Jan. 17 at a Downtown hotel, drew more than 700 people and dozens of elected officials who heard from speakers about the changing tide of leadership in the Virginia General Assembly ushered in by elections last November that put Democrats in control of the legislature for the first time in more than 20 years.

The breakfast also highlighted the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which has the largest contingent in recent years with 23 members. The caucus was honored at the event with the 2020 MLK Service Award in recognition of its “commitment to addressing legislative concerns from people of color and other historically underrepresented groups throughout the Commonwealth.”

“Dr. King’s words and his wisdom are still timely,” Delegate Filler-Corn told the audience. “He was taken from us far too soon and far too young.”

She reminded the audience of Dr. King’s famous words: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

“Our Commonwealth has had some very high highs and some very low lows regarding those words,” she said. “But in this legislative session, we are going to take action to bend the Commonwealth closer to justice.”

She then talked about the range of legislation that Democrats are pushing this session, from stronger gun safety laws to “putting an end to the school-to-prison pipeline,” and strengthening voting rights by eliminating voter ID laws, expanding no-excuse absentee voting and making Election Day a holiday while eliminating the Confederate Lee-Jackson Day state holiday.

Delegate Filler-Corn also

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talked about efforts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and greater protections for the LGBTQ community.

“It is important that all Virginians be treated equally regardless of the religion they practice, their gender or the color of their skin or who they are,” she said to applause.

Delegate Filler-Corn acknowledged members of the

VLBC, thanking them for their work “making the Commonwealth a better place for all of us to live.”

Delegate Lamont Bagby of Henrico, chairman of the VLBC, accepted the MLK Service Award on behalf of the caucus as members posed for a photograph with their plaques.

“I feel like this is the BET Awards,” Delegate Bagby joked

From left, Delegate Lamont Bagby of Henrico, chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus; former state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, Richmond’s first African-American mayor; 3rd District Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott; and Henrico County Supervisor Frank J. Thornton, Fairfield District, pose for a photograph before the event’s start.

as he thanked VUU for honoring the VLBC and thanked the audience for their support at the ballot box.

“Dr. King empowered others,” he said. “We stand on the shoulders of a lot of individuals before us as we take new leadership roles as chairpersons on numerous legislative committees. We will keep our promises as we continue to fight for the same civil rights now as Dr. King did then.”

VLBC members lead the Democratic caucuses in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate and chair nine of the 26 legislative committees, including seven in the House and two in the Senate.

Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan of Richmond was the mistress of ceremonies for the breakfast, while Delegate Filler-Corn was introduced at the event by Delegate Delores L. McQuinn of Richmond. Also sharing the dais were Gov. Ralph S. Northam; VUU President Hakim J. Lucas; Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, chairman of the VUU Board of Trustees; and Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney.

9:30 - 11

Richmond Free Press

B4 January 23-25, 2020

Faith News/Directory

Multiracial churches growing, but challenging for clergy of color

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service

KELLER, Texas For four hours at a megachurch outside of Dallas, pastors of color shared their personal stories of leading a multiethnic church.

One, a lead pastor of a Southern Baptist congregation in Salt Lake City, recalled the “honest conversations� he had with his 10-member leadership team before it agreed that he would present “both sides� of the controversy over quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protests at NFL games.

A founding elder of a fledgling Cincinnati congregation expressed satisfaction with her “phenomenal church,â€? but said “Lift Every Voice and Singâ€? — the song known as the “Black National Anthemâ€? that most AfricanAmerican churchgoers learn in childhood — is so rarely featured at her multiethnic church that her younger daughter learned it instead from BeyoncÊ’s version. A pastor of a church in Atlanta adapted his multicultural services so that its prayers, food and sermon illustrations included not only traditions of African-Americans and white people, but those of a member from India, who had noted that his culture had not been acknowledged.

Those leaders, who met at Mosaix Global Network’s Multiethnic Church Conference in November, are part of a decades-long, still burgeoning movement to integrate Christian worship services, aiming to refute the oft-quoted saying by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that Sunday mornings are the most segregated time of the week in the United States.

In 1998, 6 percent of congregations of all faiths in the United States could be described as multiracial. In 2019, according to preliminary findings, 16 percent met that definition. In that timeframe, mainline Protestant multiracial congregations rose from 1 percent to 11 percent; their Catholic counterparts rose from 17 percent to 24 percent; and evangelical Protestant multiracial congregations rose from 7 percent to 23 percent.

Dr. Michael O. Emerson, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of “Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America,� said recent research seems to indicate that multiethnic congregations are continuing to sprout up Dr. Emerson at an “impressive� rate. “They’re growing faster than I would have thought,� Dr. Emerson said in an interview about his ongoing work with scholars at Baylor and Duke universities.

The rapid growth can sometimes obscure the fact that life in a multiracial church isn’t always easy. Mosaix co-founder Dr. Mark DeYmaz said the discussions at the conference, which now brings together more than 1,300 pastors, denominational leaders and researchers every three years, always demonstrate to him the contradictory reality of trying to unite black, white and other church traditions under one roof. “The way you get comfortable in a healthy multiethnic church is to realize that you go, ‘Man, I’m uncomfortable here,’ � he said in an interview in early January. “We embrace the tension and that’s very different than the normative church, which is trying to make everybody comfortable,� Dr. DeYmaz said.

A white former youth pastor, Dr. DeYmaz founded Mosaic Church, a multiethnic, nondenominational congregation in Little Rock, Ark., in 2001, after he grew bothered that the only people of color at the church where he had long served were janitors.

He said he determined through biblical study that “the New Testament church was

Adelle M. Banks

Attendees participate in a worship service Nov. 5, 2019, during Mosaix Global Network’s Multiethnic Church Conference in Keller, Texas.

multiethnic.�

In 2004, he joined with like-minded colleagues to start Mosaix Global Network, which draws an array of racially and ethnically diverse mainline, evangelical and nondenominational Protestants.

(At many Catholic parishes, diversity is a given — nearly all of the growth in the U.S. Catholic Church in recent years has been driven by immigration into existing parishes. The question Catholic clergy and communities often face is not whether to establish a multiethnic church, but how to respond to the diverse needs of their parish.)

Dr. DeYmaz attributes the growth of multiracial churches in part to some clergy of color no longer wanting to lead homogenous congregations. Instead, they start multiethnic ones. “More and more, people Dr. DeYmaz of color are not going to allow themselves to be siloed,� he said.

Dr. Emerson said the preliminary results show that black clergy heading up multiracial churches have increased from 4 percent to 18 percent from 1998 to 2019. The number of Hispanics with their own church has risen from 3 percent to 7 percent in that time, with Asian-Americans increasing from 3 percent to 4 percent. Caucasians leading multiethnic churches, meanwhile, have decreased from 87 percent to 70 percent.

Dr. Emerson said the increasing role of African-American leaders is “an important trend� and agrees much of it is driven by black pastors starting churches with the goal of them being racially diverse.

Difficult for any clergy person, leading a multiracial church is especially daunting for clergy of color.

Dr. Korie L. Edwards, an Ohio State University associate professor of sociology, calls these pastors “estranged pioneers.� The principal investigator of the Religious Leadership and Diversity Project, Dr. Edwards collected information from 121 head clergy of Catholic, mainline Protestant and conservative Protestant churches of all sizes through in-depth interviews by her team of nine researchers.

She has discovered that pastors of color find

Sixth Baptist Church

3HARON "APTIST #HURCH

Come Worship With Us!

Sunday, January 26, 2020 10:45 AM Installation of Officers Theme For The New Year: #GO Installation Message by: Dr. Procter Beard 3:30 PM Combined Ushers Anniversary SAVE THE DATE

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kfast Men

400 South Addison Street Richmond, Va. 23220

(near Byrd Park)

(804) 359-1691 or 359-3498 Fax (804) 359-3798 www.sixthbaptistchurch.org drbibbs@sixthbaptistchurch.org

St. Peter Baptist Church Dr. Kirkland R. Walton, Pastor

Worship Opportunities Sundays: Unity Worship Every Sunday Church School 8:30 A.M. Morning Worship 10 A.M.

Thursdays: Mid-Day Bible Study 12 Noon Bible Study 7 P.M. (Children/Youth/Adults)

Youth Emphasis Sunday, January 26th at 10 a.m.

Join us as we celebrate Youth Emphasis and let the “Youth Take Over.�

The “Youth Take Over� will display our youth leadership and “Speak Out!� skills while serving as worship participants during service.

Music rendered by The Sunbeam Choir, The Praise Fellowship Youth Choir, & The Agape Singers.

-OUNTAIN 2OAD s 'LEN !LLEN 6IRGINIA /FlCE s &AX s WWW STPETERBAPTIST NET

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WEDNESDAYS 6:00 p.m. ..... Prayer Service 6:30 p.m. ..... Bible Study (Stir Up the Gifts)

THURSDAYS 1:30 p.m.

Bible Study

Dr. Robert L. Pettis, Sr., Pastor

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Sunday Service 10 a.m.

Church School 8:45 a.m.

Wednesday Bible Study 7p.m.

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Sunday, February 9, 2020 4:00 PM Anniversary E.L. Fleming Gospel Chorus Twitter sixthbaptistrva

Rev. Dr. Yvonne Jones Bibbs, Pastor

2006 Decatur Street Richmond, VA 23224 zbcoffice@verizon.net

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Rev. Dr. Paul A. Coles, Pastor

8:30 a.m. ....Sunday School 10:00 a.m. ...Morning Worship

Zion Baptist Church

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500 E. Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222 www.sharonbaptistchurchrichmond.org (804) 643-3825

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020

racist assumptions about sharing power can be and often are still in effect. “You can have diversity and still have white supremacy,� said Dr. Edwards, author of “The Elusive Dream: The Power of Race in Interracial Churches.� “It’s very hard emotionally and spiritually. So we have to be very honest about what it’s doing to people’s souls being in environments that said one thing and in reality living out another.�

Leaders and observers of multiracial churches said the congregations go through stages. In tense times, some will have members walk out while others lean in. Disagreements can sprout up about race, politics or music. Some congregations can’t bridge these divides and close.

But others survive and grow, said the Rev. Corey J. Hodges, the Salt Lake City pastor who talked at Mosaix about grappling with how to address national racial Rev. Mingo tensions with his congregation. He said he’s grateful for the variety of perspectives that homogenous congregations never hear.

Though his church life has been “stressful,� he said in an interview, “I’m OK with that because that pain is a part of the growth.�

For others, national discussions about race present opportunities. A former defensive back for the Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers football teams, the Rev. Derwin Gray now leads Transformation Church in Indian Land, S.C., where he said the congregation is about 58 percent Caucasian and 35 percent African-American.

His sermon on the Kaepernick kneeling controversy focused on his own “hurt� that some Christians didn’t think players should kneel at the national anthem. The gesture was an attempt at “protesting injustice so America could live up to her ideal.� Such a sermon about the need to care about others’ concerns “isn’t unusual� at his nondenominational church, said Rev. Gray, who is African-American. “My point was that as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to, as Philippians 2:4 says, consider others better than ourselves. So what hurts you should hurt me and what hurts me should hurt you.� Matthew J. Cressler contributed to this report.

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“The Church With A Welcome�

Theme for 2018-2020: Mobilizing For Ministry Refreshing The Old and Emerging The New We Embrace Diversity — Love For All! A 21st Century Church With Ministry For Everyone

they are often valued neither by their home churches predominated by their own racial/ethnic group nor by white people in the multiethnic churches they now lead. “You’re first dismissed and then you are dissed.

You’re not included in white circles as peers or you’re not included in white circles as a leader; you’re not respected as a leader,� Dr. Edwards said in a workshop she led at November’s Mosaix conference. “In these interviews, people have talked about depression. They’ve talked about nervous breakdowns. They’ve talked about how difficult and how painful it is.�

Dr. Edwards cited one African-American pastor of a multiethnic United Methodist church on the West Coast who said he wondered at times if a problem he faced was racism or ignorance. An Asian-American pastor who planted a multiracial Southern Baptist church Dr. Edwards in the Northeast described his trepidation about discussing the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed young black man, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. A recent Faith, Race & Politics conference convened by Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute gathered faith, community and thought leaders in Cincinnati to learn from the experience of a local multisite megachurch that is about 82 percent Caucasian. The Rev. Chuck Mingo, the black pastor of one of Crossroads’ 13 campuses, said Dr. Edwards describes “people like me.� “It would be nice to have some weekends where I could just fully express my feeling about what’s going on in the world without having to put it through 80 different filters of how I might communicate that in a way that doesn’t unnecessarily alienate people,� Rev. Mingo said, sitting next to Crossroads’ white senior pastor, Brian Tome. Though Rev. Mingo said he sometime senses a lack of trust from some African-Americans he meets outside Cincinnati who learn of his role, he added that he takes comfort in knowing other “estranged pioneers.�

Dr. Edwards, in an interview, said that being part of a multiracial church does not automatically presume an openness to discussions of race, and

Thirty-first Street Baptist Church

ance with Reverence Relev

It’s All About Jesus! in g nCelebrating

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Dr. Alvin Campbell, Interim Pastor

If you want to celebrate the Lord info us to share your gift

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SUNDAYS

Church School 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship 10:30 a.m. â?–

WEDNESDAYS Bible Study 7:00 p.m. â?–

THIRD SUNDAY 10:30 a.m.

Children’s Church Higher Achievement 823 North 31st Street Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 226-0150 Office

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Transportation Services (804) 859-1985

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“Reclaiming the Lost by Proclaiming the Gospel�

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Ebenezer Baptist Church 1858

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216 W. Leigh St. • Richmond, Va. 23220 Tel: 804-643-3366 • Fax: 804-643-3367 Email: ebcofďŹ ce1@yahoo.com • web: www.richmondebenezer.com Sunday Worship Sunday Church School Service of Holy Communion Service of Baptism Life Application Bible Class Mid-Week Senior Adult Fellowship Wednesday Meditation & Bible Study Homework & Tutoring Scouting Program Thursday Bible Study

11:00 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

Every 3rd Sunday 2nd Sunday, 11 a.m.

Mon. 6:30 p.m.

Tues. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Wed. 6:45 p.m.

Wed. 4:30 p.m.

Wed. 6:00 p.m.

Thurs., 11:45 a.m.

Dr. Wallace J. Cook, Pastor Emeritus

Rev. Dr. James E. Leary, Interim Pastor

Richmond Free Press

January 23-25, 2020

B5

Obituary/Faith News/Directory

Dr. Willie Woodson comes out of retirement to lead new congregation

Howard E. Fitts Sr., former president of Robinson-Harris & Co., dies at 95 For more than 40 years, Howard E. Fitts Sr. was a key figure in buying and selling property in Richmond.

As president of Robinson-Harris & Co., he led the oldest and one of the largest African-American-owned real estate companies in the Richmond area.

Mr. Fitts’ role in business is being remembered following his death Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. He was 95.

Family and friends celebrated his life at a service Jan. 15 at Scott’s Funeral Home Chapel in North Side.

A native of Henderson, N.C., Mr. Fitts served in the Navy during World War II. He came to Richmond to work at the Defense General Supply Center after graduating from Howard University.

Seeking more independence, he earned his real estate license and left the military supply complex at Bellwood after 20 years

to join Matthew J. Robinson Realty.

After learning the business, he started his own company, Fitts Realty in 1974.

He later joined J. Reginald Harris from whom he bought the venerable real estate company that dates to 1914 and lists businesswoman Maggie L. Walker, tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and newspaper editor John Mitchell Jr. among its clients.

Mr. Fitts remained active with RobinsonHarris until he was 90, although he earlier sold the business to A. Terry Crawley, who, before his 2018 death, sold it to United Real Estate Richmond, which continues to operate it under the Robinson-Harris banner.

Outside of real estate, Mr. Fitts was a mason at Mocha Temple No. 7 and active in First United Presbyterian Church in North Side, where he served as a deacon

Mr. Fitts

and treasurer.

He also served for years on the boards of the Heart of Virginia Boy Scouts Council and the Metropolitan Business League.

He served briefly on the board of the Richmond Association of Realtors and was involved in planning and purchasing for Richmond Community Hospital before its sale to Bon Secours, his family said.

Mr. Fitts played the trumpet and was an avid amateur photographer.

Survivors include his wife of 68 years, Willie G. Fitts; a son, Howard E. Fitts Jr.; three daughters, Sandra F. Grooms, Deborah A. Pope and Precious L. Turner; nine grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Dr. Willie Woodson has come out of retirement to take another pulpit.

The former pastor of First United Presbyterian Church is now pastor of Trinity Ghanaian Presbyterian Church, which serves families who emigrated to Richmond from the African nation and others.

The fledgling church uses space at Tuckahoe Presbyterian Church in Henrico County.

Dr. Woodson Dr. Woodson, 70, retired from First United Presbyterian in North Side in 2014 after 26 years.

At the time he left, he planned to focus on educating people about evangelism.

He could not be reached for comment on his new post, which he listed in serving as a eulogist for a longtime member of his former church.

He earned master’s degrees in ministry and Christian education from Virginia Union University and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education and a doctorate from Union Theological Seminary.

Trump pledges to prevent ‘unacceptable’ repression of school prayer

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service

WASHINGTON President Trump, surrounded by schoolchildren of a variety of faiths, announced what he called “historic steps to protect the First Amendment right to pray in the public schools.”

Within hours of senators being sworn in for President Trump’s impeachment trial, the president and nine federal agencies on Jan. 16 made moves they said would support the rights of religious people, including students who report their freedom to pray has been violated.

“In public schools around the country, authorities are stopping students and teachers from praying, sharing their faith or following their religious beliefs,” said President Trump, sitting behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office in an event carried online via CSPAN. “It is totally unacceptable. You see it on the football field. You see it so many times where they’re stopped from praying, and we are doing something to stop that.”

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, standing near the president, said her department’s new guidelines, which highlight “constitutionally protected prayer,” require state agencies to inform it when complaints are filed about limitations to the free exercise of religion.

“Too many misinterpret a separation of church and state as an invitation for government to separate people from their faith,” Ms. DeVos said. “In reality, our Constitution doesn’t exist to protect us from religion; it exists to protect religion from government.”

Daniel Mach, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, said the Education Department’s guidance about school prayer is very similar to language that has been in place since 2003 when issued by then-President George W. Bush.

“Importantly, both the Bush guidance and the copycat document released today affirm a core constitutional protection: School officials are prohibited from imposing their faith on students,” Mr. Mach said.

“The question, as always, is whether public-school officials will heed this warning. If they don’t, we’ll be there, as always, to correct them — and

Looking for a welcoming place to worship this week?

Stop by & see what God is up to at MMBC. Weekly Worship: Sundays @ 10:30 A.M. Church School: Sundays @ 9:00 A.M. Bible Study: Wednesdays @ Noon & 6:30 P.M.

2901 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Richmond, VA 23223 (804) 648-2472 ~ www.mmbcrva.org Dr. Price London Davis, Senior Pastor

174 Church

Upcoming Events Weekly Worship: Sundays 10:30the A.M. th “I refuse to@accept view that manki School: Sundays @ 9:00 A.M.

13800 Westfield Road Church Midlothian, VA 23113 Bible Study: 804-794-5583 www.fbcm1846.org

bound to@the starless of racism Movie at Mosby Wednesdays Noon & 6:30midnight P.M.

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Evan Vucci/Associated Press

President Trump speaks last week during an event on prayer in public schools in the Oval Office of the White House.

if necessary, we’ll see them in court.”

In addition to the school prayer-related announcement, the administration said it had plans to remove the requirement that faith-based social service providers offer a secular alternative to people seeking their assistance.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State said such a rule would hurt many who receive services such as housing assistance, substance abuse treatment and vocational training.

“These rules undermine the civil rights and religious freedom of millions of our most vulnerable Americans who rely on social services — with particularly dire consequences for LGBTQ people and religious minorities,” said Rachel Laser, president and chief executive officer of Americans United. “No one should be denied the help they need because their government-funded provider condemns who they are, who they love or what they believe.”

Melissa Rogers, former head of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, likewise opposed the proposed changes that affect those who could be aided by religious social services.

“You can’t benefit from protections you don’t know you have,” she tweeted. “The religious liberty of social service beneficiaries is as important as the religious liberty of faithbased providers.”

Liberty Counsel, a legal

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"APTIST #HURCH 2604 Idlewood Avenue Richmond, Va. 23220 (804) 353-6135 www.riverviewbaptistch.org Rev. Dr. Stephen L. Hewlett, Pastor Rev. Dr. Ralph Reavis, Sr. Pastor Emeritus

SUNDAY SCHOOL - 9:45 A.M. SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE 11:00 A.M.

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To advertise your church events in the Richmond Free Press call 644-0496

organization focused on religious freedom, affirmed the proposed Department of Justice rules about service providers, saying “they were imposed only on religious social service providers” and “are in opposition with recent Supreme Court precedent regarding nondiscrimination against religious organizations.”

In a case involving Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo., the high court ruled that the church appropriately claimed religious discrimination after it was refused state funds to improve its playground.

The Trump administration’s new guidance and proposals, announced on Religious Freedom Day last week, aim to carry out aspects of the executive order that President Trump signed into law in 2018 to establish the Faith and Opportunity Initiative, a revamping of previous faith-based initiatives under the Bush and Obama administrations. Paula White, who was recently named head

of the initiative, stood alongside the children and cabinet representatives flanking the president at the event.

Students gathered around the Oval Office desk shared stories of being told to hide when they wanted to pray during non-instructional time, and being bullied for discussing their observance of the Jewish Sabbath or wearing a hijab as a Muslim practice.

Johnnie Moore, who has served as an unofficial evangelical adviser to the Trump administration, was among conservative Christians welcoming the developments.

“The White House isn’t saying whether one should pray or to whom or what they should pray to,” he said in a statement.

“They are simply making it clear that in the United States, students have First Amendment rights also, and our ‘separation of church and state’ wasn’t intended to suppress a vibrant religious life in America but to facilitate it.”

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Calendar at www.mm

REV. PERNELL J. JOHNSON, PASTOR

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2020

11:00 AMArts - 2 PM Reception MMBC Creative Ministry Displays, Presentations, Fellowship

Presents Light Refreshments

That Christmas SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2020

Dessert Theater 11:00 AM Anniversary Service Saturday, December 21, 2019@ 4:00P.M. Guest Speaker:

Delegate Delores L. McQuinn Virginia House of Delegates Dinner After Service

New Deliverance Evangelistic Church

1701 Turner Road, North Chesterfield, Virginia 23225 (804) 276-0791 office (804)276-5272 fax www.ndec.net

24th Founders’ and Church Anniversary

Good Shepherd Baptist Church 1127 North 28th St., Richmond, VA 23223-6624 s Office: (804) 644-1402 Dr. Sylvester T. Smith, Pastor “There’s A Place for You”

Bishop G. O. Glenn

Tuesday Sunday 10:30 AM Bible Study 9:30 AM Church School 6:30 PM Church-wide Bible Study 11:00 AM Worship Service 6:30 PM Men's Bible Study (Each 2nd and 4th) (Holy Communion Thursday each 2nd Sunday) Wednesday (Following 2nd Sunday) 6:30 PM Prayer Meeting

11:00 AM Mid-day Meditation

D. Min., Pastor

Mother Marcietia S. Glenn First Lady

SUNDAY 8:00 a.m. Sunday School 9:00 a.m. Worship Service

WEDNESDAY SERVICES

Broad Rock Baptist Church 5106 Walmsley Blvd., Richmond, VA 23224 804-276-2740 • 804-276-6535 (fax) www.BRBCONLINE.org

Early Morning Worship ~ 8 a.m.

Sunday School ~ 9:30 a.m.

Morning Worship ~ 11 a.m.

4th Sunday Unified Worship Service ~ 9:30 a.m.

Bible Study: Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Sermons Available at BRBCONLINE.org

“MAKE IT HAPPEN” Pastor Kevin Cook

Friday, January 24, 2020 7:30 P.M. Sunday, January 26, 2020 9:00 A.M

Tune in on Sunday Morning to WTVR - Channel 6 - 8:30 a.m.

Noonday Bible Study 12:00 p.m. (Noon) Sanctuary - All Are Welcome!

Wednesday Evening Bible Study 7:00 p.m. (Bible Study)

CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (NDCA)

SATURDAY

Accepting applications for children 2 yrs. old to 5th Grade

8:30 a.m. Intercessory Prayer

You can now view Sunday Morning Service “AS IT HAPPENS” online!

Also, for your convenience, we now offer “full online giving.”

Visit www.ndec.net.

ENROLL NOW!!!

Our NDCA curriculum also consists of a Before and After program.

Now Enrolling for our Nursery Ages 6 weeks - 2yrs. old.

For more information Please call (804) 276-4433 Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm

A N

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B6

Richmond Free Press

January 23-25, 2020

Legal Notices/Employment Opportunities City of Richmond, Virginia CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given that the City of Richmond Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing, open to all interested citizens, on Monday, February 3, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. in the Fifth Floor Conference Room of City Hall and the Council of the City of Richmond has scheduled a public hearing on Monday, February 10, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber on the Second Floor of City Hall, located at 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, to consider the following ordinances: Ordinance No. 2020-015 To authorize the special use of the property known as 1018 North 32nd Street for the purpose of a twofamily detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in an R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District. The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates a future land use category for the subject property as single‑family medium density. Primary uses are single‑family and two‑family dwellings, both detached and attached, at densities between 8‑20 units per acre. The proposed density of the project is approximately 30 units per acre.

Ordinance No. 2020-016 To authorize the special use of the property known as 1121 North 20th Street for the purpose of up to five single-family attached dwellings, upon certain terms and conditions.

The property is situated in an R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District. The City of Richmond’s current Master Plan designates a land use category for the subject property as Single Family Medium Density. Primary uses are single-family and two-family dwellings, both detached and attached, at densities of 8 to 20 units per acre. The density of the proposed development would be approximately 29 units per acre.

Ordinance No. 2020-017 To authorize the special use of the property known as 1512 North 23rd Street for the purpose of two single-family detached dwellings, upon certain terms and conditions.

The property is situated in an R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District. The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates a future land use category for the subject property as single‑family medium density. Primary uses are single‑family and two‑family dwellings, both detached and attached, at densities between 8‑20 units per acre. The proposed density of the project is approximately 13 units per acre.

Ordinance No. 2020-018 To authorize the special use of the properties known as 2615 West Cary Street, 2617 West Cary Street, and 2619 West Cary Street for the purpose of tourist homes, upon certain terms and conditions. The properties are situated in a B-6 MixedUse Business District. The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates a future land use category for the subject properties as Community Commercial.

Primary uses include office, retail, personal service and other commercial and service uses.

Ordinance No. 2020-019 To authorize the special use of the properties known as 3019 Grayland Avenue and 3021 Grayland Avenue for the purpose of two single-family detached dwellings and two singlefamily attached dwellings, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is located in the R-5 SingleFamily Residential District.

The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates a future land use category for the subject property as Single Family Low Density. Primary uses for this category include single family detached dwellings at densities up to seven units per acre. The density of the proposed project is approximately 18 units per acre.

Ordinance No. 2020-020 To authorize the special use of the property known as 3615 East Broad Street for the purpose of a single-family detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions.

The subject property is located in the R‑8 Urban Residential District. The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates a future land use category for the subject property as single‑family medium density. Primary uses are single‑family and two‑family dwellings, both detached and attached, at densities between 8‑20 units per acre. The density of the project is approximately 10 units per acre.

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Continued from previous column

Ordinance No. 2020-021 To authorize the special use of the property known as 4647 Arrowhead Road for the purpose of a wildlife rehabilitation facility accessory to a singlefamily detached dwelling, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in an R-2 SingleFamily Residential District.

The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates the subject property for Single‑Family (Low Density) uses. Primary use is single‑family detached dwellings at densities up to seven units per acre. Includes residential support uses such as schools, places of worship, neighborhood parks and recreation facilities, and limited public and semi‑public uses.

ONASSIS ADDO, Defendant.

Case No.: CL120000214-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, whose whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 9th day of March, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

Asset Disposition Group, 3600 Deepwater Terminal Road, Richmond, Virginia on Wednesday February 19, 2020 at 2:00 pm, or as soon thereafter as may be effected. The sale is subject to the terms and conditions below and any other terms and conditions which may be announced on the day of auction. Announcements made on the day of the auction take precedence over any prior written or verbal terms of sale.

CL19-184 4509 West Broad Street W0002034002 City of Richmond v. W. Broad St. Bankruptcy Bldg. et. al.

CL19-1263 1411 Brookland Parkway N0001222006 City of Richmond v. Terry L. Parrott, et. al.

CL19-1002 3216 Carolina Avenue N0001157005 City of Richmond v.

Maureen Morales, Trustee, et. al.

CL19-2584 3212 Cliff Avenue N0001140023 City of Richmond v. Richard E. Souels, et. al.

CL18-962 2411 Coles Street S0090065019 City of Richmond v. Rosa Westry, et. al CL19-3992 4025 Crutchfield Street S0002917030 City of Richmond v. Edwin Maurice Beane, et. al.

CL19-3480 1917 Decatur Street S0000294025 City of Richmond v. Genesis Capital Corporation, et. al.

CL19-148 2401 Decatur Street S0000681018 City of Richmond v. Dawn G. Johnson, et. al.

CL19-575 2663 Decatur Street S0000905016 City of Richmond v.

Thomas T. Bailey, et. al.

CL19-1004 306 Deter Road C0050885002 City of Richmond v. Paul Harding, et. al.

CL19-4687 3349 Dill Avenue N0051182031 City of Richmond v.

Constance M. Vowell, et. al.

CL19-3921 1507 Drewry Street S0071282008 City of Richmond v. Daniel Harris, Jr., et. al.

CL19-461 3700 Dunston Avenue S0002468012 City of Richmond v. Aaliyah T. Kilpatrick, et. al.

CL18-6029 2016 Edwards Avenue S0000457001 City of Richmond v. Charlie A. Anderson, Jr., et. al.

CL19-1760 2111 Edwards Avenue S0000398016 City of Richmond v. Ruth M. Pinkston, et. al.

CL18-6027 3211 Enslow Avenue N0001061015 City of Richmond v. Rosa Bell Worsham, et. al.

CL19-4295 3521 Enslow Avenue N0001172023 City of Richmond v. Ernest Miles, et. al.

CL19-48 1709 Everett Street S0000235018 City of Richmond v. Cheryl T. Carter, et. al.

CL19-2585 2204 Fairmount Avenue E0000616016 City of Richmond v.

Matthew J. Davis, et. al.

CL18-5416 4324 Ferguson Lane C0080430024 City of Richmond v. Antoine E. Green, et. al.

CL18-4804 3515 Florida Avenue N0001266018 City of Richmond v. Calvin Artis, et. al.

CL19-61 3521 Florida Avenue N0001266022 City of Richmond v. Lucy N. Dark, et. al.

CL19-4511 2705 Garland Avenue N0000703019 City of Richmond v. Valorie P. Watkins, et. al.

CL19-801 2715 Garland Avenue N0000703022 City of Richmond v. Valorie P. Watkins, et. al.

CL19-802 2319 Gordon Avenue S0000550015 City of Richmond v. George L. Morris, et. al.

CL18-5672 2500 Gravel Hill Road C0040826026 City of Richmond v.

Hampton White, et. al.

CL19-643 2510 Gravel Hill Road Rear C0040826024 City of Richmond v. Myrtle G. White, et. al.

CL19-928 1006 Halsey Lane C0050685016 City of Richmond v. Robert Santiago, et. al.

CL19-1786 1010 Holly Spring Avenue S0071016011 City of Richmond v. Holly Spring, Inc., et. al.

CL19-4567 3402 Hull Street S0002453007 City of Richmond v. JMJ Properties, Inc., et. al.

CL19-1384 3620 Iron Bridge Road C0081065004 City of Richmond v. Diana Metzger Brooke, et. al.

CL19-1356 2115 Keswick Avenue S0071030029 City of Richmond v. Erik S. Dowdye, et. al.

CL18-5840 4704 King William Road S0060246024 City of Richmond v. R. Hugh Rudd, Trustee, et. al.

CL19-1264 2900 Krouse Street S0080527053 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2902 Krouse Street S0080527054 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237

2904 Krouse Street S0080527055 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2906 Krouse Street S0080527056 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2908 Krouse Street S0080527057 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2910 Krouse Street S0080527058 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2912 Krouse Street S0080527059 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2914 Krouse Street S0080527060 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2916 Krouse Street S0080527061 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 2101 Lumkin Avenue S0080527062 City of Richmond v. Krouse, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4237 3017 Krouse Street S0080562030 City of Richmond v. Lillian I. Lewis, et. al.

CL19-3003 2508 Lamberts Avenue S0080814010 City of Richmond v. Temple M. Turner, et. al.

CL18-5669 2508 ½ Lamberts Avenue S0080814009 City of Richmond v. Temple M. Turner, et. al.

CL18-5670 3704 Lawson Street S0002905010 City of Richmond v.

Alpheus Jones, et. al.

CL19-3439 17 West Leigh Street N0000102005 City of Richmond v. Zena Herring-Rose, et. al.

CL19-3275 2312 Lumkin Avenue S0080525010 City of Richmond v.

Newstart Properties, LLC, et. al.

CL17-4762 2320 East Marshall Street E0000296013 City of Richmond v. Ridge Point Real Estate, et. al.

CL19-46 414 Marx Street S0000320001 City of Richmond v. Edgar A. Talbott, et. al.

CL19-4730 3132 Maurice Avenue C0090252054 City of Richmond v. Wilber F. Jamerson, et. al.

CL19-3197 1414 Melton Avenue E0001102020 City of Richmond v.

Recharde Goodwyn, et. al.

CL19-1591 2829 Midlothian Turnpike S0000911065 City of Richmond v. Lelia Scott, et. al.

CL19-3890 3000 Midlothian Turnpike S0001345008 City of Richmond v. Cliff Eugene Taylor, et. al.

CL18-6264 3709 Midlothian Turnpike S0002466036 City of Richmond v.

Thomas M. Jackson, III, et. al.

CL19-60 1009 Nelson Street E0100072006 City of Richmond v. Samuel W. Hargrove, et. al.

CL18-3564 1302 Nelwood Drive E0002402017 City of Richmond v. Ron D. Gentry, et. al.

CL19-3002 2620 Newbourne Street E0120318013 City of Richmond v. Robert W. Moore, et. al.

CL19-449 2700 North Avenue N0000703010 City of Richmond v. Valorie P. Watkins, et. al.

CL19-803 2706 North Avenue N0000703009 City of Richmond v. Valorie P. Watkins, et. al.

CL19-804 908 ½ Parrish Street W0200061026 City of Richmond v. Lerlean W. Taylor, et. al.

CL19-319

910 Parrish Street W0200061025 City of Richmond v. Lerlean W. Taylor, et. al.

CL19-318 427 South Pine Street W0000120027 City of Richmond v. E. Kelley Lane, II, et. al.

CL19-4893 429 South Pine Street W0000120026 City of Richmond v. E. Kelley Lane, II, et. al.

CL19-4894 8 South Plum Street Rear W0000604055 City of Richmond v. Michael T. Willis, et. al.

CL19-3924 625 Pollock Street N0001261013 City of Richmond v.

Leonard A. Taylor, Sr., et. al.

CL19-3915 2501 Porter Street S0000696012 City of Richmond v.

Beatrice Taylor, et. al.

CL18-5438 2509 Porter Street S0000696016 City of Richmond v. Evelyn C. Brown, et. al.

CL18-5258 2506 R Street E0000561018 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et. al.

CL19-609 2021 Roane Street N0000399001 City of Richmond v. Access Regional Taskforce, Inc., et. al.

CL19-1729 2112 Rosewood Avenue W0000937024 City of Richmond v.

Barbara Williams Coney, et. al.

CL19-1764 5205 Salem Street E0100107004 City of Richmond v. Ellis Investment Group, et. al.

CL19-3801 5207 Salem Street E0100107005 City of Richmond v. Ellis Investment Group, et. al.

CL19-3800 2105 Selden Street E0120286003 City of Richmond v. Delmar Ventures, Inc., et. al.

CL18-6263 1716 Southampton Avenue W0000702018 City of Richmond v.

Taranda Mosley, et. al.

CL19-3995 2928 Springview Drive C0090622032 City of Richmond v. Jason Roane, et. al.

CL18-6376 2208 Terminal Avenue S0080562003 City of Richmond v. Henry A. Staples, et. al.

CL19-183 3807 Terminal Avenue C0090557018 City of Richmond v. John F. Finn, et. al.

CL18-5415 3617 Wainfleet Drive C0010914020 City of Richmond v.

Raymond B. Bentley, Jr., et. al.

CL19-1970 5601 Wainwright Drive C0050719002 City of Richmond v. John J. Riemann, et. al.

CL19-170 205 Wickham Street N0000446019 City of Richmond v. Lelia Scott, et. al.

CL18-5834

TERMS OF SALE: All sales are subject to confirmation by the Richmond Circuit Court. The purchase price will include the winning bid plus 10% of the winning bid.

High bidders will pay at the time of the auction a deposit of at least 20% of the purchase price, or $2500.00, whichever is greater. If the purchase price is under $2500.00, high bidders will pay in full at the time of the auction. High bidders will pay the balance of the purchase price to the Special Commissioner, and deed recordation costs, by a date and in a form as stated in a settlement instruction letter. Time is of the essence.

If a high bidder defaults by not making these payments in full, on time, and in the required form, the Special Commissioner will retain the deposit, and may seek other remedies to include the cost of resale or any resulting deficiency. Settlement shall occur when the Richmond Circuit Court enters an Order of Confirmation. Conveyance shall be either by a special commissioner’s deed or a special warranty deed. Real estate taxes will be adjusted as of the date of entry for the Order of Confirmation.

Properties are sold “as is” without any representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, subject to the rights of any person in possession, and to all easements, liens, covenants, defects, encumbrances, adverse claims, conditions and restrictions, whether filed or inchoate, to include any information a survey or inspection of a property may disclose. It is assumed that bidders will make a visual exterior inspection of a property within the limits of the law, determine the suitability of a property for their purposes, and otherwise perform due diligence prior to the auction.

T h e S p e c i a l Commissioner’s acceptance of a bid shall not limit any powers vested in the City of Richmond. Additional terms may be announced at the time of sale. Individuals owing delinquent taxes to the City of Richmond, and defendants in pending delinquent tax cases, are not qualified to bid at this auction. Bidders must certify by affidavit that they do not own, directly or indirectly, any real estate with outstanding notices of violation for building, zoning or other local ordinances.

Questions may be directed to Gregory A. Lukanuski at greg.lukanuski @richmondgov.com (804) 646-7949, or to Christie Hamlin at christie.hamlin@ richmondgov.com / (804) 646-6940.

Gregory A. Lukanuski Deputy City Attorney Special Commissioner 900 East Broad Street, Room 400 Richmond, Virginia 23219

Ordinance No. 2020-022 To authorize the special use of the property known as 815 North 33rd Street for the purpose of up to four single-family attached dwellings, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in an R-6 Single-Family Attached Residential District. The City of Richmond’s current Master Plan designates the subject property for Single Family Medium Density land use. Primary uses are single family and two family dwellings, both detached and attached, at densities of 8 to 20 units per acre. The proposed density of the project is approximately 20 units per acre.

Ordinance No. 2020-023 To authorize the special use of the property known as 821 North 25th Street for the purpose of a multifamily dwelling containing up to three live/ work units, upon certain terms and conditions. The property is situated in an R-63 Multifamily Urban Residential District. The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates a future land use category for the subject property as Mixed Use Residential. Primary uses include single-family, two-family, and multifamily dwellings, live/work units and neighborhood serving commercial uses developed in a traditional urban form. No residential density is specified for this land use category.

Ordinance No. 2020-024 To authorize the special use of the property known as 8764 West Huguenot Road for the purpose of two automated teller machines as accessory uses to an existing convenience store and automobile service station, upon certain terms and conditions.

The property is situated in a B-2 Community Business District. The City of Richmond’s Master Plan designates a future land use category for the subject property as Single-Family Low Density. Primary use is single-family detached dwellings at densities up to seven units per acre. Includes residential support uses such as schools, places of worship, neighborhood parks and recreation facilities, and limited public and semipublic uses.

Interested citizens who wish to speak will be given an opportunity to do so.

Copies of the full text of all ordinances are available by visiting the City Clerk’s page on the City’s Website at www.Richmondgov. com and in the Office of the City Clerk, City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23219, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Candice D. Reid City Clerk

Divorce VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER VILMA POSAS MARTINEZ Plaintiff v.

ARTURO SOBRINO ORTIZ, Defendant.

Case No.: CL120000212-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, whose whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 9th day of March, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER FABIENNE KEBREAU Plaintiff v.

BERNARD DEJEAN, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19003925-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of this suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the defendant on the ground of living separate and apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for a period exceeding twelve months.

It is ORDERED that the defendant, whose whereabouts are unknown, appear here on or before the 24th day of February, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. and protect his interests.

A Copy, Teste: FRANK D. HARGROVE, JR., Clerk I ask for this: Law Office of Dorothy M. Eure, P.C. Dorothy M. Eure, Plaintiff’s Attorney VSB# 27724 8460 Mount Eagle Road Ashland, VA 23005 (804) 798-9667 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE COUNTY OF HENRICO KRISTY LORAINE JENKINS Plaintiff, v.

DAVID LAMON JENKINS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL19-6498-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

Came this day the Plaintiff, upon her Complaint for divorce filed in the abovestyled case and her Affidavit for Order of Publication for service of the Complaint on the Defendant. The object of this suit is to put the Defendant on notice of the Plaintiff’s Complaint for divorce in the above-styled case.

It appearing from Plaintiff’s Affidavit that due diligence has been used without effect to ascertain the location of the Defendant and that the Defendant’s whereabouts are unknown, it is ORDERED that the Defendant is required to appear before this Court on or before March 2, 2020 at 9 a.m. to protect his interests.

An Extract Teste: Heidi S. Barshinger, Clerk Benjamin R. Rand, Esquire Blackburn, Conte, Schilling & Click, P.C. 300 West Main Street Richmond, Virginia 23220 (804) 782-1111 VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HENRICO DIEGO RIVOLLI RODRIGUES Plaintiff, v.

GILVANE BATISTA DOS SANTOS, Defendant.

Case No.: CL17004976-00 ORDER OF PUBLICATION

The object of the abovestyled suit is to obtain a divorce from the bond of matrimony from the Defendant on the grounds that the parties have lived separate and apart, without any cohabitation and without any interruption, for a period of more than one year.

It appearing by affidavit filed according to law that the Defendant, GILVANE BATISTA DOS SANTOS, is not a resident of the State of Virginia and that her last known address is not within the United States, it is therefore ORDERED that Defendant, GILVANE BATISTA DOS SANTOS, appear before this Court on or before the 11th day of February, 2020, and do what is necessary to protect her interests in this suit.

An Extract Teste: Heidi S. Barshinger, Clerk Mary P. Adams, Esquire Hairfield Morton, P.L.C. 2800 Buford Road, Suite 201 Richmond, Virginia 23235 (804) 320-6600

PROPERTY NOTICE OF PUBLIC AUCTION SPECIAL COMMISSIONER’S SALE OF REAL ESTATE RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA: IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE COUNTY OF HANOVER PAMELA SABWALAL Plaintiff v.

Pursuant to the terms of Orders of Sale entered in the Richmond Circuit Court, the undersigned Special Commissioner will offer the following real estate for sale at public auction at Motleys

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3118 4th Avenue N0000997017 City of Richmond v.

Anthony Johnson, et. al.

CL18-6024 119 East 15th Street S0000193015 City of Richmond v. Howard A. Harris, et. al.

CL19-317 1130 East 15th Street S0000636016 City of Richmond v. Donnell Seward, et. al CL19-3392 127 East 20th Street S0000353024 City of Richmond v. Lula P. Hudson, LLC, et. al.

CL19-4293 120 East 21st Street S0000353029 City of Richmond v.

Vernelle Cheatham, et. al.

CL19-574 1800 North 21st Street E0001078007 City of Richmond v. George Sutton, et. al CL19-3776 1312 North 22nd Street E0000615006 City of Richmond v. Leroy Brown, et. al.

CL19-3889 1205 North 25th Street E0000561021 City of Richmond v. Thelma Crawley, et. al.

CL19-576 1207 North 25th Street E0000561022 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et. al.

CL19-656 1207 North 25th Street Rear E0000561035 City of Richmond v. Lewis C. Dockery, Jr., et. al.

CL19-1027 1209 North 25th Street E0000561023 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-814 1211 North 25th Street E0000561024 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-657 1215 North 25th Street E0000561026 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-815 1217 North 25th Street E0000561027 City of Richmond v. Parties Unknown CL19-1322 1219 ½ North 25th Street E0000561028 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-800 1112 North 26th Street E0000519007 City of Richmond v.

Douglas E. Plymouth, et.al.

CL18-5838 1200 North 26th Street E0000561015 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-603 1202 North 26th Street E0000561014 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-604 1206 North 26th Street E0000561012 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-605 1208 North 26th Street E0000561011 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-606 1210 North 26th Street E0000561010 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-630 1212 North 26th Street E0000561008 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-607 1220 North 26th Street E0000561006 City of Richmond v. Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, et.al.

CL19-608 1220 North 27th Street E0000562003 City of Richmond v. Robert Santiago, et.al.

CL19-996 1616 North 28th Street E0000864021 City of Richmond v.

Gwendolyn Plymouth, et. al.

CL18-6110 1816 North 30th Street E0000952012 City of Richmond v. Seklaw Enterprises, LLC, et. al.

CL19-3195 1115 North 32nd Street E0000803028 City of Richmond v. Gabby Homes, LLC, et. al.

CL18-5709 1607 Albany Avenue S0000231014 City of Richmond v. Carl E. Burnett, et. al.

CL19-3862 2001 Albany Avenue S0000349008 City of Richmond v. Booker T. Ellis, et. al.

CL19-579 5216 Beddington Rod C0081182021 City of Richmond v. James Edward Sheffield, et. al.

CL19-3863 1601 Boston Avenue S0000286010 City of Richmond v. Ruth B. Wright, et. al.

CL19-348 1412 Bowen Street S0071233009 City of Richmond v.

Advanta E. Johnson, et. al.

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To advertise in the

Richmond Free Press

call 644-0496

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Thank you for your interest in applying for opportunities with The City of Richmond.

To see what opportunities are available, please refer to our website at www.richmondgov.com.

EOE M/F/D/V

Director of Accounting Chester�ield County, Virginia (Richmond-Metro Area), a recognized leader and award-winning local government, is seeking an innovative, innovative and forward-thinking leader who will lead, plan, direct and oversee the Department of Accounting.

To review the recruitment pro�ile and application instructions, click the link Director of Accounting or visit http://www.chester�ield.gov/careers/. The deadline to apply is January 23, 2020 at 5 p.m.

An Equal Opportunity Employer Committed to Workforce Diversity

PUBLIC MEETING CDBG, HOME, ESG and HOPWA Funds The City of Richmond is seeking comments from residents and interested parties on affordable housing and non-housing community development needs within the city. These comments will be used to shape funding priorities and decisions, and in the preparation of Richmond’s Annual Action Plan for federal entitlement funds for the program year which begins July 1, 2020. The City will submit its Annual Action Plan to the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership (HOME), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) funds. All funds shall directly benefit residents of the City of Richmond, except for HOPWA funds, which the City administers for the entire Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The Richmond Department of Housing and Community Development will hold a series of public meetings to receive comments.

• East District Center – Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm 701 North 25th Street, Richmond, VA 23223 (GRTC Routes 7, 12) • Southside Community Services Center – Thursday, February 13, 2020, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Rooms E-F, 4100 Hull Street Road, Richmond, VA 23224 (GRTC Routes 1, 2, 20) Written comments may be submitted to 1500 E. Main Street, Suite 400, Richmond, VA 23219, or by email to james.hill@richmondgov.com, no later than Friday, February 21, 2020.

For questions about the meeting, call 804-646-4078. The City of Richmond does not discriminate on the basis of disability status in the admission or access to, or treatment in, its federally assisted programs or activities. Virginia Relay Center – TDD users dial 711.