Change Agents

Rev. Ben Campbell | Author and civil rights activist

The last 40 years have witnessed the change from a more traditional Richmond to a modern RVA. That’s two generations worth of change. Digital communications are the norm, the energy of generations. Race is still a major issue – and the economic purgatory of the city that a racially punitive General Assembly wrought when Black leadership took over continues to cripple our development. But we are a more racially mixed metro community. The economy has opened up to new firms and new leadership. And the counties, not the center city, are the economic center.

Style Weekly heralded, and chronicled, the arrival of the new Richmond: less traditional, more inclusive, full of art and creativity, and accessible regardless of family heritage. There was a spirit there of inclusiveness and possibility, a sense that we were in fact a part of the modern world. The format itself had depth and strength – and warmth. Media describe to us the world we live and act in. Style gave a more modern, and more accurate picture of RVA. At best, it told the truths that were not otherwise being told. And partially as a result of Style’s civic portrait, two generations were able to bring modern RVA into being.