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Vol. 28 No. 21 (2179 Edition)

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May 14 - 20, 2014

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Local resident calls for strategic plan from city’s leadership

By Sylvina Poole A concerned resident in the city’s 7th District is voicing his concern over what he calls a lack of an overall strategic plan for the future of Richmond.

Rick Tatnall, with Repllenish Richmond, is calling on the Richmond City Council and the city administration to ‘practice what they preach’ while demanding solutions from Richmond Public Schools and other agencies.

“As a strategic planner, I appreciate city

council’s desire for the Richmond school district to offer a plan of improvement that will help to guide future funding and I am confident that the school board and Superintendent [Dana] Bedden also desire a detailed strategic plan and are currently working on the creation of said plan,” stated Tatnall in a letter to community leaders.

“I think that council should back off and let the school system finish what it has started,” said Tatnall.

He pointed out that Council’s request for a strategic plan for the schools begs the larger question of why council does not have its own plan of improvement for the city?

“Each year, like Bill Murray in ‘Groundhog Day’, council receives a budget from the mayor and does the exact same thing - they add a little to some columns and reduce a little from other columns, with no comprehensive strategic plan to guide those decisions,” said Tatnall.

Newport News set to unveil centerpiece of MLK Plaza

A portion of “The Unfinished March” to be unveiled in Newport News on May 17.

“As a citizen of the city, I propose a resolution that requires city council to submit a strategic plan for the improvement of the city; a plan that can be referred to when qualifying all of their future decisions. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right?”

Tichi Pinkney Eppes, 9th District School Board representative weighed in on Tatnall’s suggestions.

See “ City

plansˮ on pg. 2

The long-awaited centerpiece of Newport News’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza, “The Unfinished March”, a massive bronze bas relief by artist by Ed Hamilton, will be installed this week with a series of activities planned. The activities will culminate with a public unveiling at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 17 at the plaza, Jefferson Avenue and 25th Street.

The sculpture was delivered and installed Tuesday, May 13, just before the Newport News City Council honored Hamilton with a proclamation. Hamilton will be visiting local schools during the week to talk with students about his sculpture and how it relates to Dr. King’s civil rights work.

In addition to remarks by Hamilton and Newport News Mayor McKinley Price, the May 17 program will feature Dr. Richard W. Wills, Sr., of First Baptist Church of Hampton, who previously served as pastor of King’s church in Montgomery, Ala., and has written extensively on King.

The statue will greet visitors to the plaza from its place on a wall built for it and is the visual centerpiece of the plaza design. The front guard of a civil rights march appears to be approaching the visitor. Front and center is King, his foot a beat ahead, his hand reaching out, the leader and visionary. Alongside are figures representing the foot soldiers — men, women and children — who stepped up and stepped out to make his dream a reality.

2 • May 14 - 20, 2014

The Richmond Voice

CJSB designates VCU a “crime prevention campus”

Virginia Commonwealth University is the first public institution of higher education in Virginia to be certified as a crime prevention campus.

VCU Police Chief John Venuti accepted the designation last week from the Virginia Criminal Justice Services Board (CJSB) in Richmond. VCU and the University of Richmond were the first colleges in the state to earn the designation.

Venuti told the CJSB that VCU’s mission is not only to keep students safe, but to instill good safety habits for the rest of their lives. “There really is no better way to do that than with crime prevention,” he said.

As part of the certification process,

an agency must detail crime prevention goals, programs, effectiveness and accomplishments.

A certified crime prevention campus is required to have 11 core safety elements.

Those include having a certified crime prevention specialist on staff, maintaining mutual aid agreements with other agencies, continuing compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Act, having a crisis management plan in place and distributing campus safety information.

The VCU Police Department has extensive community policing initiatives.

Students and staff can exchange basic bike locks for U-locks, register their computers and bikes in case of theft and download

City plans from page 1 “I truly believe it is the desire of the city council members to work collaboratively with the school board members and the mayor as well so that Richmond becomes a ‘Tier I City’,” she said. “My hope is that we each recognize and respect our authorities as constitutionally elected officers to bring about collective change for all.”

Still, Tatnall’s detailed thoughts on strategic planning and the city of Richmond doesn’t spend much time concentrating on strategic planning for Richmond Public Schools because, “I do not believe that RPS can do any real strategic planning until the city governmental leadership including the mayor’s administration and city council defines their strategic plan and where the schools and education fits into that plan,” he said.

“RPS does not control its funding, so it must know the strategic plan and goals and priorities of the funding source, and the amount of funding, before it can devise a strategic plan to meet those goals and priorities.”

Tatnall he has spoken to council members about this matter but specific details have not been discussed.

“I believe a written strategic plan is a required component of any effort if success is a desired result,” said Tatnall. “Strategic planning involves both a top down and a bottom up set of strategies. The top down strategy involves the definition of a specific overarching banner of goals, ideals, destinations or the like – these are the whys of the strategic plan. The whys

Rick Tatnall

are the spiritual ‘big picture’ reasons that the effort is being undertaken – why are we doing this? The answers to this question should be universally accepted by the people undertaking the effort.

“For instance, for those who believe in the power of The Bible, the Ten Commandments might be considered the whys of God’s strategic plan on earth. For the United States, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are the whys for life in America.

“In a strategic plan, maximizing the goals, ideals or destinations – the whys – should be the driving force for all components of the effort and it would be a rare occasion when the whys would ever change. This would probably only happen when new whys are added.”

Tatnall explains that “The bottom up aspect of a strategic plan involves a written plan and/or formula that together

the LiveSafe smart phone application for a mobile connection to VCU Police. All have been useful and popular services within the university community.

VCU Police has active partnerships with the Richmond Police Department, Virginia State Police and many other local agencies.

The CJSB Chairman, Stafford County Sheriff Charles Jett, praised VCU and the University of Richmond, saying both have “stellar reputations in the law enforcement community.” It was also noted by the board that the schools had “exceeded program requirements.”

In a spring 2014 perception of safety survey by VCU, 95 percent of students, faculty and staff reported that they feel

“safe” or “very safe” on VCU’s Monroe Park Campus and at the VCU Medical Center. In the 2013-2014 academic year, VCU has seen a 17 percent drop in robberies at its two campuses compared to the previous academic year.

Another highlight for the department has been the success of updated security cameras on both campuses. Since August 2013, the system has yielded 129 “wins.”

Wins include arrests, incidents captured on video, photos of suspects and the ability to confirm reported crimes.

VCU will retain the crime prevention campus certification for three years, at which point the police department will be due for reassessment.

define the process and timeframe for achieving the whys. If it is not in writing, it is not a strategic plan and success will never be realized. This written plan or process is a collection of whats – what are we doing and how will it help us achieve our goals or ideals or get us to our destination. The whats, or tactics, should be conceived, designed and executed in a collaborative and coordinated fashion to achieve the whys. While the whys will hardly if ever change, the whats will regularly change as a plan never goes as expected. True strategic planners will build on the successful whats and reassess the unsuccessful ones, learning from mistakes and miscalculations on the way to achieving their whys.”

Tatnall backs up his position with more details.

“For the 20 years that I have been paying close attention to the city, before and since the 2004 governing change, no element of Richmond government has ever worked under the direction of a detailed written strategic plan. Strategic planning requires an important combination of vision and guts, both of which have been sorely lacking in most of Richmond’s recent elected officials and city administrators.

Vision is important for establishing the whys of the plan, as collective vision is needed to define an ultimate destination that all citizens can support. Guts are required for the bottom up aspect of the plan, as it takes guts to stick to a plan especially when the whats are not progressing as well as expected. The citizens of Richmond are complicit in our city’s strategic planning void as they should

have been asking for a plan years ago. The whys of a comprehensive strategic plan should stand the test of time and transcend election cycles. Those seeking elected office should be judged by the citizens on their ideas and abilities to get us closer to reaching our city’s ultimate destination.”

His explanation continues, “Instead, for years all we have been doing in Richmond is shuffle around a bunch of whats.

Currently our governmental leadership – the mayor’s administration and the Richmond City Council – is at the end of an annual rite of spring; the determination of how to spend hundreds of millions of our tax dollars with no formal guiding plan or principles.

“Mayor[Dwight C.] Jones and his administration would say that they have a destination, which is for Richmond to become a Tier One City. This political marketing phrase, which has become quite a joke since it has never been associated with any specific benchmark, is nothing close to a specific destination. Richmond City Council, the body ultimately in control of our tax dollars, doesn’t even have a catchy phrase like Tier One City to throw around.

“They continue to act as nine separate individuals who meet a couple of times a month and vote with no formal goals, ideals or principles to guide them as a collaborative body. With no specifically defined destination to inform and qualify their decisions, Richmond’s “leaders” have been leading us in circles with a bunch of tactics that have been collectively failing and will continue to fail.”

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 3

The Richmond Voice

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The Richmond Voice

4 • May 14 - 20, 2014

Virginia shutdown threat shows opposition to Medicaid expansion

By Mark Niquette BLOOMBERG - The partisan divide in Virginia over expanding Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul is threatening to shut down state government, just as it did on the federal level in October.

Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who took office in January, said during his campaign he would use the budget to push lawmakers to expand the joint federal-state program for the poor. Republicans who control the House of Delegates accuse the governor of making the spending plan a “hostage” to offering coverage for more than a third of the commonwealth’s one million uninsured residents.

“Trying to expand a broken program will really not serve those people,” Republican House Majority Leader Kirkland Cox said in a telephone interview. “It would never pass without using the budget as leverage.”

Virginia’s fight shows how entrenched the opposition to broadening Medicaid coverage remains. More than half of U.S. states have expanded the program -including eight with Republican governors -- and advocates say all inevitably will.

Twenty-four states haven’t taken federal funding to insure more residents, and Republicans in Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee enacted laws during the past month to prevent any governor from acting alone.

expansion are bordered by neighbors providing more coverage.

Obama’s Affordable Care Act required that Medicaid be offered to anyone making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $16,000 for an individual.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2012 decision declaring the law constitutional made expanding the program optional for states.

Richard Nathan

“There’s a lot of turbulence,” said Richard Nathan, the former director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, New York. “It’s not rational; it’s about politics.”

Large carrot Nathan, who’s directing a study of the law’s implementation, said he’s surprised that more states haven’t overcome opposition to Medicaid expansion. There’s the lure of federal funding covering 100 percent of enrollees for the first three years and 90 percent after, pressure from hospitals and the fact that states declining

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Virginia showdown So far, 26 and the District of Columbia are implementing expansion, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health-research group in Menlo Park, California. Nineteen states aren’t -- all with Republican-controlled legislative and executive branches except for Montana, which has a Democratic governor, and Maine, where Democrats lead the legislature. There’s open debate in five.

Of those, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Utah are seeking federal approval to expand on their own terms, much as Arkansas and Iowa won the ability to use federal dollars for private coverage. The Republican-led Missouri legislature has blocked expansion efforts by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.

And then there’s Virginia’s fight.

House Republicans have so far blocked McAuliffe’s efforts to extend coverage to about 400,000 people, resulting in a standoff that could shut the government if there’s not a budget in place by July 1.

A poll this month by the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University in Newport News showed that 53 percent of voters oppose expansion, in part because “Republicans are winning the debate,” said Quentin Kidd, the center’s director.

House leaders are “as solid as marble” and few members are breaking ranks, he said.

Shaky pledge “We have a Republican House caucus that is more willing to put political ideology above good public policy and above taxpayers than other states do,” said Brian Coy, a McAuliffe spokesman.

Cox, the majority leader, questioned whether the federal government would keep its funding promise. He said expanding “isn’t inevitable” and that “the more that comes out, the worse it gets.”

It’s “a tragedy” that a fairly wealthy state isn’t acting, said Katharine Webb

of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. The organization backs expansion even though it didn’t support the health-care law, and members are preparing for the worst, Webb said in a telephone interview.

Future determined Because many chambers of commerce and hospitals want expansion, more Republicans will follow the lead of governors such Jan Brewer in Arizona and John Kasich in Ohio, who overcame opposition within their own party, said Judy Solomon, vice president of health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Washington group examines the effect of fiscal policies on low-income Americans.

“The places where they’re dug in, there’s very, very strong Tea Party opposition,” Solomon said by phone. “Does that go away? Probably not, but at some point, you have a different governor who feels like they can take a more pragmatic approach.”

Even so, Republican-led legislatures and governors in Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee enacted laws this past month that prevented governors from bypassing lawmakers to approve Medicaid expansion, joining North Carolina, which enacted a similar measure last year, the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver said.

“It’s going to be the legislature’s determination on this issue, not the governor’s,” Kansas Representative John Rubin said.

Elections this year in states like Maine, where Republican Governor Paul LePage has opposed four expansion efforts, could change the landscape. Opposition driven by fear of primary challenges will wane, and states could choose less-controversial waivers or state-specific expansions, said Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, which seeks more coverage.

In Virginia, Democrats say they have until June 30 to make their case, and that they’re confident they can avoid a shutdown.

“It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be pretty, there’s going to be much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but at the end of the day, we’ll get it done,” said Senator Donald McEachin, chairman of the Democratic caucus.

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 5

The Richmond Voice

City Council votes to delay spending money on Stadium plan

By Sylvina Poole Richmond City Council members recently voted to hold off on spending millions of dollars on the widely-discussed revitalization plan for Shockoe Bottom.

Mayor Dwight Jones’ plan for the Bottom, called Revitalize RVA, includes a new baseball stadium, a slavery and freedom heritage site, and proposed to brings retail, residential, hotel space, office space and parking to the area.

Members decided in a 5-4 vote to use the estimated $12.6 million of the capital budget in other areas. More specifically, much-needed services in the city, like school upgrades, the riverfront plan, vehicle replacement, and sidewalk maintenance.

8th District Councilwoman Reva Trammel, who’s been skeptical of the mayor’s plan that would include a stadium and a slave heritage site, said that citizen

voices should be heard.

“They do not want the ball park in the bottom,” she said. “The tax payers want their money to be spent on the sidewalks, curbs, gutters, more street lights and for the roads to be paved especially in Southside...

“I know everyday I get calls after calls about the horrible streets in Southside.

Also let’s never forget those young students who marched to City Hall demanding that we, the elected city officials give more money to fix the older schools. When did sports become more important than educating our children? Let’s not forget that in 2016 some of them will be voting,” said Trammell.

Councilman Chis A. Hilbert, 3rd District, pointed out that city schools and city infrastructure are in need of immediate repair.

“The stadium plan is not fully complete,” he said. “The mayor may propose a budget

amendment at any time. This is council's only shot at amending the budget. It’s now or never for us.

“I am open to hearing alternatives in the future. I am not interested in capitulating to a threatened veto. Any council member who would not override a veto now is giving up all of their power to influence the eventual outcome. I hope we choose wisely.”

Advocacy leaders who have been critical of the Revitalize RVA plan from the outset support council’s decision.

Monica Esparza, president of the African Chamber of Commerce and Afro City Tours said there are other ways to use the $12.6 million for other pressing matters within Richmond.

“It makes sense that with pending

financial deadlines and the fact that stadium deadlines have been unmet, city council would move to allocate funds for the very pressing needs of its citizenry for this budgetary cycle,” said Esparza.

“I have not read or heard that funding for heritage sites in Shockoe are no longer a priority. This seems to be an opportunity to strengthen partnerships to ensure that the historic sites in Shockoe are developed to enhance both the social and infrastructural capital of Richmond, especially while citizens work on the related referendum vote.”

According to the city, council reserved $1 million in the capital budget for alterations or changes that may be necessary for the slave heritage location.

Clerk of Court Jewett launches candidacy for Dem. nomination

By Sylvina Poole Ed Jewett, who currently serves as the Richmond clerk of courts, is seeking the Democratic nomination to maintain his seat.

Jewett has nearly three decades in the clerk’s office and is hailed for creating technological innovations, increasing diversity within staff and developing a resident-friendly work environment.

According to the city, Jewett’s office received a perfect score on an audit, a rare occurrence for city agencies.

“I have dedicated my career to improving the clerk’s office, working with the public and with attorneys to ensure we have an office that handles issues expeditiously, thoroughly and in a friendly, service oriented manner,” said Jewett in a statement. “The perfect audit scores our office has earned are a testament to the effectiveness of our operations. The electronic filing of court cases we have implemented speaks to our commitment to innovation.

“As a committed Democrat and member of the Richmond City Democratic Committee, I seek the Democratic nomination.”

The Richmond Circuit Court clerk is responsible for more than 800 cases.

He said that over the next two months, as he continues “to work hard” in the office as clerk, he will be out in the community meeting voters and explaining “my commitment to having the best, most efficient, most innovative, most inclusive and most helpful clerk’s office” in Virginia.

Jewett has the approval and support of all Richmond City Council members, constitutional and Richmond Democratic GA delegation.

“I am pleased to join our Richmond Democratic General Assembly delegation, the entire City Council and all our constitutional officers in supporting Ed Jewett for clerk,” said state Sen. A. Donald 30 years of experience in that office and is to be commended for his innovative technologies and for increasing the diversity so the office looks like our great city.“” Del. Jennifer McClellan, also recently offered kind words to Jewett’s campaign.

“Ed’s experience and commitment to public service have helped make the Clerk's office transparent, innovative, and effective,” she said.

The nomination for the Democratic candidate for Clerk of Court will be decided in a citywide primary on June 10.

Kaine tours Fort Picket site U. S. Senator Tim Kaine leads a group of federal, state and local officials touring the site of the planned Foreign Affairs Security Training Center last week at Fort Pickett, and Pickett Park in Nottoway County. Joining Kaine on the visit were 5th District Congressman Robert Hurt, Del. Thomas C. Wright, Jr., Blackstone Mayor Billy Coleburn and Nottoway County Administrator Ronald E. Roark, as well as Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Gregory Starr and Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Long. Jr., the Adjutant General of Virginia. After an information briefing by Lt. Col. Preston Scott, garrison commander of Fort Pickett, Chuck Raderstorf, FASTC project director for Department of State, and Abigail K. Low, project manager from the General Services Administration.

The officials took a bus tour to see first hand some of the locations where the training center will be constructed. After a multi-year search, Fort Pickett and Pickett Park in Nottoway County were recently announced as the site for the training facility to be dedicated to providing consolidated hard skills security and life saving training to the foreign affairs community. PHOTO: Cotton Puryear

OP-ED & LETTERS

6 • May 14 - 20, 2014

Race: The conundrum of privilege

A pair of emails recently crossed my desk that plunged me down a rabbit hole and into an exploration of white-male privilege—it was an amazing trip.

My understanding of the phrase “whitemale privilege” tracks along the lines laid down by feminist writer and academic activist Peggy McIntosh, a senior research scientist and associate director of the Wellesley Centers for Women, whose

By Sam Fulwood III Guest commentator

1988 essay coined the phrase “invisible knapsack” as a metaphor for the benefits “of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” that white Americans disproportionately carry compared with black and other Americans of color. As McIntosh writes, the weightless and invisible backpack carried by white males is the largest and most expansive of all, granting them access to the most spaces with the least doubts about their sense of place or authority.

As if to confirm such beliefs, the first of the emails sent to me by a colleague documented this theory with supporting evidence. A study conducted by a trio of social scientists—Katherine L. Milkman of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Modupe Akinola of the Columbia Business School, and Dolly Chugh of New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business— surreptitiously surveyed more than 6,500 professors at top U.S. universities to discover that faculty members ignored requests for mentoring from women and minorities at a higher rate than from white males.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers sent identical letters to professors in

89 disciplines at 259 of the nation’s top colleges and universities. The only differences were in the names of the students—Brad Anderson, Meredith Roberts, Lamar Washington, LaToya Brown, Juanita Martinez, Deepak Patel, Sonali Desai, Chang Huang, and Mei Chen— which were designed to signal ethnicity, gender, and race in an obvious way.

“We found that faculty ignored requests from women and minorities at a higher rate than requests from Caucasian males, particularly in higher-paying disciplines and private institutions,” the authors wrote in the abstract of their study.

In an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Milkman said the race and gender of the faculty didn’t faze the white male’s privilege. “There’s absolutely no benefit seen when women reach out to female faculty, nor do we see benefits from black students reaching out to black faculty or Hispanic students reaching out to Hispanic faculty,” she said in the interview.

I heard that story when it was first broadcast but didn’t give it a lot of thought until yesterday when I reviewed it again on the NPR website. There, I discovered an angry response from an NPR listener named Richard Barton, who said he was one of the professors that received a letter from the researchers. He took umbrage with the implication that his failure to respond to the researchers’ fake letter represented racial animus.

As Barton wrote: For one, some professors whom I know simply do not respond to any unsolicited email, period.

Is that ‘rude’? Possibly, but it cannot be considered a sign of ‘bias’.

Secondly, some professors (myself included) are admittedly widely inconsistent when it comes to answering See “Privilegeˮ on pg. 7

Jack J. Green, Publisher richmond.voice@verizon.net

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Featured correspondent: Appeal for safer transport In response to the train derailment and the resulting crude oil spill and explosion that set the James River on fire in Lynchburg on April 30, [we are pressing] the federal government for emergency action in creating stronger regulations for safe transport of toxic chemicals in Virginia and nationwide.

While there were no injuries as a result of the spill, 25,000 gallons of crude oil were lost into the river, either consumed by the fire or swept downstream. As the oil made its way down the James River it threatened the drinking water supplies of several communities downstream, including greater Richmond, as well as the ecology of the river during a particularly sensitive time of spring spawning for migratory fish.

The impacts of this train wreck could have been devastating. With the transport of crude oil by rail increasing by over 4,000% between 2008 and 2014, the safety requirements and procedures for rail transport must also keep pace.

Virginia’s prevention of such an incident depends largely on adequate federal regulation of the rail industry. [We urge] swift action on the following safety measures: • Remove the inadequate tank cars from crude-oil-by-rail service; • Strengthen and codify into federal regulation the voluntary safety measures adopted by railroad companies governing the shipment of crude oil; • Update critical environmental and contingency response plans; and • Develop appropriate classification and testing of Bakken and similar crude oils in order to provide critical information to state and local emergency responders.

In addition to hazardous materials transported by rail along the river, there have been numerous spills from maritime shipping in the tidal James. In 2005, spills of liquid asphalt and home heating oil in the tidal James River threatened the river ecosystem and local drinking water supplies. In 2009, it was a barge full of fertilizer that sank.

Additionally, over 80% of Virginia’s registered toxic chemicals are stored within the James River basin, not to mention the billions of gallons of coal ash stored in unlined ponds along the banks of the river. Truly the James River is a river at risk.

James River Association Production Denise Smith Administrative Specialist Tina Riddick-Harris Distribution Hakeen Ross Scott McCormick Kamau Islam

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May 14 - 20, 2014 • 7

P.T. Hoffsteader, Esq.

The Richmond Voice

Transparent victory

I firmly believe that you deserve to know how the federal government is spending your tax dollars.

That’s why I am proud to tell you that my bipartisan transparency bill -- the DATA Act -- was signed into law by the president.

This is an example of breaking through the gridlock and working across the aisle to get things done. That’s what I’ll keep doing in the Senate, but with special interests lined up against us, I can’t do it alone.

We’re taking our message of bipartisan results to every corner of the commonwealth.

[We need to] reach as many voters as possible?

The DATA Act is the biggest advancement in open government since the Freedom of Information Act. The premise is simple... the people should have easy access to track every dollar spent by the federal government. We’re helping ensure there is accountability for how your tax dollars are spent.

We’re up against special interest groups who don’t want us to cooperate to get things done. They’ve already spent nearly a million dollars trying to break us down.

The DATA Act is proof that we can still work together and deliver results. I hope you’ll stand with me so we can keep pushing to get things done.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner

George Wythe violation

Richmond Public Schools has recently been made aware of a Virginia High School League (VHSL) violation at George Wythe High School. In accordance with Virginia High School League code, the George Wythe High School Boys Basketball Team must forfeit its regional championship title as well as 17 junior varsity, regular season and 8 varsity, postseason games.

The discrepancy was discovered by the school’s principal and immediately reported to district and VHSL officials.

As a result, the district has initiated an investigation and, upon completion, will take appropriate actions based on the findings.

School officials plan to meet with the players and parents to provide further details concerning this matter. The school is required to pay a $100 fine, according to the VHSL rules and regulations.

The district is committed to upholding the policies set forth by VHSL and commends school administration for appropriately self-reporting the matter.

Moreover, while these findings are an unfortunate outcome for an otherwise exceptional season, the district reiterates its support and appreciation for these studentathletes and their families.

RPS

Saving everyone

I would like nothing more than to hear on the news that our FBI or Navy Seals have found and saved the 276 kidnapped girls in Nigeria by Boko Haram. There are reports that some of the girls have already died or are sick due to poisonous snakebites. They and their families are suffering. They need help.

Boko Haram has led a five-year Islamic uprising in Nigeria that has taken the lives of thousands of people, both Muslim and Christian. Just recently an attack on Gamboru, which is on the border of Cameroon, took the lives of 300 people.

In recent weeks Boko Haram’s regime has been responsible for the kidnapping of 276 young girls and is threatening to sell them into slavery. This year alone, at least 1,500 people have been killed by this terroristic group. Nigeria is a nation of approximately

170 million people. The country is half Muslim and half Christian. The religious regime feels that Western influences are corrupting Nigeria and that a Muslim state must be enforced.

Abubakar Shekau is the leader of Boko Haram which means, western education is a sin. Shekau has been in hiding with his ruthless and depraved army in the Sambisa Forest. The forest is reportedly 23,000 square miles of thick, tall vegetation filled with poisonous snakes, lions and monkeys.

It is extremely difficult to navigate.

There is no place in our world for this kind of ideology carried out in the name of religion. Shekau and his militant bloodthirsty supporters are deranged psychos who wreak misery on anyone with whom they come into contact.

America cannot run to every nation and put out every fire. Ukraine, Syria, Egypt and many other places are filled with serious problems and could use our help.

I do not believe we are the world's police.

Nigeria is considered a very poor country but their economy is growing. They are Africa's largest oil producer with billions of dollars in oil sales. Unfortunately most of the Nigerian wealth is in the hands of a few people and corruption abounds from business to government. They seriously need to utilize some of their oil money to develop a stronger military and police force to protect them.

America cannot take care of everybody.

However, trying to help Nigeria develop a better defense is something we should do and I hope we can be successful. This shouldn’t require five thousand troops.

However, it may require our government sending FBI, Navy Seals, or whoever to locate and deal with Abubakar Shekau.

Surely we have one drone just for him.

Glen Mollette

Privilege from page 6 unsolicited email. While it may sound self-serving, I like to think that in my case whether or not I respond to an unsolicited email has more to do with the following external factors than with subtle encodings of racial or ethnic bias: my workload at the moment I receive the email, including but not limited to deadlines that are pending and/or the amount of grading I am facing; the time of the semester (early is better than middle or later); and so forth. These factors are far more likely to determine whether or not I respond.

His pained response triggered a long string of comments. As I read, they dropped me deeper into the rabbit hole of angry response to the claims of white privilege.

But before continuing with Barton, let me tell you about the second email that I received a couple hours after the first. This one contained a link to a Time magazine opinion piece by Tal Fortgang, a Princeton University freshman, who argues that fellow students constantly challenge his white-male privilege.

He writes: There is a phrase that floats around college campuses, Princeton being no exception, that threatens to strike down opinions without regard for their merits, but rather solely on the basis of the person that voiced them. ‘Check your privilege,’ the saying goes, and I have been reprimanded by it several times this year.

In his autobiographical essay, Fortgang explains how his Jewish immigrant grandparents fled the Nazis, escaping near death, to make a new life in the United States. This led to his father and mother making a life for Fortgang. Clearly proud of his family, faith, and heritage, Fortgang concludes he has, indeed, been privileged in his life but not as “detractors” understand it:

8 • May 14 - 20, 2014

RELIGION

The Richmond Voice

Atheist TV: Coming soon to a television near you (RNS) - Move over, Christian televangelists. Atheism is coming to TV. Speaking at a gathering of local atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheists in a chemistry lecture hall at Stanford University, David Silverman, president of American Atheists, a national advocacy group for nontheists, announced last week that his New Jersey-based organization would launch the first television channel dedicated to atheism in July.

“Why are we going to television?” he asked the audience, a mix of about 100 students and people from the local community. “It’s part of our strategy of going where we are not.”

Silverman, 49, said the television channel, which will be available via Roku, an Internet streaming player that attaches to televisions like a cable box, will run atheist content seven days a week, 24 hours a day. He estimated it will reach 7 million households and will be free, at least initially.

The channel, which Silverman did not name, is believed to be the first channel dedicated exclusively to nontheism. There are more than 100 Christian and four Jewish television stations broadcasting in the United States.

The channel will air video of previous atheist events, such as footage from past American Atheist conventions and speakers at 2012‘s Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., as well as content provided by atheist video bloggers and other atheist groups.

In addition, the channel will air segments of “The Atheist Viewpoint,” a show produced two decades ago by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, American Atheists’ deceased founder and plaintiff in the 1963 landmark Supreme Court case that removed Bible readings from public schools.

“We are envisioning a lot of different content from many different atheist content creators,” said Dave Muscato, American Atheists’ director of communications. “We

Torah that survived the Holocaust undergoing preservation at VCU Virginia Commonwealth University has acquired a Sefer Torah, said to be a powerful symbol and moving presence in Jewish worship and community life.

Presented by an alumni couple with deep connections to the university, it will be held and safeguarded by the VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives.

Donors Martin L. Johnson, M.D., and Olinda Young have ties to both MCV and Monroe Park campuses. Johnson completed his medical residency (house staff, plastic surgery, 1980) at the VCU School of Medicine, and Young holds two VCU degrees, a bachelor’s degree in education (1975) and a master’s degree in public administration (1981).

Johnson and Young are known as avid and eclectic collectors of global art, antiques and artifacts.

“We’ve spent 30 years collecting beautiful things,” Johnson said. “Now, at this stage in our lives, we want to share these beautiful things.”

An interest in collecting old Bibles led to an interest in Torahs. He describes this Torah as “a monument to the survivors.”

The Torah scroll, on parchment scribed in the customary Hebrew, was composed in Romania around 1750. During World War II, it was confiscated by the Nazis.

It is believed to be from an area of Transnistria, known as the Romanian Auschwitz. Registration numbers and stamps confirm its provenance and also that the scroll was held by communists.

It was repatriated to Israel in 2003.

Israeli authorities released the scroll for private ownership. It is considered to be in excellent condition, according to the rare books and manuscripts appraiser who authenticated the artifact.

VCU Libraries will unveil the Torah, which is undergoing preservation, at a future event. It will be on display in the new library building, scheduled to open in 2015.

“We look forward to making this symbol of survival and hope available to our entire community for teaching, learning and remembrance, always with appropriate reverence and respect,” said University Librarian John E. Ulmschneider.

are hoping to sign on many other atheists who create videos currently on YouTube and other places.”

Reaction from the Stanford crowd was enthusiastic; a few began to applaud and a ripple of discussion buzzed through the room after Silverman’s announcement.

Tom Manger, an atheist from Pleasanton, Calif., asked Silverman whether he considered creating an atheist radio channel. Manger said he has a playlist of more than 1,000 songs that are atheist in theme, nature or origin.

“It’s a possibility,” Silverman said.

Comfort Zone Camp will soon commemorate the 15th anniversary of its first camp, which took place in Richmond, Va., at Camp Hanover on May 21-23, 1999. The camp program was born out of a desire to provide a caring community and safe haven in which children who are grieving the loss of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver are heard, understood, and taught healthy ways to process their grief.

While similar to traditional camp in many ways, campers also take part in confidence building programs and age-based support groups that break the emotional isolation grief often brings. The free camps are for children aged seven through 17.

Comfort Zone is headquartered in Richmond, and in the 15 years since the first camp, new offices have opened in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia. The opening of the New Jersey office was in response to those children affected by loss during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“The death of a parent or sibling is undeniably one of the most traumatic events a child can experience, but most parents, schools and social aren’t prepared to help children address their grief adequately,” said Mary Beth McIntire, chief executive officer of Comfort Zone. “Instead of finding a supportive, understanding community in the wake of a parent or sibling death, most children find that friends can’t relate to their loss, family members are handling their own grief, and society subtly rewards them for being strong and showing little-to-no reaction to such a life-altering event.”

This gap in both services and understanding often makes children highly vulnerable to negative coping mechanisms.

Comfort Zone Camp provides children with an ongoing, strong support network, healthy coping skills and multiple

opportunities to tackle grief-related issues throughout their childhood so that they reach their full potential and utilize that potential as they transition into adulthood.

Comfort Zone camps also teach kids that despite their grief, it’s OK to have fun. Campers stay in cabins, play games, hike, sing karaoke, and eat s’mores. The difference in a Comfort Zone camp is campers are also given time to share stories of losing a parent or sibling.

Campers are supported by trained staff and volunteers, as well as professional grief therapists.

“There are a number of elements that set Comfort Zone apart from other similar camps,” said McIntire. “These include the fact that we have permanent, yearround locations, and our Big Buddy/Little Buddy matching system that provides a compatible and trained volunteer for each individual camper. In addition, because of the generous support of donors and sponsors, our camps have always been free of charge to campers.”

Comfort Zone provides year round support through a secure online bereavement resource and community, HelloGrief.org. Hello Grief allows campers to maintain the friendships they form at camp, and offers a full library of articles and resources designed to help people of all ages cope with grief.

Comfort Zone Camp set to commemorate 15 years

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 9

The Richmond Voice

Keeping the Faith

For the least of these

When I was a child my family lived hand to mouth. We were loved and cared for, but the cupboards were often more bare than full. I often say that we ate a lot of Hamburger Helper in those days, but with only the Helper.

By Ronnie McBrayer My dad’s job was at a textile mill, a job he maintains to this day, though he should have long ago retired. Down at the mill, a couple of my father’s coworkers would help us, as such salt-ofthe-earth people do. One of them was an old Baptist preacher named Gene Clark. Gene worked the mill during the week and preached on the weekend to a congregation of less than a hundred people way out in the sticks.

During the hardest years Gene would slip my dad a wad of cash on Friday afternoons and say, “The church has plenty of money. You need this more than they do.” And, honestly, we did.

Another man was Bobby Gentry. One Saturday morning Bobby pulled up in the driveway of our home and got out of the car dressed in a way I had never seen him before. Rather than donning his usual coveralls, he was wearing a suit.

Three other men from his church dressed in suits got out of the car with him. Then another car with four more men pulled up. These eight men began heaving brown paper sacks of groceries through our front door for what seemed like an hour. It wasn’t Christmas. It wasn’t Thanksgiving. It was just on time.

And while I have long lost track of Mr. Gene and Mr. Bobby, I have neither forgotten them nor their kindness.

Jesus spoke in Matthew 25 with familiar, but inescapable, words: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory he will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing.

I was sick, and you cared for me.

I was in prison, and you visited me. When you did this for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it for me!’”

Where is Jesus? In heaven, reclining on a cloud? In the sanctuary on Sunday morning, sitting on a pew? Is he locked away in the Vatican or a seminary like a hidden treasure? Is he chained to the pages of the New Testament, a doctrinal pawn in Christianity’s arguments.

No, Jesus is sitting in an Emergency Room, an uninsured, undocumented immigrant in need of healing. He is behind bars, so far from his parole date he can’t think that far into the future, abandoned by friends and family. He is sleeping under a highway overpass with newspapers for a blanket.

He is an evictee waiting in line at the shelter for a bed and a cup of soup. He is the poor child living in a slum with lice in his hair, the stripes of abuse on his body, and a growl in his stomach. He is an old forgotten woman at the nursing home who no one thinks of anymore, other than as a body taking up bed space.

He is a refugee in Sudan, an exile from Syria, a war orphan in Bagdad or Baltimore. He is a humble textile mill worker trying to stay ahead of the bill collectors while keeping food in his children’s bellies and a roof over their heads. Jesus is the poor, the downtrodden, the homeless, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the jailed, the lonely, and the overlooked.

As we go to these – the least of these – we go to Jesus. Not figuratively, not symbolically, but literally. To serve those in need, with help, love, kindness, or a simple brown paper bag of groceries, is to serve Jesus. And such service will never be forgotten.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author. Visit his website at www.ronniemcbrayer.me.

Va. interfaith leaders condemn distortion of religion to oppress girls More than 80 Virginia religious leaders representing nearly every faith and denomination have signed a joint letter to world leaders, urging them to take more coordinated action to return more than 220 Nigerian girls who were kidnapped from their school by the terror group Boko Haram. The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, with help from U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, convened the broad coalition of Virginia religious leaders last Friday.

The interfaith group also has posted an online petition and have encouraged members of their respective faith communities and other Virginians to sign it as a public statement of condemnation for the actions of Boko Haram.

“Across our diverse faiths, we find absolute unity when it comes to defending vulnerable children, especially girls

who are seeking a better life through education,” said Marco Grimaldo, CEO of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. “We must both speak against these violent acts and also do more to support the education and empowerment of women and girls in our communities and around the world.”

“We join hands with our brothers and sisters in the various faith traditions in Virginia who have openly condemned these actions. Slavery, oppression and injustice are prohibited in Islam and Boko Haram actions and threats are not justified by any faith teachings,” said Imad Damaj of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs.

“Our voices are strongest when we stand together,” said Warner. “I applaud the leadership of this interfaith coalition from all across the commonwealth.”

Here are four

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EDUCATION

10 • May 14 - 20, 2014

The Richmond Voice

Dual enrollment allows PCPS students to earn double degrees

PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY Dentistry for Children and Patients with Special Needs

Two Petersburg City Public Schools (PCPS) students are receiving high school diplomas and associate of science degrees from Richard Bland College this spring.

Tamika Harper, 18, and Malik Tyler, 17, (left) are enrolled in the Middle College High School Program, a partnership between Richard Bland College (RBC) and PCPS. The dual enrollment program has allowed both Harper and Tyler to earn college credits and a college degree while completing requirements for high school graduation.

On May 9, the duo crossed the stage at the 2014 Richard Bland commencement ceremony. On June 7, Tyler and Harper will take part in the Petersburg High School graduation ceremony.

“Richard Bland was an awesome experience,” said Tamika Harper. “I not only started my college journey early, but I learned many life skills, such as time management.”

Malik Tyler said he had to “step up his game” at RBC. “I learned to focus, while adjusting to more freedom. I had to study hard, but I could be myself.”

Both students were encouraged to join the dual enrollment program by Petersburg High School guidance counselors and

teachers who worked with them to achieve the cumulative 3.0 GPA required for the program.

“Our teachers and counselors work diligently so that PCPS students meet standards to participate in the Middle College High School Program. We’re proud of our students’ success and our partnership with Richard Bland,” said Petersburg City Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Joseph Melvin.

Harper and Tyler said they are proud of their accomplishments and will be the first in their immediate families to receive a college degree.

“I was a first generation college graduate, and education meant everything to me in being able to achieve the American dream,” said Richard Bland President Debbie Sydow. “Through clearly articulated educational pathways with partners like Petersburg High School, Richard Bland students are able to secure an affordable, high quality college degree that sets their course for a better future.”

The future for Harper includes transferring to James Madison University with the goal of becoming a physical therapist. Tyler will pursue his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Virginia State University.

Washington Redskins reading program added to summer learning opportunities in C’field Question: How often does my child need to brush?

Answer: It is recommended that children brush at least two times a day for two minutes in the morning and at bedtime.

Randy Adams, D.D.S.

Board Certified Pediatric Dentist Board Certified Special Care Dentist

Brandon Allen, D.D.S. 300 West Broad Street Richmond, VA 23220

(804) 780-2888

www.richmonddentistryforchildren.com

A new reading partnership with the Washington Redskins is adding excitement to summer learning for elementary students in Chesterfield County Public Schools.

Details about the Redskins Read program will be shared during CCPS Night at the Chesterfield Libraries, scheduled 6-8 p.m.

May 15 at every county library except Bon Air, which is closed for renovations. Also available during the library event will be summer reading lists for middle school and high school students.

“The school year ends in June, but learning continues year-round,” said Superintendent Marcus Newsome.

“Reading is fundamental for success in education. That’s why we encourage every student to read throughout the summer. We are appreciative of our partnership with the Washington Redskins and are encouraged

by their incentives to spur our students to read as much as possible.”

In the Redskins Read program, every 10 minutes a student reads equals a yard and 100 reading minutes equal a touchdown.

Students who read the most can win prizes, classes can win visits with writers, and one elementary school will win a reading rally with a Redskins player or former player plus an addition to the school library.

In addition to reading initiatives, Chesterfield County Public Schools offers summer instruction that makes it easy to study a new subject or boost academic skills. Participating in summer classes or taking advantage of other resources available through Chesterfield County Public Schools helps students prepare for academic success when classes start in September.

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 11

The Richmond Voice

CAP report: U.S. teacher workforce lacks diversity WASHINGTON, D.C. — While America’s public schools are becoming increasingly more diverse, a new report released by the Center for American Progress finds that nearly every state is experiencing a large and growing teacher diversity gap, or a significant difference between the number of students of color and teachers of color.

The report revisits a similar Center for American Progress study from 2011. When the original report was released, students of color made up more than 40 percent of the school age-population, while teachers of color were only 17 percent of the teaching force. The report shows that since 2011, the gap between teachers and students of color has continued to grow. Over the past three years, the demographic divide between teachers and students of color has increased by 3 percentage points, and today, students of color make up almost half of the public school population.

“The student population of America’s schools may look like a melting pot, but our teacher workforce looks like

it wandered out of the 1950s. It’s overwhelmingly white,” said Ulrich Boser, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of the report ”We know from research that students of color do better academically if they are taught by teachers of color. We also know that all students need role models in their schools that represent our diverse society. Parents, teachers, and policymakers should be alarmed by the findings and demand that states and districts take action to address this growing problem.

The report, “Teacher Diversity Revisited”, includes state-by-state data documenting the teacher diversity gap across the nation. An analysis of the data reveals the following key findings: Almost every state has a significant diversity gap. In California, 73 percent of students are kids of color, but only about 29 percent are teachers of color. Maryland has the same problem, although the numbers are a bit better: In the Old Line State, more than 55 percent of students are kids

of color, while just around 17 percent are teachers of color.

The Hispanic teacher population has larger demographic gaps relative to students.

In Nevada, for instance, just 9 percent of teachers were Hispanic. In contrast, the state’s student body was 39 percent Hispanic.

Diversity gaps are large within districts.

For the first time, we examined districtlevel data in California, Florida, and Massachusetts. These three states account for 20 percent of all students in the U.S, and it turns out that the gaps within districts are often larger than those within states.

A companion report also released by CAP and Progress 2050 describes how the shortcomings of today’s education system and the underachievement of many of today’s students of color shrink the future supply of the teachers of color.

The report, “America’s Leaky Pipeline for Teachers of Color,” finds that fundamental constraints limit the potential supply of highly effective teachers of color. Students of color have significantly lower college enrollment rates than do white students.

In addition, a relatively small number of students of color enroll in teacher education programs each year. Finally, teacher trainees who are members of

communities of color often score lower on licensure exams that serve as passports to teaching careers.

Furthermore, the report reveals that teachers of color leave the profession at a much higher rate than their nonHispanic white peers. Those who leave mention a perceived lack of respect for teaching as a profession, lagging salary levels, and difficult working conditions.

Despite the barriers in the educator pipeline, there is great opportunity ahead to make improvements. The report includes a set of policy recommendations for the federal government and for states and local school districts. Enlarging the pool of talented, well-educated teachers of color who are effective in improving student achievement in our schools will require aggressive and targeted recruitment and appropriate support. It will demand a steadfast determination to remove the barriers in the educator pipeline that limit and discourage strong candidates for the teaching profession. At the same time, policies must be in place to offer clear and meaningful monetary incentives, support, and professional development to ensure the best and brightest students of color enter into teaching and succeed once in the profession.

Whitley-Taylor said to open the ceremony.

Kyle was attending her daughter’s college graduation.

Virginia Secretary of Education Anne Holton served as the keynote speaker. The former first daughter and former lady of Virginia, a lifelong advocate for children and families, addressed the rain-soaked crowd, most of whom were sitting under a sea of umbrellas, enthusiastically. “My, you all look magnificent. You really do… a little damp but plenty colorful and it’s just a treat to be here with you today.”

Holton urged the graduates to thank somebody who helped get them to where they were. “You did not get here today by yourself. You were supported by a lot of people. And I hope you will find the chance to really let go when you say that thank you today.”

Holton told the graduates that this day was one for celebrating completion and achievement. “But I have news for you,” she said. “Today is really the beginning of your lifetime of learning.”

Through their rigorous academic studies at RU, Saturday’s graduates have

accomplished the “most important thing,” Holton began to explain. “You have learned a lot about yourself. You’ve learned about the value of hard work. You’ve learned about persistence. You’ve learned about flexibility. Hanging around under umbrellas today you're learning a flexibility lesson.”

Holton closed the ceremony by sharing a quote from her father, former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton, who used to say to his children, “this is opportunity time.”

“Every day is an opportunity and you all are at a very special moment on this day to be given your next set of opportunities,” said Holton.

Following the main ceremony, RU colleges staged individual ceremonies around campus to recognize graduates.

Graduate Jankia Hill was relieved.

“It was really exciting,” said the Martinsville native who majored in accounting and management. “I was nervous, but it’s a big relief from stress.”

This year’s spring graduates represented 28 states and 13 different countries, including the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

Radford University celebrates commencement with Holton

Virginia Secretary of Education Anne Holton

The harder the rain fell on Radford University, the louder the cheers rang from soon-to-be graduates as they walked onto Moffett Lawn, where the university observed its 2014 Spring Commencement on Saturday, May 10.

In a ceremony abbreviated because of

inclement weather, RU Board of Visitors Rector Linda K. Whitley-Taylor ’86, stepping in for RU President Penelope W. Kyle, conferred degrees on 1,933 undergraduate (1,596) and graduate (337) students.

“On behalf of everyone at the university, I give our deepest congratulations to you,”

12 • May 14 - 20, 2014

LIFESTYLES

The Richmond Voice

Preservation Virginia releases list of endangered sites Preservation Virginia has released its 10th consecutive list of Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Sites to raise awareness of places that face imminent or sustained threats to their integrity or survival. The statewide preservation organization creates the annual listing to bring attention to these properties at risk and to encourage individuals and organizations to advocate for the protection and preservation of Virginia’s historic places.

Each of 11 sites is listed below, with its significance, a description of how it is threatened, and a recommended solution.

1. Virginia’s Civil War Battlefields (Bristoe Station Battlefield and Williamsburg Battlefield) Both battlefield sites are threatened by encroaching development, both immediate and longer term.

Preservation Virginia notes that revisiting the zoning contexts in which these cultural landscapes appear may help to

more effectively align the goals of local governments, citizenry, the development community, and historically-minded organizations. Bristoe Station Battlefield has already been identified as the Bristoe Station Historical Area in Prince William County’s Comprehensive Plan; such recognition of the cultural landscape’s importance should inform planning and development decisions to allow for smart development while protecting assets.

Likewise, the historical significance of the Williamsburg Battlefield could be addressed through local zoning overlays and comprehensive planning.

2. Southside Roller Mill, Chase City The Southside Roller Mill’s private owner struggles to maintain and shield the structure from the ravages of time and weather, but, as in many rural towns, funds are generally insufficient for feasibility planning and rehabilitating the structure for a new community use.

Preservation Virginia notes that the Southside Roller Mill, if determined

eligible for the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places and subsequently listed, could then be eligible for historic rehabilitation tax credits. Such tax credits (up to 45 percent of eligible expense), when used in the rehabilitation of an incomeproducing commercial structure, might provide the economic incentive needed to successfully finance the project, as they have in many other Virginia communities.

Local supporters for the repurposing of the mill should begin by studying the costs associated with new uses for it, in order to determine a long-range, sustainable business plan.

3. Virginia’s “Sidestepped” Towns: Columbia and Pamplin City The historic structures along Columbia’s St. James Street are sited in a federallyrecognized flood plain and remain in poor condition, the result of neglect. The lack of adequate sewer system infrastructure and general uncertainty about a pending Federal Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA) grant further complicates the situation, making investment in the structures difficult to justify. This oncethriving but now neglected town with multiple intact historic resources (that at one time constituted a register-eligible district) illustrates the multiple forces at work that combine and contribute to the decline of small, historic towns across the commonwealth.

The Town of Pamplin City has refurbished the former Norfolk-Southern train depot, now the home of the Pamplin Town Office and a branch of the Jameson Memorial Library. Pamplin’s Mayor, Appomattox County, and other supporters are working to make Pamplin the terminus for the 31-mile High Bridge Trail, the Virginia Historic Landmark and National Recreation Trail that runs through Farmville almost to Burkeville.

Preservation Virginia notes that expanding the trail end in Pamplin would increase See “Preservation” on pg. 13

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 13

The Richmond Voice Preservation from page 12 visitation to the area and encourage further heritage tourism activities. Both the Main Street storefronts and the Park Hotel could be rehabilitated to provide essential services for those accessing the trail and other attractions in the area. Listing these structures on the National Register of Historic Places would then make them eligible for the utilization of historic preservation tax credits.

As for Columbia, a federal process related to FEMA is underway, and Preservation Virginia is a consulting party. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to consider the effects of projects they carry out, approve, or fund on historic properties, ensuring that preservation values are factored into federal agency planning and decisions.

We urge all parties involved to continue following and integrating federal Section 106 protocol while advocating for the most sensitive treatment of the historic resources that remain. At the very least, if the structures cannot be rehabilitated, relocated or otherwise utilized, a thorough documentation of the town and its historic buildings is needed.

4. James River Viewshed The Historic Triangle, which includes Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, encompasses 175 years of the nation’s formative history and attracts more than six million national and international travelers annually. Preservation Virginia notes that it is threatened by a proposed Dominion Virginia Power transmission line project that would cross 4.1 miles of the river atop as many as 17 towers ranging in height from 160 feet to 295 feet, compromising the scenic integrity of the

historic cultural areas that comprise the James River. The towers and power lines would intrude on the public vantage points from the Historic Triangle, which includes the Colonial Parkway, Jamestown Island’s Black Point and Carter’s Grove Plantation, as well as water routes on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Trail. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the resource to its 2013 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places and, recently, as one of its 100 National Treasures.

Part of the solution to save the James River Viewshed depends on Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act that requires federal agencies to consider the effects of projects they carry out, approve, or fund on historic properties, ensuring that preservation values are factored into federal agency planning and decisions.

In this case, the Section 106 process with the Army Corps of Engineers should proceed properly and in a timely manner in order to find a suitable alternative by either burying the line or using an existing crossing further down river, according to Preservation Virginia. An alternative that balances the need for more electrical service to the region and the unique historic, scenic, and natural assets of the region would save the James River 5. Hook-Powell-Moorman Farm The Hook-Powell-Moorman Farm complex is an intact 18th-19th century agricultural homestead located on a 40-acre historic core site with multiple buildings, including John Hook’s store, built circa 1784 and one of Virginia’s few remaining 18th-century mercantile structures. The Hook-Powell-Moorman Farm is listed on the National Register See “Preservation” on pg. 15

Ask k Alma

❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖ ❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖

To tell or not to tell?

Alma, The mom of one of my 10-year-old daughter’s friends confided in me that her husband had been physically and verbally abusive to her several times.

Unfortunately, as many people do in this situation, she did not press charges because she didn’t want her kids to have to deal with the fallout.

The husband and wife are separated now. My daughter’s friend invited her to a birthday party at her dad’s new house.

The husband has been polite to me and my child, but I’m uncomfortable with the situation, particularly since I have some experience with an abusive partner who was a “nice person” to outsiders.

I’m planning to tell my daughter she can’t go, but not tell her the real reason.

What do you think? I’ve pointed the mom to some resources on domestic violence and counseling. Here’s hoping she can heal.

Cautious Reisterstown, Md. Dear Cautious, I see your red light earrings flashing, and I can understand why, but you’re wrong on this one.

I say you should let your daughter go.

Here’s why: Your daughter is 10. It’s a birthday party. Her best friend’s father has never hurt his own daughter or yours.

If he had, I suspect his wife would not allow him to host a birthday party. You said yourself that the father has been polite to you and your daughter. You also

said you’re familiar with abusers being “a nice person to outsiders.” So why not let your daughter go? She was not the only one invited to the party. I’m sure other adults, parents and family members, will be there.

A part of me wonders if you think that by allowing your daughter to attend you would be giving approval to the father’s behavior. Don’t worry; that’s not so. Unless her mom asked you not to participate, I just can’t come up with a good reason for your daughter not to go.

This isn’t a sleepover. Don’t make this a grown-up issue for your daughter. I understand that you and the other mother have bonded over shared sorrows, but you can’t let the pain and suffering of your marriages overshadow a very fun time and lifelong memory for your daughters. ***** Want advice? E-mail questions to alwaysaskalma@yahoo.com. Follow her on Facebook at “Ask Alma” and twitter @almaaskalma *****

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14 • May 14 - 20, 2014

HEALTH NOTES

The Richmond Voice

Regional childhood cancer support group holds give-a-way

By Sylvina Poole A Hampton Roads childhood cancer advocacy organization hosted a fundraising event to bring about greater awareness regarding this cause.

The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway event was held recently and residents were not only given the chance to win a home but also gifts and prizes while joining the fight against childhood cancer, said a spokesperson for the health facility.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is one of the organizations standing at the forefront of childhood treatment and education of cancer diseases. Leaders

CDC: Parasitic Infections also occur in the United States Most people think parasitic diseases occur in poor and developing countries, or are infections they might pick up on a trip to a foreign country. However, parasitic infections also occur in the United States, and in some cases affect millions of people. Often they can go unnoticed, with few symptoms. But many times the infections cause serious illnesses, including seizures, blindness, pregnancy complications, heart failure, and even death. Anyone—regardless of race or economic status—can become infected.

CDC has targeted five neglected parasitic infections (NPIs) in the United States as priorities for public health action based on the numbers of people infected, the severity of the illnesses, or our ability to prevent and treat them. These NPIs include Chagas disease, cysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichomoniasis.

Parasitic infections affect millions around the world causing seizures, blindness, infertility, heart failure, and even death,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “They’re more common in the US than people realize and yet there is so much we don’t know about them. We need research to learn more about these infections and action to better prevent and

of the initiative state that St. Jude has the world’s best survival rates for most aggressive childhood cancers and boasts a childhood survival rate of up to 80 percent since it opened its doors some 50 years ago.

“St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent in the next decade,” said Ellen Bagwell, event marketing representative, mid-Atlantic region ALSAC, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Virginia Beach.

In addition she said that “St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs we make, treat them.”

In a recent special supplement to the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, CDC scientists discuss NPIs and their differing epidemiologic profiles, modes of transmission, and prevention and control strategies. The articles also highlight the shared characteristics of the diseases, including the large numbers of people in the United States who are believed to be at risk, the potential for underreporting and misdiagnoses because of lack of physician awareness and optimal diagnostics, and the lack of interventions to prevent or treat disease.

The estimates of the burden of NPIs and their impact include: • More than 300,000 people living in the United States are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, and more than 300 infected babies are born every year.

• There are at least 1,000 hospitalizations for symptomatic cysticercosis per year in the United States.

• At least 14 percent of the U.S. population has been exposed to Toxocara, the parasite that causes toxocariasis, and each year at least 70 people—most of them children— are blinded by resulting eye disease.

• More than 60 million people in the United States are chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis; new infections in pregnant women can lead to birth defects and infections in those with compromised immune systems can be fatal.

• Trichomoniasis can cause pregnancy problems and increase the risk of other sexually transmitted infections including

and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.”

Bagwell points out, “This year, we raised $1,268,657 for the kids at St. Jude! This is our 14th year doing it in Hampton Roads but it happens in markets all across the U.S..”

The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway was created in 1991 by Dr. Donald Mack, a pediatric physician from Shreveport, Louisiana. Mack has relied on St. Jude

Children’s Research Hospital to treat young patients with catastrophic diseases and was the first doctor to send an out-of-state patient to St. Jude.

The first St. Jude Dream Home was constructed in Shreveport, Louisiana, and raised $160,000 for the hospital. Since that first giveaway, the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway in Shreveport has become an annual fundraiser, raising more than $23 million for the hospital.

Today, the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway is one of the largest single-event fundraisers for St. Jude nationwide and has raised more than $260 million.

An adult triatomine, or kissing bug, with eggs. Triatomines transmit the parasite that causes Chagas disease, considered one of the neglected parasitic infections. PHOTO: Jim Gathany/CDC

HIV. The Trichomonas parasite is extremely common, affecting 3.7 million people in the United States, although it is easily treatable.

The good news is that most parasitic infections can be prevented, and many are treatable. However, these infections are often undetected and untreated because most people do not know they are infected or at risk, or don’t have access to appropriate care. Doctors are often unfamiliar with these parasitic infections, and therefore may not diagnose or treat them appropriately.

“The perception that parasitic diseases are no longer relevant or important is

a major impediment to implementing currently available control and prevention strategies,” the authors note. “The NPIs in the United States are part of the global burden of parasitic diseases, and strategies that reduce or eliminate them in the United States can someday be applied globally.”

CDC notes that it is working to protect people from these health threats by increasing awareness among physicians and the public; synthesizing the existing data to help better understand these infections; improving diagnostic testing; and dvising on treatment, including distributing otherwise unavailable drugs for certain infections, like Chagas disease.

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 15

The Richmond Voice Preservation from page 13 of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register, with architecture, commerce, and health/medicine as the categories of significance, and John Hook (1746-1808) named as a person of significance. John Hook’s store received Preservation Virginia’s first Preservation Pitch mini-grant in 2012.

Much like the Booker T. Washington National Monument, located three miles away and listed as a Most Endangered Site in 2009, the Hook-Powell-Moorman farmstead is threatened by encroaching development along Route 122 and nearby Smith Mountain Lake.

Preservartion Virginia notes that rental of the onsite dwelling to the Friends of the Booker T. Washington National Monument and involvement in discussions about the development of heritage tourism opportunities are tangible ways to make the site relevant and useful in the community. In order to maintain and make the descendent-owned complex more economically sustainable, the use of land conservation easement strategies and the tax benefits that result with placing a portion of the site under easement could be explored. Such easements would help avoid purchase for developers and create funds to use for the ongoing maintenance of the structures.

6. Historic Schools In Virginia As budgets tighten and populations increase, there are increasingly frequent calls for the closure or demolition of

historic school buildings across the state.

Several specific examples in Loudoun County illustrate the range of threats faced by historic schools: Aldie Elementary and Middleburg Elementary have been under threat of closure for decades, caught in the debate between supporting new schools with economies of scale versus supporting older, community-anchoring schools with their perceived higher maintenance and operational costs.

Preservation Virginia notes that such an expansive range of resources requires multiple solutions. More frank discussions at the level of localities and school boards should address the benefits of adaptive re-use of historic school properties or rehabilitation of existing, historic school structures versus the cost of transporting students greater distances, public acquisition of additional properties, and new construction. The first step is identifying the possible eligibility of schools. This year, Del. Scott Surovell offered legislation that would create an inventory of buildings over 50 years old that would be used to determine, in consultation with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), the eligibility of the buildings and possible alternatives prior to demolition or transfer.

The bill was deferred in committee.

Preservation Virginianotes that it supports the reintroduction of this bill with appropriate funding for DHR to undertake the inventory and evaluation that would give local school systems and communities tools for these decisions.

7. The Old Concrete Road While the mountain is under conservation easement, and is wellloved by both Roanoke citizens and its caretakers, the city of Roanoke’s Department of Parks and Recreation, it

is recognized that the “rubble” retaining walls lining the road are suffering from deterioration and damage in multiple spots, due to root intrusion and normal freeze/ See “Preservation” on pg. 20

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16 • May 14 - 20, 2014

May 14

ACTIVITIES & MEETINGS

“Back Roads”

Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Bill Lohmann and photographer Bob Brown have traveled around Virginia for many years. “Back Roads: People, Places and Pie from Around Virginia” features a collection of Brown’s photographs from the road with insights from Lohmann that tell the stories behind the pictures.

Attend a reception (wine and cheese) on Wednesday, May 14, 5:30–6 p.m., book talk 6–7 p.m. and book signing 7–7:30 p.m.at the Library of Virginia Lecture Hall.

The library is at 800 East Broad St., Richmond and there is limited, free underground parking, which is accessible from either Eighth or Ninth streets. For more information, call 804-692-3592.

May 15

NACA housing event

Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) will offer Richmond area homeowners the chance to stop the foreclosure of their home and make their mortgage affordable during the nation’s largest and most effective HUD certified homeownership event.

NACA’s American Dream Tour Event will be at the Greater Richmond Convention Center Thursday, May 15 and will continue through Monday, May 19 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Richmond Convention Center, Hall D, 403 N. Third Street, Richmond. New home buyers have information on how to reduce their monthly payment. All services are oferred free. For more information go to www.naca.com.

The Richmond Voice

May 22 -23

Starting a business seminar

Develop your entrepreneurial and business skills at a free, 90-minute hour small business information session at the Crater Small Business Development Center (SBDC) of Longwood University. “What It Takes to Start a Business” topics include: what you need to know about financing your business venture, what lenders require in terms of collateral, credit, and equity, available resources to assist you as a potential or existing business owner, and the opportunity to meet with business counselors.

The information session will be held on Thursday, May 22 from 3:30 - 5 p.m. at the Crater Planning District Commission Offices, 1964 Wakefield Street, Petersburg, Virginia. Because of limited seating, reservations are requested. Call 804-518-2003 or e-mail hoodpa@longwood.edu. For directions go to www.craterpdc.org.

Calling Virginia screenwriters

The deadline for the 26th Virginia Screenwriting Competition sponsored by the Virginia Film Office is Friday, May 23 at midnight. The annual Virginia Screenwriting Competition is created to provide Virginia screenwriters with a forum for their work and an opportunity to present their scripts to professional members of the industry.

For the first time, all submissions to the competition must be electronical only, hard copies will not be accepted. The script must be saved in a non-editable format. All screenplays must be e-mailed to screenplay@virginia.org.

May 17

17th-Century Games, Songs and Dance

Visit Henricus Historical Park on Saturday, May 17 for an opportunity to participate in Colonial and Virginia Indian games, songs and dance. Period-dressed historical interpreters will provide instruction for more than a dozen activities. Candy prizes will be awarded to young winners of various competitions. Throughout the day, visitors may take part in various athletic feats in the re-created Virginia Indian settlement.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 17. Admission is free for Henricus Foundation Patrons. Light refreshments will be available during the day.

Henricus Historical Park is at 251 Henricus Park Road, Chester. For more information, call 804-748-1611.

VIMS Marine Science Day

Marine Science Day, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s annual open house, will take place on Saturday, May 17 from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on the VIMS bayfront campus, Rt. 1208 Greate Rd, in Gloucester Point. Everyone is invited to tour the oyster hatchery; learn about deep-sea fishes that glow in the dark; and meet scientists that will inspire adults and kids alike.

Visitors, young and old, will learn about this year’s theme – bioluminescence, and research projects around the globe. There will be exhibits, mini-lectures, marsh tours, kids’ activities, and a seafood cooking demonstration. Attendees will get an up-close look at jellyfish, crabs, seagrass, and critters that live in the mud; and learn about marine debris, water quality, and fish tagging programs. A marine life costume contest will take place at 11 a.m. There is no charge for admission or parking. For more information, visit vims.edu or call 804-684-7846.

Insurance fraud awareness

“Insurance Fraud Awareness Week” is an annual event designed to raise community awareness of insurance fraud, create more widespread public knowledge of the IFP and its purpose, and educate Virginia citizens in the prevention and reporting of insurance fraud. It takes place through May 17 this year.

If citizens have knowledge of a fraudulent insurance scheme or suspect they may have been the victim of insurance fraud, they are encouraged to report the activity to the IFP on the toll-free hotline at 1-877-62FRAUD (1-877-623-7283) or at www.StampOutFraud. com. Tipsters can remain anonymous, and a reward up to $25,000 is available for tips leading to an arrest for the crime of insurance fraud.

Only submit the who, what, where and when.

We reserve the right to edit all submissions for space, clarity, style and grammar.

Flyers will not be accepted.

E-mail events to editor@voicenewspaper.com.

NATIONAL

The Richmond Voice

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 17

Death penalty report cites value of taping interrogations A report issued by a committee of legal experts last week champions the use of an investigative tool it believes can prevent wrongful convictions in capital cases: the videotaping of all interrogations of suspects. The recordings, the committee said, help to eliminate the chance of police coercion and limit the vulnerability of suspects with serious mental impairments.

The death penalty report, by a committee of former high-level prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officers, and correctional officials, was issued by the Constitution Project, a nonprofit organization that neither supports nor condemns capital punishment. Instead, it says, it seeks only to ensure that the penalty is used for those guilty of only the most heinous of crimes, like murder; that it's used fairly, and to the extent possible, safely.

Highlights from thereport: More than 80 percent of 125 documented false confessions in the study occurred in homicide cases, and 20 percent of the

defendants in those cases received death sentences.

• While several police station houses in New York City are outfitted to video record police interrogations, and despite former police commissioner Ray Kelly’s 2012 pledge that the department would begin recording as a matter of policy, the practice is not currently required by law.

The controversy over taping interrogations was at the heart of a ProPublica report last year examining the murder case against 52-year-old disabled construction worker Pedro Hernandez. In 2012, Hernandez confessed to killing Etan Patz, a six-year-old boy who famously disappeared while walking to school in New York in 1979. Hernandez has since recanted his confession, and his lawyer has argued that Hernandez only initially made it because he is mentally ill, with a low IQ, and had been subjected to hours of unrecorded interrogation. The case is currently scheduled to go to trial this fall.

Black unemployment dips lower

By Freddie Allen WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The black unemployment rate fell to 11.6 percent in April, the lowest mark since President Barack Obama took his office in January 2009, according to the Labor Department’s latest jobs report.

In January 2009, the black jobless rate was 12.7 percent. The last time the black unemployment rate dipped below 12 percent was in November 2008 when the rate was 11.5 percent.

The economy added 288,000 jobs and the national unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in April, down from 6.7 percent in March.

On the surface, the 0.4 percent decline in the unemployment rate may cause some to celebrate, but Valerie Wilson, the director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, said much of the improvement was the result of people exiting the labor market.

The labor force participation rate, a measure of people who are either employed or currently looking for work, declined from 63.2 percent in March to 62.8 percent in April.

During the recovery following the Great Recession, Wilson said that the declines in

Valerie Wilson

the labor force participation rate have been smaller for blacks, especially women.

In December 2007, at the beginning of the Great Recession, the labor force participation rate was 70.7 percent for black men over 20 years-old and 76.3 percent for white men. The labor force participation rate was 63.4 percent for black women over 20 years-old and 60.2 percent for white women.

Interrogation recordings help to eliminate the chance of police coercion.

Since then, white men over 20 yearsold have shed 5.6 percent from their employment participation rate, the sharpest decline of all adult worker groups. Black women over 20 years-old have experienced a 1.7 percent decline, the lowest drop of all adult worker groups.

Wilson said that the black labor force has been “remarkably resilient” as blacks continue to search for jobs in the face of a challenging job market.

Wilson added that by letting the unemployment insurance benefits expire for millions of struggling Americans at the end of 2013, Washington lawmakers have taken money out the hands of people that would fuel the economy and job growth by spending on food and other necessities.

Wilson said that the expiration of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits contributed to the anemic GDP growth over the first quarter of this year.

“That points to how important it is that people continue to have access to those benefits, because they are important, not only for the stability of their own individual household, but also for the continued growth of our economy,” said Wilson.

Congressional inaction on extending the unemployment benefits during this period of economic recovery is without precedent.

In a post on the website for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Chad

Stone, chief economist for the center wrote that “long-term unemployment remains a particular concern” and highlight’s the need for Congress to take action. ”Over a third (35.3 percent) of the 9.8 million people who are unemployed — 3.5 million people — have been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer. These longterm unemployed represent 2.2 percent of the labor force,” wrote Stone. ”Before this recession, the previous highs for these statistics over the past six decades were 26 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively, in June 1983, early in the recovery from the 1981-82 recession. By the end of the first year of the recovery from that recession, however, the long-term unemployment rate had dropped below 2 percent.”

When lawmakers managing that recession finally ended the emergency program in March of 1985, the long-term unemployed accounted for 1.2 percent of the labor force, one percentage point lower than the current 2.2 percent mark.

Although one month’s jobs numbers don’t make a trend, the number of jobs created in April combined with upward revisions for February (197,000 to 222,000) and March (192,000 to 203,000), could be a sign that the economy is slowly gaining ground.

“We need to see more [job growth] like we saw in April,” said Wilson. “Hopefully, that’s not an anomaly.”

18 • May 14 - 20, 2014

The Richmond Voice

Protester’s 1971 death still echoes in two families

By Jay Reeves BUTLER, Ala. — Carrie Johnson and Gladden Smith are bound together by a single, deadly moment — a moment for which she says she has forgiven him, a moment he says he never intended but cannot change.

Although Johnson and Smith lived in the same rural county for years, they have never spoken about it: that sickening moment in 1971 when Smith ran over Johnson's daughter, Margaret Ann Knott, and killed her during a civil rights protest.

“I don’t hate him in any way,” Johnson said, explaining that she did not want her surviving children to live with hate.

The civil Rights Movement dragged on longer in Choctaw County than many other places, well into the 1970s. Near the Mississippi state line in the timber country of western Alabama, schools desegregated after protests and a federal lawsuit in the late 1960s. Not until later did black people become fed up enough to take action over economic inequality in the county, where the courthouse square has two monuments to Confederate dead, including a statue that looks out over the spot where Margaret Ann Knott died.

Blacks worked as janitors and store stockers in the county seat of Butler, but whites always got the higher-paying positions. Whites held all elected offices in the county of 16,500 people, which is about 55 percent white.

When blacks began organizing protests there, Johnson already was a respected teacher with deep community ties through schools and church. She was a natural to help lead a push for better jobs and wages.

Longtime residents remember a hot summer of protests, with blacks filling the streets and boycotting stores. Dozens of state troopers were called at one point amid a rumored plan to burn down the courthouse.

To judge by the local newspaper, however, all was calm. The Choctaw Advocate didn’t cover the protests until after that Saturday when Gladden Smith drove into town.

Smith, a south Alabama native who was assigned to Butler in his job as an agent with the U.S. Agriculture Department, had been working out in the county that morning of Sept. 11, 1971. He drove into the town in his government pickup, stopped at the office and got into his personal car

before heading toward home through the courthouse square.

“I remember coming through the intersection and seeing people over to the side,” said Smith, 71, during a recent interview at his home in rural Escambia County, near the Florida line. “I didn’t know what I was getting into.”

Demonstrators were staging a sit-in in the middle of an intersection ahead of him on the other side of the square. Pictures taken by the town photographer, Jack Hopson, show people everywhere.

Smith drove through one intersection and then another, where he turned left.

Witnesses said people were chasing the car and hitting it as he approached the intersection where Knott and other protesters sat in the road.

Smith was worried the crowd was after him, but he stopped at a red light. _“They were rocking that car trying to turn it over and everything,” he said. “You get caught in a life-and-death situation and you have to make a decision.”

Smith said he eased forward.

Demonstrators moved, he said, and then he felt the thud.

“I knew I had hit something, but I thought it was a leg,” he said.

Seated directly beside Knott on the pavement as the car approached, demonstrator Willie S. Jackson had a different view.

“People started hollering that a car had broken the line,” said Jackson, now 64. “I stood up and sure enough a car was coming with people running behind it.”

Before Jackson knew it, the front bumper

Carrie Johnson, whose daughter was fatally injured during a civil rights demonstration in 1971, poses in her den in Lisman, Ala., on Wednesday, April 9. While initially wanting justice for the death of Margaret Ann Knott, Johnson said she has overcome anger and found forgiveness for the man whose car struck the teen during a sit-in in Butler, Ala. PHOTO: Jay Reeves

Gladden Smith, who was driving a car that fatally injured civil rights protester Margaret Ann Knott during a sit-in in 1971, recalls the accident during an interview at his home near Atmore, Ala., on Tuesday, April 15. Smith, who was never prosecuted, said he never intended to harm anyone and regrets what happened that day. The victim’s mother, Carrie Johnson, says she does not blame Smith for her daughter’s death. PHOTO: Jay Reeves

of Smith's car was against Knott’s back.

Overweight, she was struggling to get up after others already had fled, Jackson said.

A front tire rolled over Knott, and the vehicle seemed to stand up in the air, said Jackson. People grew frantic.

“They were beating on it. I was, too. We were trying to get him off her. We would have lifted the car off her, but then he gunned it,” said Jackson.

Smith doesn’t remembering accelerating

quickly. The sheriff’s official account — printed afterward in the county newspaper — said only that Smith “eased through the intersection at a safe rate of speed.” Some said Knott was pushed down into the car’s path, but nothing was ever proven.

Smith said he saw a police officer just up the street and stopped. He told the man what had happened and drove home but See “1971 Protestors” on pg. 21

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 19

The Richmond Voice

Black woman elected to lead American Bar Association Baltimore native, Howard graduate to take office in August 2015 NNPA — This August, another glass ceiling will be shattered when Paulette Brown (right) begins her term as president of the American Bar Association and becomes the first black woman to ever ascend to the position.

Brown will serve as president-elect for one year before taking over as president in August 2015.

Brown was raised in northwest Baltimore as the daughter of two working parents, Wilbur and Thelma Brown, who protected her and kept her so focused on her school work that she said she had never even heard of marijuana until she reached college.

Brown entered Howard University as a freshman with the intention of becoming a social worker, knowing that she wanted to help people. Far from her mind was the possibility of leading the 400,000-member ABA, which sets standards for lawyers and law schools throughout the country.

“It never occurred to me,” said Brown.

Over the course of that first year at Howard, however, she realized law, not social work, was her true vocation.

After graduating from Howard, Brown received her law degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law, and has been practicing law since 1976. She is a partner in a New Jersey law firm where she specializes in labor law, employment law and commercial litigation.

“When I first started going to court and so forth,” said Brown, “I had the usual experiences. ‘Are you the defendant?

Are you the court reporter? Are you the plaintiff? No? Well then, who are you then?’ It never occurred to them that I could be the lawyer.”

Despite her election to the ABA’s top post, she said she still faces such assumptions.

“I’m still asked whether I’m a flight attendant,” she said. “As recently as two weeks ago.”

It is this persisting presumption of Black female inferiority that makes her election to the presidency of the ABA so historically significant.

“Her ascension to the presidency just opens the door for so many African American females to even believe that

that is possible,” said Alicia Wilson, the fundraising committee co-chair for the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys of Maryland. “She has broken down barriers and opened up doors and kept them open for a whole host of African-American women attorneys.”

After 38 years in a w hite-male dominated profession, Brown has encountered, challenged, and broken through many a glass ceiling, and has left a legacy of often unsung accomplishments.

She said her father helped set her success in motion by instilling in Brown the value that there is no such thing as “women’s work.”

“My father always said there were no girl jobs and no boy jobs,” said Brown. “My brother had to wash dishes and clean up just like we did—and my father did too. He did laundry, he cooked, he did everything.

And he went to work every day.”

Brown said she believes that her selection by the ABA leadership as its next president carries with it a great responsibility.

Because the term of ABA president only lasts one year, Brown said she is determined to focus on no more than three goals for which she can produce tangible results within that time frame. While the exact areas of focus are still being negotiated with a group of trusted advisers, among her possible areas of interest are increasing awareness of the fact that the elderly are often among the groups most subjected to domestic violence, as well as the need to improve the access to counsel for those who cannot afford it under the Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon v.

Wainwright.

One thing she will certainly do, however, is make sure that wherever she travels in an official capacity for the ABA she has the opportunity to impact young children who themselves may not see the possibility of a position like ABA president in their future.

“They need to see that somebody up close and personal, that they can have a conversation with, that this is something that they can do,” said Brown. “That even if it had never occurred to them, because it had never occurred to me, that as time goes on, it can be done.”

20 • May 14 - 20, 2014 Preservation from page 15 thaw cycles and general wear and tear.

“We encourage park users and local partners like the Mill Mountain Advisory Committee to continue to work with the city of Roanoke to develop a proactive approach to a sustainable maintenance plan for this iconic landscape before deferred maintenance takes its toll on the stone walls lining the road,” notes Preservation Virginia.

8. Pocahontas Island Historic District Petersburg’s Pocahontas Island is one of the earliest free African-American communities in the U.S. and the earliest known in Virginia. It was initially given to the grandson of Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan. Over time, free African Americans settled here, especially during the early to mid 19th century. Due to its location in the middle of the Appomattox River, Pocahontas Island was a thriving economic center and a prosperous community for generations until the railroad made river commerce obsolete.

Pocahontas Island is also recognized for having two verifiable stops on the Underground Railroad, the banks of the Appomattox thus serving as the last point of bondage for many enslaved individuals before they liberated themselves and began new lives above the Mason-Dixon Line.

The house at 213-215 Witten Street on Pocahontas Island was the subject of what the press called the Keziah Affair whereby a white ship owner, Captain William Bayliss, had been caught with five enslaved individuals hiding on his vessel, the Keziah, bound for Philadelphia. The oldest house on the island, located at 808-810 Logan Street and built circa 1820, known as the Jarratt House, is associated with and was built by a free Black family. In 2006, the entire parcel known as Pocahontas Island Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Today, the privately-owned house on Witten Street and the city of Petersburgowned Jarratt House both suffer from years of neglect as a result of a lack of funding and need stabilization and repair.

While some repairs have been made to the Jarratt House in the past decade, a portion of the rear wall collapsed several years ago. Residents and stewards of Pocahontas Island’s history are unable to generate the necessary capital to fully interpret the site’s Underground Railroad narrative.

Preservation Virginia notes that with this year marking the 150th anniversary of

The Richmond Voice the siege of Petersburg, which is focusing attention on the city’s history, those working on the commemorations should include Pocahontas Island in their plans to help tell the somewhat hidden story of Petersburg and the Underground Railroad.

“The island may well be eligible for inclusion on the Underground Railroad trail, and ought to be permanently recognized with markers and interpretive signage,” notes Preservation Virginia. “The poignant history of the island should be fully studied and promoted as a site for heritage tourism.”

9. Phlegar Building (Old Clerk’s Office) Christiansburg’s Phlegar Building demonstrates evolution over time, incorporating the 1812 one-story, two-room Montgomery County Clerk of Court Office in its front lower section with the second floor, Eastlake-style double porch and rear section that were added around 1898.

On the National Register, it is described as Montgomery County’s best example of a late-19th-century law office, a rare example of a late-19th-century building that contributes to the historic fabric of downtown Christiansburg. The building’s role in the legal and political history of the county is rich, having served as offices to a number of legal figures, including William Ballard Preston and Waller Staples. Preston served in the Virginia Senate, House of Delegates, and U.S. Congress, and was Secretary of the Navy under President Zachary Taylor. Staples was Virginia Supreme Court Justice from 1870-1882.

Judge Archer Phlegar was responsible for the late 1890s additions to the building; he was commonwealth attorney from 18701877 and served terms as state senator in 1877-79 and 1903-07. He was a justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia in 19001901 and was a founder of the Bank of Christiansburg.

Deferred maintenance has taken its toll on the exterior of the building and the lack of a preservation plan makes its future uncertain.

“We encourage Montgomery County and potentially-interested purchasers to pursue ways of adaptively re-using the structure,” notes Preservation Virginia. “As a commercial structure, the use of historic rehabilitation tax credits could help with financing its restoration.

“The Montgomery Museum and Lewis Miller Regional Arts Center, who have expressed interest in the building, should be encouraged to pursue the feasibility and funding for its re-use.”

10. Shockoe Bottom Shockoe Bottom is likely the most archaeologically-rich slave-related site in the state. The area has historic significance as the site of the center of the domestic commercial wholesale slave trade circa 1730 to 1865, which acted as a major facilitator of the domestic retail slave trade farther south. The area bounded by Broad, Franklin, 18th and 16th Streets is also significant as the center of the original city of Richmond, and the governmental seat of Henrico, once it moved from its original location at Henricus. This was the epicenter of political thought in Virginia during the Revolutionary and Federal period, serving as the common meeting place of the greatest thinkers of the early Republic, including Jefferson, Marshall, Madison, Monroe, Mason, Wythe (who lived not far from the site), and Randolph, among others.

Preservation Virginia notes that the public-private Revitalize RVA Plan proposed by Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones contemplates intensive construction and redevelopment within the Shockoe Bottom flood plain, including a stadium, hotel, grocery store, retail space, office buildings, apartment buildings, parking garages, highway off-ramp modifications, and storm water flood-control infrastructure.

“These activities are likely to adversely impact historic and archaeological resources that are listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (including those located within the Shockoe Valley & Tobacco Row Historic District and those identified in a multipleproperty listing entitled The Slave Trade as a Commercial Enterprise in Richmond, Virginia),” notes Preservation Virginia.

“We urge the city of Richmond and its development partners to avoid taking any action for the Revitalize RVA project that may disturb or harm historic and archaeological resources before the federal Section 106 review and consultation process is complete.

“An announced plan that will identify and review associated historic resources is a first step. Following through with Section 106 will allow for analyzing alternatives and ensuring a plan for appropriate development and preservation of the historic assets.”

11. Waterloo Bridge The Waterloo Bridge (above) crosses the Rappahannock River between Culpeper and Fauquier Counties and until January 2014 was used as a bridge for vehicular traffic. It is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the Rappahannock River-Hedgemans Rural Historic District nomination that has been submitted to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Preservation Virginia notes that it is threatened because the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is recommending replacement of the bridge instead of repairing it, citing cost of repairs.

Citizen-comprised groups and organizations such as the Piedmont Environmental Council are advocating for recognition of the bridge’s significance to the region and its repair, which would maintain the rural character of the road and river crossing, rather than replacement.

“We encourage VDOT to assess its inventory of historic bridges across the commonwealth to be able to create a proactive maintenance plan instead of deferring needed repairs until it’s too late,” notes Preservation Virginia.

May 14 - 20, 2014 • 21

The Richmond Voice

Jealous joins Center for American Progress as senior fellow

By Roz Edward Washington, D.C. (NNPA)— Benjamin Jealous, partner at Kapor Capital and former president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, will be joining CAP as a senior fellow. Within his new role, Jealous will focus on tracking political trends impacting civil and human rights and will contribute to developing policy solutions that ensure equity and opportunity for all Americans.

“Ben has a long and outstanding history of dedicating his talents toward defending the civil rights of all Americans and is a proven civic leader and public servant,”

Benjamin Jealous

said Neera Tanden, CAP president.

“Promoting social and economic fairness and opportunity should be a priority for policymakers across the political spectrum, and we are thrilled to welcome Ben to CAP and look forward to working with him to find innovative solutions to narrowing the gaps in opportunity and achievement for all Americans.”

Jealous said he looks forward to focusing on the future – “how America can maintain its position as the world leader in innovation and job creation, while expanding the culture of democratic and economic inclusion that has made the advances of the past 50 years possible.”

1971 protestors from page 18 was soon in the county jail.

Knott was rushed to the hospital, where she died before sunset.

“She just kept saying, ‘I died for freedom, I died for freedom,’” Jackson recalled.

Carrie Johnson had been at a church preparing for the next civil rights demonstration when her daughter was fatally injured; she got the news later in a phone call.

Johnson, now 86 and retired from the school system, wanted Smith prosecuted for something, although she wasn’t sure what.

A demonstrator signed a warrant charging Smith with murder, but Smith was quickly released on bond. Yellowed courthouse records show prosecutors called as many as 53 witnesses to testify before a mixed-race grand jury that considered a charge of second-degree manslaughter and declined to indict him.

The criminal case was concluded by the end of the month, and no one has been prosecuted since in Knott’s death.

Smith said his insurance company paid a $10,000 settlement.

Johnson was deeply wounded, but she thought of her other five children, including Margaret Ann’s twin sister, Mary Ann. Johnson feared what anger or a quest for vengeance might do to Mary Ann and her sons, plus the unborn boy she was carrying at the time.

So Johnson, a Christian, said she made the only possible decision by forgiving Smith and trying to put herself in the driver’s seat that day.

“I’ve tried to tell my children this, and other people: Imagine yourself (as a white) in a crowd of blacks and they are taunting

This photo made from a page of The Choctaw Advocate newspaper shows the funeral procession of Margaret Ann Knott in Butler, Ala., following her death during a civil rights protest on Sept. 11, 1971. PHOTO: The Choctaw Advocate

and shaking your car and rocking your car,” she said. “I don’t hold it against him because I really don’t think he deliberately did it.”

Nearly 120 miles away at his rural home ringed by pine trees and azaleas, Smith wishes things were different.

“If I hadn’t got up that morning I would have probably been a lot better off,” he said. “But it happened.”

Smith, who retired in 2000, still owns a home in Butler but only visits occasionally.

Yet he and his wife and their three sons, now grown, spent much of the last four decades in Choctaw County.

Smith, a deacon in his church, said the family remained despite taunts and threats directed at his sons while they attended integrated public schools. They stayed despite threatening telephone calls and cars that drove slowly by their home.

“It was either stay there or run,” he said.

“What I tried to do was do a little bit extra

Jealous, who was appointed president and CEO of the NAACP in 2008, focused the organization on voting rights and criminal justice reform and oversaw the launch of several national programs focused on education, health, and environmental justice during his tenure as the organization’s president. The youngest person ever appointed to lead the organization, Jealous also expanded the NAACP’s capacity to organize around issues pertaining to the economy and voter registration and mobilization.

In March Jealous joined Kapor Capital, an Oakland-based firm that leverages the tech sector to create progressive social change.

Johnson also stayed, at one point serving with Smith’s wife on a school committee.

Hundreds attended Knott’s funeral, and leaders formed a biracial commission which reached an agreement that ended the demonstrations within a week.

Donors gave money for a $4,700 granite monument meant to be erected outside the courthouse in memory of Knott, but the white-controlled commission refused permission to install it. Chipped and stained, the three-piece memorial now lies outside Richard Moore’s stone-cutting shop in Meridian, Mississippi.

Johnson said she'd like to talk to Smith, to tell him she doesn’t want him prosecuted and doesn’t hold him responsible for her daughter’s death.

Smith demurs at the idea, saying he made

This photo made from a page of The Choctaw Advocate newspaper shows civil rights protesters during a sit-in in Butler, Ala., on Sept. 11, 1971, shortly before demonstrator Margaret Ann Knott was struck by a car and fatally injured. PHOTO: The Choctaw Advocate

or whatever for the black community. I was trying to do my job, but I was also trying to show that I didn’t mean no harm.”

his peace with God. “I ask the Good Lord to help put behind me the things I can’t change,” said Smith.

22 • May 14 - 20, 2014

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