Editor’s note: This is an op-ed. The views belong to the author and not necessarily RVA Magazine. We publish opinion pieces to spark conversation, share perspectives, and give space to voices in our community. by Jacob Sherrod Richmond’s zoning code, the policies...
Progressive yard signs are visible throughout my neighborhood of Church Hill, declaring "Black Lives Matter" and "Hate Has No Home Here." Those signs help to foster a sense of community; there’s comfort that comes from feeling that our neighbors are interpreting this moment in our country in similar ways. However, there is a danger of mistakenly...
This op-ed comes from Chelsea Higgs Wise of Women and Politics and Francesca Leigh-Davis of RVA Dirt and Municipal Mania. We all have our morning routines, but in many corners of RVA, there are black women that wake up ready to talk community. It’s a built-in strategy for getting our superwoman gear secured physically and mentally, in order to...
Late last fall, my wife and I moved into our first house. We had gotten married a couple of months before and were really excited to get out of a tiny bedroom in a house full of roommates. We ended up renting a house in the Brookland Park neighborhood, just a bit north of the downtown area, and we really liked it. But almost as soon as we moved...
At his community office hours last night, Mayor Levar Stoney announced a change to the printed agenda; instead of infrastructure and education, public safety would be the first topic addressed. Since the killing of #MarcusDavidPeters, his death has been the number one issue the community wants Stoney to address. Before opening the meeting for...
World Cup 2018 went out with a bang Sunday, as France took their second title home after an intense final against Croatia. As an avid soccer player, the World Cup is the sporting tournament I look the most forward to. Every four years, I am completely absorbed in the games for a month, my eyes glued to the television rooting for my favorite...
I could just barely reach our countertop when my father started teaching me how to cook. Chef celebrity culture quickly became a thing in the late 90s, and my father used it to his advantage to teach me how to cook what we saw on our television. We started working on proper knife skills after we read Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential for...
A week ago I wrote an opinion piece for this publication titled, "How To Kill the Democratic Party of Virginia" after attending the Blue Commonwealth Gala in Richmond on June 16. I had no idea that this opinion piece would create as many arguments and as much division as it has. I have been called a “traitor”, an imitator, and told to “become an...
Dear Becky, You’re the owner of Caddy's Restaurant on Midlothian Turnpike. And you just posted this absurdly racist comment directed toward black Congresswoman Maxine Waters. “Maxine Waters, shut your your big fat lips, no one wants to hear your rasium [sic] remarks...Go back to Africa where you’re from.” I’m actually from Africa, born and...
Today’s print edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch features an editorial cartoon mocking the separation of families at the southern border, and I am utterly outraged. Unless you think the forced separation of children from their parents is somehow acceptable, featuring this cartoon is absolutely disgraceful. The audacity of Richmond’s major...
