by Alexis Jackson I am a Black queer woman, a wife, a mother, a licensed therapist, and a doula in Virginia. And before anything else, let me be clear: my family is not outside of the norm. Love, intention, and care are not radical ideas. They are the foundation of...
"Backwards or Forward? COVID-19 challenges us to incorporate a public health lens when approaching justice for youth and public safety," writes Gary Broderick, Legislative Coordinator of RISE For Youth. This past month, the Sentencing Project released a new report tracking the spread of COVID-19 through juvenile detention centers across the US....
Through progressive changes like those in the Every Voice Bill, passed this year in New Hampshire, Virginia could take steps to lead the way in prevention of campus sexual assaults, writes David Millman. I first got involved with campus sexual assault prevention when several friends of mine at college were sexually harassed by my floormate. When...
Monument Avenue's Confederate monuments are slated for removal, but landscape architect Annie Lynch raises a more fundamental question: when they are gone, what will we do with their pedestals? An empty pedestal signals either an ending or a beginning. Earlier this month, Governor Ralph Northam announced that the statue of Confederate general...
In a time of ongoing protests over police violence, Rich Meagher examines the central cultural myth that enables the police to attain an air of authoritarian impunity on America's streets. What we are seeing is the unraveling of the myth of law enforcement. I use "myth" here deliberately, in the sense of a widespread narrative that may be...
Rabbi Michael Knopf ponders the changing relationship Richmond's citizens have with Confederate monuments in the wake of the protests against police violence that have transformed the city. The recent wave of anti-racism protests have produced at least one tangible outcome: Sometime soon, Richmond’s Confederate monuments will be removed. As I...
Retired law enforcement officer Brett L. Saunders says, "We all must work towards stamping out intolerance around us" -- and that it's particularly important for police to check themselves and their peers. Let me begin by saying that I’m an old, white, retired law enforcement officer. I probably have more life experiences in common with the men...
Not only does relaxation of EPA rules about pollution harm the environment, it increases risk factors for COVID-19, writes Kaylin Cecchini. Often in times of crisis, whether they be political, professional, or personal, some components of ordinary operation get thrown out to adapt to the new and unstable circumstances. Usually this is in an...
Governor Northam's stay-at-home order is more than an inconvenient imposition; it's an opportunity to care for your loved ones and the community as a whole. We as humans have been through this pandemic thing before. We’ve seen members of our immediate and global families fall, and we’ve seen what the aftermath and recovery look like. And because...
"I struggle to understand the immediacy of action and lack of concern for those students," writes VCU student Kaylin Cecchini after VCU emptied their Honors College dorms of student belongings without advance notice. As my graduation rapidly approaches I find myself reflecting on my four years at VCU, and I always come back to the same conclusion...
