BLM Archives | RVA Mag

Carrying The Banner

Mitchel Bamberger | July 23, 2020

Topics: black lives matter, black lives matter richmond, BLM, defund the police banner richmond, lee bridge, lee bridge banner, lee bridge defund the police banner, Lee Monument, politics, richmond climate justice, richmond politics, richmond va blm, richmond va environmental groups, robert e lee, sunrise movement richmond, the sunrise movement, Virginia politics

With the flag they dropped from the Robert E. Lee bridge last month, the Richmond branch of Sunrise Movement calls attention to the links between environmental activism and racial justice.

On June 19, a banner was dropped from the Robert E. Lee bridge that read “Defund The Police” in large, red letters. The phrase, encompassing a circular emblem on a navy blue background, mimicked the Virginia State Flag. Its text read “Virginia – Sic Semper Tyrannis,” but instead of the flowery vines which embroider the state crest, the names of victims of police brutality circled its center.

In this adaptation of the state’s flag, the usual white Roman character in a blue robe (known as Virtus) is replaced by an ambiguous Black protester standing on a fallen statue. This image, both powerful and controversial, evokes a poignant emotional response.

But who was behind this mysterious banner drop, and what is their message?

The installation was created by none other than Sunrise Movement Richmond, the local chapter of a nationwide environmental organization that has spent years coupling climate activism with the fight for racial equality. In light of recent events, the increasingly-prevalent topic of racial equality has sparked a conversation about race relations in the environmental world. It’s a conversation the Sunrise Movement has had since the very beginning.

Fionnuala Fisk is a leading voice for the Sunrise Movement’s Richmond chapter. Fisk provided insight into the meaning behind the banner drop, what it aimed to accomplish, and what The Sunrise Movement is doing in Richmond and across the nation.

“Sunrise Richmond is one of the keystone hubs in the state,” Fisk said. “[It’s] a youth-led, nonviolent direct action movement around The Green New Deal. It includes the environmental piece, but also the economic and racial justice piece… We would like a transition away from fossil fuels, and we would like vulnerable communities to be supported as we deal with the enormous crisis coming our way that is climate change.”

Sunrise Richmond is dedicated to justice for people and the planet, and racial equality is a topic on everyone’s mind these days.

While the imagery of their Defund The Police banner is clear at first glance, its symbolism is dense. The deeply-layered subtext is first noticed through the crest’s center, which features a Black Lives Matter protester in place of Virginia’s Virtus.

“The protester is an androgynous, ambiguously-gendered person. That was intentional, because we want them to represent anybody,” Fisk said. The protester stands atop a fallen statue, like the many Confederate monuments being removed (sometimes forcibly by protesters) throughout Richmond.

“They have a Black power fist, and they’re carrying a camera. One of the big symbols in this particular movement has been cameras speaking louder,” Fisk said. Public documentation has become a symbol in the fight, and the weapon of choice for nonviolent protesters. “Cameras have been really important in capturing the truth.”

The camera-wielding protester on the banner could be interpreted, perhaps, as a direct reference to the events which kickstarted the resurgence of Black Lives Matter: the death of George Floyd. Floyd’s death in Minneapolis altered the course of history overnight, the video shot by a bystander resulting in one of the largest civil protests in human history. Fisk went on to explain the deeper elements of Sunrise Richmond’s flag.

“There’s an old joke that was historically associated with the phrase ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis’ — which means ‘thus always to tyrants’ — but the joke said that it actually meant ‘Get your foot off my neck.’”

The joke in Virginia dates back to the Civil War. These words bring to mind the killing of George Floyd, and the Black Lives Matter movement gives new meaning to the flag itself. The Tyrant, played by officer Derek Chauvin, has prevailed with his knee upon Floyd’s neck. It signifies a moment in time when the Tyrant has won at the expense of the oppressed, and the virtue of Virtus is snuffed out by the brutality of the Tyrant.

“The flowers around the rim were exchanged for broken chains and handcuffs,” Fisk said. “The names in the circle were a mix of victims of lynching, as well as victims of police brutality throughout Virginia’s history.”

The image on Sunrise Richmond’s flag empowers the role of the protester. “We wanted to flip the narrative about protesters right now. There’s been a lot of bad messaging [from] certain groups about protesters being thugs, being violent, being rioters, et cetera,” Fisk said. Sunrise positioned the protester as the central figure, portraying them as the hero, just as Lady Virtus is depicted on the Virginia State Flag: poised, elegant, powerful.

“[The figure] reminds people that these protesters are forcing America to live up to its ideals,” Fisk said. “These are the people fighting for equality, fighting for life and liberty. These are our national heroes.”

We can see the effects and implications of structural racism in nearly every facet of American society — and environmentalism is no exception. The Sunrise Movement bridges that gap, noting how climate issues could hurt some communities more than others.

“Whenever there are big transitions in society, it’s always marginalized groups that are screwed,” Fisk said, noting that minority groups could disproportionately feel the hardships of economic and environmental shifts. With less wealth and resources, these communities will naturally have a more difficult time adapting to major changes. “The most marginalized communities right now are the most important to listen to, and they’re the ones that can benefit most from a re-imagination.”

Fisk emphasized the Sunrise Movement’s involvement with The Green New Deal, and discussed their part in the Green New Deal Virginia Coalition.

The Green New Deal is a resolution put forward in both the House and Senate, which lays out a broad vision to combat climate change. As a modern variation of the 1930s New Deal, it seeks to monumentally change U.S. environmental practices. “It is an attempt to go beyond that [New Deal],” Fisk said. “Broadly, it is a transition from fossil fuels to green fuel in the next ten years. It’s a social, vast reimagining of services that the government provides, and it’s also about transitioning from fossil fuels to a carbon-neutral economy.”

As climate issues intersect with the fight for racial justice in America, an increasingly-prevalent term has entered the country’s vernacular: environmental racism.

“The effects of climate change and environmental degradation are not felt by all people equally,” said Fisk, offering the example that “a lot of our waste goes to poorer countries.”

Right here in Virginia and the United States, marginalized, lower-income communities are at higher risk of being negatively impacted — or even destroyed — by the relentless reliance on fossil fuels.

“Pipelines do not go through the wealthy communities. They go through the historically-Black and native communities,” Fisk said. “Those with less political power are more vulnerable to the detrimental results of vast environmental degradation.”

To Fisk, making justice for these communities a fundamental goal of the environmental movement is a key step in moving the movement in a progressive direction.

“Environmentalism, in the past, has had a long history of being a very white movement. And it can’t be,” said Fisk. “Sunrise is not this white monolith that [other] organizations are.”

Sunrise Movement envisions a greater picture to encompass climate justice for all people, and the Lee Bridge banner drop sought to connect these dots locally. By using the fallen Confederate statue in place of the Tyrant, Sunrise utilizes a symbol that speaks heavily, and specifically, to Richmond. Its iconography is near and dear to Richmonders’ hearts, familiar to the political climate of this moment in history.

Richmond is a moderately-small city, with a population of around 232,000. While the city may seem small on a national scale, Fisk noted that Richmond has a lot of skin in the game during the fight for racial equality. Few places are as relevant when it comes to Confederate monuments, oppressive iconography, and the public glorification of racists, rebels, tyrants, genociders, and slave traders.

Fisk reminds us that Richmond is not only a keystone hub for Sunrise Movement’s operations but also a hub in America’s fight for justice, especially right now.

“Richmond is a living symbol for the rest of the country,” Fisk said. “Every time the BBC writes an article on protests about Confederate statues, they [reference] the Lee Monument. We wanted to draw attention to the importance of Richmond, and Virginia, as national symbols.”

We’re experiencing a time in history when the news is dominated by Black Lives Matter protests and a global pandemic. The Sunrise Movement encourages us to think about environmentalism right now, too, not forgetting the looming threat of climate crisis which continues inching closer. They urge us to remember, once again, that racial equality is not an island.

The banner only lasted a few short hours on the Robert E. Lee bridge before it was removed and confiscated by Richmond Police. But thanks to a few photos, illuminating statements from Fisk, and the ongoing work of The Sunrise Movement in our city, the effects and impact of the banner — and those who dropped it — will be felt for quite some time.

Top Photo via Sunrise Movement Richmond

My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams: Lee Monument Ballerina Publishes Book

Zoe Hall | July 20, 2020

Topics: amanda lynch, art, ava holloway, ballet, black lives matter, black lives matter richmond va, BLM, blm richmond va, blm rva, bonnie lemaire, books, confederate statue removal richmond, confederate statues richmond va, kennedy george, Lee Monument, lee monument ballerinas, my ancestors wildest dreams, richmond protest

With My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams, Ava Holloway, who quickly attained fame with her ballet poses at the Lee Monument, illustrates her “summer of activism” as she works for justice during the pandemic.

What happens when the world forces you to become an activist at age 14? This has been the story for countless American kids in recent years, and so it is for Richmond’s Ava Holloway, the ballerina behind the Lee Monument photos that captivated the nation.

Images of Holloway have been shared across the world, and even made its way into the headers of national media. On Zoom, Holloway’s mother, Amanda Lynch, sat in front of a map of the world covered with dot stickers, each marking a place where her daughter’s photos had been shared online. There were dots everywhere — Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America, too.

Since Holloway’s ballet photo shoot in front of the Lee Monument went viral, the 14 year old straight-A student has taken on a new role: activist. Over the past month, she’s had an onslaught of interviews, created a scholarship with Brown Girls Do Ballet, and worked with her mom to publish a children’s book called My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams. It seems like things are happening fast — and they are — but as Holloway and Lynch have proven, anything is possible.

*PHOTO: My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams by Amanda Lynch & Ava Holloway*

It all started with the photos. Ballet photo shoots are a hobby of Holloway’s, even at highly populated events like Pride. As the Lee Monument continues to become a space of reclamation and celebration, artists have taken to its surface as a new canvas; to Holloway, it seemed like a natural location for a shoot.

In addition to local photographer Marcus Ingram, who had arranged to take pictures of Holloway and her friend Kennedy George, at least ten other photographers surrounded the girls on the first day they brought their tutus to the Lee Monument. By the end of their nearly four hours of posing, the photos had already gone viral. Reese Witherspoon and Misty Copeland retweeted it. The interview requests came flooding in.

“When we were first having the interviews, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, is this ever going to stop?’” Holloway said. “Now I’m used to them! After the first interview, Kennedy and I worked on our answers. We learned to not say everything we think.”

Being interviewed by journalists is no easy task at 14 years old. But blessed with extroversion, Holloway doesn’t seem to mind. “I’ll talk to anyone,” she said.

This comes in handy, because she’s also been recruited to help out with her school’s weekly racism discussions on Zoom. Lynch is proud. “If last month had not happened, I don’t know that these conversations would have taken off in the way they have. I’m proud to see that Ava and Kennedy have been the faces at the forefront of this conversation in terms of youth activism,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the midst of interviews, Holloway and Lynch got to work on a children’s book inspired by the event.

My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams was a long time in the making. Lynch — a mindfulness educator and author of several books on the subject, including The Mindfulness Room — wanted to collaborate with Holloway on her next book.

“[My mom] kept telling me we were going to write a book, and I was thinking… I don’t write,” said Holloway. “She’s a scientist!” Lynch added.

Despite her aversion to writing, Holloway agreed to participate in a brainstorming activity. The two began collecting positive affirmations like “You are a good friend” and “You are safe” — comforting words to any child; but they hadn’t found the right format to publish them.

Then the photo shoot happened. Everything started to make sense. The book’s title came from the caption Holloway added to one of her Instagram posts of the photos: “I am my ancestors’ wildest dreams.”

Lynch sent the manuscript to her long-time collaborator, illustrator Bonnie Lemaire, on June 22. Lemaire, who usually completes books in one to three months, had three weeks for this one. The 32 pages of hand-sketched, digitally-painted illustrations took just over a week to finish.

“I’ve only done that twice, as far as a really quick turnaround,” said Lemaire, who has illustrated hundreds of children’s books.

Lemaire lives about an hour north of Toronto, Ontario, far away from most of what’s happening in the States. “I’m actually sitting out on the deck [right now], and there’s a little chicken laying beside me,” she said, laughing at the rural-ness of it all.

“[Lemaire’s] experiences are just different,” Lynch said. “She’s been able to engage in conversations with people about what’s going on here. During Canada Day, she had a long conversation about what was happening. That’s not something I imagined that we would ever talk about.”

“It took some research on her part to get it right, to be what our vision was,” Lynch continued. “With the first character that she drew, I said, ‘I need her hair to be a little more like this, I need her skin tone to be a little more like this…’ but she knocked it out of the park. She asked for pictures, so I sent her some pictures of Holloway and downtown. She just went from there. She knows that representation is really important to me.”

“It’s such a positive message,” Lemaire said. “Even in Canada, we need to hear that, right?”

Lemaire was happy to make revisions. “I don’t do a lot of realistic illustrations, so I listened closely to what [Lynch] wanted.”

Lynch pointed out that very few children’s books feature kids of color. “There are more bears in children’s books, and talking animals, than there are Black faces, so it’s really important for me for my kids — and I don’t just mean my children, but also my students — to see themselves in all of the characters,” Lynch said. “Ava sees Black ballerinas all the time. My son is a dancer, Kennedy’s older sister is a dancer. It’s never been foreign for them to see Black dancers, but that’s a very unique experience. I think for most people, it’s not that way.”

To illustrators worried about how to properly represent a range of skin tones, Lemaire says, “It’s not that you tread lightly, you just want to make sure it’s the right imagery. There are no rules if you’re doing what the author wants, if you’re feeling good about it.”

Her illustrations, which sweep across the page in luminous pastels, feel immensely loving. “I really wanted the character to look cute, and I wanted little girls to really resonate with that character,” said Lemaire.

Lynch has already sold more than 400 copies of My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams through pre-orders on her website. The profits will go to a number of different charities, including Holloway’s scholarship, which provides dancers aged 6-16 with dance classes, pointe shoes, and leotards.

“One thing that was important to us was offering scholarships for other students, because dance is extremely expensive,” said Lynch. “It’s been a real sacrifice for us as a family.”

If young dancers can get past the financial hurdle, Holloway’s experience teaches us that it’s worth it to follow your passions — even when the odds are stacked against you.

Despite being one of few non-white dancers at the Central Virginia Dance Company, Holloway said, “I’ve been going there for 11 years, so everyone knows everyone. If you don’t see someone that looks like you, you still have a support system behind you at all times. Our biggest thing is definitely respect.”

She can’t wait to return to dance class — and, for that matter, school. “I hope we can go back to school at least one day of the week. I’ll take that over online,” said Holloway.

As for Lynch, mindfulness comes in many forms these days.

“When we first started, I had a schedule that I wrote every day for Ava,” she said. “Every single day!” Holloway echoed.

“Now it’s like a free-for-all. Let’s just order GrubHub,” Lynch continued. “But that’s being mindful, too — it’s giving yourself grace where you are.”

After the overwhelming response to their photos, a fundraiser has been organized to support the academic and artistic pursuits of Holloway and Kennedy George. If you’re interested in purchasing My Ancestor’s Wildest Dreams, pre-orders are available here.

Top Photo by Julia Rendleman

Past and Future: A Q&A With Richmond Mayor Candidate Justin Griffin

Noah Daboul | July 10, 2020

Topics: black lives matter, BLM, coronavirus, education, eviction, gentrification, healthcare, housing, housing crisis, Justin Griffin, justin griffin for mayor, Levar Stoney, local politics, local schools, mayor, mayor candidates, mayor race, monument ave, monuments, Navy Hill, new monuments, Pandemic, politics, protests, richmond coliseum, richmond healthcare, richmond housing, richmond mayor, richmond public schools, RPS, stoney, University of Richmond, vcu, Virginia politics

Richmond business attorney and activist Justin Griffin is running for mayor of Richmond. RVA Mag spoke to him about his goals and policies ahead of November’s election.

Justin Griffin is a small business attorney who originally hails from Nashville, but has fallen in love with Richmond in the years since he moved here. He owns his own law firm, but he first drew public attention with nocoliseum.com, a website he created in objection to Mayor Levar Stoney’s high-profile plan to revitalize the Richmond Coliseum and the surrounding Navy Hill area. After months of actively campaigning against the plan formulated by the mayor and a coalition of private businesses led by Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell, Griffin and other activists obtained a victory when City Council voted against the plan in January.

A month later, Griffin announced that he was exploring a run for mayor of Richmond, and officially threw his hat in the ring on April 6. While he claims not to be a politician, and that he doesn’t want a career in politics, he is passionate about improving Richmond schools, putting more funding into city services, and creating a government that is responsive, helpful, and cares about its citizens. We sat down with Griffin to learn more about his ideas and policies ahead of the election.

RVA Mag: How did you start practicing law? What drew you to being a business attorney?

Justin Griffin: My undergraduate degree is in accounting. In accounting, there’s a huge aspect of “what is legal compliance,” with a very specific law set, like tax laws. You take people’s practices and apply them to those laws, audit them, and make sure they’re complying with the law. As I was getting into that, I realized there’s a much larger world of law out there, and I felt that I would much rather help businesses holistically instead of being pigeonholed into just doing the accounting side of things.

That’s what drew me to law school, and what brought me here to the University of Richmond. What particularly drew me to working with small businesses [was my] first summer internship with the Virginia Department of Business Assistance. [All summer, I talked to] small business owners, asking them what they needed, what we could do to help them — whether it be funding, laws, or whatever else. [Almost] every one of their answers was “Regulatory compliance,” and “What can you do to help me comply with regulations?”

Small business owners wear 20 different hats. You have to worry about payroll, marketing, making sure the machines are working, etc. They all said, “Legal stuff is very important, but it doesn’t necessarily make me money, and it’s so far down the list that it doesn’t get worked on. So what can you do?”

That’s when I realized these big corporations and companies all have millions of dollars, that they pay attorneys six-figures-plus to sit around and answer all of their questions. It’s the little guys — the small business owners — that don’t have that equivalent. So that’s what I decided to do. I wanted to help them. I opened my own practice so I could treat them the way they should be treated, and to be more like a partner than a lawyer.

RVA Mag: As a business attorney, how do you feel about the stores on Broad Street and throughout Richmond closing their doors and boarding up because of protests, looting, and even Covid-19? Do you worry about them?

JG: I do. I very much worry about them, because I talk to them every day. Those are who my clients are; I’ve worked with over 500 businesses across Virginia. Many of them are right here in the Richmond region and Richmond City. Over the last three-plus months, it’s been a fight for them with constant worries and questions. With small businesses, there’s not usually huge reserves, so they’re just getting through every day.

I started my own practice, so I’m a small business owner myself. When you’re a small business owner, you put your whole life into doing this… it’s your livelihood, it’s your family’s livelihood. It’s really tough when you can’t open your doors, because you work hard to not only provide for your family, but to also provide for your employees’ families. For them, it wasn’t their fault. I walk up and down Broad Street — my office is downtown — and seeing the boarded-up windows is heartbreaking, because for these people, it’s their lives. Especially on Broad Street. Many of them are black-owned businesses, so it really hurts. I think we’re in a tough spot right now [when they can’t] open, and many of them might not reopen. We’ve got to address that.

Going forward as someone running for mayor, I think it’s going to be important that we have somebody who is knowledgeable about business and economics and helping our small businesses get back on their feet.

RVA Mag: Why did you decide to run for mayor? What was the final straw that really made you say, “This is what I have to do”?

JG: As you probably know, I was heavily involved in opposing the Navy Hill plan. That was the final straw for me to speak up and do something. As a small business attorney, I deal with the city government a lot. I deal with the county governments [across the state], too, trying to get licenses, permits, zoning, and that kind of thing. I see on a daily basis how our city government is failing small business owners, which in turn fails our people, because small businesses hire people from the community. They pay taxes, which get funneled into the general fund, which can then be poured into our people; whether it be for schools or supporting neighborhoods.

If you have a thriving small business community, it creates what I like to call an “anti-fragile” economy. You have people who really care about the community, are plugged into the community, and come from the community doing that. Seeing the frustrations and dealing with the city all the time — and as a resident as well — one of the things I always bring up is that it took me six months to get a trash can.

Basic services are always frustrating as a city resident, and for me those are frustrating, but the thing that really drives me and bothers me the most is our school system. With only a 70 percent graduation rate, dropping from 80 percent four years ago, it is something that has always driven me to get involved. Then when Navy Hill came, it was just another example of misplaced priorities. Being a numbers guy — with the accounting degree and business background — looking at the projections and seeing how ridiculous and unrealistic they were, I couldn’t just sit on the sideline and watch our city walk into another big shiny disaster. It was time for us to refocus our priorities on schools and neighborhoods, instead of chasing another get-rich-quick scheme.

That fight was the final straw for me. I went through that process… 18 months of constant analysis, providing information to the city council and speaking at meetings, fighting to get that thing prevented. It seemed that there would be no change in the status quo. That’s what ultimately drew me to throw my hat into the ring, because if I care, I want to see our priorities reshaped and the mismanagement taken care of.

RVA Mag: The Navy Hill proposal has become a bit of a past memory for Richmonders, as much larger events have overshadowed it lately. However, that area still remains an issue. How do you think you can move forward with it, and create an effective and fair solution for the area?

JG: I think whenever we’re doing anything in the city… we should always ask the question, “What is our goal with this project?” In Richmond, whenever we do things, we don’t really have a plan. It’s just, “Alright! We’re going to do this!”

We should define our goals, and then decide if it’s the most efficient way of accomplishing them. Finally, if the answer is yes, we have to consider if it will take away from things that are higher priorities, if it will be neutral, or if it will actually help those priorities. For Navy Hill particularly, I think the procedure [for these projects] should be to put it out there. Ask everyone for their ideas. I have a particular idea that I would like to see there, but that’s just one. Maybe somebody else could come up with something better. Maybe one of these developers has a plan that’s great for the area, great for the city, and benefits our people.

That should be why we do anything — to benefit the people of Richmond, and make Richmond the best we can. Put it out there as an unrestricted request for proposal. Say, “Hey, we have this plot of land. What can you do with it?” Whether it’s one parcel or all of them, [with] an arena or no arena, bring it!

My idea for Navy Hill is that [I’d like to create] a recreation park, similar to Williamsburg, so we can tell the stories.. There’s a lot of stories in Richmond that are never told, like Shockoe Bottom and the slave trade. It’s ignored by our elected officials. In Navy Hill in particular, you can tell two stories: one is the true story of what it was like to be an urban slave, because there’s a misconception that the only slaves were on plantations, and that’s not true. In Navy Hill and Jackson Ward, there [were many] black Richmonders who were successful despite being treated as second-class citizens by their government. [Another] story: how an interstate and an arena was dropped right in the middle of that neighborhood to break it up. I’d love to see the history told there, but that’s just my idea.

RVA Mag: On the note of slavery, Monument Ave has been controversial for Richmonders for many years now, and has come to the forefront right now with Black Lives Matter and police brutality protests. How do you personally feel about the monuments themselves? What do you think should be done with them? What do you think would be the best use for the green spaces?

JG: For years, I’ve had a very particular plan for Monument Ave. There’s no denying now that as it stands, Monument Ave glorifies Confederate generals. That should not stay. My idea is to make the entire street an open-air museum and build a timeline. In the green space — those big, beautiful medians — start at the beginning with stone plaques in the ground. Not necessarily signs sticking up, but in the ground so you can walk, look down, and read about what was going on [in that] year.

It goes back to making Richmond a place that tells stories; particularly stories that aren’t often told, but should be. You could start before Europeans came, focusing on the tribes in the Richmond area, like Chief Powhatan. As you walk and come across prominent people from the area, you could see a life-size statue in the median with the inscription on the ground… There’s a lot of people who are important. For example, James Armistead Lafayette, who was a slave in the Richmond area during the Revolutionary War, served as a spy, and gave intelligence to the Colonial Army. He ultimately earned his freedom. You could go through time. The first black mayor of Richmond, Henry Marsh, would be there. John Mitchell, Jr. should be there. At the end, two new large monuments: one to Oliver Hill for his role in Brown vs. Board of Education, and then a final monument to Douglas Wilder.

Focusing on these stories changes the entire street from glorifying Confederate generals to telling our story as a people. [Richmond grew from] the capital of the Confederacy, who fought to keep people enslaved, to electing the grandson of a slave as the first black governor in the country. To me, that’s a story that’s educational — a story that’s inspirational. [It can] show that no matter how bad things seem, no matter how stacked the deck seems, no matter how racist we seem as a people, things can change. They can change in a short period of time. We’ve made a lot of progress with keeping the march forward down Monument Ave. We continue to grow as a people, and we continue to learn from these stories, until we ultimately get to where we want to be.

*Stonewall Jackson monument comes down. Photo by Courtney Edwards*

RVA Mag: You seem to have a big passion for history.

JG: I do! That’s something I love about Richmond. It has all kinds of history, a history of all peoples. When you’re a city, you have to steer into the things that nobody else has. You carve out a niche, just like in business.. We should be the center of learning black history in America. We have Revolutionary War history, Civil War history, the Jim Crow era, Oliver Hill fighting against the segregation of schools — there’s so much there.

You have [the history], and you also have a river that has the only Class 4 rapids in an urban area in the country, that we don’t take full advantage of. There’s some other unique things in Richmond from a business perspective I think we could carve out a niche for. We have a thriving creative arts community. The Brandcenter at VCU is the top post-grad marketing program in the country. We have The Martin Agency here, [who does] the Geico commercials. With history, there are stories to be told that should be told, but doing those things can also bring in a lot of tax revenue we can pour back into our people and neighborhoods — to help uplift people and right some of the wrongs in our system.

RVA Mag: Speaking of Richmond’s communities; compared to my own hometown of Norfolk, it seems that Richmond’s COVID-19 numbers are a lot higher. However, the community and people of Richmond have pulled together and helped their neighbors with everything from testing to toilet paper. How do you see Richmond moving past this and creating a healthier future?

JG: That’s one of the things I really love about Richmond. The people who live here are amazing. They’re always willing to reach out a hand and help other people when they’re down. If you want to get plugged in doing generally anything here, there’s an organization or group of people that have an initiative to help in any way. Coming together as a people is how I think we’re going to get through this. Richmonders love to support small businesses, so [as we] continue to reopen in a safe and gradual manner — we’re going to have to come together as a community. The people of Richmond will have to step up, because right now, the city government isn’t stepping up. That’s evident of everything in Richmond.

What I’ve said as I’ve been running is that I love Richmond, I love the people, and that’s why I chose to live here. But our city government does not match how great our people are. It’s failing us in generally every way. [Here’s how] I picture Richmond… if you’ve ever seen athletes training, they’ll sometimes run with a parachute on their back to build up the muscles to make them faster. Richmond is like one of those athletes; our people are doing amazing things and putting Richmond on the map while there’s a parachute on our back. But we’re still beating other cities somehow. If we took that parachute off, there’s so much potential here that we could keep running, at a much faster pace, forward. I think that’s how we’re going to get through this. Hopefully after this next election, we’ll be able to start reshaping our city government to match our people.

RVA Mag: RPS Graduation rates are disproportionate, and have been almost dwarfed by surrounding towns. How do you think you can work with RPS to boost these numbers?

JG: I think that has to be the absolute top priority of the next mayor. When you have a graduation rate of only 70 percent, that’s a crisis. That means 30 percent of our young people are not graduating high school, and in our modern society, they have virtually no chance of thriving. When you look at our school system, it’s 86 percent people of color… So when we talk about Black Lives Matter — if they matter, then we have to fix our schools.

My number one priority will be working with the school system, and working with the superintendent to get whatever they need to help our kids thrive. I have several ideas for that: I think we need to focus on things like Literacy First. There’s many people in Richmond who still struggle to read and write, and that’s completely unacceptable. Especially in the modern age, when you have an entire world of knowledge at your fingertips. If you have strong reading skills and comprehension skills, you can figure anything and everything out — for example, I built my own campaign website because I was able to figure it out. If we can put that into our people, they can have a better chance of thriving in our modern economy.

RVA Mag: Another Richmond Public Schools question for you — de facto segregation does exist in RPS, and while there have been attempts to diversify or integrate schools, many of them have faced backlash. Do you have any plans to not only create a diverse school district, but one that is fair, in which all schools, regardless of student body, can receive the funding they need?

JG: When we look at our school system, I want to [create one where] it won’t matter which school you’re in, you’ll receive a quality education. You shouldn’t have to shuffle kids around town, beg to get kids into one certain elementary school, for your child to receive a quality education. That’s insane to me. If we need funding, that’s going to be my job.

As a numbers guy — as someone with an accounting degree — I am going to pore through every department budget, and we will root out all of the waste and every inefficiency. We need that money for our priorities, such as our children. Getting them the resources they need is what you can do as the mayor. Right now, we have a lot of waste… so [I want to] make sure we have programs in place, a first-rate curriculum, a school system that is invested in high expectations for our children so we can prepare them to succeed and build wealth. Whatever it takes. That’s what I’m willing to do.

RVA Mag: The Richmond Police Department has faced criticism lately for their ongoing brutality and use of non-lethal crowd control weapons. The recent lawsuit from the ACLU has definitely amped this up, as has the vast media coverage. Would you do anything to change the RPD?

JG: Even before the murder of George Floyd, I was developing ideas for reforming the ways we do policing here in Richmond. As an attorney, I do legal business work, but also have lots of legal discussions. My wife works in the court systems, and she used to work as a public defender and a criminal defense attorney. Having conversations about the way policing is done in Richmond is something I’ve been doing for years, albeit not publicly, because I’ve never been a politician before. When you look at our policing, there is a lot of room for reform there.

The things people are asking for — like increased funding for mental health workers and social workers, and supplementing the incomes of our public defenders — are things I absolutely agree with. Right now, the city provides a supplement to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office for prosecutors, but not for public defenders. I think that needs to be fair. If we are talking about equity, then I feel both sides of the legal argument should have the same type of funding.

[Looking] at social workers, there was an article recently about when Mayor Stoney was first elected. He visited the social workers’ office in Richmond. They told him all of the problems they had, the funds they needed for different things. He told them, “No problem, I’ll take care of it.” Later the direct quote from them was, “Nothing happened, nothing changed.” We know where the problems are. We just need a mayor who is interested, and is willing to make the changes.

Specifically with the police, we’ve defunded all these departments like social work, and asked the police to fill in the gaps. Not everything needs an officer with a gun responding to it. If we manage our budget and put money into our priorities, like social work, then there’s less need for police response to these issues.

There was a program called the Second Responders Program. It was cut, but it assigned social workers to each police precinct. When calls went out, they would respond with the officers to certain situations, like domestic violence calls. Their job would be to go in and work with the victims, get them plugged in to the resources they may need, look out for the best interests of the children, or to start counseling right there on the spot. That would allow social workers to do their best job — and it would allow police to do what they are designed and trained for; to prevent violent crime and to solve crimes. Let’s leave the police to do what they’re designed for and good at, and let’s fund these other programs that wrap around services to serve our people.

*Richmond police take aim at Robert E. Lee monument protesters. Photo by Domico Phillips.*

RVA Mag: How do you feel about the way Stoney has handled the situation with the RPD?

JG: He’s handled it the way he’s handled every other problem we’ve had in this city. He’s approached it with no plan, and he’s failed because of it. It seems that every day, there’s a different agenda coming from the mayor’s office. Some days, he wants to crack down on the protesters, and some days he wants to pull the police back and do nothing. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s a recipe for bad things happening, like when the tear gas was shot at the peaceful protesters at the Lee monument in the beginning of June. You’re putting tired police officers out there with no plan and no direction, and creating a recipe for bad things to happen. I think he’s handled it poorly, but I think that’s kind of how he’s handled every problem we’ve had — whether it’s schools, paving roads, or even getting a trash can. Now the problems are much more serious, and Richmond’s paying dearly for it.

RVA Mag: Finally, given the current political climate in the city, why should Richmonders elect a white man?

JG: In this race, I’m the one who cares and the one who has a plan. The way I look at it, there is a division between the political class and the people of Richmond. For me — not being a politician, not being someone who’s ever run for office before — I’m just like everyone else in this city. [We’re] fed up with the misplaced priorities, the mismanagement, and the failures of our city government. Why should we elect more people from the political class? It’s just shuffling the same players around to different chairs, and expecting things to change. We need someone who is coming in from the outside, who is only interested in this because he wants to go in and manage the city, solve problems, and serve our people.

It’s not about me. It’s not about a political career for me. I have a career. I have my own business, and I enjoy doing what I do. But when I see our city government failing its people in serious ways, I feel that I need to step up to do something. That’s what I’m going to pour my heart and soul into; helping our people, providing better services for our people, and providing better schools for our kids. That’s what I’m here for. To represent the people and their interests, instead of the political class.

Top photo via Justin Griffin/Facebook. Marilyn Drew Necci and Caley Sturgill contributed to this article.

Urgent Progressive Change: Speaking With Richmond Mayoral Candidate Alexsis Rodgers

Carley Welch | June 25, 2020

Topics: alexsis rodgers, black lives matter, BLM, care in action, coronavirus, education, eviction, gentrification, healthcare, housing, housing crisis, Levar Stoney, local politics, local schools, mayor, mayor candidates, mayor race, monument ave, monuments, Navy Hill, new monuments, Pandemic, planned parenthood, politics, protests, richmond apartments, richmond coliseum, richmond healthcare, richmond housing, richmond mayor, richmond public schools, richmond rentals, RPS, stoney, vcu, Virginia politics, virginia young democrats

RVA Magazine sits down with Alexsis Rodgers, a community activist and mayoral candidate for the City of Richmond, to learn more about her policies.

On June 6, Alexsis Rodgers formally announced her candidacy for Richmond mayor. Rodgers, a VCU graduate, is currently the Virginia state director for Care in Action: the policy and advocacy home for two million women domestic workers. Rodgers is also the former president of the Virginia Young Democrats. Rodgers’ campaign is running on the slogan “Policies Not Apologies.”

Among the policies and reform she’s passionate about are voting rights, economic security, college affordability, and quality health care. Some of her accomplishments include playing a key role in achieving Medicaid expansion, and growing birth control access during her time at Planned Parenthood here in Richmond.

We sat down with Rodgers to learn more about her policies ahead of the election.

RVA Magazine: I’ve seen and read that you’ve been in leadership positions such as the president of Virginia Young Democrats, and now you’re the Virginia State Director for Care in Action. Why do you want to run for mayor? Why now?

Alexsis Rodgers: Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen more clearly than ever that the community wants urgent, progressive change. A lot of the demands that we’re hearing from the community are policy demands that they’ve been setting forward for years — whether that be police accountability, a civilian review board with authority to subpoena, or the Marcus Alert. What I’ve seen from our Mayor’s Office is a resistance to listen and be responsive to calls from the community, and this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this dismissal… When you look back at the Navy Hill fight, the Education Compact, and development projects all throughout the city, we’ve seen the Mayor center the interests of corporate elites and special interests more so than people. I think now more than ever, we need someone who’s in touch; who has worked with community activism leaders to fight for progressive change, but who also understands policy and its process. I think I’m that candidate.

RVA Mag: What do you think is the best solution for the city’s ongoing problems with education, especially for students who are economically disadvantaged and/or from marginalized backgrounds?

AR: Number one: right now, in the middle of this public health crisis, we’re seeing the importance of education and the importance of child care. For too many of Richmond’s families, access to affordable child care, early childhood education, and the right to go to a good quality school has not been a reality. I think we have to start by centering the right values, and the right people, in the process. We’re never going to get the results we want when it comes to educational equity if we don’t start centering the folks that are the most impacted. If we don’t start by engaging and listening to our teachers, faculty, and support staff. If we’re not truly listening to parents. We haven’t seen any true community engagement through this Mayor’s Administration. That’s something we’re going to need to address if we want to fully fund RPS, if we want to get police out of our school systems, and make sure that schools are a safe place for our kids to learn and grow.

RVA Mag: How do you feel about the issues that have come up in the past year or two regarding de facto segregation of school districts within the city?

AR: There’s a systemic issue when it comes to racial and educational inequity here in Richmond, and right now we’re having a very public conversation about monuments and what they mean to black and brown folks. But we’re not [paying] enough attention right now to the systemic issues of racial injustice and education inequity. I think it has to start by, again, making sure we’re centering the right folks in these conversations. We haven’t always done that. We can’t ignore do-gooders in our community that want to support because they have access to corporate funds for our schools. They’re great community partners who have been helping to support our teachers and staff, but we need to make sure that we’re always putting students first. We know that Navy Hill was not a project that was going to put working-class folks first, and we’ve got to stop putting those corporate elites first when it comes to our policymaking.

RVA Mag: The process of figuring out what to do with the Richmond Coliseum and its surrounding area, Navy Hill, has been a huge issue in the city over the past few years. How do you think you can most effectively move this discussion forward, and find a solution for the area that works for all Richmonders?

AR: I think the project was doomed from the start, because it seemed to me that the process was rigged. It started with corporate special interest, and the plan was created, but it was rolled out under the guidelines of “wanting community feedback and input” — when really, they knew what they wanted the plan to be. It was not real engagement and real incorporation of community feedback. As Mayor, my commitment is that I’m not going to start with those special interests in mind first. I want to put the people first, and make sure there is real input from Richmond residents — that their voices are actually heard as we’re developing the city. It’s really important that we’re able to build and grow Richmond — make sure we open up new revenues for the city, so we can fully fund our schools and address housing and healthcare issues. But if we don’t center the right values as we work to secure economic development, we’re never going to do right by Richmond residents.

RVA Mag: What are your views on what should be done on Monument Ave?

AR: I think it’s really clear that Richmonders want these monuments down. I told a story when I first launched my campaign about when I was at school at Hanover High School: at track practice while we were practicing, a truck pulled up with a huge confederate flag in the back and started circling the parking lot. My coach went out and told that driver to go home. He knew the message that truck was trying to send to our team, he knew it was wrong, and he went out and called for that person to go.

Right now, what we’re seeing over the last several years, folks have asked for these monuments to be removed. They’ve asked for them to be put in museums, but for them to be put out of our public spaces. For too long, the Mayor has said, “Well we can’t,” or “I’m not sure,” or “We need to have a process.” We had a commission that made recommendations that didn’t go anywhere, and it’s only when this very visible unrest is happening in our city that he’s coming around to the right decision. It shouldn’t require us to put our literal bodies on the line, out here protesting for our rights in the middle of a pandemic, to be heard by our elected officials. We should be able to be valued and seen whether we’re protesting, speaking at a city council meeting, or writing a letter to a City Council member or our Mayor. All of those tactics should be heard and valued. We shouldn’t have to put our lives on the line as part of it. I sit out there marching with everybody else, asking for justice, asking for policy solutions… but also to say these racist symbols should be out of our public spaces, and it’s past time for that to happen.

RVA Mag: What would you like to see done with the street once they’re removed?

AR: When we’re talking about public spaces and putting up monuments to individuals, that should take real community input. That should also honor folks whose history has been forgotten or erased. You know, Richmond is a creative city. We have a lot of artists. We have a lot of historians and researchers. Given the authority and the resources, we can have some real community engagement around [questions like], “What should we name our streets that are formally named after confederate generals?” “What should we put in place of these historically confederate monuments?” I don’t think the city residents haven’t been given that agency. I would love to see us move in that direction — where we’re having thoughtful conversations about race, using this moment where folks are becoming politically aware to move the city forward, and what should be in these public spaces that honor the right values and right cause.

RVA Mag: Richmond’s eviction numbers saw somewhat of a decline after the city’s high rate of evictions became national news a couple of years ago, but the city has a long way to go before we’re completely past this issue. How do you foresee the city moving forward in a manner that is helpful to those struggling financially, both where evictions are concerned and in the changing face of public housing in Richmond?

AR: For too many people, especially during this public health crisis, they’ve been juggling whether they can put their health at risk and go to work, or put their job and livelihood at risk by staying home. There have been a lot of great activists out there calling for canceling rent, calling for freezing evictions, and [they’ve been] met with a lot of silence from our elected leadership. That’s not okay. It, again, shows how out-of-touch and out-of-alignment the current administration is from the real needs of the community. There were [homeless] folks at the beginning of the pandemic who were sheltering in place at Camp Cathy, and the city came and removed those folks’ homes. Now, I appreciate any effort to help make sure these folks are in a safe and supportive environment — especially during a public health crisis, where they can maintain social distancing and good hygiene — but the city came in and cleared out those folks’ properties. It was just garbage in the streets. I think that shows a lack of understanding of both dignity and their agency as human beings, and that’s not something I want to see our city do ever again.

When we talk about affordable housing and making sure that folks are able to make ends meet, there’s a lot of layers to that. There’s making sure people have access to a good job, there’s a lot of emphasis on having transit options that connect people to jobs and work, healthcare access to make sure that where you’re going to work, you’re safe, and childcare so you can go to work and not worry about your family. There are a lot of efforts, a lot of smart folks working on housing policies. But it always has to start with centering people’s dignity, and their humanity, the value that every person should be able to live safely, and giving respect to folks. Maybe they are renters, and there are candidates in the race that don’t think renters should have as much of a say when it comes to their government, and that’s not right. Regardless of where you live or who you are, I want to be your Mayor, and I want to represent you in our government.

RVA Mag: You’ve had a longtime involvement with Virginia League For Planned Parenthood, so are you at all concerned that abortion will become a wedge issue in your campaign?

AR: I have always been fighting for healthcare access. In this race, I’m going to be a vocal champion for abortion rights. For me, I know that people that are pregnant need access to the full range of reproductive healthcare services — and that means access to good maternal care, birth control. That means access to abortion. Not every person wants to be pregnant, and not every person is able to carry their pregnancy to term. It’s important to me that we continue to champion those rights for those in Richmond. I was really excited to help Planned Parenthood begin their efforts to expand and open up new health centers in Church Hill. That’s going to be huge for this community, which has been historically underserved when it comes to healthcare access. I think that Planned Parenthood and access to reproductive healthcare here in the city is really important, and is actually going to be a way that we unite the city around certain issues — and certainly around expanding access to healthcare.

RVA Mag: Finally, regarding gentrification in Richmond, what is your stance on this issue?

AR: When I moved to the city, I moved to an apartment right near Lamplighter on Addison. My next-door neighbor was an older black woman who had lived there for, you know, forever. In the last couple years, she passed away, and her son wanted to tend to the house. He was really struggling. He had grown up in that house, and he didn’t want to leave the house “speechless” and give it over to renters, because this is the community he grew up in. He also didn’t feel like he had the resources to properly take care of it. Long story short, that house was flipped and sold for half a million dollars, and younger, white folks moved into it. It was a picture right in my eyes, here in Randolph, that is a historically-black community. There are a lot of roots there for black folks, and over and over we’re seeing black residents getting pushed out because of gentrification here in the city. I think it’s important for us to look at how we can make sure that families — specifically black families — can build and maintain wealth in their families. We can proceed to support black ownership when it comes to homes, but also black businesses, and generally making sure that our community of color is made strong. As you probably know, Hull Street used to be basically the Black Wall Street, and making sure that we’re continuing to support communities of color is going to be really important for me.

Interview by Carley Welch; top photo via Alexsis Rodgers/Facebook

Awakening From The Nightmares of The West

Mitchel Bamberger | June 25, 2020

Topics: album release, black lives matter, BLM, ep release, music, new album, nightmares of the west, police brutality, political music, politics, punk, punk bands, Strike Anywhere, systemic racism, thomas barnett

Strike Anywhere’s first new release in over 10 years arrives at a time when Richmond is addressing many of the political issues the veteran punk band has been singing about throughout their career.

Richmond’s beloved veteran punk band Strike Anywhere is releasing their first batch of studio recordings in more than a decade. Their brand-new EP, Nightmares Of The West, is composed of seven songs that bridge their musical stylings with the state of the world today.

Music and the arts have long been creative outlets to turn to in times of social unrest. Thomas Barnett, vocalist and lyricist of Strike Anywhere, reminds us of this once again with the release of the new EP.

“Music and art, and culture work, are part of the foundation,” Barnett said. “Giving people the space to check their privilege, and understand their spot in history — to break away from dominant culture and see truth. To see through propaganda, and seek courage to take a stand. That’s always part of what we’re about.”

For decades, punk bands like Strike Anywhere have used their voices to bring awareness to injustice, rallying the troops of social revolution. Punks have long been a part of a lineage of people who are discontent with the status quo, and desperate for revolution.

“This is a crazy, beautiful, terrifying, and crucial time,” Barnett said. “It feels like talking about a punk band and its songs is not particularly relevant.” But with a listen to Nightmares Of The West, it’s apparent that the record is entirely relevant to the political and social climate of today. From their sound to their attitude, and their mission as a band, Strike Anywhere embodies the punk narrative with politically-charged songs and motivations for social change.

Barnett has consistently used his voice to bring attention to injustice, and made it his goals to give voices to the underrepresented and disenfranchised people of America. In many ways, the band itself is a vehicle for activism; the microphone is often used similarly to megaphones in protests, rallying and uplifting listeners to scream their anger in the streets and in concert halls. Much like the protests happening in Richmond and across the country, the band encourages their audience to mobilize, sending their message into the faces of their oppressors.

Nightmares Of The West seems to pick up right where Strike Anywhere left off more than ten years ago. The new album is filled with rage and discontent for the status quo, and challenges the systems that are in place. It yearns for something better — a society that is more equal and just. In addition to these familiar ideals, there are topics and sentiments that may be new to the band’s repertoire. As the members age, new perspectives have emerged in their work. Even hardened punks will grow sentimental and nostalgic in time.

The songs are reflective and personal. They explore the outer landscape of America, its ideologies, and social climate, but they also explore the inner world of musicians who are growing older, and the experiences that come with that process. Death and grief are recurring subjects on the EP.

“The past ten years, I’ve lost two close friends who were my age, and that’s affected everything,” Barnett said. “It’s about what you do with grief, loss, regret, and powerlessness… Seeing people’s addictions overtake them, depression and trauma overtake them. There’s always this ghost from your childhood pulling you back, and if you don’t face it and talk about it, it will kill you.”

Barnett explained how this theme of self-care and dealing with trauma relates to the bigger picture, and what’s happening in the world now on a macro level.

“How we keep ourselves open, how we stay positive so we can be available for these changes, for justice, is important,” Barnett said. “And we do it with peace. And when I say ‘peace,’ I also mean burning police cars.” The sentiment is one that many angry Americans on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter movement can staunchly agree with.

As far as burning police cars goes, Barnett showed his insight into what that means as an act of peaceful protest.

“If there’s instruments of violence all around us, to neutralize them is peaceful protest,” he said. “I think that’s where Richmond stands… It’s not just about letting yourself get tear gassed. It’s about reclaiming the streets, taking back all of those weapons that we pay for with our taxes that are being used against us. Punk bands have been talking about that exact dichotomy for a long time.”

Barnett lives in California now, and has for some years, but Strike Anywhere will always be a Richmond band. He visits Richmond often, not just to play shows, but to see his family and friends and walk the city.

“The city is a friend,” he said. Their song “The Bells” from the new album is about those walks and, according to Barnett, what to do with grief and time. He left Richmond for California when he was 30, during a time that he called “the line between New Richmond and Old.”

“Somewhere between 2007 and 2010, I noticed there was more shocking and significant change when I came back, versus tried and true nostalgic pathways,” Barnett reflected. He spoke about the massive transformation that Richmond has undergone in the past decade.

*PHOTO: Strike Anywhere at The Broadberry, February 2020, by Joey Wharton*

“The way we look at time and space — seeing the past underneath the present, seeing through those layers — it’s a part of being human,” Barnett said. “But I also think it’s a particular part of Richmond.” He explained how living in Richmond has prepared us for this moment, by living alongside the manifestations of systemic racism, and daily reminders that gawk at the people, in the form of Confederate monuments and gentrification.

Barnett went on to discuss social issues during the first decade of the 21st century, and how they informed Strike Anywhere’s last studio album, Iron Front (2009), compared to the issues of today.

“I’m not sure that Iron Front was topically-anchored to that time in any way that isn’t relevant now,” he explained. For Strike Anywhere, that album reinforced the idea that today’s cultural uprisings and Black Lives Matter movement are a culmination of not just years, but decades and generations of injustice. The stories and topics addressed on Iron Front are, in many ways, the same stories relevant today on Nightmares Of The West.

However, one major difference in the eras of Iron Front and Nightmares Of The West is the digital age, and the evolution of social media that has taken place between them.

“We had MySpace back then, with no sense that what happened with social media could happen,” Barnett said. “Another thing that ravages us individually is trying to sort out truth from fiction, and what’s useful in all of this.”

He went on to point out one gift of social media: we have legitimate evidence of police murdering innocent folks, and we can see the real-time victories of this protest, and degradation of police in the state.

“We wouldn’t have had this without this technology right now, and that’s why this particular moment is different,” he said.

Specific lyrics on Nightmares Of The West provide insight into their stories.

“‘The Bells’ is about this idea that no one forgets, but no one remembers until the monuments fall,” said Barnett. “I wrote that song a year ago, thinking we would never in our lifetimes see the monuments removed.”

The statue of Confederate General Williams Carter Wickham was forcibly removed by protesters the night before his interview with RVA Magazine. This event, and the forthcoming removal of all Confederate monuments, gave new depth and meaning to these lyrics.

“It’s strange, because [these songs] seem even more relevant now than they did a year ago when we wrote them, which I can’t explain,” Barnett said.

“The Bells” could be an anthem for what will, hopefully, become a nationwide effort to remove all racist, insensitive, and offensive monuments from public spaces.

“These are structures that aren’t truthful, and are without context. They’ve been here to oppress us — to justify hateful nonsense for generations and to weaponize it,” Barnett said. “You take those structures down, and there’s only people left. These [monuments] are edifices of fear and supremacy, trying to put a lie to the loss. This is the era of unraveling all of that, and re-settling the table.”

“Dress The Wounds,” the second song on the new album, has a section of lyrics saying Do not go gentle into that good night. This line is directly lifted from a poem by Dylan Thomas, of the same name.

“The song is about perseverance,” Barnett said. “Why we are here, why we continue to seek the truth, why we feel this imperative — even through our anxiety, through exhaustion, trauma, and loss, to get back up and get out in the world to connect. To look internally, see what the fuck is wrong with you, meaning me.”

Barnett summed up the meaning of the song, relating it back to the borrowed lyrics from Dylan Thomas.

“It’s a song about healing and finding peace in all the chaos. We won’t go gentle into that good night is speaking to outside forces that want to silence you,” he said. “I think the idea of rebuilding and healing is extremely important. ‘Dress The Wounds’ is literally about that healing; your heart, your mind, and trying to figure out a way to move forward.”

In the years since their last release, Strike Anywhere has been playing shows here and there while working on new material.

“We’ve always been writing as a band, but we took a break from touring and folded back into our communities and families,” Barnett said. “What we’ve chosen to do is play special shows, and we’ve been able to give our all at those shows… and do it in a way that feels like if this was the last time, that would be okay. This could be the right last show.”

Barnett reflected on the string of shows Strike Anywhere played earlier this year in Richmond. “That’s how we felt about the shows back in February at The Broadberry — it felt like we were closing the door on the past a little.” But the band continues to move forward, staying relevant with Nightmares Of The West and adding a meaningful voice to the current movement for civil rights.

Before our conversation ended, Barnett took a moment to touch on the new album’s title.

“Nightmares Of The West is the lyrical heart of the record, taken from the song ‘Frontier Glitch,’ about the mythology of Western dominance, white supremacy, and imperialism,” he said. “[It’s about] what it actually means to be human and a part of history, as opposed to the abstraction that gives some people power over the world, and other people erasure and genocide.”

It is surely a fitting title for a time of change like this. As America confronts a long history of systemic racism, “One side is the American Dream, and underneath is Nightmares Of The West.”

Top Photo via Strike Anywhere/Big Picture Media

No Justice, No Peace: Voices of the Young and Outraged

Jayla McNeill | June 23, 2020

Topics: activism, black lives matter, BLM, community, George Floyd, monuments, northam, police brutality, politics, protest, richmond protest, rva protest, Trayvon Martin

“I saw the world we were fighting for: a diverse cohort of all races, sexualities, and religions celebrating together.” RVA Magazine catches up with local protesters to hear their voices during a movement sweeping the nation.

“I can’t breathe.” These three words, once uttered in a moment of desperation, now represent a new generation’s fight. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, protesters have sparked a movement across the nation to demand justice, denounce systemic racism, and advocate for social reform. The movement is very much alive in Richmond.

“As a young black female, I feel that this movement means change, justice, and equality,” said Jamie Hatcher, a 20 year old activist and student at Virginia State University.

Hatcher is from Caroline County, Virginia. She said she first became involved with social reform movements after the “heartbreaking death of Trayvon Martin,” a 17-year-old high school student who was killed by a white police officer in 2012.

After the death of George Floyd, Hatcher began participating in today’s Black Lives Matter movement by sharing resources on social media, creating art, and attending protests.

“[I want to see] justice for George Floyd and his hurting family,” along with full equality throughout the American justice system, she said.

Beginning in the days after George Floyd’s death, thousands of people in cities and towns across the United States came together to express their outrage with systematic police brutality. As the movement grew, protesters began to widen their message, further advocating against institutional racism and the social inequality that the black community faces in America.

Fletcher Dalton, a 20 year old student at University of Richmond, attended his first protest in Richmond on May 29. He has been present at every local protest since.

“This movement is necessary and warranted,” said Dalton. “The black community has been discriminated against and killed, over and over again…. I saw this [movement] as a chance to stand up for what is right.”

While the movement takes place on the streets, protesters advocate for change in government.

“This goes past the criminal system,” said Dalton. “Minorities have been oppressed socio-economically in housing and in employment. We need to create a just society… That begins with changing the criminal justice system.”

Photographer and videographer Domico Phillips, 27, decided to use his professional and creative skills to aid the movement. Phillips said that Floyd’s death felt very personal for him, and he has participated in the movement every day since protests began in Richmond.

For Phillips, this movement represents the desire for a necessary reform.

“Being a black man in this world,” said Phillips, “I know the same thing [that happened to Floyd] can happen to me.”

“This movement is about the liberation of black communities from oppression,” said Julia Funk, a 20 year old protester from Northwest Chicago and rising junior at the University of Richmond.

“It is about checking and dismantling a police force that systematically murders and imprisons black Americans,” she said. “It is about listening to black voices, and educating ourselves so that we can change these systems of oppression.”

Of his experiences at Richmond protests, Dalton expressed anger and disappointment with the violent treatment of demonstrators by the local police force.

“The police were throwing tear gas, fireworks, firecrackers, and pepper spraying the protesters,” he said. “My boyfriend, his friend, and I were hit with tear gas multiple times that [first] night,” said Dalton. “There were moments when I could not breathe because the pepper spray was so strong. It literally makes your entire chest and face tense with pain.”

Despite being tear gassed by the police, Dalton described the protests as “freeing and liberating.”

“Everyone was dancing in the streets and chanting for the Black Lives Matter movement,” he said. “It was scary and exciting. I saw the world we were fighting for: a diverse cohort of all races, sexualities, and religions celebrating together.”

Protesters and activists have had a few victories to claim thus far. On May 29, Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who killed Floyd, was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, later upgraded to second-degree murder. The remaining three ex-officers involved in the incident have also been arrested, although they face lesser charges of aiding and abetting murder. In the community, various organizations, businesses, and state and local governments have taken symbolic actions in support of the movement. NASCAR, for one example, has banned the use of the Confederate flag from events.

A Richmond victory came with Governor Ralph Northam’s June 3 announcement that the state will remove Confederate statues in Richmond, including the Robert E. Lee statue, which has become a gathering site for local protest demonstrations.

Protesters in Richmond have taken it upon themselves to remove statues of Jefferson Davis, Christopher Columbus, and Williams Carter Wickham, a 19th century lawyer, slave owner, and Richmond native.

Dalton stated that while he is supportive of the removal of the Confederate statues, he does not believe the local and state governments are doing enough to advance social justice. Hatcher also expressed her disappointment with the local and state government.

“While African-American anger is finally being voiced,” she said, “it is not really being heard or understood.”

This sentiment is also mirrored by Funk. She expressed that she would urge white people to take this time to listen to black voices, and reflect upon what is being said.

“Now is the time to educate yourself, and resources are everywhere,” said Funk. “[The white community] has to be able to listen, learn, and change, or we will continue to reinforce systems of oppression.”

Floyd’s homicide has spurred activists to gather, speak out, and march. Regardless of their opposition, communities are once again coming together against the institutional practices that allow racism, ignorance, and police brutality to run rampant in the United States.

Top Photo by Domico Phillips