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Op-Ed: Virginia Plans To Honor Slaveholders & Confederate On New Women’s Monument

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By planning the inclusion of slaveholders and Confederates in the Women’s Monument, Chelsea Higgs Wise states that Virginia is undermining what should be a triumph of inclusion.

It’s the 400th year since the first Africans were trafficked to the shores of Virginia, yet an unspoken power shift is quickly shaping our Commonwealth in the name of maintaining white supremacy. The 12 statues selected for the Women’s Monument are the latest examples of the way white women are tipping the scales of influence here in Virginia, just as they did in the 2016 election. If we are not careful, the work of the Daughters of the Confederacy will continue to sprout through their living descendants, to ensure that the Lost Cause narrative will be represented in both its masculine and now feminine form.

American Evolution is the leading platform holding the 400th narrative. They planned one last Hail Mary to engage the Black community, specifically Black women, by inviting Queen Latifah to Virginia. Having the Queen host the Women’s Summit, just one day after the ceremony for the Women’s Monument, is perfect timing for a system aiming to drown out the voices of resistance to adding more Confederate symbols. The Women’s Monument will be the 224th item in the state honoring the Confederacy, keeping Virginia at the top of the list for the most Confederate symbols in the nation.

Sandwiching egregious acts, such as planning these monuments between temporary celebrations of our current celebrities, seems on-brand for a state that declared 2019 the year of reconciliation and civility. As Virginia discussed our role in the exploitation of Black bodies over the last 400 years in order to form a more perfect union, establishing a standard of civility was critical for the continuation of respectability politics.

Honoring the House of Burgesses’ accomplishments in 1619, while attempting to not blame that same House of Burgesses for our current system of inequalities, has been the impossible balancing act for American Evolution. While creating the first legislative assembly in the United States 400 years ago, the men of Jamestown also constructed a system that depended on enslaving Africans for a thriving economy. 

In Virginia, we are in the practice of avoiding the dynamics historically defined by race, while also ignoring the current hierarchy that enables the continuation of racial oppression. 

As a result of failing to authentically integrate these stories, most Virginians have been barely involved in any events or conversations, and are loosely interested in the 400th anniversary conversation unless it came from the New York Times. American Evolution’s complacency in low engagement has allowed for decision-makers to organize large shiny events, checking off their commitment to democracy and diversity while avoiding the kind of uncomfortable and historic moments for change the Women’s Monument presents.

The performative efforts of platforms run by white leadership, like American Evolution, are not aimed at transforming the social hierarchy, nor at modeling equity within power structures. It appears that these marketing agencies are reconstructing what is supposed to be a new political narrative, but with the same broken pieces. Adding context to 100-year-old statues on Monument Avenue should not be given the same consideration as Virginia building new monuments to slaveholders in the name of gender equality.

The cherry on top is when Virginia sends a strongly worded recommendation, in the form of a resolution, that we should all react with southern civility while deliberating the last 400 years. The muzzle effect is activated among the progressive leadership, as these micro-aggressive symbols grow into a permanent symbol of macro-aggression on the lawn of our state Capitol.

The Women’s Monument Commission officially started meeting in 2011 . While there was much discussion of the development of the structure and the fundraising, little was noted about the discussion of the women chosen, and the potential narrative conflicts. The Women’s Monument Commission met four times immediately after the deadly attack on Charlottesville in 2017: September 14, October 3, October 10, and October 24 of that year (which was the last of the posted meeting minutes of the commission). There is no mention of any community consideration that would contextualize the time we as a commonwealth were — and still are — experiencing, regarding the trauma of Confederate symbolism.

Though a researcher named Crystal Rayle is helping us to move forward as an informed community, she provided us with the backgrounds of three women we should re-evaluate and pivot from, before the last statues of the Women’s Monument are built. She compiled documents for Clementina Rind, Martha Washington, and Sally Louisa Tompkins regarding their ownership of slaves, views towards slavery, treatment of the enslaved, and/or support of the Confederacy that should be considered as we examine whether these women should be disqualified, not from history, but from our Capitol lawn.

The Women’s Monument includes indigenous women and multiple African American women, giving many Virginians permission to grant this monument tolerance.

Our heroes shouldn’t share spaces of honor with their oppressors.

Just as many women of color are forced to stand in rooms today where their voices aren’t heard, their bodies are violated, and their narratives are twisted, so are our women heroes being forced to share their legacy with Clementina Rind, Martha Washington, and Sally Louisa Tompkins.

It shouldn’t be surprising that this week in Virginia hypocrisy, we are asking Queen Latifah, a Harvard WEB Dubois Medal Winner, to host the same platform that is honoring new statues to the confederacy. The artist of the forever classic “U.N.I.T.Y.” probably didn’t imagine progress looking like monuments to women who led the erasure of Black women. Our deletion in history books, as well as at the current-day ballot, cannot be cemented on the Virginia Capitol grounds again, 400 years later. Forcing our women heroes to share space with those who participated in our enslavement is not the definition of inclusion, it is an example of paternalism. But, it’s also the Virginia Way.

With just a few weeks left in the 400th year, we can only hope that Virginia gets out of its own way, and on the right side of history. Otherwise, Kehinde Wiley could create another piece to disrupt monuments to white supremacy here in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect RVA Magazine editorial policy.

Photo by Michaele White

City Council Rejects Resolution for Greater Control over Monuments Celebrating the Confederacy (Again)

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The future of memorials to Virginia’s dark history, on one of Richmond’s most iconic streets, is still out of the city’s hands. Following a 6-3 vote by Richmond City Council, the chamber rejected a resolution to request greater control of the statuary on Monument Avenue from the state government.

“I’m baffled by the notion of us not being willing to address matters like these, and shirk our responsibilities,” said 9th District Councilman Michael Jones, at the start of discussions on the resolution. Jones, the resolution’s patron, voted with 6th District Councilwoman Ellen Robertson and Council Vice President Cynthia Newbille of the 7th district to approve the measure.

“We can only move this city forward by having the right to decide,” Jones said. “We cannot be afraid to tackle the tough decisions of our day, because they will go nowhere. We must decide if we’re going to be one Richmond or remain divided,” said Jones.

Councilmen Jones

Jones’ statement set the tone for over an hour of deliberation between councilmembers and public speakers. In the half-filled City Council room, speakers were occasionally spirited, but mostly measured in their approach. 

“I think this is my fourth time down here, both at the committee level and city council,” said Bill Thomas, at the start of his public comments in opposition to the resolution. Thomas’ comments were a brief acknowledgement of the long series of events that led councilmembers to this point, and almost certainly they are far from the last. 

The vote last night was a near-repeat of a similar measure last year, rejected 6-2 with Newbille abstaining. This new resolution came with new support, however, in the form of Mayor Levar Stoney, who made an appearance during the meeting’s start to introduce a bill calling for greater funding from the Virginia General Assembly for Richmond’s schools.

That bill, which would be expedited and approved by the council later in the meeting, proved to be one of a few recent developments used by councilmembers in their arguments against against Jones’ resolution.

2nd District Councilwoman Kimberly Gray drew attention to the poor state of Richmond’s schools in explaining her opposition to the proposal, arguing that this issue and the General Assembly’s involvement was a more pressing concern than gaining greater autonomy over city structures.

“The biggest monuments to white supremacy are in our schools,” said Gray. “If we don’t change how we’re operating, nothing will change for the condition of the people of color in our city,” a sentiment echoed by 8th District Councilwoman Reva Trammell. 

Their votes rejecting the proposal were also joined by councilmembers Andreas Addison from the 1st district, Kristen Larson from the 4th district, Parker Agelasto from 5th district, and Council President Chris Hilbert of the 3rd district.

This reasoning was later challenged by Jones, Richmond Public School Superintendent Jason Kamras, and Stoney himself, who described the process as indicative of a “culture of can’t” on Twitter following the vote.

“We can support choosing our own destiny about the future of Confederate monuments in our city AND advocate for the state to fund the true cost of public education. This was not a either/or proposition,” wrote Stoney. 

Councilmembers also negatively pointed to the differences between Jones’ resolution and the recommendations made by Stoney’s Monument Avenue Commission. The commission, created in 2017, was in response to events following the white supremacist pro-Confederate Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which left one counter-protester dead and over 30 wounded. 

The 10-person Commission’s 115-page report, released in July, recommended the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue, along with efforts to re-contextualize the statuary, following months of private and public discussion. Addison and Gray also served as members of the commission.

Newbille disputed this interpretation, pointing out that while Jones’ resolution implies more than the Davis statue would come under the Council’s oversight, “it doesn’t say remove them.” 

“This paper allows this council, this local government, to have authority in the dispositions of monuments and statues. For me, that is a responsibility this city and this city council should have,” said Newbille.

Mayor Stoney Speaking at City Council

Jones’ legislation wasn’t the only one with a focus on how Richmond should handle the reminders of Virginia’s ugly history.  Also introduced for future consideration was legislation submitted by Stoney that would establish the Richmond History and Culture Commission. This focus would include “providing guidance on the recommendations of the Monument Avenue Commission regarding the reinterpretation of the Confederate statues on Monument Avenue.” 

The legislation will likely be part of the City Council’s agenda in their next meeting on November 13. 

As the meeting prepared for the council vote, Hilbert acknowledged a changing cultural “mood” in the U.S. that has seen other Confederate memorials removed or destroyed, remarking that regardless of the council’s decision on Jones’ resolution, Monument Avenue won’t remain the same forever.

“I was poisoned by the Lost Cause version of the Civil War,” said Hilbert, “and it’s wrong, the Civil War was about slavery. I do think that in 50 years these statues won’t be here.” 

*Photos by George Copeland 

Statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee Vandalized in Richmond

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*This story has been updated

The statue glorifying Confederate General Robert E. Lee, which sits on Monument Ave. in Richmond, was vandalized in the early hours of the morning. Dark red paint was splashed all over the plinth of the statue with the letters BLM written on the base – seemingly an acronym for the group Black Lives Matter.

Two capitol police officers were present at the statue, but declined to comment on when they arrived on the scene. However, RVA Mag spoke to Joe Macenka, the public information officer for the Capitol Police – who patrol and manage the security of state property, including the statue of Lee.  Macenka said the department was notified shortly after 6 a.m., and the incident likely took place in-between one of their patrols. While not commenting on the particulars of the investigation, he said they were following a “number of angles.”

Capitol Police Inspecting the Damage

RVA Mag also spoke with an employee for the Department of General Services who was present at the scene to oversee the cleaning crew, who said he was called at 7:30 a.m. alerting him to what happened. At 9:30 a.m. the cleaning crew had not started power washing the statue, saying they were still waiting for the investigators to arrive.

Richmond’s Confederate statues are vandalized frequently, with Jefferson Davis being spray painted twice in the past year. This comes at a time of contentious conversation surrounding the role of Confederate statues in public spaces and the finalization of a report by Richmond’s Monument Ave Commission, which recommended that Davis’ statue be removed.

The Capitol Police reached out to RVA Mag at 1:30 p.m. to suggest that the paint used to vandalize the statue came from a “high pressured sprayer” or a refillable fire extinguisher. 

Dinosaurs and Confederates: Inside “The Blue Ridge Barnum” Mark Cline’s Jurassic Triptank

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The humidity of a southern June hung over us as we slogged through the facsimile of an old mining town. We approached rustic shacks for shade, only to find doors clawed in, furniture smashed, and baby brontosauruses running amok. Ahead, a building loomed with its front sign smeared and off-kilter, lettered in a bright rectal green: The Slime Theater. Three green, mucus-esque creatures with jarring King Crimson lips hung above the door– the obvious culprits for the name. I ducked as I went inside–machismo aside, I was a lone journalist and this was Slimeball Territory.

Slimeball Territory

The last building I entered, dangerous from a sloped floor, slid me into the wall, so I didn’t complain when we walked into the next room with benches, fans, and a flat screen. A TV played a fuzzy history segment on the Civil War, titled, “The Untold Battle of Natural Bridge.” The opening began like any other historical segment except from ambrotypes of Civil War generals accompanying the narration, it segwayed to pterodactyls and a machine-gun-stegosaurus. The screen cut to a man sitting fireside, deadpan gaze with a pipe, mid-toke. He explained the second coming of dinosaurs, in a battle that, frankly, never happened.

In a straw white fedora and magenta vest, his name is Mark Cline, the self-made owner of this Jurassic triptank. At 57, he’s the county’s most unnatural attraction, a persona riding between Mick Jagger and Willy Wonka, a self-proclaimed entrepreneur with 40 years of experience in fiberglass molding. We joined Cline in his eclectic roadside kingdom to talk about his Civil War theme park, “Dinosaur Kingdom II,” in rural Natural Bridge, Virginia.

Mark Cline in His Kingdom

We met Cline at a Pizza Hut, where he held forth on everything from religion to the power of suggestion. Even his bites of pizza were strategically placed, all while dressed like he popped out of an 1800s spaghetti western.  You get the feeling his brain is never truly at rest.

He was quick to rebuke criticism surrounding his park for its depiction of Union soldiers threatened by life-size fiberglass dinosaurs, annoyed by the recent media frenzy. ”They’re no more problematic now than they were years ago, it’s just that more people have a voice, more people have a stage, have these things [pointing to our smartphones], and getting out there with more opinions. Nothing’s new under the sun, none of it. Would you like a piece of pizza?”

Union Soldiers Cower from Velociraptor

He respects figures like Robert E. Lee, but was quick to deny empathy for Confederate troops, quoting Lee himself on historical remembrances. “I started doing a sculpture of Robert E. Lee a few years ago, before I knew what his wishes were,” Cline said. He refused to finish the sculpture, as General Lee himself once stated he wanted no statues, roads, or buildings dedicated to himself or the Confederate States. The war was over; it was time to rebuild.

Though some see the park as a monument to the Confederacy, it feels like escapism, a way to let local descendants of Civil War soldiers evade the awful truths of the past.

Union Soldier Dangles from T-Rex Mouth while Slimeballs Attack

Dinosaur Kingdom II offers a 16-acre stroll, guarded behind a palisade of utility poles along U.S. Route 11. From the opening scene of a decrepit mining town to the 20-foot-tall fiberglass T-Rex towering over the entrance with jaws agape while a lone Union soldier stands near a dislodged train, it provides a bizarre, alternative fiction of the Civil War. According to Cline, these jaws are meant to distract from our daily woes; he’s more entertainer than muse to madness. “Dinosaur Kingdom II is meant to entertain folks which, in turn, brings some societal benefits. Entertainment brings laughter and laughter has been proven to heal. No one gets killed at my park.”

You expect sympathy for Confederate revisionism with a spring of absurdity, only to be overwhelmed by the latter. There are disorienting walkways, Confederate slimeballs mounting bison as cavalry, a Southern Harambe stealing pants, two-headed turtle bomb specialists, a Confederate boy milking a stegosaurus, and Stonewall Jackson punching a T-Rex with a robotic arm. The park is meant to be bizarre, not scary or insensitive. “I just sort of mixed the Civil War history in with dinosaurs because I like them both. You know, people do what they like,” he said. “I’m not gonna go motocross riding or Nascar if I didn’t like [it]. I do what I like.”

Dinosaur Kingdom II reopened in 2016 after the original park was lost to a fire. It’s a nod to nostalgic 1950s mom-and-pop roadside attractions, yet since the local competition are caves and rock bridges, the park has surprisingly become a high-traffic attraction.

Born in 1961, Cline began his fascination with Jurassic subculture as a young child along the rolling hills of Waynesboro, Virginia. “I’m starting to believe I am the first because a lot of the things that I’m doing now I’ve started to see others come out with later,” he said, suggesting his creations long predate the 1993 masterpiece “Jurassic Park.”

I just sort of mixed the Civil War history in with dinosaurs because I like them both. You know, people do what they like.

Cline took interest in the Civil War in 1969 after the devastating Hurricane Camille, the second-most intense tropical cyclone to strike the United States, tolling up 259 dead, nine of whom were Cline’s relatives. Fresh off the coattails of grief, Cline found peace of mind in Gettysburg, where he and his surviving family members had evacuated before the storm. “While we were there, my mom, my brothers and I, we went through Gettysburg,” he said. “And while I was mainly into the museums at first, I took a strong liking to the battlefield.”

Native American sits with Dinosaur

Later, after high school, with no college plans and a love for paper maché, Cline began drifting. He hitchhiked across the country for a year before returning to Waynesboro, broke. A self-described hobo, he spent three months on park benches and against trees in Gypsy Hill Park. He didn’t seem to fit in. He wasn’t cut out for the military and had little interest in moving to a big city to follow artistic aspirations, but knew he couldn’t keep up his drifter lifestyle. Cline hitchhiked to the employment office in Waynesboro and got a job at Red Mill Manufacturing in Lyndhurst, where he began mixing resins for figurines. After about six weeks, his superior had him stay after work and taught him the process of making molds–a process Cline would take with him the rest of his life.

However, the process was slow-going, and in 1982 Cline experienced the first of many failures. “My first launched museum didn’t do anything. It was too far ahead of its time,” he said. “It was a struggle, I lost my first wife over it, poverty was commonplace for me, I didn’t know how I was going to pay my bills.”

Stonewall Jackson versus T-Rex

To Cline, his Civil War theme is not controversial. Whether the uniforms were gray or blue, the backlash would be all the same. “Well, I had a guy in Pennsylvania that was interested in me in building one of those up there for him. If I had done it up there, I’d have made the Confederacy the enemy. He was in Gettysburg. [The South] wouldn’t have been heroes up there.”

If anything, Cline knows how to bewilder. One April Fool’s Day, his favorite holiday, he stationed crashed saucers in a field outside Lexington. Another year, he placed a 50-foot-long Russian submarine in a lake near Gypsy Hill Park, where he used to sleep.

You gotta have something that’s real about you, oddly enough that comes from a guy that creates a lot of illusions.

But his stunts haven’t always been met with a cocked head or odd look. In 2001, one of his parks, Enchanted Castle Studio, went up in flames. A note in his mailbox described it as punishment for “Satanic art” from the “Good Lord,” referencing a comical sculpture resembling the devil. It survived, now relegated to his studio. The state police investigated the fire, which Cline believes was arson. No charges were filed. In an interview with The Roanoke Times, Cline kept his cheeky optimism: “P.T. Barnum had three [fires], so at least I’m one behind him.”

Cline is an illusionist, but refreshingly honest. He’s content living in a paradoxical space, real and fake together, and wants you to join him, too. “Without your morals, who are you? You’re a piece of shit. I mean, you gotta have something that’s real about you, oddly enough that comes from a guy that creates a lot of illusions.”

His brain races on to the next topic: His future. Having attained roadside celebrity status as he approaches his sixties, Cline is preparing for his next act: teaching. “I want to teach people how to build these figures because I’m the only one in the country doing it this way, this particular way,” Cline said. “Lee came here to Lexington, after the war. You know why? To teach. What does teaching do? It eradicates ignorance, and offers you a brighter future, right? How else can you explain education than by what it’s supposed to do? He understood this.”

And as the majority of his guests are young adults and college students, there is hope for Cline to pass down his fiberglass empire to future generations, with all the allure of fantasy and escapism. “I see myself as an entertainer, who knows how to build props,” he said. “I make my living off the props, but the props only tell the story to entertain people.”

As for the Civil War, it’s difficult to discern where Cline stands. He doesn’t clarify his views, either. “Just the very fact I live in this area, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are buried here, and I think because they’re such icons here, and in some ways, very misunderstood,” he said.

Last Stop in Dinosaur Kingdom II

Cline believes anyone under the lens of the public eye long enough will be villainized. Maybe Cline romanticizes the lives of Jackson and Lee, much as he romanticizes his own. Whether this bizarre roadside attraction is a magnet for ignorance or an escape from the racist history that continues to fester throughout the South, a man like this, muddled in mystery, has only ever revealed shades of himself. I know one thing from this experience: I wouldn’t spend a night at this museum.

Photos by Madelyne Ashworth.

Opinion: Northam’s Inauguration, Talk Intersectional to Me

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As many Virginians involved in politics, I received an invitation to the inauguration of Ralph Northam a few weeks ago. It was addressed to me. But in hindsight, I see that the weekend of celebrating a win for Northam was not really intended for a gal like me.

After having almost two weeks to ponder these mysteries, let me tell you why.

No matter what demographic, everyone loves a celebration. And no matter how you identify, most folks I know love a good party. So maybe the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) did think of me, with their “message” of welcoming all. Perhaps, I was just being jaded, so I planned my weekend accordingly.

Right away, I wasn’t thrilled about being outside; tons of people, and a speech that was emblematic of Northam not including words such as “Black”, “African American” or “People of Color”. Simply speaking of a “unique” history when referring to the organized genocide and treasonous acts against our African ancestors is not enough in the former Capital of the Confederacy. Maintaining this traditional white-washed, colorblind, political speech repeatedly fails to recognize the lives that are continuing to be lost due to the systemic oppression the Civil War and slave trade historically caused.

Knowing this was Northam’s MO, I decided to skip the ceremony.

After the inauguration was the ball, I considered going for the Princess Tiana style (“The Princess and the Frog”), and represent the first black royalty of Disney. As with any princess story, I would want a plus one, so two tickets for the ball please: that’ll be a total of $500.

Wypipo translation: Wait a minute. To someone in my demographic, this seems like a problem. There are many establishments, events, and even zip codes I know are not for me; so why does the most distinguished inauguration event translate to the most expensive and the most inaccessible to the true progressive base – the same one that ushered in a Northam victory.

If Virginia is aiming to move away from toxic politics, shouldn’t our top Democrats have to display the courage to refuse the influence poison that travels from their pockets to our policy?

As I continued to look at inaugural events I continued to notice ticket prices that cost $50 and up. The Metro Richmond Young Democrats (MRAYD) were hosting their second annual Millennial Toast and that was only $35. You know, a price that addresses the millennial economic reality… thanks, guys.  

I was gifted a ticket to the First Lady’s Brunch from a local advocate, who knows what that ticket would have cost had I bought it. I’m a policy junkie, not a fashionista, therefore I’ve run out of items to wear to these political events and had to purchase a $35 dress and new tights that won’t run and will keep me warm – another $10.

The separation between how I see my total spend of $80 on inaugural events versus something even higher now has to also be viewed through the lens of class. I can see $80 as difficult, but to some, it is impossible. Yet to the inauguration committee, their audience would not have thought twice over an $80 or higher weekend of events.

Which asks the next question. Why shouldn’t I have been the intended audience for the entire weekend inauguration celebration? Black women, young people, and the progressive coalition ensured Northam’s victory. Was he the best Democratic candidate? Debatable. But we vote for survival in today’s political climate – more on this later. Nonetheless, I got to participate without having to withstand the frigid cold of his swearing in.

Speaking of the cold, how are those Richmond public housing residents who still don’t have heat? This stinging sense of irony was not lost on me, after just touring the freezing homes of our low-income residents who were less than a mile away from the inaugural ceremonies. That fact that the only free celebratory event put on by the inauguration – was also outside – in the cold – was not lost on me.

Low-income Virginia voters were obviously not the intended audience for such a weekend based on the cost of tickets. But, I’ll ask again. What about me? I’m a person of color. I’m middle class. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a master of clinical social work. I’m a cis-het female. I’m a millennial. I’m a mother and I’m a registered voter. In these political situations, I usually identify as a black woman first. But I noticed within the black folks in attendance, it was my lack of discretionary income that kept me feeling like an outsider; it was my economic class.

And just like that, it hit me. My anxiety triggered because I know the complications that can come from balancing intersecting needs in politics, such as race and class. I recognize it from the 2017 campaign trail when the Democrats said Northam would make 2018 the year of women. As I supported his campaign, I was still yelling for the word “black” to be added as a prefix to my womanhood. “Say Black Women Ralph!,” but per usual, I did not feel fully represented. The time it would take to include the words “women of color” would only be a few seconds, but the addition to his support would be exponential.  

This was something also on display at the First Lady’s Brunch at – you guessed it – the Jefferson Hotel where the average weekend stay is $285 per night. Angela Patton is the CEO for Girls for Change, which is a non-profit that provides programming for inspiring vision within black girls and other girls of color. She gave an amazing introduction to the brunch and when she said, ‘Girls for a Change, starts with the most powerful and wasted resource on the planet- girls,’ everyone erupted in cheers and applause.

She then added, “specifically girls of color,” and surprisingly to me, I was the only person to clap raucously. The crowd, in typical awkwardness, joined me in applauding, but the message was clear. The words “girls of color” were not valued in a speech within the context of this audience. This was further validated as race, ethnicity, or any recognition of color was never spoken about during the rest of the event – not even by the First Lady as she spoke about children in need.

After the brunch, I asked the First Lady why she didn’t use the words “black”, “brown”, or “of color”. Her response included a three-course meal of political doublespeak. The appetizer was the line of needing more “studies” to see who was actually in need, the entrée was a very large portion of “concern” for not wanting to use words that label people, and finally, for dessert, a slice of how such words can be “divisive”.

I looked around in confusion upon hearing Pam Northam’s words. I had to make sure that I hadn’t stumbled into a Republican event given this is their talking point. The First Lady had said this to me with such ease, not appearing to realize the disconnect of inviting Girls for a Change to be the face of her event, while at the same time, not using her platform to recognize them fully in her words. This took me back to my experiences with her husband on the campaign trail and attempting to be seen and heard as a woman of color.

Luckily, I have interacted with Governor Northam during the campaign trail and have witnessed a genuine desire to listen to his constituents. Now it is the voters turn to wait and listen to the messages being sent in words and policy, as well as the non-verbal messages, such as pricing for these inaugural events. We must protect those still experiencing intersectional oppression in Virginia, while at the same time, advocating around economic injustices.

The themes being sent by Virginia’s new administration are quiet in nature, but heavy in impact. The price points during the inaugural weekend sent a message that those with political influence or those with enough money to have influence are the ones who should be appreciated or celebrated. The lack of color in Northam’s speeches sends the message that his policies will lack equity to address historically disenfranchised communities. Yet in this political climate, it is up to us to assess, recognize, and call out these messages to protect justice for all of us. Uncovering toxic politics allows us to recognize when a three-letter word like “all” has been historic in dividing us while leading with the illusion of inclusivity.

All men are created equal, All lives matter; Virginians should no longer trust the word “all” from any politician without specific intersections being addressed. That way the community can in unison say we are excited about #TheWayAhead, but we must first demand that there be #OneVA as well.

Opinion: The Pat Hines Letter

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These are not usual times. Not for those of us in the media, or those of us just trying to make sense of what is happening in the world around us. We live in a political age racked with uncertainty, anxiety, and stress. Because of this, we cannot treat what we are experiencing as something that is just an extension of the previous status-quo. Which is what made Style’s publishing of the Pat Hines letter so egregious, much in the same way the Richmond Times Dispatch’s publishing of Walter Williams column was.

Hines is a notorious white supremacist that was pinged by the Southern Poverty Law Center for saying, “without slavery, all the black people in the United States wouldn’t be here” and removing Confederate monuments is, “cultural genocide on the Southern people”. This is also the same man who got a print spot in the most recent edition of Style. In the Letters section he claims that Heather Heyer, the woman who was murdered in a terrorist attack by a white supremacist during Unite the Right, was a “morbidly obese person who…[had] been engaged in attacking those who were legally there to speak.” He goes on to say, “No one killed her, her eating habits, huge weight penalty, and Newport cigarettes did her in.”

For those of us who were on the ground during Unite the Right and have been covering and exposing white nationalism and supremacy all year in Virginia, this could not have been a bigger slap in the face – to give this man space in the pages of a city publication.

Claims of “the letters section reflects the views of our readers” can no longer be an acceptable portal to obfuscate the risk in letting certain views have a platform – especially in this political climate. This is for a good reason. Because of this new political age, we we are all experiencing something deeply profound. How we share this experience is something that is coming to shape our understating of each other in the most profound of ways, especially for such a small city. Which is why everything matters these days; editorials matter, letters to the editor matter, and most importantly, the message that media gives voice to matters.

We have to balance this against the steady creep of hate speech into our daily lives and what that means in real terms. Hate speech that now comes from our elected officials, from our president, from our family and friends who have been empowered to act on their worst impulses, and from those who now have agency to provoke, intimidate, and threaten entire cities, like Charlottesville.

This is what the Richmond Times Dispatch and Style failed to realize when they gave voice to men who can justify violence, and then rationalize it away with the same freedoms they claim to support. The letter by Pat Hines falsely describing the murder of Heather Heyer in a terrorist attack is particularly noxious for that very reason. For that to exist without context or expose does nothing but minimize the very real threat of white nationalism and how that – in the the former capitol of the Confederacy – impacts the entire city.

Even giving each publication the benefit of the doubt, the views articulated in either piece should have never passed muster to begin with, regardless of their bona fides (or lack thereof, re: Pat Hines). The views trafficked in these pieces were not provocative for the sake of advancing conversation and promoting the kinds of hard dialogue needed in this new political age. They were base, and represented the worst of what we are all collectively experiencing. For leading publications in this city to be unable to distinguish between these two things betrays a deep misunderstanding of the conversation people are having with one another, and ultimately how people throughout this city and Commonwealth are feeling about the world around them.

Failing to recognize this is just a default to the previous status quo, which ultimately led us to this situation in the first place. Perhaps it is time for the old-guard to pass the baton and make space for the next generation to take the conversation forward.