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

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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.

Photo via Justin Griffin/Facebook

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

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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. 

Photo via Alexsis Rodgers/Facebook

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

Leveling The Field

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Both houses of the Virginia General Assembly have now passed bills allowing undocumented immigrants in Virginia to pay in-state tuition, making college a more realistic option for the Commonwealth’s undocumented students.

The prospect of receiving in-state-tuition rates in college never seemed real for T.C. Williams High School senior Mikeala, an undocumented immigrant who came to the U.S. from Bolivia when she was 7. 

“I prepared for the worst,” said Mikeala. “The only two ways I could have gone to college were to apply for scholarships — which are usually limited to students who are permanent residents — or apply only to private universities, but those schools tend to be more selective.”

Thanks to new legislation, undocumented students in Virginia may finally be able to afford to attend college in the Commonwealth. 

The senate passed Senate Bill 935 on Tuesday by a narrow margin of 21-19, which would allow undocumented immigrants to become eligible for in-state tuition rates at public universities. The House of Delegates passed identical legislation on Tuesday by a vote of 56-44.

Under the legislation, students are eligible for in-state tuition rates regardless of their immigration status. They’ll receive the rates if they attended high school for at least two years in Virginia, and either graduated from high school or passed a high school equivalency exam.

“[Virginia] has high level immigration from across the world, and a lot of those students are motivated to succeed because the country they came from didn’t give them the same opportunities,” said Del. Mark Keam, D-Vienna. 

According to the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan immigration think tank, Virginia has an estimated undocumented population of 269,000 people. An estimated 25,000 undocumented Virginia residents ages 3 to 17 are enrolled in school, but just 48,000 undocumented residents have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher. 

Virginia is commonly recognized as having a quality education system. The U.S. News and World Report ranked the Commonwealth #8 for K-12 schools and #14 for higher education. Some of Virginia’s top universities include Washington and Lee University, the University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, and Virginia Commonwealth University as the #1 public arts school in the country.

“If your parents are struggling because they’ve never had opportunities, there’s a much bigger incentive to go and work hard to go to college,” said Keam. “I think that adds tremendously to the quality of our schools.” 

Many Republican legislators voted against the bill, expressing concern that it unfairly favors undocumented students over other out-of-state students — and may present issues with the Commonwealth’s education budget. 

“We’ve made a determination to not give this to West Virginians or North Carolinans, but this bill provides it for someone here illegally,” said Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Forest. “I hope that they would go through the visa program to get their education, and become a contributing member to our economy.” 

Proponents of the legislation contend that not only will it benefit the state’s education budget, but also the local economy in the long run.  

“Maybe we’re losing revenue by not investing in them,” said Keam. “Immigrants already pay taxes, but if these students succeed with an education, they’ll end up staying in Virginia and pay more in state taxes long-term.” 

Other advocates view the legislation as a human rights matter: that every student should be given equal opportunity in life, despite their circumstances.

“It’s important we don’t view [undocumented immigrants] as one-sided for their economic contributions,” said Mikeala. “They are humans trying to achieve their dreams, and they deserve the same opportunities as others.” 

Gov. Northam has previosly voiced support for legislation in favor of the undocumented community. Northam vetoed Republican-backed bills in 2019 that would have banned sanctuary city policies. 

The General Assembly has advanced similar legislation this session, including giving undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses. Making college more affordable, along with an increase in education spending, is also part of Northam’s Virginia 2020 Plan.

“This highlights that the federal government has failed on immigration,” said Newman. “States are dealing with the broken federal government, and I hope these bills will push them to make better immigration laws.” 

Game Of Drones

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Whether you care deeply about preserving our environment or just love honey, Culpeper shop and bee sanctuary La Bee Da Loca is an essential destination.

Tucked away in the quiet mountain town that is Culpeper, Virginia, you’ll find their very own version of Main Street. It looks every bit the postcard scene trapped in time, filled with local shops and locals enjoying the feeling of time slowing down for a moment. But look closer — something very special is hidden further down on this street, in a blink-and-you-might-miss-it kind of way.

Culpeper’s own bee sanctuary and bee-related shop, La Bee Da Loca, is owned and operated by local beekeeper Felecia Chavez. Chavez has long been a curious fan of nature, but it wasn’t until after she left the military as a member of the Red Cross that she decided to take a detour and do things her way.

“I saw what pesticides do to people, to our water, [and] I became an advocate at that time,” said Chavez. “If we don’t take care of Mother Earth, we’re going to be in sorry shape.”

Chavez’s personality and love of life is simply infectious – if you couldn’t already tell from the pun in the shop’s name. She struggled for a minute trying to figure out what to name the shop and sanctuary until her son, who is a tattoo artist in Fredericksburg and actually designed the logo himself, thought of it almost immediately.

“I said, ‘This is what I want to do’ and I need to find a name, a name that is going to get people to pay attention,” said Chavez. “My youngest son said, ‘Mom! I’ve got it!’ I [asked] what, [and he said] ‘La Bee Da Loca!’ I said, what, like the song?”

She admitted it took her a second, but once she got it, she fell in love. It’s a perfect name for a proprietor who rightfully prides herself on being the bee lady.

Having both a shop and bee sanctuary together has been the plan from the beginning. Chavez’s love of the little bouncy insect is apparent as we walk around the shop, up the stairs (which greet you with more inspirational puns, like “Bee Kind”), and into the “bee room.” She absolutely loves a good play on words with her little friends. While her favorite bee pun changes periodically, she was willing to share her favorite of the moment.

“‘You’ve got to bee crazy,’” said Chavez.

Chavez’s bee palace, if you will, is a popular spot in Culpeper. During our interview, she periodically excused herself to introduce guests who came to see the bees, taking the time to educate them on the importance of bees, how vital they are to the world, and to our ecosystem.

Doing this sort of educating is a huge reason why she wanted to open up La Bee Da Loca, and one of her favorite parts about the job is also one of the most important: educating children.

“The kids are so open, and they want to know,” said Chavez. “It gives me a chance to tell them how non-aggressive [bees] are. Then they’ll go home and tell mom and dad they went to this really cool shop and learned about bees. Then the antenna goes up, and maybe they’ll want to learn about it. So not only have I educated a child, now I’ve educated the adults.”

Chavez has also had the joy of experiencing Cuban bee culture with beekeepers from around the world. The Cuban approach to beekeeping is vastly different apparent from the way Americans approach it, with differences such as the fact that they do not use pesticides due to lack of access. This fact makes Cuba the only place you can obtain truly organic honey. Another interesting aspect of Cuban beekeeping that Chavez noted was the fact that women involved in the practice there were simply referred to as beekeepers — the fact that they were female made no difference.

“What I liked about being there is that they don’t see gender,” said Chavez. “I was a beekeeper. I wasn’t a woman beekeeper or a man beekeeper, I was just a beekeeper — and I knew what I was doing. That made such a big difference to me.”

She explained that her trip to Cuba was important not just because it gave her a chance to see the countryside, but also because it gave her the opportunity to meet other beekeepers, and share ideas. For Chavez, it was an irreplaceable and invaluable experience.

Her passion is undeniable — about bees, about educating to protect our world, and about her family. She began La Bee Da Loca not only as something to leave to her children and grandchildren, but also in honor of her sister.

“Before I opened the shop, I told my sister, who I was very close to, ‘This is what I wanted to do’,” said Chavez. “She was always the one who pushed me to open the shop. She was always calling, asking, ‘How are the bees?’ Unfortunately she died a couple months before we opened. So this was a way to honor her.”

Living in Richmond, two hours south of Culpeper, it’s hard to ignore the fact that many of us pride ourselves on working hard to do better for the planet and to live more sustainably in any way possible. Here in the city, it sometimes feels easy to relax and believe we have it all figured out. But I had to ask my newfound friend, the resident Bee Queen: what are we still missing?

“First of all, do you really need to kill all of your dandelions and your weeds in your yard using pesticides?” said Chavez. “Pesticides — they’re poisoning everything. Not only our food. Our water, our people — that is the worst thing. We don’t need to have that green, green lawn, [and] have everything eradicated to have the perfect world to live in. Why are we doing that? I don’t understand it.”

It goes without saying that La Bee Da Loca is one Virginia’s hidden gems. Not only is it simply adorable, it has pretty darn delicious honey. Best of all, it’s run by a passionate bee aficionado who doesn’t just want to see a better world — she is actively working to make it happen. Naturally, I had to ask her the most important question on all of our minds: What is the best way to eat honey?

“A finger,” said Chavez.

La Bee Da Loca is located at 236 E Davis St in Culpeper, VA. It’s open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 to 5, and Sundays from 11 to 5.

Photos by Ash Griffith

Roanoke’s Sam Rasoul Puts Community Ahead of Big Money

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As the first Muslim-American in the Virginia General Assembly — and the first to sign a pledge against taking public interest donations — Roanoke Delegate Sam Rasoul wants to eliminate money’s role in politics. 

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Virginia is one of nine states that do not have an ethics commission to oversee the number of donations given to politicians by special interest PACs (political action committees) and lobbyists. Because of this lack, Virginia has become one of the worst states for the influence of money in politics.

Rasoul set himself apart from his fellow legislators by being the first elected official in Virginia to pledge not to take donations from special interests. “The possible influence of accepting money from those entities is not a thought or consideration,” said Delegate Lashrecse Aird, Rasoul’s seatmate during General Assembly sessions. “He has taken the extra step so that his constituents know he is there because of them.” 

Six other members of the General Assembly have followed his lead since his initial pledge. Along with Rasoul, some of them have formed a group known as the People’s Caucus: a group of legislators determined to preserve the people’s interest.

Following the 2016 election, the public trust in the government reached an all-time low at 18 percent, according to the Pew Research Center.

Rasoul is working to earn back that public trust: through local grassroots movements, he’s pushing to change the political landscape and leads community impact training in Roanoke (which open seminars to potential public officials on how to run free-to-the-public campaigns).

The goal: Show members of the community how they can be leaders. Whether it be in politics or through outreach efforts, the idea is to show citizens how to positively impact their own neighborhoods. The campaign is run by The Impact Center, an organization in Roanoke designed to enrich the local community.

A child of immigrants, Rasoul moved to Virginia at a young age. Growing up in Roanoke allowed him to set up a strong community following for his political career later in life.

PHOTO: Delegate Sam Rasoul, Facebook

The delegate never dreamed of being a politician, until 11 years ago when he found himself running for Congress. With the decision that would permanently change his career path, Rasoul saw great adversity.

“I have always been in an extreme minority,” Rasoul said in an interview this year. “I don’t get frustrated; I just keep my head down, and try and get as much work done as I can.”

Being a Democrat in a Republican-dominated House, Rasoul has seen many setbacks, with only a small percentage of his bills being passed. His positive attitude in the face of adversity has helped him implement his idea of “good government” — a practice, he insists, that serves the public interest.

Tapping his feet against the carpet, Rasoul reflected on the passion of his work. “We need to aggressively find ways of making sure the people are empowered,” Rasoul explained, “and that special interests aren’t undermining the will and the voice of the people.”

Rasoul has taken on a multitude of roles in his lifetime including being a father — a role that has given him a different perspective on his years of work towards bettering the education system.

“Education as a whole is lacking in the innovation we need to become more successful,” Rasoul said, elaborating that childhood success weighs heavily on the early development stages.

“We have our priorities flipped on their head,” Rasoul said. “I think putting a lot more energy and emphasis into early years is critical for increasing IQ, increasing their income over the course of their life, and decreasing their criminal interactions.”

Rasoul has drafted several bills regarding education. Earlier this year, he introduced a bill that would amend the Virginia Constitution to allow 16-year-olds to vote in local elections.

Rasoul and his supporters argue that letting 16-year-olds to vote will allow them to have equal representation, as local government and the school board affect high school aged students. The measure hoped to increase overall voter turnout and help inform young voters about government practices.

Although this bill died in committee, Rasoul explained that this was only an introduction.  He will reintroduce it and, if passed, the public will vote on it in a constitutional referendum in 2020: the same year as the next presidential election.

Rasoul also argued against privatization of public schooling, noting his belief that most models for privatization do not work, and they specifically would not work for Virginia. A recent report issued by the Schott Foundation for Public Education and the Network For Public Education found that 47 states have either a voucher or charter school program, 33 of which allow those programs to be run by for-profit companies. Only one of those states requires schools taking vouchers to provide services for English-learning students — students that, as of Fall 2015, made up 8.5 percent of Virginia’s public school enrollments.

“We need to strengthen our public school system, and put mechanisms in place to encourage aggressive innovation,” Rasoul said. “We have to find ways to take care of our teachers, because when we do, they will take care of the students.”

A firm believer in taking care of any work staff, Rasoul states that it is essential to have well-versed employees to support an institution.

Amalea Deegan, Rasoul’s community outreach liaison, attested to this from her work with the delegate.

“He starts off every day asking, ‘What is the office’s mission?” Deegan said, “and it is to help as many people as possible. If we are doing anything that isn’t achieving that goal, then we’re not going to do it.”

In Deegan’s time working with the politician, she believes he has made her a better leader.

“He takes on a mentor role,” Deegan said. “He actively tries to improve the people who are working for him.” Rasoul’s office is nestled in the heart of Richmond, and he worked on the Northam transition team leading up to the governor’s inauguration. His desk is neat and orderly, his walls decorated with pictures of friends, family, and people he has met along the way.

Among the relics, a homemade painting of the Roanoke star hangs, a memento of home. The star overlooks Rasoul’s home city of Roanoke from its perch, high on Mill Mountain, and is visible from anywhere in the city. The painting in his office acts as a reminder of the people Sam Rasoul strives to represent, and the reason he is working to dismantle corruption in government.

Opinion: Will West Virginia Teacher Strike Inspire Virginia Educators to Join the Fight?

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On March 5, 11 days after the first day of the historic statewide strike, the West Virginia Capitol was packed wall-to-wall with educators, students, workers, and their families. Despite threatening Right-to-Work laws, government bullying, and intimidation, and around betrayal by union leadership, all of which could have prevented or debilitated a weaker movement, WV teachers are more agitated, organized, and determined to win than ever before.  

They are striking for a natural gas severance tax that creates a self-sustaining source of revenue for public employee insurance and pay, a stop to regressive taxes, a pay raise of 5 percent per year over the next five years for all public employees, a permanent tabling to all legislation pertaining to co-tenancy and joint development, and a permanent tabling to all legislation to charter schools, voucher systems, and any attempts to privatize public schools.

The connections between their demands and the needs of public sector employees and educators in Virginia are crystal clear. And they have revolutionized the playing field for teachers, workers, and right-to-work states across the country, including the imminent statewide strike Oklahoma teachers are poised to unleash as soon next week.

The question is, will Virginia educators and workers join the fight that our “wild and wonderful” neighbors have started? Will we let them stand alone?

Some educators may respond with cautious deflections, protesting that organizing or unionizing is illegal in Virginia because of Right-to-Work provisions, but this is simply not true. Right-to-Work does not mean you can be fired for organizing in your workplace; it simply prohibits any contract that requires a worker to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment (VA Code Sec. 40.1-58et seq).

Others may demur, ‘well, we don’t have it as bad as West Virginia, our average incomes are not so low.’ To the, I would respond, as the Washington Post recently reported, that though the average Virginia teacher salary may exceed West Virginia’s, our income-to-rent ratio is roughly the same or worse, depending on the level of education. So while we may make more on average, the vast majority of us still struggle to afford rent and basic living expenses, let alone dig ourselves out of the hole of debt required to become an educator in Virginia (which, as the Virginian-Pilot has reported, has led to a statewide teacher shortage crisis).

Furthermore, these comparative numbers only encompass public school teachers, and do not speak to the increasingly desperate circumstances that the booming numbers of adjunct professors face, let alone substitute teachers, teacher assistants, graduate assistants, on-staff tutors, and supplementary instructors, most of whom make below the poverty line for doing utterly essential work, sometimes identical to that of the work done by full-time faculty.

I am among these workers, making near minimum wage to do the same work of lesson planning, curriculum development, lectures, and educational support that professors do. This exciting phenomenon of equal work for half the pay has not gone unnoticed by Virginia school administrators, who are increasingly laying off full-time faculty in favor of the much cheaper option of adjunct professors.

The most obvious example of this, of course, is the now very public battle at Tidewater Community College, where, as the Virginian-Pilot recently reported, full-time faculty have already organized to fight back against a wave of full-time faculty layoffs, to be replaced by lower-paid adjunct professors. This is only the most recent chapter in a long history of rampant administration abuse at TCC, perhaps most elegantly illustrated in the fact that, as student enrollment has dropped by 31 percent, TCC administration hiring has gone up by an even greater 47 percent. I guess you need a lot of salaried administrators to figure out which teachers to fire next!

But TCC is not anomalous in taking this approach to budget shortages, nor is a simple replacement of the president and vice president, as demanded by the TCC faculty, enough to ensure job security for full-time faculty, let alone improve the working conditions for adjuncts or educational support staff. If TCC full-time faculty truly wish to make lasting change and build the broader base of support and solidarity that would necessitate, they ought to organize with adjuncts and wage workers to demand lasting systemic change in the form of better working conditions for all TCC workers and educators in Virginia, not simply a transition of power.

Though Right-to-Work does not prohibit workers from organizing or unionizing, laws do exist in Virginia that render unionizing illegal for public sector employees, including teachers employed by the city/county (public primary/secondary schools) or the Commonwealth (community and public colleges). However, this law makes the specific provision that “Nothing in this article shall be construed to prevent employees of the Commonwealth […] from forming associations for the purpose of promoting their interests before the employing agency” (§ 40.1-57.3). This essentially means that public sector employees legally can (and should) organize and unionize, we just can’t legally call it a union. But what’s in a name?

Though by contrast, it is legal in West Virginia for public sector workers to unionize and strike, the WV Attorney General and the Governor declared the strike “illegal” soon after the teacher’s union leadership sold them out during negotiations, urging them to accept a shoddy proposal and go back to work. Regardless, they continued the strike in all 55 counties. If our Appalachian neighbors have shown us anything, it’s that legal technicalities and injunctions can’t stop a body of organized workers if we don’t let them. Teachers across the country have already started taking up the fight that they started, as well as workers in other industries like the Communications Workers of America, who just announced a strike in locations across Virginia and West Virginia on Sunday.

So, fellow Virginia educators, it’s clear the iron is hot. Will we strike?

Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by a Virginia educator who wished to remain anonymous out of professional concerns.