Marcus-David Peters Archives

The Aftershocks Of the Earthquake

RVA Staff | August 25, 2020

Topics: Frank Hunt, Marcus Alert, Marcus-David Peters, Marcus-David Peters Circle, Mikhail Smith, police violence, protests

At the end of three months of protest activity, the situation at Marcus-David Peters Circle has been unstable at times. However, despite police violence and racist threats, activists and community members continue to gather there.

Since the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers sparked ongoing protests throughout the streets of Richmond, the reclaimed Robert E. Lee Monument, now known as Marcus-David Peters Circle or MDPC, has become a congregating ground for both demonstrators and regular citizens alike. Recently, activists have begun warning that MDPC is no longer safe, but many Richmonders are not willing to stay away.

Over the past couple of months, the city and protesters have taken down other statues that memorialized Confederate leaders, but the Lee Monument has remained on its pedestal. Despite the ongoing court cases conflicting with activists’ demands for its removal, citizens have created a people-oriented space in the circle, featuring amenities such as a basketball hoop, a free library, and tents featuring food, voter registration forms, and other services. What was once a symbol of oppression has now become a colorful homage to Richmond’s rejuvenated community.

Late the night of July 30, someone fired on a vehicle that entered the circle. The police recovered an assault rifle and a significant amount of ammunition in the wake of the shooting.

The next day, in the early morning hours, demonstrators were woken from their sleep with violence and directed brutality by the Richmond Police Department, cocking guns in their faces, tear gassing and pepper-spraying them. One demonstrator was handcuffed on the ground and tased. It was after this incident, though not exclusively because of it, that the warning posts began to spread on social media.

Though protesters acknowledged that the concern should be taken seriously, and that different people approach safety concerns differently, one thing is clear and unanimous among all who frequent the soon-to-be-removed monument: the constant threat is not new.

“I understand that people protest differently. But emotions running wild are going to get us killed. We can’t have that,” said Frank Hunt, who has been involved in the protest movement throughout. “It’s intelligence over emotions. The moment you become angry your opponent has won.”

The RPD has used tear gas, pepper balls, mace, and flash-bangs on protesters on many occasions over the course of the protest movement. On June 26, Hunt was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.

Protest participants have experienced not only physical threats and violence (by the hands of RPD and otherwise), but online harassment and the aftershocks of what few will understand if they have not experienced it themselves.

“They’ve been watching my house. They say my name when I’m walking around. There’s a couple [officers] that target me specifically,” said Mikhail Smith. “The racist comments. The racist messages. Phone calls. I’ve had people tell me that they’re going to lynch me. No one should ever have to live like that. I had to run through the streets and be holed up in a house with 40 people coughing and sneezing. Snot running down our faces while crying. People screaming.”

Smith has gained notoriety for filming and posting videos of interactions between protesters and the police. Specifically, he’s attracted attention for a video he posted on Instagram, in which he filmed police first pepper-spraying a group of women walking down Broad St, then turning their pepper spray on him as he filmed out of his upstairs window.

By taking visible action to stand with the movement and highlight violent police behavior, Smith, along with other organizers, protesters and even any one in the vicinity of what the RPD rule an “unlawful assembly,” have become targets of those who oppose the movement and the police.

“The cops still haven’t detained that individual, who was subsequently doxed because I took a video,” Smith said. “My life is in danger because of that. He could be looking for me.”

Smith also posted a now-viral video of a woman screaming racist slurs at the monument. According to him, this is sadly typical of any day spent at the monument.

“White supremacists yell stuff out their windows daily. There are altercations daily,” Smith said. “I just happened to get that lady on video, but that happens every day.”

*Photo by SassafrassBluff.Life, via Facebook*

Nonetheless, within the movement, people are continuing to organize, demonstrate, and bring a voice to the pain the community has endured and the progress it will experience as they continue forward.

Protesters continue to articulate a list of demands from local police and the Richmond city government, including reopening the case of Marcus-David Peters (who was killed by police in 2018 while unarmed, naked, and having a mental health crisis), defunding the police, dropping charges against every protester, removal of all Confederate monuments within the city, establishment of an independent civilian review board, implementation of the Marcus Alert system to improve responses for mental health-related emergencies, and the release of names of all RPD officers currently under investigation for use of force.

For many of these protesters, regardless of the danger it may present, abandoning the movement and the city is not an option. They love their city, and they want to make it better, regardless of the cost.

“My heart got attached to it,” Hunt said of Richmond. “When this happened, it made me realize my purpose.”

Written by Alexandra Zernik and Marilyn Drew Necci. Top Photo by SassafrassBluff.Life, via Facebook

Sending A Highly Visible Message

Carley Welch | August 17, 2020

Topics: billboards, black lives matter, Colette McEachin, DTC RVA, Marcus-David Peters, Marwa Eltaib, Nolef Turns, protests, Rebecca Keel, Richmond Community Bail Fund, RVA26, Sheba Williams, Southerners on new ground

A variety of advocacy groups around Richmond are calling for Commonwealth Attorney Colette McEachin to drop all charges filed against participants in recent Black Lives Matter protests. One group has even posted a billboard.

Driving to the Richmond City Jail, you can hardly miss Commonwealth Attorney Colette McEachin’s face. It’s plastered on a billboard overlooking Oliver Hill Way, and it is not in favor of McEachin’s work as an attorney. Instead, it serves as a demand that she drop all charges against the hundreds of individuals who’ve been arrested and charged with crimes during the recent protests in Richmond. It also asks that she reopen the Marcus-Davis Peters case.

The billboard was paid for by Drop The Charges RVA, a small group of individuals with experience in advertising and communications; it was funded through anonymous donations. DTCRVA leadership said the billboard was made possible by the groundwork done by Nolef Turns, SONG (Southerners On New Ground), the Richmond Community Bail Fund, and other activist groups in the area.

“We are just using our skills to amplify the voices of those doing the groundwork,” a DTCRVA leadership member said in a text message.

Charges facing individuals arrested during the wave of Black Lives Matter protests over the past few months range from misdemeanors that include violating the 8 PM curfew set in the first few days of the protests, to more serious charges such as disturbing the peace and assault of an officer.

Nolef Turns, a local organization dedicated to helping individuals who’ve been charged with a crime get back on their feet, has been working to get charges expunged for those arrested for protest-related offenses since the protests started in late May.

Though Nolef Turns is committed to helping those who have been convicted, the goal where protest-related crimes are concerned is to hopefully avoid a conviction altogether. In Virginia, the state background check includes one’s arrest record, not just their conviction record. This is why getting the charges dropped altogether is vital, according to Nolef Turns Executive Director Sheba Williams, because the process of getting arrest records expunged is a long, drawn-out procedure that someone standing up for social justice shouldn’t have to go through.

“The only people who are eligible for an expungement today are non-convictions. So you go through the process of the court, you pay your bond, you pay for an attorney, you take time off of work to go to court. Then you’re not convicted, but you still have this thing on your background check,” Williams said. “You have to go before the court where you got this charge to request that they expunge it from your record, and that’s the part that we do.”

SONG, a local organization calling for LGBTQ liberation among all races, ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds, has also been fighting to get the charges against protestors dropped, organizing protests of their own and calling on McEachin to drop the charges.

A frustrating part about this particular mission, according to Rebecca Keel, a statewide organizer for SONG, is that McEachin has said numerous times that she will not listen to demands of her constituents. In Keel’s opinion, it’s the responsibility of elected officials to listen to the people they represent.

“I personally voted for Colette McEachin, so I’d like to be listened to by her, but she is refusing to do so,” they said. “I think that that’s a big indicator that a politician is not ready to serve a community, but rather ready to continue to serve laws that do not work. Colette McEachin is serving systems of oppression, rather than her constituents.”

Among those who were arrested and are also calling on McEachin to drop the charges is the group RVA26. RVA26 is a group of individuals of varying races and backgrounds who were part of the 233 people arrested on one of the first nights of protesting, according to group member Marwa Eltaib.

The group name actually originated from the first 26 individuals who were arrested and held on a jail bus that night for “eight or nine hours.” Those 26 people, joined by many others as the night went on, all experienced different outcomes, as some were able to go home after they were released from the bus. while others were kept overnight and into the next day. Eltaib was one of the latter: arrested, crammed into a bus with others in defiance of social distancing guidelines, strip-searched, and left in a jail cell. While there, she says she witnessed what she called “traumatizing” events, including people screaming for medical help or having mental breakdowns.

Eltaib said despite being handcuffed, watching people’s hands turn black and blue from the restraints of handcuffs and zip ties, and not getting a phone call during her booking, she still has gratitude for part of the experience — that the white people who were present were using their privilege for good, and standing by the protesters of color.

“The people that were arrested were more disproportionately Black and brown people, but we still had a good amount of white allies with us that were vocal,” Eltaib said. “It was very traumatizing and horrible, but even still, we were in so much privilege knowing that our community was surrounding us and that we had legal representatives on the outside. And I knew that we had people looking for us and waiting.”

Using their experience to help those who are now getting arrested and facing the same treatment and battles as they once did, members of RVA26 are attempting to build relationships with those currently incarcerated.

“It gets very lonely, and overall mentally,and spiritually draining, being stuck in those jails,” Eltaib said. “So being able to be a level of support for people that are still incarcerated, and then raise funds for that, is what we’re trying to do.”

Richmond Community Bail Fund (RCBF), an organization which supports those who are incarcerated by helping to raise funds for those who can’t afford bail, has focused on protest-related charges in recent months. They too are calling on McEachin to drop the charges against protesters.

RCBF has been around since the spring of 2017, said Luca Connolly, co-director of the organization. Since the protest began, members of the group have passed out flyers at the protests with the organization’s emergency number on them, so individuals who get arrested can call RCBF for help when they get their one phone call.

“There’s usually a hotline volunteer who’s [asking protesters], ‘Do you have the support hotline?’’’ Connolly said. “It’s great now because everybody’s like, ‘Yeah, I have it.’ That feels good. I have met people who have it tattooed on their body, and somebody projected it onto the monument in Marcus-David Peters Circle. You need to be prepared for the worst.”

The organization also builds relationships with those incarcerated, providing support with legal fees, legal advice, child support assistance, clean clothes, and rides home. Connolly said there’s also a hotline number that people can call if they’re calling from outside a jail, which helps provide support for those whose loved ones have been arrested.

RCBF is financed through 100% grassroots fundraising said Connolly, meaning they take no money from foundations or big corporations. She also said they primarily ask for money from white people and people of wealth.

“We kind of understand our work as a reparations-based framework, moving white wealth to liberate black people who are experiencing mass incarceration or police violence,” Connolly said.

Discussing protest-related charges in an interview with RVA Magazine last month, McEachin said she would look at the cases on a case-by-case basis instead of dropping the charges of all protesters as a group, which is what these various organizations are pleading her to do.

“There’s not going to be a general review. It’s a very individualized review, which is what I would think people would want if they were charged,” McEachin said. “Given what I know now, I think there will be some charges left at the end of my review.”

Protesters are facing an array of charges, some of which may sound worse than others. However, Connolly feels that it’s important not to separate the fate of individuals based on what they’re being charged with.

“We are asking Colette McEachin to drop all charges against all protesters,” she said. “No one should experience prosecution for exercising their first amendment right to protest.”

Top Photo via Drop The Charges RVA

Charges And Reviews: An Exclusive Q&A With Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin

David Dominique | July 16, 2020

Topics: Colette McEachin, Commonwealth's Attorney, Dr. Michael Jones, Marcus-David Peters, Marcus-David Peters Circle, police violence, richmond, rva community

RVA Mag spoke with Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin about the ongoing protests in the city, and the legal ramifications of what’s happened so far, for both protesters and for the Richmond Police.

Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin has been a focal point of local activists’ demands over the past month. McEachin, Richmond’s lead prosecutor, is ultimately responsible for deciding whether to proceed with criminal investigations and charges against protesters. Her purview includes the power to investigate charges of police brutality, as well as allegations that the Richmond Police Department’s (RPD) declarations of unlawful assembly in May and June have themselves been unlawful. In an active lawsuit, the ACLU of Virginia has raised doubts and concerns about the legality of various RPD activities, including these declarations and subsequent uses of chemical weapons, rubber bullets, and flash grenades.

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with McEachin to discuss all of these things. We also asked about her ongoing consideration of whether to re-open the case of Marcus-David Peters, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed in 2018 by a Richmond Police officer while suffering a mental health breakdown.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RVA Mag: Good afternoon, Madame Commonwealth’s Attorney, and thank you for sitting down with us. As you know, at Mayor Stoney’s request, Governor Northam extended Richmond’s state of emergency through the end of July. Do you agree that Richmond is in a state of emergency?

Colette McEachin: Yes.

RVA Mag: How would you define the emergency, and who do you think is responsible for the emergency?

CM: We are all on some level responsible for the emergency. It’s one city, and we are all dependent on each other, right? If you go back to that first pretty horrible weekend or two at the end of May and beginning of June, I think that shocked and devastated everyone in Richmond. Anyone can look at what happened to George Floyd or any of the martyrs to police violence over the past decades and understand the anger and frustration that had built. But I don’t think anyone, including the police department, or any of the systems in the city, were ready for what happened from about May 30 through the past few weeks.

RVA Mag: I’d like to come back to the concept of “martyrs to police violence,” but returning to this “state of emergency,” I want to discuss accountability, and as a case study, the night when demonstrators in Richmond attempted to occupy City Hall. New Yorkers were able to occupy New York’s City Hall without police intervention. Norfolk demonstrators were allowed to occupy Norfolk City Hall recently. Have you submitted guidelines to City Hall and the police regarding acceptable protest actions that you will not prosecute?

CM: No I haven’t. It is pretty clear under the laws and statutes of Virginia what is acceptable peaceful protest and what is not. I don’t have authority over the mayor. I don’t have authority over the RPD — they respond to their chief, who is selected by the mayor. We certainly talk with other agencies, including the police department, about charging decisions, what the impact of their actions will be on whether or not a charge is able to go forward. But I don’t think it is appropriate for my agency to say to another agency: “You need to do your job this way.”

RVA Mag: Given that you are toward the end of the law enforcement process, have you had conversations with Chief Gerald Smith about how he is going to treat protests moving forward?

CM: No. I have been in conversation with him, but I have not specifically asked him that question. [We have discussed] my perspective about what happened the previous four weeks, and where my office is going regarding the multiple complaints made about police behavior and protester behavior. I will say he was very receptive and it was a lot of listening on his part.

RVA Mag: What’s the timeline for review of charges against protesters?

CM: Other than the horrible circumstance that happened from May 31 to June 1, when the first 233 curfew violators were arrested and brought down to the Richmond Justice Center…

RVA Mag: I’m sorry to interrupt but that happened at 7:30 pm, 30 minutes before curfew.

CM: Yes, it had nothing to do with the curfew. Let me clarify. For those who think the police tear-gassed people at the Lee Monument solely because there was a curfew violation (when it couldn’t have been, because it was only 7:30 pm), that was not the reason. The investigation is still ongoing, but I will say that the police were not jumping ahead 30 minutes.

RVA Mag: How far along are you in reviewing charges against protesters?

CM: There’s not going to be a general review. It’s a very individualized review, which is what I would think people would want if they were charged. You wouldn’t want assumptions made about your case, like, “Well, this happened on this date. I’m going to dismiss all the charges that happened on this date,” or “I personally believe in why this person was doing something, so because they conform to my personal belief I’m going to dismiss the charge.”

RVA Mag: Do you think you are likely to drop all charges against protesters?

CM: Given what I know now, I think there will be some charges left at the end of my review.

RVA Mag: America is in a tense moment. We’re in a nationwide conversation about race and police brutality. Here in Richmond, no one has died (at a protest).

CM: Thank God.

[Update: An earlier version of this article stated there were no critical injuries during protests. In fact, there are several reports of serious injuries suffered at the hands of police, including a man with a pre-existing condition who has stated that he was denied his heart medication while in detention (he subsequently lost consciousness, and was hospitalized at MCV), as well a man who was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet at close range. RVA Mag has received confirmation of both of these injuries].

RVA Mag: Thank God. Many of these protesters are in college or just graduated. They’re some of the city’s bright young minds and have been studying how to effect social progress and racial justice. They are not “out-of-towners,” as politicians were quick to claim early on. Given the context, are you prepared to enable the court to do long-term legal damage to a group of young local protesters, to permanently taint someone’s record over, for example, a thrown water bottle or a rock thrown at riot police in the heat of an escalating moment?

CM: I know people don’t want to hear this, because people want a quick yes or no, right or wrong, black or white, but honestly, it really depends on each situation.

RVA Mag: Let me ask more specifically: I know there was a young Black female protester who was detained and charged with inciting a riot and assaulting an officer. My understanding is she is alleged to have thrown a water bottle. Do you feel that prosecuting her, and her subsequently serving a prison sentence, and having felonies for assault and incitement — given all the societal context — would be an appropriate use of the judicial system?

CM: I don’t know that she will be convicted of a felony. I don’t know this person. Here’s the deal: You are assuming that if your heart is in the right place, and you feel you are doing it for a good reason, you should be able to throw things at people.

RVA Mag: I wouldn’t say I’m assuming that. What I’m asking is, given this nationwide moment of upheaval and potential structural change, and given that the entire nation’s nerves are inflamed, do you think allegedly throwing a water bottle toward a riot officer should result in a permanent felony record and potential prison time?

CM: It depends on the facts of the case.

RVA Mag: You indicated in a tweet that you would investigate all complaints against cops. Are you?

CM: I’m investigating all the ones I’m aware of.

RVA Mag: Councilman Mike Jones has asserted that he feels the RPD is going out of its way to distort the truth. The ACLU asserted the only legal use of an unlawful assembly declaration is the imminent threat of violence. Is there evidence that situations have been dangerous enough to justify declarations of unlawful assemblies, use of chemical weapons, mass arrests, and felony charges for demonstrators?

CM: Yes.

RVA Mag: Can you give me a specific example?

CM: No, because it’s a pending investigation.

RVA Mag: Do you assume what the police have told you is true?

CM: I am a lawyer and mother of three daughters. So I don’t assume that anybody is telling me the truth all the time.

RVA Mag: Is your office specifically investigating the legality of the declarations of unlawful assembly?

CM: Yes, in the sense that, if it turns out that the elements necessary to prove that there was an unlawful assembly don’t exist, then we can’t go forward on a charge.

RVA Mag: Councilman Jones has called for an independent investigation into police brutality during protests. We’ve seen a situation where nine officers OC-sprayed a woman walking by them. We’ve seen a police office spitting twice on a flex-cuffed protester who was arrested. Have you seen those videos?

CM: I have.

RVA Mag: If either an external investigator retained by the city or the current ACLU lawsuit concludes that beginning in late May, there were several instances where police prematurely declared unlawful assembly and used excessive force, would you hold the police accountable in the same way you are holding protesters accountable?

CM: Yes.

RVA Mag: Who do you consider most legally responsible for holding RPD accountable?

CM: The mayor.

RVA Mag: Are you confident that the RPD is effective in holding its officers accountable for disciplinary excesses?

CM: I don’t know.

RVA Mag: Is the mayor in discussions with your office about holding RPD accountable? You said he is legally responsible, but he is not a prosecutor.

CM: We have spoken about a civilian review board as an entity to hold police responsible. That’s about as far as it has gone.

RVA Mag: Would you like the civilian review board to have subpoena power?

CM: I don’t know, because I don’t know what the CRB would look like and what it would do. Are they volunteers? Are they paid staff on someone’s payroll? I would want to see how it is constructed, and whether it’s an entity that should have subpoena power. There are investigative agencies that don’t have subpoena power and get things done.

[Editor’s note: after our conversation the Mayor announced a “Task Force to Reimagine Public Safety” and Ms. McEachin was named as a member]

RVA Mag: Currently, are police investigations and prosecutions equal in priority to protester investigations and prosecutions?

CM: They are equally important.

RVA Mag: The Washington Post published an article last week saying that journalists are reviewing their policies in using information from police press releases because they have found these releases inaccurate. How are you going to confirm that police accounts are true and accurate?

CM: My office pays no attention at all to police press releases.

RVA Mag: Do you give the same credibility to protester accounts of incidents as you do to police accounts?

CM: Yes. As long as they’re backed up with evidence.

*Marcus-David Peters. Photo via Legacy.com*

RVA Mag: Earlier in this interview you called George Floyd a martyr of police violence. Do you consider Marcus-David Peters a martyr?

CM: He certainly died violently at the hands of a police officer.

RVA Mag: But you called George Floyd a martyr. Is Marcus-David Peters a martyr?

CM: I will review all the evidence that led my predecessor to release his report about what happened, and see what determination I can come to. That’s what I’ve told [Marcus-David Peters’] sister personally, and that’s what I will do.

RVA Mag: We’ve seen Elijah McClain’s case reopened. We’ve seen Breonna Taylor’s case reopened. Richmond City Councilman Mike Jones told RVA Mag recently that he made mistakes in 2018 with Marcus-David’s killing. He said “As a Black man on council, I should have been more vocal.” He believes the case should be reopened, as do a large number of people in the city. Are you considering reopening Marcus-David Peters’ case?

CM: I am going to review his case.

RVA Mag: How far along are you in that review?

CM: I just started [within the past week]. We have all the investigations, of course, that we’re reviewing regarding the protests.

RVA Mag: Is that your main priority right now?

CM: No, my main priority is finishing the investigations relating to [the protests].

RVA Mag: To a non-prosecutor such as myself, it seems there are many ways to handle a situation like the one that led to Marcus-David’s death without killing a man in crisis. Where’s the gap between what I’m seeing in the video and what a prosecutor sees?

CM: I would love to talk with you about this again after my review. You wouldn’t want me to talk about your case in public. If you were charged with rape, you wouldn’t want me to say “You know, I haven’t done my background, looked at the research, I haven’t done my legal analysis… but you know, just given what I’ve seen on social media about David, I feel like this…”

RVA Mag: What are the steps for you at this point?

CM: I will get the case file and start reading through every piece of paper. If I feel as though there is someone or something that could have provided more helpful information that was not in that file, I will try to get that. I’m going to approach this the way I would approach any serious felony case. I gather as much actual information as possible, apply those facts to the law, and decide whether or not a criminal offense [occurred], meaning there was a mens rea and there was a bad act. And then I’ll make a decision. So it’s not so easy.

RVA Mag: From where I’m sitting, this is why people talk about defunding the police. It feels like, other than an obvious case like George Floyd, there are no cases where a prosecutor and jury are comfortable determining mens rea. How can we ever get to a point where we’re holding police accountable if the legal threshold is we have to know that they have “bad thoughts” in their minds? It feels like this type of framing is effectively a license to kill with a gun, because a gun killing is fairly instant, and it’s impossible to say what’s in most people’s minds.

CM: There are degrees of homicide. Capital murder, first degree murder, second, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter. All of those require different elements to be proven by the Commonwealth. Since we can’t read the person’s mind, the charge is based on their statements, the surrounding facts, and their actions. All of that goes into the decision about whether that person intended, maliciously or criminally, to kill the other person without reason or justification.

RVA Mag: Is it reckless for a cop, with a weapon in each hand, to confront someone who is naked, unarmed, and making snow angels on the side of the highway?

CM: I’m going to say I don’t know because at this point, I have not reviewed the entire case file, what the officer’s training was, and what the police protocols were regarding what his intervention should be with someone in crisis.

RVA Mag: Do you think if his training suggested that this was an appropriate handling, that he would be absolved of recklessness?

CM: I think that’s something you have to take into account, if your training is “do this in this situation.”

RVA Mag: Then who is held to account? Would you hold the training guidelines to account, and would you prosecute the person who formulated those guidelines? The buck has to stop somewhere.

CM: Exactly. Honestly, I don’t know at this point.

RVA Mag: Your husband, US Congressman Donald McEachin (D-VA) has co-sponsored a police reform bill that would revoke qualified immunity for police. Do you support that revocation?

CM: I don’t know that I’ve made up my mind about that.

RVA Mag: Do you support the full legalization of marijuana in Virginia?

CM: Yes. That’s going to happen in the next five years, depending on the General Assembly.

RVA Mag: Do you support the decriminalization of drugs other than marijuana?

CM: What other drugs?

RVA Mag: All of them. Decriminalization meaning handling these issues as mental health issues, similar to any other type of illness. Given that so much incarceration of Black people in America is based on drug law enforcement, do you support decriminalizing drugs?

CM: No. Not for controlled substances, no.

RVA Mag: Madame Commonwealth’s Attorney, we know it is an extraordinarily busy week for you. Thank you for taking the time to sit with us.

CM: Thank you.

Top Photo via Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin/Facebook

Stonewall Rising: Showing Support With Pride

GayRVA Staff | July 2, 2020

Topics: alexsis rodgers, black lives matter, Black Pride RVA, Diversity Richmond, Equality Virginia, health brigade, Jennifer McClellan, Joseph Papa, LGBTQ Pride Month, Marcus-David Peters, Minority Veterans of America, Nationz Foundation, Pride Month, Rebecca Keel, Richmond Lesbian Feminists, Richmond LGBTQ Chamber, Richmond Triangle Players, Southerners on new ground, Stonewall Rising, Stonewall Sports, va pride, Virginia Anti-Violence Project

Last weekend’s Stonewall Rising march was an act of solidarity by Richmond’s LGBTQ community, which took this opportunity during Pride Month to march in support of Black lives.

On Saturday, June 27, Richmond’s LGBTQ community commemorated the last weekend of Pride Month with a march demonstrating solidarity with the Black community of Richmond and beyond. Stonewall Rising: LGBTQ March For Black Lives was organized by a variety of Richmond LGBTQ advocacy and support groups, including Diversity Richmond, the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber, Nationz Foundation, Black Pride RVA, VA Pride, Equality Virginia, Virginia Anti-Violence Project, Southerners On New Ground, Health Brigade, Minority Veterans of America, Richmond Triangle Players, Richmond Lesbian Feminists, and Stonewall Sports.

The march began with a gathering at Diversity Richmond on Sherwood Ave, where local LGBTQ activist Rebecca Keel rallied the crowd with a speech about how the LGBTQ rights movement began 51 years earlier — almost to the day — at Stonewall Inn with a riot against police oppression. After a few other speeches, the crowd formed up and began marching toward the Richmond Police Training Academy on Graham Rd, just over a mile away from Diversity Richmond.

*Jennifer McClellan speaks at Richmond Police Training Academy.*

The crowd, which numbered at least 1000 at the peak of the protest according to local LGBTQ activist Joseph Papa, carried signs featuring slogans like “Black Trans Lives Matter” and “Pride For Black Lives,” as well as posters depicting Breonna Taylor and Marcus-David Peters. The protest was greeted at the Police Training Academy by a line of police in riot gear, but things remained peaceful. Several leaders spoke to the assembled crowd, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McClellan. Alexsis Rodgers, who is currently running for mayor of Richmond, was also in attendance. The evening ended with a march back to Diversity Richmond.

Here are some photos of the evening’s events, captured by Richmond photographer David Kenedy.

Supporting the Black Community During Pride Month

Carley Welch | June 10, 2020

Topics: black lives matter, Citizens Review Board, Diversity Richmond, LGBTQ Pride Month, Marcus Alert, Marcus-David Peters, Nationz Foundation, police violence, Pride Month, protests, Side By Side, Tony McDade, Virginia Anti-Violence Project

It’s Pride month, and in a time of frustration and action over police violence, local LGBTQ organizations are focusing their advocacy and support efforts on helping and uplifting the black LGBTQ community.

Tear gas and pepper spray sting the eyes of protesters. Masked individuals of all demographics hold cardboard signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and quirky meme slogans. They are a perfect picture of the people who are lining the streets of America, but more specifically here in Richmond — a place where dozens of LGBTQ organizations are attempting to celebrate Pride month in a time of a revolution, and lest we forget, a global pandemic.

In a time where social injustice is finally being put in the spotlight, the intersecting struggles of minorities, especially those who are both black and members of the LGBTQ community, is being brought to light. What does it mean to be black in America right now? What does it mean to be black and a member of the LGBTQ community right now?

Various LGBTQ organizations around Richmond are attempting in different ways to bring attention to these questions while doing their part to support the black community.

Side by Side, a local organization dedicated to offering support allowing LGBTQ youth to not only be themselves but also flourish, is speaking out, encouraging the city’s government to put the Marcus Alert into action and to implement the creation of a Civilian Review Board to oversee the Richmond Police Department.

The Marcus Alert will mandate that mental health professionals accompany police during any calls of a mental health crisis or wellness checks, as well as reforming the Crisis Intervention Training provided to law enforcement. Creating a Civilian Review Board would form an independent body made up of community members, particularly Black and Latinx, in an attempt to hold police accountable for their actions.

“We really wanted to think of tangible next steps that our city could take to better protect everyone,” said Ted Lewis, executive director at Side by Side. “The Marcus alert and the Independent Civilian Review Board are pretty basic asks of our city and our police department that would ensure better mental health and safety for everybody.”

In addition to making calls to support the Marcus Alert and review board, Side by Side has also converted its (currently virtual) support groups into conversations surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, the killings, and the protests.

“We have a youth of color group that meets every other week, and so that’s a space specifically for LGBTQ youth of color to process,” Lewis said. “But we’re also working in majority-white youth group spaces to focus on how to combat racism and implicit bias and work towards an anti-racism way of being, if you will.”

These support groups have provided a space where LGBTQ youth can talk about their feelings, whether that be scared, angry, frustrated, or anything and everything in between. Lewis said for many kids and young adults, social media has played a role in anxiety and fear surrounding the killings and protests.

“I think that for black LGBTQ youth, there is the additional trauma and fear that comes with seeing the social media images of the killings, over and over again,” Lewis said. “While it’s important that that story be told, it can be traumatizing to see someone who looks like you die at the hands of someone who, in theory, is supposed to serve and protect you.”

Similarly to Side by Side, local LGBTQ organization Virginia Anti-Violence Project is also providing a safe space for members of the LGBTQ and black communities to unite and educate people during this time. Ebony Kirkland, program director at VAVP, said that, as an organization that’s staffed by black and brown people, it only seemed right to start conversations and provide a safe space for black members of the LGBTQ community.

Kirkland said it’s also VAVP’s duty to inform people about transgender black people who have been murdered by police, in addition to some of the more commonly known people that have been killed by police violence, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

“All black lives matter. All black lives matter,” Kirkland said. “That includes black trans lives, that includes all LGBTQ lives. It doesn’t just mean cisgender black lives.”

Zakia McKensey, executive director at Nationz Foundation, an organization supporting the LGBTQ community by providing access to HIV and STI testing, also finds it imperative that people realize that all black lives matter — no matter their sexual or gender identity.

McKensey said Nationz Foundation hasn’t planned any events in the midst of the protests, but still supports the black community regardless of all that is happening now. The reason the organization hasn’t planned anything is due to her own personal feelings surrounding the current protest movement.

“Tony McDade was also killed on May 27, who was a trans man, and you don’t hear anything about that,” McKensey said. “Nothing is being said about his life that was taken by police officers. And then to actually see a video from Minneapolis, Minnesota of a trans woman [Iyanna Dior] being attacked by 30 black individuals who were supposedly protesting, in a store, is frustrating.”

McKensey, being a black transgender woman herself, said until the cis black community accepts the LGBTQ black community, she’ll have an issue with “the whole Black Lives Matter movement.”

Over at Diversity Richmond, a long-running LGBTQ advocacy and support organization that funds other similar organizations, they’re using Pride month to not only support the LGBTQ community, but specifically the black LGBTQ community. They’re doing so by making all their newsletters and social media focus on race relations during the month of June. They’re featuring an annual event that they usually do in February as a part of Black History Month, their “Black and Bold” awards, where they recognize outstanding LGBTQ leadership of black LGBTQ leaders.

Diversity Richmond Executive Director Bill Harrison said that, while they’ve planned to continue to raise awareness and education through social media, they’re still brainstorming on what more they can do for the black community. Harrison said he’s dedicated to supporting this community and all intersections of it, but he’s always open to suggestions and ways to do better as a white man who will never truly understand the pain and fear black people go through on a daily basis.

“A few times in my life that I’ve been stopped by the police, I might have been mad with the cop because they caught me speeding, or I might have been mad with myself, but never once when I saw him approach me in my side-view mirror did I have a fear for my life,” Harrison said. “That is a very real thing that happens every day, and so when I hear white people say, ‘Just get over it. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that?’ I just cringe, because I know that response is coming out of complete ignorance.”

While the nation is using this time to move forward and grow, ignorance is one thing that many leaders and executives are tirelessly attempting to extinguish. And ending ignorance takes effort, Kirkland explained. It’s not the job of the oppressed to educate those who aren’t being oppressed, but the other way around.

“I think folks should also look for the information. If you have a desire to learn more, then I think you should also educate yourself and look for other resources to help you understand other perspectives,” said Kirkland. “And not just go straight to that black person or that brown person to do that work, that labor, for you. Be willing to do that labor yourself.”

Top Photo by John Donegan

Critiques For The Culture: Animal Control at Firehouse Theatre

Critiques For The Culture | July 16, 2019

Topics: Animal Control, Chandler Hubbard, Critiques For The Culture, Firehouse Theatre, Joel Bassin, Marcus-David Peters, Tommie the Dog

In Critiques For The Culture’s latest contribution to GayRVA, Taneasha White and Brooke Taylor review Firehouse Theatre’s production of Animal Control, a play that raises ethical questions around pet ownership.

Animal Control, written by Chandler Hubbard, made its second debut with a revised script at Richmond’s Firehouse Theatre this month. We had the opportunity to view one of their preview showings, thanks to director Joel Bassin. Animal Control follows Kim Hawkins, manager of the Carson City Pound, and discusses compassion, anger, and internal biases.

The care and consideration given to the dog in this story is unsettlingly reminiscent of the “Tommie the Dog” situation, making us wonder why the decision was made to host this particular play at this time.

For those that may have missed it, back in February a dog was tied to a fence and lit aflame in Abner Clay Park. The dog, nicknamed “Tommie” by those who rescued him, later died of his wounds. As a result of this heinous crime, the city rallied together to not only track down the person who committed the crime, but raised over $10,000 for an emergency veterinary care fund named the “Tommie Fund.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with this collective effort. However, the part that stings is that when it comes to Black and Brown folks who suffer violence or death in violent ways, especially in our city, a lot of those same people are quiet.

Our Ratings

Our Critiques for The Culture rating is based on representation of marginalized folks, showcased with our Black fists. Our overall rating is the quality of the play overall, independent of the representation that may or may not be there, represented with stars.

*Photo by Bill Sigafoos, courtesy Firehouse Theatre*

Brooke

Animal Control takes the audience on an emotional trip around the ethical considerations of dog ownership. It drew very sharp emotions from me as both an animal lover and a Black person, as the dog in this play is the recipient of much emotional labor by the characters. He was abused as a puppy and has trust issues that cause him to act out aggressively towards others. Even though he has lashed out before, the animal control agency the play focuses on is compassionate enough to give him chance after chance.

I was left wondering many things. What if we treated human beings this same, considerate way? What if the first reaction wasn’t to use lethal force at the slightest provocation? What would our country look like if we truly considered the mental health of folks who have been labeled as aggressive? How would our lives be changed if actual courthouse trials lasted at least as long as this play — and weren’t pushed towards plea deals? What if our underserved youth had adults who believed in them as much as this dog’s owner?

While I fully believe that animals deserve chances to be understood, why can’t Black and Brown people command that same level of respect?

Oh, to have all the love (and rights) afforded an American dog. 2 Black Fists.

From a technical standpoint, the play was great! I loved the sensory elements that were incorporated (cigarette smoke, audible sounds of barking dogs and rain, wet jackets of characters, etc.) The lighting was fantastic — aiding in the development of drama and tension through the acts of the play. 4 Stars.

Taneasha

Animal Control attempted to shine a light on the biases that people have, showcasing the owner of the aggressive dog as a cliche rural white man with a mullet, clad in cut off plaid and dirty blue jeans. We see that this character is actually very compassionate, and his care and fear show up in anger. The show gave an example of the complexity of anger, and how we shouldn’t assume people’s intentions and capabilities based on their appearance.

The bigger takeaway for me? White people care a whole lot about animals.

Watching people care more for animals than people who look like you is both a regular and an oppressive reality for Black and Brown people in America. Social media blows up when we get wind of another Black person killed, and I take note of who is vocal about what should happen and who is to blame. Folks who have been silent while folks are slain in the street, when Black trans women go missing and end up dead, are always too busy when asked to show up to a rally for our community. Yet those same folks were up in arms when the Tommie the Dog situation occurred. Suddenly, they had the time to post their own calls to action on social media. Suddenly, they had enough room in their budget to raise thousands of dollars in two days. Ten days after Tommie was found, Virginia politicians passed Tommie’s Law, making animal cruelty a felony in Virginia. Ten days.

Meanwhile, when Marcus-David Peters was shot and killed during a mental health episode on the highway by the Richmond Police, the advocacy group Justice and Reformation For Marcus-David Peters pushed for the Marcus Alert, which would, according to Justice And Reformation, “support mental health professionals as first responders to possible or confirmed mental health crises, rather than police officers trained to use deadly force.” It was met with silence. Peters has been gone over a year, and there has yet to be any progress made. If we don’t value the lives of animals over the lives of people of color, explain that fact to me. 1.5 Black fists.

In reference to the quality of the show overall, I was highly impressed by the details of the show. On either side of the stage, there were gates. This is where the characters that would be primary in the next act would stand right before the end of intermission, giving you an idea of the tension and feelings that would come up when the show resumed. The lighting was great, and added to the emotionality showcased by the actors on stage. It was very evident that all of the moving pieces of this show were taken into account, making it an all-encompassing experience. 4 stars.

Animal Control is currently playing at Firehouse Theatre, and will close on Saturday, July 27. For showtimes and tickets, go to animalcontrol2.bpt.me.

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Top Photo by Bill Sigafoos, courtesy Firehouse Theatre