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Trucking On: How Truckers Are Battling Historic Labor Shortage

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From hand sanitizer and vaccines to groceries and toilet paper, truck drivers are trucking through the COVID-19 pandemic despite a historic labor shortage. 

Many industries moved workers home during the start of the pandemic, but truckers worked “to meet the needs of this country.” 

“The trucking industry has stepped up and delivered through this whole pandemic,” said Dale Bennett, who has served as president of the Virginia Trucking Association since 1989. 

The VTA is a dues-paying membership organization that supports members and lobbies the General Assembly. 

Bennett said the trucking industry is experiencing the worst labor shortage that he has ever seen. The American Trucking Association estimated that by the end of 2021 there will be a shortage of over 80,000 workers, and it will double by 2030. The exact shortage in Virginia is unclear, according to Bennett.

“That is the highest that it’s ever been,” Bennett said. “The driver shortage may be as bad as I have seen it in my time here.” 

In an October report to Congress, the American Trucking Association, or ATA, laid out eight primary reasons for the industry shortage: 

  • High retirement numbers due to an aging workforce.
  • Women account for just over 6% of the workforce.
  • Failed drug tests. 
  • Federally mandated minimum age of 21 to drive commercially across state lines.
  • Lifestyle issues, such as long hours away from home.
  • Barriers such as potential candidates’ inability to meet hiring standards for driving record or criminal histories.
  • Truck driver training schools trained far fewer drivers than normal in 2020.
  • Infrastructure and other issues, like a lack of truck parking spots causing drivers to stop earlier to rest for the night. Congestion also limits drivers’ ability to safely and efficiently make deliveries.
Infogram by Joe Dodson

Refueling the pipeline of workers

The industry will have to recruit nearly 1 million new drivers over the next decade to replace drivers and hire needed ones due to industry growth, the ATA forecast. 

The trucking industry hauls over 70% of U.S. freight, according to the ATA. Consumer demand is high and 42% of Americans say they plan to spend $500 more this holiday season than last, according to the quarterly MassMutual Holiday Finances Consumer Spending and Saving Quarterly Index. 

The number of heavy, or CDL-licensed, tractor-trailer drivers decreased from 43,620 in May 2019 to 42,120 in May 2020 (down 3.4%) while the number of light truck drivers increased from 20,970 to 21,850 during that same time period (up 4.2%), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pickup and delivery drivers fall into the light truck driver category.

Bennett warned that Virginia is short of the amount of heavy truck drivers needed to meet demand from consumers. 

“We’ve got a demographic problem in the industry,” Bennett said. “The average age is older than the general workforce and a lot of those folks are retiring.” 

Under federal law, a driver has to be at least 21 to drive outside of the state where they hold a commercial driver’s license. Large trucking companies in Virginia like Old Dominion Freight Line have routes reaching from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami. The inability to travel over state lines makes drivers under 21 less valuable. 

“A 19 year old can drive a tractor trailer from Norfolk, Virginia all the way to Bristol, Virginia,” Bennett said. “But once he gets to Bristol he cannot drive that tractor trailer over state lines into Bristol, Tennessee.” 

Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Nov. 5, which includes provisions for an apprenticeship pilot program that would enable drivers under 21 to drive interstate after passing the program. 

The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, will invest $110 billion into roads, bridges and projects. 

Infogram by Joe Dodson

Other issues driving the labor shortage

COVID-19 vaccine requirements could affect the labor force also. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued an emergency temporary standard on Nov. 4 which requires covered employers with more than 100 workers to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine or require regular testing. ATA CEO and president Chris Spears predicted in a letter released on Oct. 21 that the policy could lead to companies losing up to 37% of their drivers to retirements, attrition to smaller carriers or conversion to independent contractor owner-operators.

Age is not the only demographic where the trucking industry is an outlier. Women account for over 6% of truck drivers compared to over 47% of the general workforce, according to a 2017 survey conducted by the Census Bureau.

The pandemic also caused temporary shutdowns of driver training schools and the Department of Motor Vehicles, which made addressing the urgent labor shortage difficult.

Duncan Quicke, coordinator of the truck driving training school at Southside Virginia Community College in Brunswick County, said the school closed for three months at the start of the pandemic. Demand for CDL classes is now at an all time high, but it’s more difficult to schedule appointments at DMV, Quicke said. 

“Our classes prior to COVID were probably averaging seven to eight individuals per six-week period,” Quicke said. “Our class size today is probably averaging 10 to 11.”

A truck parked in a Rite-Aid parking lot in Richmond, Virginia. Photo by Joe Dodson.

Weak links in the supply chain

Truck companies are also feeling the impact of the supply chain issue. Companies have trouble ordering new trucks or parts to fix their fleets, Bennett said. A global microchip shortage has driven up the value of new and used cars. People are buying auto parts to keep their old vehicles running, which creates an extreme demand for parts. 

“They are cannibalizing parts off of older vehicles just to keep them running and moving freight,” Bennett said. 

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes a 38% increase in funding for bridges and roads. The Virginia Department of Transportation will manage the funds but a portion of funding is expected to be allocated to growing the Norfolk Harbor, according to a press release from Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th.

Long delays at ports have made getting freight delivered on time a challenge for carriers. 

“It’s called a chain for a lot of reasons, because it’s got a lot of links in it,” Bennett said. “Not all of those links are operating as efficiently as they need to be.”

Written by Joe Dodson, Capital News Service. Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students in the program cover news for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.

Top Photo by Shay on Unsplash.

Spaces To Breathe

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Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Think back to the last time you were outside under the shade of a tree enjoying the breeze, the chirping birds, and the fresh air. Did your shoulders drop? Did some tension leave your body? Did you feel refreshed?

If you were like me, and many in the Richmond region, you spent a good amount of time in public parks during last year’s pandemic. During the 2020 calendar year, Richmond Parks saw an all-time record, proving that our parks are a treasure for the public good. They’re free places to experience nature, relax, recharge, meditate, exercise and enjoy the company of friends and neighbors. They’re places to just be, spaces to breathe. In an equitable city, green spaces should be accessible to everyone. 

A special report from the Trust for Public Land, “Parks and the Pandemic”, highlights just how important access to walkable greenspace is for quality of life.  Ready access to parks and greenspaces leads to better academic performance, improved cognition, better concentration, reduction in stress hormones, sound sleep, and faster recovery from injury to name just a few health benefits. Sadly, yet predictably, this report also discusses how inequitably urban greenspaces are geographically distributed based on race, with less acres of walkable park land available to Black and Latino residents in comparison to white residents across the country.  

The story is no different in Richmond, and this is linked to our racist history. During the 1970’s when Richmond annexed a large post-war residential suburban section of Chesterfield County, they weren’t doing so to acquire existing public amenities like parks. Instead, annexation was used to increase the number of white residents in Richmond to maintain a white majority City Council. This unconstitutional strategy resulted in a moratorium on annexation still with Virginia today. White flight took hold, and industrial facilities shut down in these newly annexed areas. Residents with means moved further into surrounding counties. A decreasing city tax base led to less resources for public services, from schools to infrastructure to parks. This lack of public amenity persists to this day and remains most concentrated in our census tracts inhabited by majority Black and Latino populations, especially neighbors in the Southside. Currently, our 8th and 9th council districts, which are majority Black and Latino, have the most residents who cannot access a park within a 10-minute walk from their home; over 25,000 people lack this public amenity. That needs to change. 

Ryan Rinn

A racially equitable Richmond looks like every resident having the mental and physical health benefits of green space easily walkable from where they live. Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong showed how equitably distributed urban greenspaces promoted greater resiliency to Covid-19 for all races. Green spaces assist in faster recovery from all types of trauma, too. From centuries of not being able to breathe, and the collective trauma faced by our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community at the hands (or knees) of institutions, spaces to breathe are a necessity. Lower rates of diabetes, asthma, hypertension, anxiety and depression all correlate with access to green space. 

Achieving a racially equitable Richmond requires us to make parks accessible to all, especially Richmond’s Black and Brown communities, by focusing funding on the historically marginalized, engaging in community centered processes, protecting land in perpetuity and enacting policies that protect against green gentrification.

Racial equity requires focus and dollars in historically marginalized places first. Budgets are moral documents, and data helps us pinpoint where the most need exists. The ‘Climate Equity Index’ from our Office of Sustainability overlays more than thirty census tract level data points, and includes historic and current contextual data about institutional racism. We have the ability to see disaggregated data displayed geographically, and act intentionally. We must.  

This data was the driving force in the first major park expansion initiative to take place in the City of Richmond since annexation, and it pointed us to the city’s 8th and 9th council districts. These districts are majority Black and Latino, have higher rates of poverty, less tree canopy, higher summer temperatures, and have seen less intentional investment in public amenity over time since the 1970’s. This same data can be used to purchase and protect land for the public benefit and help reach the goal of an equitable Richmond, where every resident can walk to a green space.

Racial equity requires community-led park onboarding and transparency of process. Community-led and trusted organizations founded and run by Black and Brown people have built their reputations and success on following through for their neighborhoods. They often do this without equal access to funding and minimal administrative support systems. These organizations should be leaders in the process of building community trust and should be paid to do so. Collaborative grant applications in partnership with the City can help secure these funds, and budgets reflective of the necessity of this work should include line items for engagement.

I’ve had the great experience of working alongside and learning from our partners at Virginia Community Voice, Southside ReLeaf, and Groundwork RVA as we think about what new green spaces can be for South Richmond. Authentic engagement means building trust, establishing norms, and listening fully to one another. Direct communication, organizing, and developing a shared language of community aspiration for these spaces increases the likelihood of community buy-in, and the formation of a shared vision. City staff can be open and honest about budgets, operational realities and bureaucratic processes, and work alongside residents to develop community maintenance agreements, park names, specific amenities, and dedicated partner groups. Leaning into equity-based engagement in onboarding parks creates more dynamic and culturally relevant spaces.

Racial equity requires protecting urban land now for perpetuity. As explicitly stated in the purpose of Richmond 300, “Richmond is 62.5 square miles and is not allowed to annex land.” Acquisition of land for green spaces will get more difficult as our population continues to grow. We must act now to buy, receive and/or protect open green spaces for the public good. Tools like economic development scorecards and community benefit agreements should be leveraged to incorporate green space as a priority for our neighborhoods when new development is proposed. Partnerships with land trusts can be expanded and conservation easements can be utilized to make sure new green spaces can be protected in perpetuity.

Racial equity requires the acknowledgement of, and policy protections from displacement through ‘Green Gentrification.’ Green gentrification refers to the urban phenomenon of increasing rents, and subsequent financial, cultural, and physical displacement of lower-income and non-white people following the creation or restoration of an environmental amenity, such as a new park. Tools mentioned above, like community benefit agreements, are one potential mechanism neighborhoods and the City of Richmond can use to protect existing residents so their quality of life improves in place, with the addition of a new green space. When plans for development proximate to new green spaces come through public commissions, committees and City Council, questions of affordability and community benefit should be the standard. Other mechanisms like the reduction or freezing of property taxes, rent stabilization vouchers, and incentives for low and middle income housing could also offer protection for existing residents.

A racially equitable Richmond looks like Black and Brown-led onboarding of new parks in neighborhoods and communities where no greenspaces exist within walking distance. Community-led creation of public open space is the inverse of annexation, an anti-racist land use strategy that empowers residents to build and enjoy places for the people. These spaces are culturally relevant because culture was relevant in their creation. This Richmond has a better quality of life for everyone who lives here today, and spaces for everyone to breathe. 

On a recent community walk through a soon to be new greenspace in Southside, I felt joy in the conversation and in the silence. Deep breaths with a view and a breeze, shoulders dropping and imaginations running wild. Exploration, laughter, curiosity, questions and possibility. There’s a wholeness and a calm to the amenity of greenspace, and everyone deserves access to it. 

Ryan Rinn is a 21 year resident of Richmond and works for the City.  His career has spanned from community organizing to urban planning to his current role with Parks & Recreation.  He is a graduate of the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University and lives with his husband Jason in the Byrd Park neighborhood.

This essay is part of the Richmond Racial Equity Essays series, exploring what racial equity looks like in Richmond, Virginia. It is reprinted here with permission. Check out the full project, the accompanying videos, and the podcast.

Radically Reimagining Our Systems

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Anyone who has been on the leadership team of a health organization in the past few years can tell you that when it’s time to update your strategic plan or submit a proposal for funding, the word “equity” goes front and center. Organizations across the region (my own included) use “equity” whenever possible: we are equity-driven, have an equity lens and an equity framework, are building toward equity, and share pro-equity posts on social media. But using the word “equity” is not the same as committing to do the difficult and sustained work it requires to realize equity in the Richmond Region. The more we use the word “equity” as a catchall for our good intentions, the more we dilute its meaning and make it a harder goal to reach.

There’s a world of difference between including the word “equity” in a mission statement and really living into that mission in every decision an organization makes. It’s not unlike the concept of love — I regularly tell my wife and kids that I love them, but it’s not using the words that leads them to believe it. It’s the day-in-day-out showing up. The listening, the time spent together, the navigating through hard things. It’s doing the work that helps them know that I love them. Our organizations can’t just use the words; we’ve got to do the work. And it has to be serious work — not just doing a little bit more than we did before, but doing the long, hard, system-changing and soul-changing work. We have to actually believe in, and actively work towards, a future where everyone, regardless of the school they went to, the neighborhood they grew up in, or the color of their skin, has the opportunity to achieve a state of health and well-being. And we’ve got to do whatever it takes to get there.

To be clear, I’m not trying to preach as someone whose organization has figured out how to do whatever it takes. Like everyone else, we have our own hurdles to overcome. There is much work to be done around issues like equitable pay, and having a workforce and a leadership team that is more reflective of the diverse communities we serve throughout Henrico and Richmond. But we are approaching the work with intention and commitment, and we are on the journey. What follows are a few reflections of what it looks like for organizations to do this work, in the substantive and unremitting manner that will be required to see real change in our region.

Danny TK Avula, MD

Recognize that our Systems Perpetuate Disparity  

Recently, our health department’s Director of Health Equity, Jackie Lawrence, wrote in a message to our staff that our work ought to “radically reimagine, plan, and implement systems changes that remove obstacles, ensure resilience, and highlight joy in communities of color.” It’s a powerful charge– one that compels us to keep our eyes focused on the systems that have perpetuated disparities in health outcomes among Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Americans for decades, and simultaneously inspires hope by focusing on the resilience and joy present within these communities.  

Over the past decade, we have invested heavily in an expansion of services that goes beyond the four walls of our health department. We have opened health access points in eight public housing communities and other low-income neighborhoods to better serve black and brown people who historically have had less access to preventive services.  As we built relationships in these neighborhoods, we were introduced to residents who had tremendous expertise, knowledge of their community, and the deep trust of their neighbors.  This led to the building of our Community Health Worker program, which has fundamentally changed the way we work with and for vulnerable communities. We reimagined our system of care in order to lower barriers to access and increase trust: instead of requiring residents to come to our building and see our experts, we are employing experts from within communities and offering care to residents in familiar and accessible spaces right in their own neighborhoods.  

Develop Cross-Sector Solutions 

One major advancement in the field of Public Health over the last 20 years has been the recognition and characterization of the Social Determinants of Health, and the development of interventions that appropriately address those determinants. We now clearly understand that health outcomes are not simply a function of whether you have access to a doctor, but rather a complex interplay of health behaviors, the physical environment, and social factors like education level, income, or stable housing.   

This deepening understanding of the social determinants has pushed us to begin thinking more holistically about the clients we serve — we now screen for things like housing instability and barriers to employment, and offer navigation support as residents connect with other organizations to address these broader issues. This cross-sectoral approach has required a much higher level of coordination and alignment between different governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations, and we have been growing a team of Social Workers who are equipped to navigate people through this maze of supports, recognizing that many of our clients will not have the opportunity to achieve a state of health and well-being without addressing these crucial underlying determinants.

This cross-sectoral work is important at the individual level, but even more so at the systems level. Increasingly, our work has focused on conveying the population health impacts of investments in affordable housing, safe green space, or bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Working towards true health equity — a state where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible — is going to require thoughtful collaborations and investments across the health, housing, community planning, and economic development sectors, among others. 

Drive Change with Data

The call to equity requires leaders to target investments and interventions in communities where they are needed most. We cannot do this consistently and reliably without local data, disaggregated by race.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has consistently revealed how racial inequities seem to be coded into our nation’s DNA. COVID-19 disproportionately hospitalized and killed Black and Latinx people across the country, largely due to the reality that those residents make up a higher percentage of frontline essential workers who did not have the option to work from home, and that they have more severe underlying conditions that put them at higher risk of serious complications from the disease. Having clarity about the impact of COVID-19 on different races and ethnicities gave Public Health practitioners and policymakers the ability to direct financial support and vaccination efforts to the communities that needed them most.

The ongoing work to achieve equity will require that we keep the data, disaggregated by race, in front of us at all times. Whether we’re talking about infant mortality, incarceration rates, or income inequality, it is essential that we know the disparities we’re trying to resolve, and that we’re able to measure our progress. 

Partner with the People

Over the years that we have sought to center our work on health equity, we have learned that we must engage the people we are seeking to serve as authentic partners in this work. This has required intentional and significant effort, as these are often the same people who have historically been left out of shaping our government’s institutions. 

Building trust, engaging leaders, and ensuring the community has a voice — these are skills we have developed over time, but they are not second nature. There are still occasions (more than I would like to admit) where we fall into the trap of believing “government-knows-best,” and jump immediately to implementation. When we don’t take the time to listen to the community, earn trust, and let community leaders drive the process, we end up implementing programs with less buy-in and little ultimate impact on health and well-being. But we also miss an opportunity to help residents claim their own agency in protecting their health and the health of their community, and any real progress toward health equity will require deep commitment in every community, now and into the future. 

Conclusion

The commitments I outlined here might seem like a tall order, but I am more hopeful than ever that they can be accomplished with real commitment by organizations across our region, because we saw it happen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic exposed and exacerbated every racial and economic inequity in our region, and organizations across sectors collaborated, invested, sought the counsel and leadership of residents, and generally reimagined care and change like never before. When a new challenge arose, we found the partnerships, funding, and capacity to lift up an equitable response. We put the work we had hoped to do on hold and rearranged our staffing and budgets to commit to addressing the urgent public health crisis at hand. But racism has also been declared a public health crisis in Virginia, and the roots and impacts of racism deserve just as urgent a response from our government agencies, nonprofits, health systems, philanthropic leaders, and communities in the days ahead. 

Now more than ever before, I am ready for that kind of radical reimagining: for a commitment not to return to business as usual but to keep leaning in together and doing the hard work required to achieve racial and health equity. To listen well to our vulnerable communities and engender trust. To acknowledge the systems and structures that work to create disparities, and to keep the data in front of us to monitor our progress towards eliminating those disparities. Our communities deserve no less, and now that the pandemic has shown us what we are capable of, we owe it to our communities, our organizations, and ourselves to continue to invest more where more is needed, for as long as is needed, until racial and health equity are fundamental realities, not strategic ideals, in every community we serve. 

Dr. Danny Avula is the Director of the Richmond City and Henrico County Health Departments. In  January 2021, Governor Northam appointed Dr. Avula to lead the Commonwealth of Virginia’s unprecedented COVID-19 vaccination effort.  He is a public health physician board certified in pediatrics and preventive medicine, and he continues to practice clinically as a pediatric hospitalist. After graduating from the University of  Virginia, he earned his medical degree from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of  Medicine. He completed residencies at VCU and Johns Hopkins University, where he also earned  the Master of Public Health degree. He is an Affiliate Faculty member at VCU, where he regularly serves as an advisor and preceptor to graduate and medical students. He is a former Board Chair for the State Board of Social Services and the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation, and has been honored annually as one of Richmond’s “Top Docs” since 2013.   In 2019 he was a recipient of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Community’s Humanitarian Award and a Richmond Times-Dispatch “Person of the Year” honoree, and in 2020 was named Style Weekly’s “Richmonder of the Year.” At home, Danny’s time is devoted to life with his wife and five kids, and to learning how to be a good neighbor in the rapidly changing community of North Church Hill, where he has lived for the past seventeen years.

This essay is part of the Richmond Racial Equity Essays series, exploring what racial equity looks like in Richmond, Virginia. It is reprinted here with permission. Check out the full project, the accompanying videos, and the podcast.

Matthew English Has The Confidence of a Straight White Man (And So Should You)

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Finding space for LGBTQ comedy isn’t as easy as it should be, but for Atlanta comedian Matthew English, who’ll be at Richmond’s Sandman Comedy Club on Wednesday, December 8, the challenge is one he’s willing to take on.

Comedian Matthew English is probably one of the best comics you’re not watching. Based in Atlanta, English has been performing stand-up for about seven years now, and is ready to headline. He probably would have before now if COVID hadn’t butted in. Like musicians, chefs, and artists, comedians are yet another artistic community that the worldwide pandemic has negatively affected.

With restrictions for most performance venues finally lifted, though, English is heading out on tour with fellow Atlanta-based comic Amy Brown, and they are diving head first into Virginia’s comedy scenes. Between cold-emailing a new Richmond venue, Sandman Comedy Club, and renting out a space for their Norfolk shows when they had trouble booking, Brown and English are booking their tour with the confidence of a straight white man, despite neither of them being one. 

“That’s kind of the beauty of comedy,” said English. “I’ve done a show at a tattoo parlor, I’m in talks with my gym to host a show there… I mean — where are there people who aren’t laughing? Let’s find them and make them laugh.”

English is no stranger to overachieving to get what he wants. One of his earlier shows involved a mini tour in Chicago that took him to Second City and Improv Olympic. He got there by reaching out and introducing himself as a comedian — having only done his first show. He immediately felt both that he was a small fish in a large pond, and that this was genuinely something that he could pursue. 

After graduating from college, English decided to try his hand at standup. Not only had he gotten his degree in English with a concentration in rhetoric — making him the perfect person to call on next time you need to win a fight on facebook against that one aunt you only see on holidays — he had a pretty significant wellspring of humor to draw on within his everyday life.

“I realized that a lot of the essays I was writing for school were humor,” English explained. “I had just gotten out of a relationship with another Matthew, and there are just a lot of stories when you’re dating someone with your name.”

English tends to tell dark tales through a lighthearted lens, and likes to joke that he is looking for love and health insurance (one of which, he notes, he actually already has). He focuses on a storytelling style, which pulls from the essay writing that originally inspired him to take the plunge on standup. Working part time at Starbucks (that’s where he got the health insurance) has provided him with a wealth of stories that anyone who has worked customer service will certainly relate to, for better or for worse. One example he offers is this question:

“Do you have iced coffee, but hot?”

Yikes.

English likes to take an irreverent approach to the dark subject matter he sometimes deals with. One of his jokes that I immediately wished I had written myself: “I’ve tried suicide twice, but they say third time is the charm.” While he explains that he does have longtime favorite standup shows that he watches on repeat for comfort, he tries not to watch many comics anymore — mainly for a reason that we’ve heard from a lot of comics over the years: so that he doesn’t subconsciously adopt their mannerisms.

While he isn’t one to shy from a dirty joke, early in his career he did make sure to clean it up for someone of particular importance to him: his mom. 

“I was so nervous, it was the first time that my mom had come to see me perform,” said English. “Another gay comic had taken me under his wing who runs a lot of shows, and he introduced me as ‘Gaymy Schumer’. He said ‘That’s your parallel, Amy Schumer’.”

English is clearly a talented comic who has a bright future ahead of him. However, the elephant in the room where all queer comics are concerned still must be considered. Why don’t we have more mainstream LGBTQ comics? 

We sat for a moment trying to think of a list, and even with both of our efforts combined, the list we put together was fairly short, and very white. We know damn well that there are a plethora of queer comics, that they are out there somewhere. But where? And what do we do to help support our peers? 

“The industry thinks audiences don’t want [LGBTQ comedy], but that isn’t true at all,” said English. “I’ve seen this here in Atlanta, a very gay, queer city. I’ve had shows tell me, ‘We can’t book you on this show, we already have a gay comic. We have our token gay. We’re set.’ I don’t think it’s the audience dictating the fact that there aren’t as many famous gay comedians right now. It’s the same way with Black Panther or Black Widow: ‘We can’t have a black superhero, or a woman superhero.’ They proved the industry wrong, and I think we’re better for it. And I hope the same can happen in the comedy sphere, at least for queer comedians.”

English himself has hosted shows down in the Atlanta area and recognized the issue even then. In particular, he notes that sometimes there is an issue of straight peers not recognizing their lane; he has even had straight comics asking for time on his queer focused show. For queer comics. 

Respectfully, Chad, you have your own show.

English knows that shouldering the burden of creating space for LGBTQ comics isn’t necessarily the responsibility of LGBTQ comics themselves, he tries to be supportive of his peers, and to give them as much time as he can to show their stuff and reach a receptive audience.

“For a lot of queer comics, that was their first time getting eight minutes as a queer comic in Atlanta,” he said. But of course, when he could, he tried to offer more than the bare minimum. “Do you want twenty? Do you want twenty-five? How much material do you have? Let this be a safe space for you. We marketed the show as a queer show, and we have the most supportive audiences.”

Matthew English and Amy Brown will be performing in Richmond this Wednesday, December 8th at Sandman Comedy Club. The show is at 7:30p with doors opening at 6p. Tickets are $20 each, and can be purchased at Sandman Comedy Club’s website. This venue is 21 and older only. For more information please visit Matthew’s Facebook page.

Photos courtesy Matthew English

The Case For Meaningful Language Access

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Through my work in the Richmond area for the last twenty years, I have dedicated my career to welcoming immigrant families, starting at Refugee and Immigration Services, then through the City of Richmond Office of Multicultural Affairs, and for the last five years, through Sacred Heart Center, where we connect Latino families with tools to thrive and flourish. I have seen first-hand the growth of the immigrant community in the Richmond area, and have been an integral part of the services in place intended to assist families in their adjustment to their new home. My key point that I am sharing is simply this: the Richmond metropolitan area needs a comprehensive immigration integration policy that centers language access services and that is implemented by localities, nonprofits, and other human service providers to begin to move towards racial equity for immigrant families. This essay presents a case through the lens of public policy for developing such a policy. However, in considering our shared humanity, and the moral case for providing meaningful language access service, I also offer the following paraphrased sentiment, attributed to Nelson Mandela: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

Migration Trends

In general, migration around the world is a constant, and the United Nations estimates that in 2005, “191 million people lived outside their country of birth, a figure that has doubled since 1975 and continues to rise.” At the beginning of the twenty-first century, about one in eight residents in the United States, or 13%, were foreign born. This growth in the foreign-born population has implications for families through second and further generations. Children residing with at least one immigrant parent accounted for 24% of children under age 18 in 2010. This growing diversity brings with it many benefits, as well as challenges, as is exemplified by Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan in Beyond the Melting Pot, where it was stated, “The point about the melting pot is that it did not happen.” In other words, diverse immigrants to the U.S. do not all assimilate and create one cohesive “American” identity. 

Another key migration trend that has impacted our community here locally is that we have seen more immigrants moving to states that have historically not had the experience or infrastructure to promote integration. This has been the case in Virginia, and, more specifically, in the Richmond metropolitan area. Over the last two decades, the foreign born population in Virginia and in the metropolitan Richmond area has increased exponentially, going from 1 in 100 people in 1970 to 1 in 9 in 2012, based on University of Virginia research. In considering the possible barriers that exist in accessing services by these diverse immigrant groups in localities that have not traditionally had the infrastructure to serve them, language proficiency is a prominent hurdle. Of the foreign-born population in each locality, a large portion has limited English proficiency. According to the Migration Policy Institute, Henrico County has 16,400 Limited English Proficient (LEP) people, or 5.8% of its total population, and the primary languages spoken in descending order are Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, and Hindi. Chesterfield County has 12,700 LEP people, or 4.3% of its total population, and the primary languages spoken in descending order are Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese. The city of Richmond has 8,800 LEP people, or 4.6% of its total population, and the primary language spoken is Spanish. While language access services have been slowly improving here in the Richmond area since I first began working with immigrant families in 2000, I believe that we have a ways to go to truly achieve racial equity in this area, as available services through different localities and nonprofits in the area are disparate and sometimes nonexistent.

Tanya M. González

Immigrant Integration 

Once immigrants are in the U.S., regardless if services are adequate or not, the complicated process of immigrant integration, which is multifaceted and multilayered, begins to occur. Because immigration integration policies around the U.S., as well as locally here in the Richmond area, are more ad hoc and piecemeal, disparities emerge, in terms of access to services by immigrant families. Children that live in Richmond City, for example, may have different access to English language instruction and supports than in Chesterfield or Henrico. Families that live in Henrico may have less access to interpreters than in Richmond City or Chesterfield, when accessing health and human services. These disparities directly impact medical care, education, and many other critical aspects of daily life. In addition, immigrant integration should involve both the arriving communities and the receiving communities working together in dynamic ways to engage and transform all community members. When immigrant integration does not occur as a two-way process, immigrant communities can be isolated, segregated, and disparities increase. Communities are pitted against each other and may even compete for what are seemingly limited resources.

Language Access

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act states that, “no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” The Supreme Court decided in the 1974 court case Lau v. Nichols that a federal fund recipient’s denial of an education to a group of non-English speakers violated Title VI and resulted in discrimination. The Supreme Court thus interpreted Title VI to include “discrimination based on language as equivalent to national origin discrimination.” In short, legally, because of Title VI, all entities that receive federal funding must provide meaningful language access services. 

Where there is a language barrier, there is no information and no service provision, effectively isolating individuals in the community and obliterating the possibility of racial equity. An example of this effect of communities being isolated, in my opinion, was shown through the disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latinx families in the Richmond area, with translated information being delayed or sometimes not available during the first few months of the pandemic. This lack of language access services, in addition to other reasons, has resulted in the devastating impact of COVID-19 on area Latinx families. Ultimately, providing meaningful access to services for all people, regardless of the language spoken, will improve racial equity by allowing “immigrants to participate in society at the same level as native citizens.”

Some of the general components of language access services include: hiring bilingual employees; providing translation (written) and interpretation (verbal) services; providing the translation of important applications and websites; and establishing language access offices. Having bilingual staff allows agencies to communicate with their constituents in a more direct manner. When bilingual employees are limited or not an option, providing quality translation and interpretation services allow agencies to communicate with their constituents in spite of the limited bilingual staff. However, care must be used in selecting interpreters and translators, as these are skills that require several highly specialized competencies, in addition to language competence in both languages, so as to ensure that the communication is accurate.

Creating a Comprehensive Plan for Immigrant Integration in Richmond

In the metropolitan Richmond area, where some disparate language access services exist at the local level, but no comprehensive immigrant integration policies currently exist, a first important recommendation for area localities is to develop a comprehensive immigrant integration plan at the executive level of each municipality, particularly where none exists. Ideally, local Richmond area governments would collaborate together on the components and on the implementation of their plans. 

Guiding Principles

Several guiding principles can frame the development of that policy for immigrant families and the receiving communities.

● Promoting the social and economic mobility of immigrant families; most notably vulnerable groups such as refugees and limited English speakers;

● Advancing anti-discrimination principles that treat immigrant family members on a par with citizen family members;

● Promoting intergovernmental fiscal equity regarding collecting taxes from, and providing support to, newcomer populations;

● Leveraging the capacity and support of the private sector; and

● Acknowledging that integration is a bidirectional process involving both the immigrant family and receiving community adaptations.

Recommendations

With these guiding principles that have as their undercurrent racial equity for immigrant populations in mind, several concrete strategies can be recommended to localities in the Richmond area, using national models as input. Many of these recommendations could also be implemented by area nonprofit and other public service organizations. 

● Create a language access policy and implementation plan that outlines procedures and protocol; monitor and ensure Title VI of the Civil Rights Act is adhered to at the customer service level in all local departments.

● Commit to staff training on immigrant eligibility for services, working with interpreters and translators, and cultural awareness training for the populations that have larger percentages represented in each locality.

● Commit to bilingual staff training for all staff members that are currently performing the role of interpreter or translator in addition to their other regularly assigned duties.

● Develop and implement a plan, if one does not already exist, to effectively notify LEP clients of their eligibility for benefits, programs, and language access services that are available to them.

● Use technology to facilitate language access service delivery through telephonic systems, such as language line, and other tools.

● Implement an evaluation system in order to monitor progress, along with a timeline for adjusting the services and programs according to the outcomes.

An immigrant integration policy adopted by all area localities, along with a robust language access service program, will assist both the service providers and the immigrant community here in the Richmond area to better understand and access available services and programs. In addition, ensuring effective access to available services will improve the overall health of immigrant families and, ultimately, of the entire community. The benefits that the local language access policies can bring to the community are apparent, recognizing that contributing to the health and safety of immigrant families results in advancing racial equity for a segment of the population that can sometimes be isolated and excluded by the very systems that should be welcoming newcomers to their new home. 

While several area localities are doing some language access services, I believe that there is still a missed opportunity to implement a more comprehensive and strategic immigration integration approach. Even after twenty years of work, I think that language access continues to be an uncultivated public policy issue in the Richmond area. Unless real racial equity gains are advanced in this area, we may continue to ask, as James Baldwin did many years ago, “How much time do you want for your progress?”

Tanya M. González holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Latin American Studies from Brown University and a Master’s in Public Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.  Ms. González joined the Sacred Heart Center as theExecutive Director in July 2016.  She grew up on the Texas-Mexican border and has lived in Richmond for twenty-six years.  She has almost 20 years’ experience in working with and for Richmond’s Latino community.  Ms. González is a graduate ofLeadership Metro Richmond and the Connecting Communities Fellowship Program,as well as the Minority Political Leadership Institute.  She was previouslythe recipient of the Ohtli award, given by the Mexican government to recognize individuals for their service to the Mexican community in the United States.  Ms. González was also recognized as one of “Richmond’s Top 40 under 40” by Style Magazine in 2005 and received the Leadership Metro Richmond Ukrop Community Vision Award in 2015.  In 2018, she received the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities Humanitarian Award, and in 2020, she was recognized as a Richmond History Maker by the Valentine Museum.  In her free time, Ms. González coordinates a dance group at the Sacred Heart Center that performs traditional Latin American and Spanish dance in the Richmond area. 

This essay is part of the Richmond Racial Equity Essays series, exploring what racial equity looks like in Richmond, Virginia. It is reprinted here with permission. Check out the full project, the accompanying videos, and the podcast.

The View From Paris

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With Man Ray: The Paris Years, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts gives us an up-close look at the center of the art world a century ago — post-pandemic, between world wars — through the eyes of brilliant photography pioneer Man Ray.

People emerge from the cultural sleep of a pandemic, their faces deepened, the world uneasily different. The visions brought on by our collective fever dream find both form and urgency of expression. This is Virginia in 2021. It was also Paris in 1921, in the aftermath of the Spanish Influenza.

Self-Portrait with Camera, 1930, Man Ray (American, 1890–1976), solarized gelatin silver print. The Jewish Museum, New York, Photography Acquisitions Committee Fund, Horace W. Goldsmith Fund, and Judith and Jack Stern Gift, 2004-16 © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021

The VMFA’s Man Ray: The Paris Years exhibit begins with a step through a curtain and the hundred-year veil between that roaring decade and today. The show boasts 106 photographs curated by the museum’s Chief Curator, Dr. Michael Taylor. Originally slated for an indeterminate future date, the exhibit was placed on a more defined schedule during the three months in which the VMFA was closed due to Covid-19.

Elsie Houston, 1933, Man Ray (American, 1890–1976), gelatin silver print. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment, 2018.364 © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021

“I was actually able to write this catalog and do it while I was at home, and we were trying to do the budget and deal with everything going on. It was actually a joy,” says Taylor. “I’d done the research, I’d been into the Getty, I’d read all of Man Ray’s diaries and letters. I’d actually not negotiated a lot of the loans, because at that time we thought it was a smaller show. But I knew through my network of friends and colleagues that they would step up, and they would agree. The Getty, for example, lent eight photographs. They never lend eight photographs. But everyone understood this was a show to support.”

Impressive as it may be for a museum to assemble a show of this scope in such a short time frame, the narrative in which the pieces are employed is an astonishing work of art in itself. “The story of Man Ray and Paris has been told, but it’s usually been told through the lens – pardon the pun, it’s a photography show – of Man Ray’s innovations; the Rayograph, Solarization, his friendships, and his network. But what about the subjects?” says Taylor. “We took inspiration from the photograph on the cover of this show. It’s the first work you see in the exhibition. This is actually Man Ray taking your portrait. In other words, […] even though it’s called a self-portrait, a camera is photographing him, but he is looking at you with his camera. So we started to think about not just telling Man Ray’s story, which is fascinating, but the story of the sitters, the subjects, the models.”

Gertrude Stein (at Home), 1922, Man Ray (American, 1890–1976), gelatin silver print. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment, 2020.5 © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021

Behind the curtain is a Paris of lore. Not the boulevards and cafes, but the personalities that defined a generation of artistic expression, and shaped the future of art and literature itself. Gelatin silver prints of Gertrude Stein’s hard literary eyes. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sorrow and optimism. Hemingway’s stubborn boyhood in a ridiculous felt hat. William Carlos Williams staring ambitiously at death. Jean Cocteau seated under the weight of his own visions in a three piece suit. 

Ernest Hemingway, 1928, Man Ray (American, 1890–1976), gelatin silver print. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.77.130 © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021

A standout portrait of Proust on his deathbed breaks the extravagant momentum. Presented in shadowbox, the photograph is ethereal, made more of deep, soft-edged shadow and light than likeness. There is a sense of falling into this image and not being able to leave – as if it is a portrait of death itself.

As the show winds through the two decades between the end of the pandemic and the start of World War II, each portrait is presented with a biographical paragraph in both English and Spanish — a first for the VMFA, and part of a larger effort to bring inclusivity and accessibility to the museum experience. These exhaustively researched labels succinctly thread the personal narratives of the subjects through that of Man Ray and the artistic movements of 1920s and 30s Paris. Much of the credit for the chronologies that inform these plaques – and therefore the continuity of the show – belongs to Madeleine Dugan, an  undergraduate student at VCU who worked beside Taylor throughout the curatorial process.

Wallis Simpson with Chinese Sculpture, 1936, Man Ray (American, 1890– 1976), gelatin silver print. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment, 2021.74 © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021

While the primary focus of the exhibit is on portraiture and the radical expressiveness of his subjects – from the vanguards of femme moderne culture to aerialists in drag –  there are some detours into avant-garde Rayography and cinema. This diversity of expression is resonant with Man Ray’s professional dedication to dismantling boundaries – those of gender, race, and national identity, as well as artistic traditionalism and aesthetic philosophy. 

There is absurdity in this exhibit, to be sure. Not absurdity for the sake of absurdity, but to reach for the solid core of truth and meaning at the center of confusion. A sudden lurch toward the ungraspable inertia of existing as individuals in a world of automobiles and neckties; sunsets and trapezes; painters, poets, and photographers like Man Ray; spurred by the vague notion that behind it all, there’s some mysterious order at work. Or at least a larger joke between the cosmos.

Kiki de Montparnasse, ca. 1924, Man Ray (American, 1890–1976), gelatin silver print. Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021

Man Ray’s photography doesn’t simply capture the image of a person, or the ghost that inhabits them. It captures the whole of creative expression – the surreal and sorrowful, the conflict and music, the desperation and freedom that comprise the human narrative. It is through this aperture that we find the abiding sense that, in all the weight, the struggle, the limitations of our physical form, is an ongoing moment of release. It confronts us with the fact we are all winging this strange dance, contributing our solitary note to an overture that is entirely improvised, sharing in the simple hope that we may, for an instant, hear the enormity of the score.

Berenice Abbott, 1921, printed later, Man Ray (American, 1890–1976), gelatin silver print. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment, 2019.53 © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021

Man Ray: The Paris Years is currently on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and will remain on display through February 21, 2022. Admission is $16 for adults (cheaper for students and senior citizens, free for VMFA members). Tickets can be purchased at the VMFA’s website.

Top Photo: Ruby Richards with Diamonds, ca. 1938, Man Ray (American, 1890– 1976), gelatin silver print. Collection of Michael and Jacky Ferro, Miami © Man Ray 2015 Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris 2021