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Advocates Frustrated by Democratic Leadership on Police Reform

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The General Assembly has made progress on police reform in Virginia, but for advocates and progressive legislators, passing reform of qualified immunity is an essential piece of the puzzle.

Virginia has made headlines in recent months for criminal justice reform measures but advocates say more needs to be done. They are disappointed that lawmakers in both chambers of the General Assembly recently killed proposals to reduce qualified immunity protections for police officers. 

State lawmakers so far this session have advanced bills to legalize marijuana, remove mandatory minimum sentences, and abolish the death penalty. During the special session called last year, the General Assembly banned police from using no-knock search warrants and chokeholds.

Qualified immunity shields government officials from civil liability while performing duties in their line of work, as long as their actions don’t violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known,” according to a Congressional Research Service report. 

House Bill 2045, introduced by Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, would have given citizens the power to pursue damages in state civil lawsuits where their rights were violated by a law enforcement officer. The bill also placed a cap on an individual officer’s liability. Bourne’s proposal was tabled 6-2 in the House Courts of Justice subcommittee. 

Senate Bill 1440, sponsored by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, was a narrower proposal that provided a path for lawsuits when an officer used excessive or deadly force and neck restraints. The bill died in the Senate Judiciary Committee in a 9-5 vote.

Qualified immunity is a federal doctrine established by the Supreme Court in 1982. A state legislature can’t repeal qualified immunity, but proponents of ending the practice have asked local and state governments to create legislation allowing citizens more freedom in pursuing lawsuits against police misconduct. 

During a subcommittee hearing, Bourne questioned opponents of his bill who he said consider themselves to be proponents of constitutional rights and law and order.

“It seems when we’re talking about this, and when we’re talking about people getting hurt and their constitutional rights deprived by law enforcement officers,” Bourne said, “the story becomes different.”

A portrait of Marcus-David Peters sits at the base of the Robert E. Lee monument on June 20. Photo by Andrew Ringle

Princess Blanding is a gubernatorial candidate who has advocated for criminal justice reform since the death of her brother, Marcus-David Peters. Peters was naked and unarmed when he was shot by a police officer on the side of a highway. Peters charged at the police officer who deployed his Taser and then shot Peters at least twice. Peters was experiencing a mental health crisis, according to his family. 

Blanding said eliminating qualified immunity is a necessary step to end discrimination and achieve racial justice in the commonwealth. 

“It’s like no matter what we do to prep our kids, our loved ones, it is still going to be our fate because of the pigmentation of our skin, coupled with the fact that there is no accountability,” Blanding said. “To me, that’s the harsh reality.” 

Kalia Harris, co-host of the show Race Capitol and co-executive director of the Virginia Student Power Network, or VSPN, said she was “extremely disappointed” when a judge dismissed her organization’s lawsuit against local government and local and state police. VSPN said city leaders and law enforcement violated the group’s right to free speech, assembly, and protest. Last June, VSPN students hosted an overnight teach-in outside Richmond City Hall. After several hours, the Richmond Police Department declared the event an unlawful assembly and discharged teargas and rubber bullets at the protesters.

“That night is still on replay in my head,” Harris said during the House subcommittee meeting. “Words can’t explain the trauma that we experienced.”

Blanding said it’s difficult for victims of police brutality to get lawyers to take on a qualified immunity case due to the power of police unions and the relationship of prosecutors to officers.

Blanding also said if the number of positive interactions the public has with officers outweighs the instances of police misconduct, the few suits alleging misconduct should not have an issue proceeding to court. It is important to recognize that police misconduct causes irrefutable damage and changes families lives’ forever, Blanding said.

“What we have to understand is that, when you take somebody’s life, you can’t take out the magic eraser, and erase it and try it again,” Blanding said. “You cannot press restart.” 

Princess Blanding, sister of Marcus-David Peters, speaks to protesters outside the Stuart C. Siegel Center on the first day of the 2020 General Assembly special session. Photo by Andrew Ringle

Harris said the ability to sue law enforcement agents for misconduct was the “bare minimum” of a judicial system that works for everyone.

“It doesn’t mean that they’re going to all be convicted,” she said. “It does mean that folks are able to see their day in court.” 

Police officers do not qualify for qualified immunity if they cannot demonstrate the actions that they took were reasonable, said Wayne Huggins, the executive director of the Virginia State Police Association. He said officers must prove they upheld the U.S. Constitution, the laws of the commonwealth and the policies of their individual department. 

“The word that needs to be focused upon and understood is qualified,” Huggins said. “We have to qualify for that immunity.”

Officers can be denied qualified immunity if the Supreme Court or local federal appeals court finds another officer’s conduct under the same circumstances is illegal or unconstitutional, according to the Institute for Justice. The officer automatically qualifies for immunity if a case with the same circumstances does not exist. 

Harris and Blanding said they hope to see legislation reducing qualified immunity protections introduced again. This is the second time that Bourne’s qualified immunity measure failed. 

Harris said the “Democratic trifecta” means very little to her if Democrats don’t use their majority to pass progressive legislation that voters support. All 100 of Virginia’s House of Delegate seats are up for reelection in 2021. Harris said legislators unwilling to pass comprehensive police reform will face progressive challengers this June. 

“If they’re not passing meaningful legislation, then we have to really push what it means to be blue, and start to think further outside of the box,” Harris said. 

Written by Josephine Walker, Capital News Service. Top Image: “Prison Bars Jail Cell” by JobsForFelonsHub, CC BY 2.0.

The Great Gatsby

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Activist, rapper, mustache-haver — Goad Gatsby is a lot of things. At the end of the day, he just wants to make the world a better, more chill place — and maybe inspire others while he’s at it.

When Kristopher Goad’s friends wanted to get him signed up for Facebook in the mid-2000s, none of them knew his full name. He was known only by his last name within the group, so they signed him up using the name Goad Gatsby.

“And then everybody just decided that my name was Goad Gatsby at that point,” said Goad.

Since then, he has become well-known within Richmond not only as a hip-hop performer with a highly recognizable “disco mustache,” but also as a longtime adversary of the Virginia Flaggers and their public displays of the Confederate battle flag on Arthur Ashe Boulevard. More recently, he’s also gotten some attention as a documenter of the protests in Richmond this summer and the police’s response.

In 2015, Goad was featured in a documentary series by The Atlantic called Battle Flag, about people’s opinions of the modern use of the Confederate flag.

At that point, Goad had been blasting hip hop music next to the Flaggers while they stood in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on weekends for about a year, and was the subject of a considerable amount of vitriol from the group.

“They thought I was a carpetbagger until they found out that I really was just a scalawag,” said Goad.

The Flaggers began to lose momentum in 2015, when they stopped announcing their appearance schedule publicly after two members were arrested on kidnapping charges. Carlos Lesters and Megan Everett of Florida kidnapped Everett’s two-year-old daughter in 2014 in order to prevent the child’s father from vaccinating her or enrolling her in public school.

These days, the Flaggers make it out to Arthur Ashe every once in a while, much less often than their onetime near-weekly basis. But there’s a whole new right-wing movement in Richmond now. Based on his knowledge of who the Flaggers were and who is affilliated with the Trump Train vehicular caravan that rolled through the city in October, Goad doesn’t believe there’s much overlap between the two groups.

Beginning when protests began in the streets of Richmond in late May over the killing of George Floyd and the ongoing issue of police violence, Goad was on the front lines. He did his best to document the response from the police and the city government, as he saw it, on social media. This brought him a whole new wave of attention, for better and for worse.

Goad was arrested several times during the summer, including once in September when he was charged with obstructing the free passage of others. At the time of the arrest, the police alleged the incident he was being charged for happened two weeks earlier during a demonstration in front of the Richmond jail, in which 11 people were arrested. Goad says he wasn’t even there at the jail on that day.

When he was arrested, he was taken to the Third Precinct Police Station, where they took his phone while he was attempting to get in contact with his lawyer. Goad never saw a warrant for his arrest; instead, a city attorney informed his lawyer that the warrant was sealed. He never got his phone back.

Since then, he has kept a lower profile, and the protests have declined. However, he is still keeping tabs on right-wing activity in the city. When he considers the ongoing unrest that occurred across Richmond throughout the summer, it’s his impression that the city created a self-perpetuating cycle of violence by retaliating against protesters instead of addressing the problems that inspired the protests. This, in turn, created more problems and further fueled the unrest.

Photo via Goad Gatsby/Twitter

One issue he sees as important to the way everything played out is the fact that police were brought in from precincts across the city, as well as other localities, as reinforcements during protests. Many of those that operated in this capacity had prior reputations for aggressive behavior.

“People were telling me about some of these officers’ past interactions, and it seemed like they were getting some of the worst officers to deal with protesters,” Goad said. “Instead of getting police that are experts in de-escalation, they were getting experts in doing no-knock raids in the projects.”

Goad believes the police have a particular inclination to go after journalists and people who film protests. That’s because the more specific information gets out, the harder it is for police and city officials to justify their actions.

“If somebody is saying ‘The police are bad because they’re doing something I don’t like,’ that’s something they can just brush off. But if somebody’s being like ‘The police fired less-lethal rounds at people before there was any type of confrontation, here is some footage to go along with that,’ then the police go ‘Oh no, this isn’t good. They’re building a case against us in the court of public opinion,’” said Goad. “I wish I could build a case against Richmond police in City Hall, or the court of law, but unfortunately I don’t have that ability.”

For now, he’s sticking with the internet, where he continues to fight misinformation and lack of knowledge. He believes that making people aware of what’s really going on is the best way to convince them to take action.

“A lot of people are either willing to help but don’t know what to do, or they’ve never seen the type of information that would make them act,” said Goad.

Top Photo via Goad Gatsby/Twitter

The Aftershocks Of the Earthquake

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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. 

Photo by Landon Shroder

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.

Frank Hunt. Photo by Kegham Hovsepian

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

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

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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.

Photo by Domico Phillips

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. 

Photo by Alexandra Zernik

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.

Photo by Alexandra Zernik

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

People Of The Protests

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Over a month after the movement began, Richmonders continue to take to the streets and protest police brutality against the Black community. We spoke to people involved in the protests to find out what motivates them to speak out day after day.

The fight against police brutality and systemic racism is not over in Richmond. Day after day, people are still protesting, demonstrating, and congregating. Many news headlines tell one story, but the individual faces amongst the crowd tell a different one. This isn’t a trend. This has been a lifelong battle — but now, finally, people are listening.

We spoke to a variety of people involved in the ongoing protests around Richmond, in order to share their stories and make clear to the entire city why they continue, day after day, to take to the streets and make their voices heard.

Photo by Alexandra Zernik @azwnik

Rashaa Langston: “Sage Smith, my older sibling, who is a black queer fem, went missing eight years ago. The Charlottesville Police Department always neglected Sage’s case. Compared to Hannah Graham, she went missing from Charlottesville shortly after Sage. However, Hannah Graham got a lot of attention. When Sage went missing, a week later they displayed their mugshot for 45 seconds on the news. My mom got 20 people to look for Sage, on train tracks and in dumpsters. The police gave us advice on how we should be looking for them.”

“When Hannah Graham, a college student went missing, thousands of people were out in yellow vests looking for her, even outside of Charlottesville, out in fields looking for her. It was very disheartening to see. They even asked the city council for more money than they did for Sage. They did not do any press for Sage. When Charlottesville Police Chief Longo was asked why he put more effort into Hannah’s case, he said she reminded him of his daughter. Which is sad because growing up, I used to hang out with [Chief Longo’s] kids; we would carpool together, so they knew my sibling. They knew Sage. However, they connected more with Hannah Graham, a complete stranger.”

Christiaan Branche: “No one is coming to save you but yourself.”

Photo by Emilee McGovern @EmileeMcGovern

Stephanie Younger: “I’m an 18-year-old college student now, but I’m reminded why I work around Black feminism and abolishing youth prisons every time I remember my experiences growing up Black in Henrico County, Virginia — from almost never being invited to my classmates’ parties, to being on the receiving end of comments about my hair. However, the most unsettling experiences I’ve had are at the hands of adults, who assumed that I was ‘aggressive’ or ‘violent.’ In kindergarten, my mom spoke to the school I went to about a white boy who was bullying me. They didn’t believe her, as well as a white woman who tried to rationalize it. On the other hand, when me and my white friend (at the time) were both playing a game at a party, I accidentally bumped into her. Her mother, the same white woman who attempted to rationalize what I experienced, screamed in my face, and she accused me of trying to start a fight. I was 5, and I had no concept of physical violence. My kindergarten teacher additionally assumed that I was physically aggressive, and I remember when her response was to bring me to the principal’s office for having a panic attack during a storm.

A few years later, two white teachers went behind my back and told my homeroom teacher that I threatened to kill a white girl. I was 9, and I didn’t really know what death threats were. In hindsight, I realized that what I experienced was racism, but I never came to that full conclusion until I was 15 years old. However, I never spoke of it until then. I feared that no one was going to believe me, and that I was going to be gaslighted the way I was by my teacher; who weaponized the school’s policies against me to gaslight me into falsely admitting that I said to this white girl, ‘you are so dead,’ which I didn’t. 

‘Misogynoir‘ was coined by queer Black feminist scholar Moya Bailey in 2008. To me, it acknowledges that Black women and girls experience both anti-Black racism and misogyny, and that those oppressive systems are not mutually exclusive. The experiences I had were ingrained in misogynoir. I also remember in 2017, Georgetown University’s Law Center on Poverty and Inequality released a report called Girlhood Interrupted. I cite this study a lot, because I relate to many of the aspects mentioned in the report. The report said that adults often see Black girls (as young as five years old) as older than they are, and believe that Black girls need ‘less nurturing, protection, support and comfort’ than white girls. The report shows that the world, especially schools, often see Black girls as ‘less innocent and more adultlike,’ which often leads to experiencing school push-out and being incarcerated.

Photo by Alex Matzke @matzkephoto

Makayla White: “I’m only 13 and my mom is pretty strict in what info I read, who I make friends with and all. She’s kept me around pretty good people of all races. Most of the negative experiences I’ve had have been in school. If it wasn’t for me learning outside of school, I wouldn’t feel good about being Black, of African descent, because they don’t teach you anything to feel good. I question my teachers all the time, and add stuff. I had an assignment once on explorers; my project got turned down twice. I wanted to do an African explorer pre-Europe. The teacher said it wasn’t within the curriculum, I came back with the idea to do mine on [Pedro Alonso] Niño. Niño piloted the Santa María.”

“My personal stance is education reform. We have to change the textbooks. Future generations have a better chance to get rid of systematic racism. Imagine a whole generation that learns about Africa without slavery as a starting point. Instead of looking at people of African descent in a negative light, they would see how great we were first! And it changes the narrative. We need that.”

Photo by Maneesha @losingmyego

Aaron Brown: “I found a way to navigate racism most of my young life and come out unaffected with a high school diploma and a football career that forwarded me the opportunity to play NCAA football. Long story short, I ended up getting hurt — career-ending hurt — which directly affected my grants and scholarships for school. Around the same time, I had some problems back home and ended up homeless. The only way to remain in school and try to keep my entire life from derailing was to sell drugs. Which went well for a good while, til about my junior year when an old teammate (white) snitched on me for a reward from McGruff and a job at the local police station. I had a partner at the time who was also white and also was on the football team. When sentencing day came, I got three felonies, 11 years, suspended all but one and three years — well over guidelines in the state. My counterpart got three misdemeanors and three months in prison, for the same exact charges.”

“That’s when I realized, I can’t just ‘duck’ racism. I was a sports med major/bio minor honor roll student who had never even had a parking ticket. My university loved me so much, they allowed me to finish my exams even after being raided and arrested right off of their campus. I was a good kid. But the system doesn’t care about shit like that. I became the perfect example of the 13th on Danville VA Prison Farm, a privately-owned prison in Danville where they save $3 million every year by utilizing prisoner labor for all public works for $1 a day. I still went on to get a degree from VCU, start a couple businesses in the city and start an amazing music career. The issue is: that’s me. There’s way more people who couldn’t find their way back from the system. As someone who knows both sides in my experience, I used to want to be the bridge. Now I want to break the bridge and create a new experience here in America and the fucking world. A fair one.”

Photo by Steven Casanova

Jasmine Leeward: “What Love Requires: Love requires more than a chant, a kneel, an offering. Everyday I learn more and more about what love truly requires. I never considered what it would be like to truly love someone I’d never met until I came to love Marcus. What I’ve known of Marcus consists of a few photographs shared digitally, countless stories told from his sister, Princess, and Uncle Jeff; many told to me and other organizers in the basement of Second Baptist Church off Idlewood. I’ve had my friends tell me stories about seeing him at the gym. Two years later and I’m finally admitting to myself that I love Marcus.”

“I find myself wondering if knowing so much about Marcus played a significant role in my confidence that I would risk my life for him. He profoundly shifted my life. I am determined to protect his legacy and I am not alone. I stood with organizers two years ago and we are still here and the city is here with us. I am overwhelmed by the art, overtaken by the fight and will to defund the RPD. We cannot reconcile. As police rage against our communities, love requires us to rage right the fuck back. We are worth the risk and worth fighting for.”

Top Photo by Nils Westergard

Exclusive: Q & A with City Councilman Dr. Michael Jones on Police Violence

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Dr. Michael Jones has submitted a bill to ban chokeholds, tear gas, and rubber bullets in Richmond. In this exclusive interview, he talks to RVA Mag about what needs to be done to reform the city’s police force.

Given the ongoing police violence over the past month, RVA Mag wanted to better understand who was calling the shots on the ground. We turned to Richmond City Councilman Dr. Michael Jones, who has been demanding an end to police violence. Jones and Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch have been seen at protests, giving them a ground-level perspective on recent events.

Since his election in 2016, the councilman has written policy and led council efforts to remove monuments and effect stronger gun control within Richmond. However, firm public positions regarding police accountability and defunding represent new priorities for Jones, especially in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, and our local unrest. During our conversation, we talked about his pending legislation to ban chokeholds, tear gas, and rubber bullets, and the need for an independent investigation into Richmond Police Department violence toward protesters, as well as the shooting of Marcus-David Peters, an unarmed Black man killed by RPD in 2018.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

RVA Mag: Hello, Dr. Jones, thanks for making time to chat with us. We’re assuming you’re burning at full steam with everything happening on the street?

Jones: How many times are you really a part of history? This is some dope shit, it just is. Regardless of where you sit with the monuments — 130 years. That’s ridiculous, right? 

RVA Mag: During this historical moment, we’ve witnessed numerous incidents during which the RPD has used force against protesters. Many citizens have described Richmond as a city in crisis. Are we a city in crisis? 

Jones: I would say we are a city that’s always been in crisis. You find out what you’re made of when pressure is applied. That’s the essence of a crisis. Other cities are handling the same things we’re going through differently. Richmond has its own demons. 

RVA Mag: The reason “crisis” feels apt is both parties have no intersection of understanding. The crisis is that the demands of the protesters are being met by endless police violence. 

Jones: You are expecting a dog to do something other than bite or bark. Our policing in America is based on a warrior mentality. We have to have some forward thinking with regards to law enforcement. You can’t beat us and protect us simultaneously. I think people are wrestling with this understanding and finally seeing what the African American community has been saying for fucking decades. We didn’t create this public perception of how the police is viewed — they have to own it. You have just enough white Americans now saying “this is bull.” Because I’ll say this, if it was just brothers getting tear gassed, white America wouldn’t care. They just now started caring about Blacks being killed by the police. 

RVA Mag: Let’s drill into some specifics. Do you know why Chief Blackwell stepped down so quickly?

Jones: I don’t know the timeline. Do I think he was the best hire? All you had to do was listen to what came out of his mouth… “We’re going to take back the city.” Really? That’s not what we need. 

RVA Mag: The timeline for hiring Chief [Gerald] Smith was peculiar given the job ad for a new chief in the Times Dispatch — two days after they had already appointed someone. Was city council consulted on the search? 

Jones: We’re not consulted with most searches. Honestly, I don’t believe in trying to micromanage the administration. I think council is shirking its responsibility in exercising their oversight. 

RVA Mag: Do you have the type of relationship with the mayor in which he seeks your counsel? 

Jones: I am a friend of Levar Stoney…But I am a politician. My people didn’t put me in here to fight the mayor. I pride myself on building good relationships — it is what I do. 

RVA Mag: Do you feel a more robust month-long national search could have revealed a more suitable hire and more diverse applicant pool? 

Jones: With what I know about how chiefs are handled, they go to “chief-makers.” They will go and talk to other chiefs and get recommendations on who they think is ready to be a chief.

RVA Mag: We’ve posted numerous shocking videos this month of police violence — do you think it is fair to say the RPD has gone rogue? 

Jones: This is what police do. You are expecting something different from the police… America is seeing what African Americans have experienced forever. There is a warrior, militaristic mentality within law enforcement all throughout the country. 

Stephanie Lynch and I were leaving [one of the protests]. The crowd dispersed. We were a block and a half away from Grace — literally — going towards our cars, roughly right next to the Jefferson. Tear gas canisters launched our way. A block and a half. What the hell? The crowd is dispersed. Why a canister a block and a half away? That is the wrong policy. 

RVA Mag: Some cities throughout America have now taken a progressive approach to police reforms. Even last night in Norfolk, they held a sleep-in at city hall, which did not end in egregious police violence. How did we get it so wrong? 

Jones: Richmond is the former capital of the Confederacy and we have lived that out. [Richmond] will uphold the Virginia way, and power is in the business of staying in power. That law enforcement entity is there to ensure this. They didn’t get twisted until protesters went out on Monument Ave…Next thing we know folks got tear gassed at 7:30pm, a half-hour before curfew. 

RVA Mag: You’ve now submitted your bill to city council to get rid of chokeholds, flash bangs, tear gas, rubber bullets — what’s your level of confidence in getting this passed?

Jones: I’m worried, and it is problematic. This should be a 9-0 vote, but I am getting “what-about-isms” on council and elsewhere. I think it is anti-American and wrong… I know Steph and I are there. But I also know we have people who are pro-police on council. It should come out of committee with a recommendation to approve. I don’t trust that it will.

RVA Mag: Are you aware of any disciplinary proceedings against the RPD? The mayor put it out there and the police are spinning a narrative which has been contradicted by the videos we’ve all seen. Who runs the police department if there is no accountability or oversight? 

Jones: No — I wish. If they are telling me they’re not using rubber-bullets — that’s why I went out there. I called the mayor while I was out there and told him “they’re popping shit back here.” The mayor called [the RPD] and said they’re not… I think [RPD] are giving some bad information, and some people are spinning some things, which shouldn’t be spun. And if the mayor’s not getting accurate information then someone should be fired…Unfortunately it is their MO to do whatever they want and spin the narrative. 

RVA Mag: Are you confident that RPD is working within legal boundaries when they declare unlawful assembly? 

Jones: You’re expecting blood out of a turnip. You’re expecting an apple to be anything other than crunchy. I’ve heard an amendment [to anti-tear gas legislation] saying: “Let’s ban it except for a riot…” They’ll deem it a riot if they want to!

RVA Mag: Do you support the disengagement of law enforcement from Marcus-David Peters circle?

Jones: When I’m working through back channels, I’ve said, “If you guys stand down it will be different.” And so, there was a night that it was. Some calls were made… [But] if you come in riot gear, they’re going to walk up to you. Because it’s an act of intimidation.

RVA Mag: Do you have a sense of how much the city has spent fighting protesters? 

Jones: That’s one of my asks. When we get it, I’m going to make it public. Tell the people how much it is. I want to know about asset forfeiture. I want to know what y’all are doing with that money. Where’s it going when you get the money from these dope boys?

RVA Mag: What’s the general atmosphere at City Council? We’ve seen a month of strife, and outside of you and Councilwoman Lynch, the bench has been pretty quiet. 

Jones: [Councilpersons] are saying they want it to end. “Stop tearing up our city.” You’ve got that side saying that. It’s still Virginia. We’re still moderate and conservative.

RVA Mag: Do you have the sense that the majority of City Council feels that it’s the protesters who need to stand down more than the cops?

Jones: I would say we have a lot of pro-police persons on city council. They’re terrified by the word ‘defund.’

RVA Mag: You tweeted about it a month ago, but what’s your stance on defunding?

Jones: I’m putting in the paper… I’ve seen firsthand how they go in and beef up their budget. The mayor did a good job of stopping this practice because a budget would be introduced, the department heads wouldn’t like the amount that was budgeted, so they would come back to Council and get five votes for this [extra] thing. You have the chief of police coming around saying, “Look, we’ve got this model, predictive policing, it’s going to make our streets safer, we can do these things…” And I didn’t know any better, so I thought, “OK, this is how it’s done.”  But it’s like, “You guys are inflating things. Do you actually need it?”

RVA Mag: Do you have a sense of what the chain of command is when things are happening in real-time at protests? Is the mayor involved in real time? The police chief?

Jones: I know [they] have [their] frontline guys. I know there are some sergeants on-hand behind them, and I know they’re on the phone with someone in some other place. That place could be five blocks away, it could be at the top of a tower. I don’t know. But I know this: if I were the chief of police, I’m going to try and make some calls. It’s going to be all hands on deck. We’re going to treat tear gas like it’s deadly force. 

RVA Mag: The RPD press release on the morning of June 27 stated there were no chemical agents used on demonstrators on June 26, except for one demonstrator who was pepper sprayed. However, several people were suffering from chemical exposure. Do you support an independent investigation into instances when it seems like the police have not been transparent?

Jones: With you putting me on the record for it, I think we’re going to get to that. We have been talking about the need for an independent investigation into what’s going on. There have been so many conflicting stories… you tear-gassed innocent civilians! We need to have an in-depth conversation. We need to investigate. I need someone coming from outside. I’ve always believed the police cannot police the police.

RVA Mag: I know it is not your domain as a Councilman, but do you support the re-opening of the Marcus-David Peters case?

Jones: Here’s what I think — the police do a shitty job of ministering and serving the families of the deceased. You can go back to 2002. I talked to the family.

RVA Mag: The family of the deceased victim of former Chief Blackwell’s shooting?

Jones: Yes. How they were treated is abhorrent.

RVA Mag: Can you speak to that in detail?

Jones: Nope. This is out of respect to the family. This is real talk. They don’t want any press from this.

RVA Mag: We’ve seen the family’s memo. They did release a public memo stating that they’ve been lied to.

Jones: What’s in that memo does not get to the heart-wrenching detail. So, if [Peters’ sister] Princess Blanding and the family of Marcus-David Peters is going through anything like what this other family went through, even though it’s already been investigated, it should be done.

RVA Mag: Do you have any plan to encourage the Commonwealth’s Attorney to re-open the case?

Jones: I would be willing to have a conversation with her and say, “What is it going to take?” This family has a hole in their heart that may never be filled. And I’ll say this: I don’t think I handled it as well as I could have as a Black male on City Council.

RVA Mag: What do you wish you had done better?

Jones: I wish I would have been more vocal. I wish I had persisted more. I wish I had conversations with the family sooner… I learned a lot. I sent out a tweet [about the killing of Marcus-David Peters]: “Naked. Unarmed. Waiting…” Can I tell you that Chief [Durham] called me? It wasn’t a pleasant conversation.

RVA Mag: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Good luck with everything. 

*Landon Shroder contributed to this interview. Top Photo: Dr. Michael Jones, via Twitter