Ralph Northam

“Pumpkins Not Pipelines”: Activists Stage Halloween Parade Outside the Governor’s Office

George Copeland, Jr. | November 1, 2018

Topics: Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Buckingham County, Halloween Parade, Mark Herring, Matthew Strickler, Mountain Valley Pipeline, Ralph Northam, Union Hill, Virginia Pipeline Resisters

Richmond residents from Broad Street to North 9th were witness to a parade of costumed protesters Wednesday, warning of “a place where the air is so polluted it causes headaches, nosebleeds and illness. A place where your water is the color of toxic mud.”

“On this Halloween day, you may think we are giving the details of a horror story,” said Stacy Lovelace of the Virginia Pipeline Resisters, speaking through a megaphone. “But sadly this is, and will be, the reality for those along the path of the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines.”

The activists marshaled outside the Governor’s Office at the Virginia State Capitol, as they have every week since early February, in protest of the Northam administration’s continued approval of the Mountain Valley (MVP) and Atlantic Coast Pipelines (ACP).

Following a brief demonstration and recognition of the lives lost from hate crimes at a Kroger in Kentucky and the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the group marched several blocks west to the Office of the Attorney General, chanting all the way. Their protest was joined by unexpected “guests”: life-sized props of Governor Ralph Northam and Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew Strickler, hands stuffed with cash, with cardboard rods sticking out from their noses.

“They dressed as Pinocchio, which is fitting, because they’ve been telling lots of fibs lately,” Lovelace remarked. For her own costume, she wore posters with quotes from multiple studies about the pipelines’ potential to negatively impact the region.

Dominion Energy was recently permitted to begin its 300-mile construction of the ACP, which will stretch across the Commonwealth and includes a compression station. The placement of that station in Buckingham County’s historic and majority-black Union Hill community has made it a particular focus of criticism for those opposed to the projects.

Activists in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina have taken a variety of measures to stem the pipeline’s progress across their states, from tree sit-ins to chaining themselves to equipment and more. Authorities have responded with arrests and the monitoring of activist groups by anti-terrorism agencies.

These actions to stop construction have continued even as members of Northam’s own administration show their opposition to the pipelines. The Governor’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice called for a halt to permit approval days before the APC was given the green light, while Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax has continued to lend an open ear to the concerns of the community, along with other public officials who have challenged the developments surrounding this issue.

Speaking outside the the entrance to the Office of the Attorney General, Lovelace made an appeal to Attorney General Mark Herring, including a letter addressed to him personally, asking him to invoke the power granted to him by Section 401 of the Clean Water Act against the pipelines.

“While we are grateful to your resistance to Trump’s deregulation and other abhorrent policies,” Lovelace said, “we must ask: why are you ignoring these pipeline projects, supported by Trump, here in Virginia? We ask that you immediately take action against these projects, which are true terrors and real life monsters, and stand with the impacted Virginians.”

Along with their weekly protest, the Pipeline Resisters plan to stand with the Union Hill community during the public hearing on the ACP compressor station on November 8 and 9, alongside groups that include Water is Life and Friends of Buckingham.

“We will be in solidarity with them and helping them with what happens that day,” said Jessica Sims, who leads the Pipeline Resisters with Lovelace.

Photos by George Copeland

NAACP Condemns Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Governor, and Secretary of Natural Resources

George Copeland, Jr. | October 23, 2018

Topics: ACP, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Dominion Energy, environmental justice, Mountain Valley Pipeline, MVP, pipeline resisters, Ralph Northam, virginia state conference naacp

The Virginia State Conference NAACP took state regulators to task for their recent approval of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). In a press statement released Saturday, the group expressed its concerns with the state’s “refusal to protect our land, water and communities,” with a particular focus on environmental and social costs. The group also focused on specific condemnation for the actions of Governor Ralph Northam and Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew Strickler.

“It is well-documented that the permitting processes are flawed, and yet the projects are being allowed to move forward with reckless abandon to our natural environment and communities,” the statement reads.

This criticism came a day after the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approved a permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, giving the go-ahead to Dominion Energy to begin its 300-mile, state-crossing construction. The ACP will join the already-in-progress Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), and will include a compressor station in Buckingham that has seen specific focus and disapproval for its placement in the historic, majority black Union Hill.

In a statement acknowledging the opposition brought against the pipelines’ completion, Strickler said, “We remain dedicated to holding them to the highest environmental standards possible pursuant to state authorities.”

The VSC NAACP weren’t the only group to call out the Northam administration’s actions. The Virginia Pipeline Resisters released their own statement Monday that followed a similar track in their messaging. Along with disapproval for the statements Northam has made through Strickland, both the Pipeline Resisters and VSC NAACP highlighted the negative impact the MVP and ACP’s construction would have on Virginia’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities — with the latter citing a report conducted by the NAACP and CleanAir Task Force on the wide discrepancies in those at risk to toxic chemical emissions in the United States.

Deriding statements from the Governor and Secretary as “riddled with falsehoods,” the Pipeline Resisters wrote that “despite deceptions from the Northam Administration, the State of Virginia’s regulatory entities can and should prevent any further work on the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines.”

Northam’s approval of the pipelines has proven to a frequent issue, stretching from the gubernatorial campaign trail to the day of his inauguration and well into 2018.

This year has seen both the pipelines and Dominion Energy facing steady criticism from a wide spectrum of voices, from established Democrats like Mark Keam, D-Fairfax, congressional candidates that include Jennifer Lewis, 6th District, and community pushback that extends beyond Virginia state lines.

Northam himself has seen opposition to the pipelines’ construction from within his own administration. The Governor’s Advisory Council on Environmental Justice called on the suspension of permit approval for the MVP and ACP in a letter to Northam in August, citing the potential negative consequences for poor, indigenous, brown and black communities in the Commonwealth. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, meanwhile, has been open on his antipathy to the pipelines, meeting with religious and community leaders to discuss the matter in mid-September.

A public hearing on a permit for the ACP compressor station is set for November 8 and 9 in Union Hill, Buckingham.

State of Emergency Called Ahead of Unite the Right Anniversary in Charlottesville

RVA Staff | August 8, 2018

Topics: Charlottesville, Governor, Ralph Northam, State of Emergency, Unite the Right, virginia, white supremacists

*This is a developing story.

Governor Ralph Northam has declared a state of emergency in Charlottesville ahead of the one year anniversary of Unite the Right. The white supremacist rally held on August 12 last year left one person dead and another 30 wounded when James Field Jr drove his car into a group of counter-protestors. The announcement released earlier this afternoon stated, “These state of emergency declarations will enhance planning and cooperative response efforts that have been in development since March.” According to the statement, the declaration allows various state agencies to perform “actions outside of the scope of normal operations” as a way to make sure resources are available to both local government and residents.

According to CBS 6, the Virginia State Police Superintendent has said that 700 state police will be activated in and around Charlottesville to prevent any incidents over the course of the weekend.

Last August, the city of Charlottesville and the Charlottesville Police Department took a hands-off approach to the event, which ended in street brawls, confrontations, and the eventual vehicular attack against counter-protestors. Charlottesville Police Chief Alfred Thomas resigned last December shortly after the release of a highly critical report that listed serious planning failures.The consultant hired to evaluate planning for the event, former U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy, found that the city failed to both coordinate and communicate proper instructions in advance of the rally.

The man behind the attack, James Fields, Jr. of Ohio, has been indicted on 30 charges including federal hate crimes, and is awaiting a November trial. Several memorial events have been planned this weekend in Charlottesville. Jason Kessler, the man who organized Unite the Right last August, will be holding another rally in Washington, DC on Sunday. The National Park Service released a list of speakers who will headline the event which included, neo-Nazi Patrick Little, KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, Simon Roche, Kevin Cormier, Avialae Horton, and Corey Mahler.

A map of the security planning for this weekend has been released by Solidarity Cville in a tweet just two hours ago.

They also released a list of instructions indicating what is allowed and isn’t on the downtown mall over the course of the weekend.

The One Year Anniversary of Unite the Right is Here. A lot Has Happened

Madelyne Ashworth | August 7, 2018

Topics: abigail spanberger, Anti-Racism, black lives matter, Confederate monuments, Corey Stewart, Crying Nazi, CSA II The New Confederate States of America, DACA, Dave Brat, David Duke, Dreamers of Virginia, Identity Evropa, Jason Kessler, KKK, Monument Avenue Commission, Parkland Florida shooting, Ralph Northam, trump, Unite the Right, white nationalism, white supremacy, zero tolerance policy

RVA Tank, Parkland Shooting, Democratic-nominee Spanberger, families separated at the border, KKK effigies, Governor Northam, punching Nazis, getting punched by Nazis.

It’s been a long year.

As we approach the one year anniversary of Unite the Right, the alt-right rally held in Charlottesville on Aug. 12 last year that ended with the death of counter-protester Heather Heyer, it’s hard to ignore the tension in the air. Whether that tension has increased or decreased, or the political dissension within our country is better or worse, Americans are certainly motivated. We’ve seen protest after protest, breaking news stories flying in each day with news of Russia, North Korea, Robert Mueller, Corey Stewart, and Jason Kessler.

The white nationalist movement has not slowed down, nor has it given up. Identity Evropa came to Richmond to pick up trash in hopes of normalizing their cause. The FBI has as many open cases concerning white supremacist propaganda online as they do for ISIS. And Unite the Right is happening again, but this time, its headed to Washington, D.C.

Here is a brief roundup of events from the past year to get you up to speed on the white nationalist movement in Virginia in preparation for this weekend’s latest appearance from our best-known racists (this list may not include every event related to white nationalism in Virginia):

August 2017: Jason Kessler, online blogger, and white nationalist, successfully organizes an alt-right rally called Unite the Right on Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, in the name of protecting the Confederate statues in two local parks. Several physical altercations occurred during the rally, and attendees were armed with bats, guns, or other weapons.

James Alex Fields, Jr., a white nationalist, drove his vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters after the rally was deemed unlawful by police. His attack killed Heather Heyer and injured multiple others. Fields was part of Vanguard America, a white supremacist organization. He was placed in jail and denied bail.

President Trump suggested the blame for the violence rested with “many sides.”

September 2017: The Dreamers, young first-generation immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act, mobilized after Trump’s threat to end the program. Long marches between Charlottesville and Richmond as well as Charlottesville and Washington sprung up as September clung to summer temperatures. DACA was rescinded later that month by Trump, but at least temporarily upheld by the Supreme Court.

An activist group hung Ku Klux Klan effigies in Bryan Park.

The New Confederate States of America planned a rally in Richmond to support Confederate statues on Monument Avenue, claiming to be motivated by the Monument Avenue Historical Commission convened in June by Mayor Levar Stoney and tasked with providing recommendations for what to do with the statues. The rally took place on Sept. 16, attended by over 400 counter-protesters, a heavy police presence, and a small handful of CSA members who arrived in twos and threes. The CSA was severely outnumbered in what RVA Mag called a “win for Richmond,” as the protest ended peacefully.

Later that month, the FBI claimed white nationalists are just as dangerous as Islamic terrorists.

October 2017: At the beginning of the month, a circuit court judge in Charlottesville handed down a ruling signaling that the Commonwealth’s laws protecting war memorials could be retroactively applied to Virginia’s Confederate monuments.

The City of Charlottesville and several small businesses in the area filed a novel lawsuit to prevent future militia groups from entering their city again. This lawsuit is ongoing and continues to seek a verdict in August of 2018. Six defendants have settled since May 2018.

White nationalist Richard Spencer held a torch-lit rally in Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, glorifying the Robert E. Lee monument and mimicking a similar torch-lit rally held on UVA’s campus the night before Unite the Right. Around two dozen white nationalists were present.

Jason Kessler began a new white nationalist group called New Byzantium following Unite the Right. It’s one of many new alt-right groups that continue to crop up to this day, largely spread through online forums.

November 2017: In a Democratic sweep, Ralph Northam became the new Governor of Virginia, joined by Justin Fairfax as Lt. Governor, and Mark Herring as Attorney General. It was a significant Democratic victory similar to the victory of then-Senator Obama when he won the presidency in 2008. The blue wave was accompanied by a new wave of female representatives in the General Assembly, the largest number of women to be elected to the GA in Virginia’s history. This included the first Latina women, the first Asian-American, and the first transgender woman to win a seat in the GA.

January 2018: Chris Cantwell, the notorious “Crying Nazi,” faced up to 20 years in jail for pepper-spraying counter-protesters at a torch-lit white supremacist rally on UVA’s campus the night before Unite the Right. At the beginning of the month, he attempted to sue anti-fascists, claiming that they discharged the pepper spray against themselves.

Thousands of women come to Richmond for the one-year anniversary of the Women’s March.

March 2018: Deandre Harris, a black man viciously beaten by white nationalists during the Unite the Right, was charged and then acquitted of assault by the District Court in Charlottesville. During Unite the Right, Harris was assaulted by six men with wooden pikes in the Market Street Parking Garage, eventually sustaining a spinal injury and receiving 10 staples in his head.

June 2018: Nathan Larson, a self-confessed pedophile and white supremacist, runs for Congress in Virginia. Previously an accountant in Charlottesville, Larson is running as an independent. Jason Allsup, another white nationalist who attended the Unite the Right rally, was elected as a Republican official in Washington state. This marked the beginning of many white supremacists and anti-Semitic candidates running on the Republican ticket in America ahead of midterm elections. This trend continued with Corey Stewart, Virginia’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. He appeared on CNN and struggled to answer questions about his past ties to white supremacists and anti-semites. He continues to be aggressive online and has not revoked his white nationalist ties.

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 7th District, wins a huge primary victory and will run against Dave Brat in the fall for the congressional seat.

President Trump begins his “zero tolerance” immigration policies and enacts legislation that separates immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. National and international outrage sparks protests throughout the Commonwealth, including one outside Dave Brat’s office, who publicly supported Trump’s decision.

The National Parks Service approved an application submitted by Jason Kessler for another alt-right rally to be held in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 11 and 12 this year. This will come to pass this weekend in Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C.

Identity Evropa visited Richmond for a little community service by picking up trash around town in an attempt to normalize their organization and beliefs. In Lexington, local restaurant owner Stephanie Wilkinson refused to service White House Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at her restaurant, The Red Hen. It was followed by five days of protests against and for her restaurant. In one instance, someone threw chicken feces on their storefront window.

July 2018: The Monument Avenue Commission recommended that the Jefferson Davis monument be removed from Monument Avenue, with Mayor Stoney’s approval. Later in August, an unknown individual vandalized the Robert E. Lee monument with red paint, writing “BLM” (Black Lives Matter) on the statue’s base. This is only the latest act of vandalism concerning the statues over the past year.

Chris Cantwell, the aforementioned “crying Nazi,” was barred from entering the Commonwealth for the next five years. He plead guilty to assault and battery for spraying two anti-racist activists with pepper spray the night before Unite the Right.

August 2018:

Now that August approaches, we look to another year that will hopefully not result in death or injury. Jason Kessler will be in D.C. this Sunday, Aug. 12, in Lafayette Square to march and protest in the name of “white civil rights.” Regular faces like Kessler, Spencer and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke are said to appear and speak, although the movement has suffered serious divisions and other prominent white nationalists are disavowing Kessler.

A vigil will be held on Saturday, Aug. 11, in Charlottesville at 5 p.m. for Heather Heyer, in remembrance of her life, as well as an anti-racist march the next day in an attempt to heal from the events of last year.

Stay with RVA Mag on Instagram (@rvamag) and Twitter (@RVAmag) for updates on these events this coming weekend.

The Bachelorette Came to Richmond: Part Tone Deaf, Part Guilty Pleasure, and Entirely Obvious

Madelyne Ashworth | July 3, 2018

Topics: Ralph Northam, richmond, RVA, The Bachlorette, TV in RVA, virginia

My summer Monday night tradition for the past several years: drive to my mom’s and make dinner with my grandmother, crack a bottle of wine, plant on the couch by 8 p.m. and glue our faces to the TV to watch 25 men battle over one lucky lady (I’m a purist, I don’t watch The Bachelor. The Bachelorette is where it’s at.) My grandmother and I will pick apart each guy, make our guesses at who this season’s bachelorette might choose, wait for the Most Dramatic Season Finale, and sometimes my mother will begrudgingly sit on the couch and make comments about how stupid the show is until she falls asleep.

So how excited were we when we could participate in our favorite pastime watching our favorite show in our very own hometown (after the initial shock of asking, um, why Richmond)?! This show has taken lucky ladies like Kaitlyn Bristowe (my personal all-time favorite bachelorette) to Scotland, Rachel Lindsay to Spain, and JoJo Fletcher to Thailand. And apparently the producers over at ABC were like, “Hey, let’s throw a dart at a map of America.” This was confirmed when at the beginning of last night’s show, they were careful to show a map of the US with a star over Richmond just to make sure you knew where the River City actually is.

Beautiful scenery of the capitol building, the Richmond skyline, and the iconic James River (and no doubt very, very strategically, not a single shot of Monument Avenue) filled my heart with pride for our little city. This season’s bachelorette Becca Kufrin took her male suitors on a historical tour of our city, checking out St. John’s Church and the Edgar Allen Poe Museum. The editors especially wanted to drive home the point that we are the most hipster city on this side of the Mason Dixon, complete with shots of the Quirk Hotel and a date at the Poe Museum’s hipster-goth-themed ‘Un-Happy Hour’ – you better believe I’m proud as hell about that, too.

No, they didn’t go to the best spots nor did they delve into the culture of this city–staying safely in the Art District and visiting beautiful historical sites–but it’s a reality TV show that (until recently, sort of) avoided people of color and focuses on superficial beauty aesthetic, so I didn’t expect any better, nor was I surprised.

Until the group date: Becca took her pack of boys to Richmond’s Capitol Building for a tour with presidential re-enactors and followed-up with a surprise mock-political debate on the steps of the same building. And Governor Ralph Northam moderated. Welcome to Virginia, I guess?

The debate, which was styled similarly to ‘The Dating Game’, posed questions like, “What is your ideal date?” and “How do you envision your future with Becca?” The men even donned suits for the occasion. If you’re into the drama, the debate quickly deteriorated into a poorly concealed fight between two contestants, Chris and Lincoln, over who lies to Becca more.

I couldn’t help but cringe while watching this petty, worthless drama play out on the steps of our capitol building in a city that is experiencing very real, visceral conflict that is truly affecting people’s lives. Yes, it’s a fun, silly show that I’ve always described as my ‘guilty pleasure,’ but somehow the way the show positioned a “political” debate over a real-life woman within a city and a state that holds a crucial role in many upcoming elections and has, in many ways, lead the charge on the East Coast in regard to activism and accountability in Trump’s America felt utterly tone deaf and altogether uncomfortable. There was no winner in this debate.

When the episode ended, I was relieved. Both because she sent Chris home and knowing the cast, crew, and producers of The Bachelorette had gotten the hell out of my city. On to next week.

And in case you’re placing bets, my grandmother’s money is on Jason. She’s usually right.

Students March to Statehouse, Commemorating Victims Of Columbine On National School Walkout Day

David Streever | April 20, 2018

Topics: General Assembly, gun control, Justin Fairfax, Mark Herring, National School Walkout Day, public safety, Ralph Northam, State House

Roughly 200-300 people turned out for a student-organized rally on Brown’s Island today following a national school walk-out commemorating the Columbine shooting 19 years ago.

Richmond police provided a heavy presence at the rally and temporarily closed streets for a march to the state house steps, where speeches and musical performances continued before Governor Ralph Northam and Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax came out to give speeches of support.

On Brown’s Island, popular Instagram user Jessica Universe played acoustic guitar and sang an untitled song written for the event before Hermitage High School junior Sam Alburger addressed the crowd with some goals from the student movement.

“Like all of you, I’m ready for some damn common sense,” Alburger said, asking for consistent national background checks while criticizing politicians who he described as looking to score political points at the expense of addressing gun violence.

One of the many speakers that followed Alburger, Ta’Quan Grant, took up a popular theme with his fiery speech, addressing everyday gun violence from the perspective of “a public school student who grew up in Section 8 housing.” The candidate for Richmond School Board in the 7th district talked about facing regular gun violence, including a handgun he said someone pointed at him, before ending on a hopeful note. “Don’t fight for victory,” he told the crowd, because “We’ve already won. Fight like you already got it.”

Richmond Police Captain John O’Kleasky spoke with RVA Magazine to praise the students who he’s worked closely with as they planned their rally, saying, “They get an A+. We’ve been really impressed by their passion and maturity, and it’s been an honor to work with them.”

At the capital, the student speakers were joined by political leaders, including Osita Arebu, senior policy advisor to Mayor Levar Stoney. Arebu apologized for Stoney’s absence and shared his support. Like many of the speakers, she brought up common gun violence, including suicide and city shootings, and quoted Martin Luther King, Jr., on economic inequality in the cities, adding, “This is not just a gun control issue, this is a justice issue.”

The last student speaker was Carlos Brown, who gave an impressive speech with an off-the-cuff delivery-style, suggesting a bright future as a public speaker. Employing repetition to great effect, Brown talked about all the reasons he’d rather be in school today, before advocating political actions to address government inaction. “If your congressman won’t meet with you, vote them out,” he said, before listing victims of violence including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and the students of Parkland and Columbine.

He finished his speech with a callback to his opening, saying, “I wish I was in bio class right now, because that would mean we’d be living in our dream America,” a place free of random gun violence and school shootings, where people have equality and safety.

Before Northam took the stage, Lori Haas, the Virginia state director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence shared her own story as the parent of a student who was wounded at Virginia Tech. She recounted a call from her daughter 11 years ago, remembering that she said, “Hi mommy, I’ve been shot”.”

She proposed a series of solutions involving political engagement before saying, “I know people wish this wasn’t a partisan issue, but it is.” Haas pointed to the opposition in the government to gun regulations as almost universally a Republican problem and described Virginia as having “the poorest gun laws in the country,” before asking for better tracking of weapons that have been sold.

Northam Addressing the Student Activists

Haas invited members of Virginia’s House of Delegates and State Senate to join her before introducing Northam, who she praised for taking a strong stand on background checks even as a first-time State Senator from the rural Eastern Coast of Virginia.

The governor used his address to praise the students gathered and ask when will the marches and rallies lead to real, substantial change. “How many lives will we lose to preventable gun violence until we take measures to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them?” the governor asked.

Although he said he’s been disappointed, the governor struck an optimistic note, which he credited to the students assembled, saying, “After years of politicians failing to protect our students, you are taking measures into your own hands.”

Before wrapping up his speech, Northam drew laughs with cheeky praise for the assembly. “As governor I have a responsibility to tell you to stay in school,” he said, pausing for the laughs. “But I can’t think of anything you’d be learning that’s better [than this].”

Some of the best photos of the day can be found below:

Photos by Landon Shroder