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

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Richmond business attorney and activist Justin Griffin is running for mayor of Richmond. RVA Mag spoke to him about his goals and policies ahead of November’s election.

Justin Griffin is a small business attorney who originally hails from Nashville, but has fallen in love with Richmond in the years since he moved here. He owns his own law firm, but he first drew public attention with nocoliseum.com, a website he created in objection to Mayor Levar Stoney’s high-profile plan to revitalize the Richmond Coliseum and the surrounding Navy Hill area. After months of actively campaigning against the plan formulated by the mayor and a coalition of private businesses led by Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell, Griffin and other activists obtained a victory when City Council voted against the plan in January.

A month later, Griffin announced that he was exploring a run for mayor of Richmond, and officially threw his hat in the ring on April 6. While he claims not to be a politician, and that he doesn’t want a career in politics, he is passionate about improving Richmond schools, putting more funding into city services, and creating a government that is responsive, helpful, and cares about its citizens. We sat down with Griffin to learn more about his ideas and policies ahead of the election.

RVA Mag: How did you start practicing law? What drew you to being a business attorney?

Justin Griffin: My undergraduate degree is in accounting. In accounting, there’s a huge aspect of “what is legal compliance,” with a very specific law set, like tax laws. You take people’s practices and apply them to those laws, audit them, and make sure they’re complying with the law. As I was getting into that, I realized there’s a much larger world of law out there, and I felt that I would much rather help businesses holistically instead of being pigeonholed into just doing the accounting side of things. 

That’s what drew me to law school, and what brought me here to the University of Richmond. What particularly drew me to working with small businesses [was my] first summer internship with the Virginia Department of Business Assistance. [All summer, I talked to] small business owners, asking them what they needed, what we could do to help them — whether it be funding, laws, or whatever else. [Almost] every one of their answers was “Regulatory compliance,” and “What can you do to help me comply with regulations?” 

Small business owners wear 20 different hats. You have to worry about payroll, marketing, making sure the machines are working, etc. They all said, “Legal stuff is very important, but it doesn’t necessarily make me money, and it’s so far down the list that it doesn’t get worked on. So what can you do?”

That’s when I realized these big corporations and companies all have millions of dollars, that they pay attorneys six-figures-plus to sit around and answer all of their questions. It’s the little guys — the small business owners — that don’t have that equivalent. So that’s what I decided to do. I wanted to help them. I opened my own practice so I could treat them the way they should be treated, and to be more like a partner than a lawyer. 

RVA Mag: As a business attorney, how do you feel about the stores on Broad Street and throughout Richmond closing their doors and boarding up because of protests, looting, and even Covid-19? Do you worry about them? 

JG: I do. I very much worry about them, because I talk to them every day. Those are who my clients are; I’ve worked with over 500 businesses across Virginia. Many of them are right here in the Richmond region and Richmond City. Over the last three-plus months, it’s been a fight for them with constant worries and questions. With small businesses, there’s not usually huge reserves, so they’re just getting through every day. 

I started my own practice, so I’m a small business owner myself. When you’re a small business owner, you put your whole life into doing this… it’s your livelihood, it’s your family’s livelihood. It’s really tough when you can’t open your doors, because you work hard to not only provide for your family, but to also provide for your employees’ families. For them, it wasn’t their fault. I walk up and down Broad Street — my office is downtown — and seeing the boarded-up windows is heartbreaking, because for these people, it’s their lives. Especially on Broad Street. Many of them are black-owned businesses, so it really hurts. I think we’re in a tough spot right now [when they can’t] open, and many of them might not reopen. We’ve got to address that. 

Going forward as someone running for mayor, I think it’s going to be important that we have somebody who is knowledgeable about business and economics and helping our small businesses get back on their feet.

Photo via Justin Griffin/Facebook

RVA Mag: Why did you decide to run for mayor? What was the final straw that really made you say, “This is what I have to do”? 

JG: As you probably know, I was heavily involved in opposing the Navy Hill plan. That was the final straw for me to speak up and do something. As a small business attorney, I deal with the city government a lot. I deal with the county governments [across the state], too, trying to get licenses, permits, zoning, and that kind of thing. I see on a daily basis how our city government is failing small business owners, which in turn fails our people, because small businesses hire people from the community. They pay taxes, which get funneled into the general fund, which can then be poured into our people; whether it be for schools or supporting neighborhoods.

If you have a thriving small business community, it creates what I like to call an “anti-fragile” economy. You have people who really care about the community, are plugged into the community, and come from the community doing that. Seeing the frustrations and dealing with the city all the time — and as a resident as well — one of the things I always bring up is that it took me six months to get a trash can. 

Basic services are always frustrating as a city resident, and for me those are frustrating, but the thing that really drives me and bothers me the most is our school system. With only a 70 percent graduation rate, dropping from 80 percent four years ago, it is something that has always driven me to get involved. Then when Navy Hill came, it was just another example of misplaced priorities. Being a numbers guy — with the accounting degree and business background — looking at the projections and seeing how ridiculous and unrealistic they were, I couldn’t just sit on the sideline and watch our city walk into another big shiny disaster. It was time for us to refocus our priorities on schools and neighborhoods, instead of chasing another get-rich-quick scheme.

That fight was the final straw for me. I went through that process… 18 months of constant analysis, providing information to the city council and speaking at meetings, fighting to get that thing prevented. It seemed that there would be no change in the status quo. That’s what ultimately drew me to throw my hat into the ring, because if I care, I want to see our priorities reshaped and the mismanagement taken care of.  

RVA Mag: The Navy Hill proposal has become a bit of a past memory for Richmonders, as much larger events have overshadowed it lately. However, that area still remains an issue. How do you think you can move forward with it, and create an effective and fair solution for the area? 

JG: I think whenever we’re doing anything in the city… we should always ask the question, “What is our goal with this project?” In Richmond, whenever we do things, we don’t really have a plan. It’s just, “Alright! We’re going to do this!” 

We should define our goals, and then decide if it’s the most efficient way of accomplishing them. Finally, if the answer is yes, we have to consider if it will take away from things that are higher priorities, if it will be neutral, or if it will actually help those priorities. For Navy Hill particularly, I think the procedure [for these projects] should be to put it out there. Ask everyone for their ideas. I have a particular idea that I would like to see there, but that’s just one. Maybe somebody else could come up with something better. Maybe one of these developers has a plan that’s great for the area, great for the city, and benefits our people. 

That should be why we do anything — to benefit the people of Richmond, and make Richmond the best we can. Put it out there as an unrestricted request for proposal. Say, “Hey, we have this plot of land. What can you do with it?” Whether it’s one parcel or all of them, [with] an arena or no arena, bring it! 

My idea for Navy Hill is that [I’d like to create] a recreation park, similar to Williamsburg, so we can tell the stories.. There’s a lot of stories in Richmond that are never told, like Shockoe Bottom and the slave trade. It’s ignored by our elected officials. In Navy Hill in particular, you can tell two stories: one is the true story of what it was like to be an urban slave, because there’s a misconception that the only slaves were on plantations, and that’s not true. In Navy Hill and Jackson Ward, there [were many] black Richmonders who were successful despite being treated as second-class citizens by their government. [Another] story: how an interstate and an arena was dropped right in the middle of that neighborhood to break it up. I’d love to see the history told there, but that’s just my idea. 

RVA Mag: On the note of slavery, Monument Ave has been controversial for Richmonders for many years now, and has come to the forefront right now with Black Lives Matter and police brutality protests. How do you personally feel about the monuments themselves? What do you think should be done with them? What do you think would be the best use for the green spaces? 

JG: For years, I’ve had a very particular plan for Monument Ave. There’s no denying now that as it stands, Monument Ave glorifies Confederate generals. That should not stay. My idea is to make the entire street an open-air museum and build a timeline. In the green space — those big, beautiful medians — start at the beginning with stone plaques in the ground. Not necessarily signs sticking up, but in the ground so you can walk, look down, and read about what was going on [in that] year. 

It goes back to making Richmond a place that tells stories; particularly stories that aren’t often told, but should be. You could start before Europeans came, focusing on the tribes in the Richmond area, like Chief Powhatan. As you walk and come across prominent people from the area, you could see a life-size statue in the median with the inscription on the ground… There’s a lot of people who are important. For example, James Armistead Lafayette, who was a slave in the Richmond area during the Revolutionary War, served as a spy, and gave intelligence to the Colonial Army. He ultimately earned his freedom. You could go through time. The first black mayor of Richmond, Henry Marsh, would be there. John Mitchell, Jr. should be there. At the end, two new large monuments: one to Oliver Hill for his role in Brown vs. Board of Education, and then a final monument to Douglas Wilder. 

Focusing on these stories changes the entire street from glorifying Confederate generals to telling our story as a people. [Richmond grew from] the capital of the Confederacy, who fought to keep people enslaved, to electing the grandson of a slave as the first black governor in the country. To me, that’s a story that’s educational — a story that’s inspirational. [It can] show that no matter how bad things seem, no matter how stacked the deck seems, no matter how racist we seem as a people, things can change. They can change in a short period of time. We’ve made a lot of progress with keeping the march forward down Monument Ave. We continue to grow as a people, and we continue to learn from these stories, until we ultimately get to where we want to be. 

Stonewall Jackson monument comes down. Photo by Courtney Edwards

RVA Mag: You seem to have a big passion for history. 

JG: I do! That’s something I love about Richmond. It has all kinds of history, a history of all peoples. When you’re a city, you have to steer into the things that nobody else has. You carve out a niche, just like in business.. We should be the center of learning black history in America. We have Revolutionary War history, Civil War history, the Jim Crow era, Oliver Hill fighting against the segregation of schools — there’s so much there. 

You have [the history], and you also have a river that has the only Class 4 rapids in an urban area in the country, that we don’t take full advantage of. There’s some other unique things in Richmond from a business perspective I think we could carve out a niche for. We have a thriving creative arts community. The Brandcenter at VCU is the top post-grad marketing program in the country. We have The Martin Agency here, [who does] the Geico commercials. With history, there are stories to be told that should be told, but doing those things can also bring in a lot of tax revenue we can pour back into our people and neighborhoods —  to help uplift people and right some of the wrongs in our system. 

RVA Mag: Speaking of Richmond’s communities; compared to my own hometown of Norfolk, it seems that Richmond’s COVID-19 numbers are a lot higher. However, the community and people of Richmond have pulled together and helped their neighbors with everything from testing to toilet paper. How do you see Richmond moving past this and creating a healthier future? 

JG: That’s one of the things I really love about Richmond. The people who live here are amazing. They’re always willing to reach out a hand and help other people when they’re down. If you want to get plugged in doing generally anything here, there’s an organization or group of people that have an initiative to help in any way. Coming together as a people is how I think we’re going to get through this. Richmonders love to support small businesses, so [as we] continue to reopen in a safe and gradual manner — we’re going to have to come together as a community. The people of Richmond will have to step up, because right now, the city government isn’t stepping up. That’s evident of everything in Richmond. 

What I’ve said as I’ve been running is that I love Richmond, I love the people, and that’s why I chose to live here. But our city government does not match how great our people are. It’s failing us in generally every way. [Here’s how] I picture Richmond… if you’ve ever seen athletes training, they’ll sometimes run with a parachute on their back to build up the muscles to make them faster. Richmond is like one of those athletes; our people are doing amazing things and putting Richmond on the map while there’s a parachute on our back. But we’re still beating other cities somehow. If we took that parachute off, there’s so much potential here that we could keep running, at a much faster pace, forward. I think that’s how we’re going to get through this. Hopefully after this next election, we’ll be able to start reshaping our city government to match our people. 

RVA Mag: RPS Graduation rates are disproportionate, and have been almost dwarfed by surrounding towns. How do you think you can work with RPS to boost these numbers?

JG: I think that has to be the absolute top priority of the next mayor. When you have a graduation rate of only 70 percent, that’s a crisis. That means 30 percent of our young people are not graduating high school, and in our modern society, they have virtually no chance of thriving. When you look at our school system, it’s 86 percent people of color… So when we talk about Black Lives Matter — if they matter, then we have to fix our schools. 

My number one priority will be working with the school system, and working with the superintendent to get whatever they need to help our kids thrive. I have several ideas for that: I think we need to focus on things like Literacy First. There’s many people in Richmond who still struggle to read and write, and that’s completely unacceptable. Especially in the modern age, when you have an entire world of knowledge at your fingertips. If you have strong reading skills and comprehension skills, you can figure anything and everything out — for example, I built my own campaign website because I was able to figure it out. If we can put that into our people, they can have a better chance of thriving in our modern economy. 

RVA Mag: Another Richmond Public Schools question for you — de facto segregation does exist in RPS, and while there have been attempts to diversify or integrate schools, many of them have faced backlash. Do you have any plans to not only create a diverse school district, but one that is fair, in which all schools, regardless of student body, can receive the funding they need?

JG: When we look at our school system, I want to [create one where] it won’t matter which school you’re in, you’ll receive a quality education. You shouldn’t have to shuffle kids around town, beg to get kids into one certain elementary school, for your child to receive a quality education. That’s insane to me. If we need funding, that’s going to be my job.

As a numbers guy — as someone with an accounting degree — I am going to pore through every department budget, and we will root out all of the waste and every inefficiency. We need that money for our priorities, such as our children. Getting them the resources they need is what you can do as the mayor. Right now, we have a lot of waste… so [I want to] make sure we have programs in place, a first-rate curriculum, a school system that is invested in high expectations for our children so we can prepare them to succeed and build wealth. Whatever it takes. That’s what I’m willing to do. 

RVA Mag: The Richmond Police Department has faced criticism lately for their ongoing brutality and use of non-lethal crowd control weapons. The recent lawsuit from the ACLU has definitely amped this up, as has the vast media coverage. Would you do anything to change the RPD?

JG: Even before the murder of George Floyd, I was developing ideas for reforming the ways we do policing here in Richmond. As an attorney, I do legal business work, but also have lots of legal discussions. My wife works in the court systems, and she used to work as a public defender and a criminal defense attorney. Having conversations about the way policing is done in Richmond is something I’ve been doing for years, albeit not publicly, because I’ve never been a politician before. When you look at our policing, there is a lot of room for reform there.

The things people are asking for — like increased funding for mental health workers and social workers, and supplementing the incomes of our public defenders — are things I absolutely agree with. Right now, the city provides a supplement to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office for prosecutors, but not for public defenders. I think that needs to be fair. If we are talking about equity, then I feel both sides of the legal argument should have the same type of funding.

[Looking] at social workers, there was an article recently about when Mayor Stoney was first elected. He visited the social workers’ office in Richmond. They told him all of the problems they had, the funds they needed for different things. He told them, “No problem, I’ll take care of it.” Later the direct quote from them was, “Nothing happened, nothing changed.” We know where the problems are. We just need a mayor who is interested, and is willing to make the changes.

Specifically with the police, we’ve defunded all these departments like social work, and asked the police to fill in the gaps. Not everything needs an officer with a gun responding to it. If we manage our budget and put money into our priorities, like social work, then there’s less need for police response to these issues. 

There was a program called the Second Responders Program. It was cut, but it assigned social workers to each police precinct. When calls went out, they would respond with the officers to certain situations, like domestic violence calls. Their job would be to go in and work with the victims, get them plugged in to the resources they may need, look out for the best interests of the children, or to start counseling right there on the spot. That would allow social workers to do their best job — and it would allow police to do what they are designed and trained for; to prevent violent crime and to solve crimes. Let’s leave the police to do what they’re designed for and good at, and let’s fund these other programs that wrap around services to serve our people. 

Richmond police take aim at Robert E. Lee monument protesters. Photo by Domico Phillips.

RVA Mag: How do you feel about the way Stoney has handled the situation with the RPD?

JG: He’s handled it the way he’s handled every other problem we’ve had in this city. He’s approached it with no plan, and he’s failed because of it. It seems that every day, there’s a different agenda coming from the mayor’s office. Some days, he wants to crack down on the protesters, and some days he wants to pull the police back and do nothing. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s a recipe for bad things happening, like when the tear gas was shot at the peaceful protesters at the Lee monument in the beginning of June. You’re putting tired police officers out there with no plan and no direction, and creating a recipe for bad things to happen. I think he’s handled it poorly, but I think that’s kind of how he’s handled every problem we’ve had — whether it’s schools, paving roads, or even getting a trash can. Now the problems are much more serious, and Richmond’s paying dearly for it. 

RVA Mag: Finally, given the current political climate in the city, why should Richmonders elect a white man? 

JG: In this race, I’m the one who cares and the one who has a plan. The way I look at it, there is a division between the political class and the people of Richmond. For me — not being a politician, not being someone who’s ever run for office before — I’m just like everyone else in this city. [We’re] fed up with the misplaced priorities, the mismanagement, and the failures of our city government. Why should we elect more people from the political class? It’s just shuffling the same players around to different chairs, and expecting things to change. We need someone who is coming in from the outside, who is only interested in this because he wants to go in and manage the city, solve problems, and serve our people. 

It’s not about me. It’s not about a political career for me. I have a career. I have my own business, and I enjoy doing what I do. But when I see our city government failing its people in serious ways, I feel that I need to step up to do something. That’s what I’m going to pour my heart and soul into; helping our people, providing better services for our people, and providing better schools for our kids. That’s what I’m here for. To represent the people and their interests, instead of the political class. 

Top photo via Justin Griffin/Facebook. Marilyn Drew Necci and Caley Sturgill contributed to this article.

Urgent Progressive Change: Speaking With Richmond Mayoral Candidate Alexsis Rodgers

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RVA Magazine sits down with Alexsis Rodgers, a community activist and mayoral candidate for the City of Richmond, to learn more about her policies. 

On June 6, Alexsis Rodgers formally announced her candidacy for Richmond mayor. Rodgers, a VCU graduate, is currently the Virginia state director for Care in Action: the policy and advocacy home for two million women domestic workers. Rodgers is also the former president of the Virginia Young Democrats. Rodgers’ campaign is running on the slogan “Policies Not Apologies.”

Among the policies and reform she’s passionate about are voting rights, economic security, college affordability, and quality health care. Some of her accomplishments include playing a key role in achieving Medicaid expansion, and growing birth control access during her time at Planned Parenthood here in Richmond. 

We sat down with Rodgers to learn more about her policies ahead of the election. 

RVA Magazine: I’ve seen and read that you’ve been in leadership positions such as the president of Virginia Young Democrats, and now you’re the Virginia State Director for Care in Action. Why do you want to run for mayor? Why now?

Alexsis Rodgers: Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen more clearly than ever that the community wants urgent, progressive change. A lot of the demands that we’re hearing from the community are policy demands that they’ve been setting forward for years — whether that be police accountability, a civilian review board with authority to subpoena, or the Marcus Alert. What I’ve seen from our Mayor’s Office is a resistance to listen and be responsive to calls from the community, and this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this dismissal… When you look back at the Navy Hill fight, the Education Compact, and development projects all throughout the city, we’ve seen the Mayor center the interests of corporate elites and special interests more so than people. I think now more than ever, we need someone who’s in touch; who has worked with community activism leaders to fight for progressive change, but who also understands policy and its process. I think I’m that candidate. 

RVA Mag: What do you think is the best solution for the city’s ongoing problems with education, especially for students who are economically disadvantaged and/or from marginalized backgrounds?

AR: Number one: right now, in the middle of this public health crisis, we’re seeing the importance of education and the importance of child care. For too many of Richmond’s families, access to affordable child care, early childhood education, and the right to go to a good quality school has not been a reality. I think we have to start by centering the right values, and the right people, in the process. We’re never going to get the results we want when it comes to educational equity if we don’t start centering the folks that are the most impacted. If we don’t start by engaging and listening to our teachers, faculty, and support staff. If we’re not truly listening to parents. We haven’t seen any true community engagement through this Mayor’s Administration. That’s something we’re going to need to address if we want to fully fund RPS, if we want to get police out of our school systems, and make sure that schools are a safe place for our kids to learn and grow. 

RVA Mag: How do you feel about the issues that have come up in the past year or two regarding de facto segregation of school districts within the city?

AR: There’s a systemic issue when it comes to racial and educational inequity here in Richmond, and right now we’re having a very public conversation about monuments and what they mean to black and brown folks. But we’re not [paying] enough attention right now to the systemic issues of racial injustice and education inequity. I think it has to start by, again, making sure we’re centering the right folks in these conversations. We haven’t always done that. We can’t ignore do-gooders in our community that want to support because they have access to corporate funds for our schools. They’re great community partners who have been helping to support our teachers and staff, but we need to make sure that we’re always putting students first. We know that Navy Hill was not a project that was going to put working-class folks first, and we’ve got to stop putting those corporate elites first when it comes to our policymaking. 

RVA Mag: The process of figuring out what to do with the Richmond Coliseum and its surrounding area, Navy Hill, has been a huge issue in the city over the past few years. How do you think you can most effectively move this discussion forward, and find a solution for the area that works for all Richmonders? 

AR: I think the project was doomed from the start, because it seemed to me that the process was rigged. It started with corporate special interest, and the plan was created, but it was rolled out under the guidelines of “wanting community feedback and input” — when really, they knew what they wanted the plan to be. It was not real engagement and real incorporation of community feedback. As Mayor, my commitment is that I’m not going to start with those special interests in mind first. I want to put the people first, and make sure there is real input from Richmond residents — that their voices are actually heard as we’re developing the city. It’s really important that we’re able to build and grow Richmond — make sure we open up new revenues for the city, so we can fully fund our schools and address housing and healthcare issues. But if we don’t center the right values as we work to secure economic development, we’re never going to do right by Richmond residents. 

RVA Mag: What are your views on what should be done on Monument Ave? 

AR: I think it’s really clear that Richmonders want these monuments down. I told a story when I first launched my campaign about when I was at school at Hanover High School: at track practice while we were practicing, a truck pulled up with a huge confederate flag in the back and started circling the parking lot. My coach went out and told that driver to go home. He knew the message that truck was trying to send to our team, he knew it was wrong, and he went out and called for that person to go.

Right now, what we’re seeing over the last several years, folks have asked for these monuments to be removed. They’ve asked for them to be put in museums, but for them to be put out of our public spaces. For too long, the Mayor has said, “Well we can’t,” or “I’m not sure,” or “We need to have a process.” We had a commission that made recommendations that didn’t go anywhere, and it’s only when this very visible unrest is happening in our city that he’s coming around to the right decision. It shouldn’t require us to put our literal bodies on the line, out here protesting for our rights in the middle of a pandemic, to be heard by our elected officials. We should be able to be valued and seen whether we’re protesting, speaking at a city council meeting, or writing a letter to a City Council member or our Mayor. All of those tactics should be heard and valued. We shouldn’t have to put our lives on the line as part of it. I sit out there marching with everybody else, asking for justice, asking for policy solutions… but also to say these racist symbols should be out of our public spaces, and it’s past time for that to happen. 

Photo via Alexsis Rodgers/Facebook

RVA Mag: What would you like to see done with the street once they’re removed?

AR: When we’re talking about public spaces and putting up monuments to individuals, that should take real community input. That should also honor folks whose history has been forgotten or erased. You know, Richmond is a creative city. We have a lot of artists. We have a lot of historians and researchers. Given the authority and the resources, we can have some real community engagement around [questions like], “What should we name our streets that are formally named after confederate generals?” “What should we put in place of these historically confederate monuments?” I don’t think the city residents haven’t been given that agency. I would love to see us move in that direction — where we’re having thoughtful conversations about race, using this moment where folks are becoming politically aware to move the city forward, and what should be in these public spaces that honor the right values and right cause. 

RVA Mag: Richmond’s eviction numbers saw somewhat of a decline after the city’s high rate of evictions became national news a couple of years ago, but the city has a long way to go before we’re completely past this issue. How do you foresee the city moving forward in a manner that is helpful to those struggling financially, both where evictions are concerned and in the changing face of public housing in Richmond?

AR: For too many people, especially during this public health crisis, they’ve been juggling whether they can put their health at risk and go to work, or put their job and livelihood at risk by staying home. There have been a lot of great activists out there calling for canceling rent, calling for freezing evictions, and [they’ve been] met with a lot of silence from our elected leadership. That’s not okay. It, again, shows how out-of-touch and out-of-alignment the current administration is from the real needs of the community. There were [homeless] folks at the beginning of the pandemic who were sheltering in place at Camp Cathy, and the city came and removed those folks’ homes. Now, I appreciate any effort to help make sure these folks are in a safe and supportive environment — especially during a public health crisis, where they can maintain social distancing and good hygiene — but the city came in and cleared out those folks’ properties. It was just garbage in the streets. I think that shows a lack of understanding of both dignity and their agency as human beings, and that’s not something I want to see our city do ever again. 

When we talk about affordable housing and making sure that folks are able to make ends meet, there’s a lot of layers to that. There’s making sure people have access to a good job, there’s a lot of emphasis on having transit options that connect people to jobs and work, healthcare access to make sure that where you’re going to work, you’re safe, and childcare so you can go to work and not worry about your family. There are a lot of efforts, a lot of smart folks working on housing policies. But it always has to start with centering people’s dignity, and their humanity, the value that every person should be able to live safely, and giving respect to folks. Maybe they are renters, and there are candidates in the race that don’t think renters should have as much of a say when it comes to their government, and that’s not right. Regardless of where you live or who you are, I want to be your Mayor, and I want to represent you in our government. 

RVA Mag: You’ve had a longtime involvement with Virginia League For Planned Parenthood, so are you at all concerned that abortion will become a wedge issue in your campaign? 

AR: I have always been fighting for healthcare access. In this race, I’m going to be a vocal champion for abortion rights. For me, I know that people that are pregnant need access to the full range of reproductive healthcare services — and that means access to good maternal care, birth control. That means access to abortion. Not every person wants to be pregnant, and not every person is able to carry their pregnancy to term. It’s important to me that we continue to champion those rights for those in Richmond. I was really excited to help Planned Parenthood begin their efforts to expand and open up new health centers in Church Hill. That’s going to be huge for this community, which has been historically underserved when it comes to healthcare access. I think that Planned Parenthood and access to reproductive healthcare here in the city is really important, and is actually going to be a way that we unite the city around certain issues — and certainly around expanding access to healthcare. 

RVA Mag: Finally, regarding gentrification in Richmond, what is your stance on this issue? 

AR: When I moved to the city, I moved to an apartment right near Lamplighter on Addison. My next-door neighbor was an older black woman who had lived there for, you know, forever. In the last couple years, she passed away, and her son wanted to tend to the house. He was really struggling. He had grown up in that house, and he didn’t want to leave the house “speechless” and give it over to renters, because this is the community he grew up in. He also didn’t feel like he had the resources to properly take care of it. Long story short, that house was flipped and sold for half a million dollars, and younger, white folks moved into it. It was a picture right in my eyes, here in Randolph, that is a historically-black community. There are a lot of roots there for black folks, and over and over we’re seeing black residents getting pushed out because of gentrification here in the city. I think it’s important for us to look at how we can make sure that families — specifically black families — can build and maintain wealth in their families. We can proceed to support black ownership when it comes to homes, but also black businesses, and generally making sure that our community of color is made strong. As you probably know, Hull Street used to be basically the Black Wall Street, and making sure that we’re continuing to support communities of color is going to be really important for me.

Interview by Carley Welch; top photo via Alexsis Rodgers/Facebook

Op-Ed: For the Love of All of Our Children

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This past weekend, I attended a conference on the campus of Princeton University in New Jersey, and had to field numerous questions regarding whether Richmond is as racially oppressive as it is portrayed in the national media. I stood up for our city, and assured the conference attendees that both of my sons grew up in Richmond, attended RPS, and are doing just fine. I explained that I do not step outside of my door and get greeted with blatant racism on a daily basis. I got the feeling that they were listening, but remained mostly incredulous.

I had not yet heard about what happened at Albert Hill Middle School this past Thursday, and I am sure that the exchange between those young students and the RPD police officer who told them that when they turned 18 “their asses” would be his made my defense of this city much more difficult to believe.

Growing up African American in deeply rural Caroline County, Virginia, I honestly cannot remember having one encounter with the police; in fact, I was barely aware of their existence. We had no security or resource officers in our schools; conflicts were largely (and quite effectively) handled by our school administrators. The mention of entering their offices literally struck fear in each of our hearts.

I’m not perfect, and admittedly, I visited the principal’s office in elementary school several times. Once, while pursuing the entrepreneurial aspiration of making enough money to buy myself a bicycle, I got caught selling popping caps (a mild explosive) to kids in my fourth-grade class before school one morning. I was selling strips of five for a nickel, nickel bags of caps, and the kids were buying. Chaos ensued. My classmates went wild. Seemingly disembodied desk-chair legs and textbooks slammed and danced, in an effort to elicit the reward of the seductive single pop and puff of smoke that each tiny circle on the strips promised.

I’m not sure who it was –my memory is blurred; I’m not even sure I knew then — but an adult entered the room and demanded to know who brought the caps. In a flash, every index finger in the room pointed at me. The speed with which those kids ratted me out was dizzying. The adult then told me to return the money, and those traitors hovered like vultures. From the plastic bag I held tightly, they took not only the money I felt I’d rightfully earned, but my lunch money, too. Then came the perp walk to the office.

I sat on a wooden bench outside my principal’s office for what seemed like hours: nervous, but also self-righteously determined to defend my case. My nine-year-old mind had not processed the seriousness, disruptiveness, and potential danger of my actions. I had a product my classmates were willing to pay for, and they bought it. Supply and demand. I did not see the problem. Besides, they had taken the caps and all of my money; I was left high and dry. It didn’t seem fair.

PHOTO: Caroline County, VA, Historically Yours

My principal, a gentle but firm, flame-haired white woman (whom we knew was kind, but also meant business), called me into her office. I slowly walked in, tears streaming, anger brewing. She explained to me why what I had done was wrong — told me that selling things, especially explosives, in school was against the rules. She emphasized just how much valuable time the disturbance I’d caused had cost the teacher and the other students that morning. She then called my mom to come to pick me up for the day which, honestly, was punishment enough. No referrals. No suspensions. No permanent records. No police. Kind redirection. It worked.

I never sold another thing at school again. I understood that the principal cared enough to take time to explain why I was in trouble, and I begrudgingly agreed that calling my mother was an appropriate penalty. There was no permanent record of the encounter, but I remembered the lesson forever.

As a child, I had the good fortune of having authority figures who cared more about nurturing our spirits as young people than about criminalizing our behavior. Men and women, white and black, who taught us how to self-regulate, to use reason as a means of determining appropriate actions, and who modeled the moral behavior that helped us to later determine the difference between right and wrong. We were disciplined with love; we thrived.

It appears as I’ve grown up, and now have sons of my own, that my experiences in Caroline County were as much an aberration as they were idyllic. Though I have worked hard as a teacher myself to carry on the tradition of loving discipline, and to fiercely protect my students from the harsh, punitive society we live in (especially for black, brown, and disabled children), it appears that many public school systems do not subscribe to this philosophy.

An op-ed piece from The Washington Post published in October 2017 asserted that in Virginia, “staggering numbers of students, who are often preteens in elementary and middle schools, are referred to police and the courts — a wildly disproportionate response that can stigmatize children at school and, in some cases, be a stain on their records for years.”

In fact, while researching and writing this piece, I encountered case after case of young children in Virginia, particularly of African American descent, being referred to the criminal justice system for issues that could have been effectively handled within the school, even within the classroom, without involving law enforcement. In one case, an 11-year-old autistic African American boy in Lynchburg received two misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges: the first for throwing a tantrum, the second for reacting in fear when a police officer grabbed him around the chest.

U.S. Department of Education data shows that in most states black, Latino and special-needs (disabled) students get referred to police and courts disproportionately, and a report released by the Legal Aid Justice Center found huge disparities in many school districts between the percentage of black students who received short-term suspensions, and the percentage of white students, as well as the percentage of students with disabilities suspended, compared to those without. It also determined that the vast majority of suspended students are punished for behavioral offenses, like having a cell phone, minor insubordination, and disrespect.

I personally spent four years teaching for Henrico County Public Schools, one of the school systems where disparities were found, and witnessed many instances where black children were disciplined for minor infractions more often than their white counterparts. I witnessed black children being called to the office much more frequently for dress code violations — short skirts and sagging pants somehow seemed to be more offensive on black bodies than on any others.

PHOTO: Albert Hill Middle School, NBC12

I once witnessed a white female student of mine walk out during an assembly, right past a teacher monitor, and a black male promptly get stopped when attempting the same thing. When I confronted the teacher about it, she stared right through me as though she couldn’t hear my inquiry. In fact, the only student who became violent with me while I was teaching there was a white male, who threw a 10-pound literature book at me in front of the entire class because I insisted he stop sleeping. I cried. To my knowledge, that student was never asked to take responsibility for his actions.

I recognize that I am tying together the problem of school suspensions with issues of encounters with police and the criminal justice system, but as researchers Kerrin Wolf and Aaron Kupchik report in their 2016 study, School Suspensions and Adverse Experiences in Adulthood, “being suspended increases the likelihood that a student will experience criminal victimization, criminal involvement, and incarceration, years later, as adults.” It appears that the two are inextricably connected.

It is because of this that, as a now-30-plus-year full-time Richmond resident, I find what happened with the Richmond City Police officer and the young students of Albert Hill Middle School so extremely dangerous. The officer told the children to wait until they turned 18, at which point, he suggested, their “asses” would be his — as though one day, he could own their bodies. This communicates that their bodies are not, and never will be, their own — and that they will never be protected by those like him. That idea itself can cause long-term psychic trauma.

The officer did not attempt to de-escalate the situation, to communicate that his role was to protect and serve them — to, as my elementary school principal did, explain why they should make better decisions. If the students were engaging in disrespect, there are many ways the officer could have redirected their behavior without the use of threats. But perhaps it ultimately does not matter what they were doing. A police officer is a public servant, who should be expected to adhere to a certain code of ethics, whether written or implied. Richmond City Third District School Board Representative Kenya Gibson said it best: “I can’t think of any circumstance in which talking to a minor in that way is an acceptable thing to do.”

There are many dedicated people out there working to love our kids, and they are making inroads toward disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline — their work should be commended. But not until our country is ready to recognize that bias against black, brown, and disabled bodies is virulent and real will we see all children as worthy of protection and love. Until then, even changed policies will fail.

My hope for my children, for all of our children, is that we get close to what I remember of those days at Ladysmith Elementary school, where we ALL knew we were valuable, and that the adults in our lives could be trusted to guide and protect us, even during our worst moments.

Shame on that Richmond police officer. There is no doubt that what he said to those children was, as Gibson states, “unacceptable and disappointing.” But let’s also recognize that he represents a larger, more insidious culture of devaluing that which we should all so deeply love.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect RVA Magazine editorial policy.

Top photo via Richmond Police Department/Facebook

In Unique and Destructive Weather, Richmond-Area Schools Work to Adapt

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When Ashley Walton started her fifth year working at Highland Springs High School, at the semester’s start, she was in high spirits. She’d been impressed by the efforts of new principal Ken White to raise morale, and looked forward to interacting with an energized faculty and student body in her role as an instructional assistant. A few months into the semester, Hurricane Florence left public schools throughout Henrico County to serve as shelters for nearly three hours, on September 17. Walton is still confident in Highland Springs’ future.

“That was interesting, especially with the population I work with, because they’re not used to major changes,” Walton said, “They’re used to getting out of school at four o’clock. It was a strange adjustment, but I will say that everyone in the building handled it extremely well.”

Walton’s experience is one of many, in a school region learning to adapt to the new challenges created by the effects of climate change. The havoc caused by Florence in Richmond was only a prelude to the fall semester, which saw schools from preschool to college-level contend with intense bouts of weather. Almost a month after Florence passed, Tropical Storm Michael resulted in an abbreviated day on October 12 for many high schools and colleges — and a completely canceled day the following week for some, including Highland Springs.

But through it all, Walton remains positive: She credits Highland Spring’s administration for their work to reorganize class schedules when forecasts predict dangerous conditions. These efforts ensure that closures won’t cause students and teachers to lag behind in their instruction.

Similar measures seem to be in place for the Richmond Public School (RPS) system, according to Communications Director Kenita Bowers.

“Our facility services team routinely monitors weather forecasts to ensure that they prepare and protect buildings across the school district. At the first notification that a storm is approaching, a storm team is activated and on alert,” Bowers said. “Once the storm passes, property and building assessments are made, and necessary repairs are implemented immediately, to prevent delay of the students returning to school.”

For Amelia County Public Schools, the effects brought about by Tropical Storm Michael proved to be longer-lasting than most — and meant that schools had to resume normal schedules, despite multiple roads in the area being severely damaged or blocked.

While the extent of damage done to all of Richmond’s schools is difficult to estimate, Bowers notes that hurricanes aren’t always required to create problems: The weather that comes with the fall season can exacerbate already weak and old infrastructure.

“As a school district with so many aging facilities and budgetary constraints, extreme shifts in temperatures can be challenging to contend with,” Bowers said. “At times, when the temperatures shift unexpectedly, it can have a negative impact on school operations; so school leaders always do their best to accommodate the needs of students, to the best of their ability.

“It is also important to note that RPS currently only has 5 HVAC technicians that are assigned to 44 buildings, which makes it difficult to maintain and ensure that equipment is managed appropriately.”

The state of Richmond’s schools will likely continue to be a frequent topic in the political sphere, as the city prepares to seek more RPS funding from the General Assembly in 2019. For now, though, the semester continues. Those on the ground floor for any future forecasts — students, faculty and administrators — are seemingly prepared to take these incidents in stride.

“I definitely think everything’s looking good so far,” Bowers said. “Luckily, these things are happening in the beginning of the year. I know for my students, change can be difficult, but I think that they are handling it as well as they can.” 

Post-Accreditation, Former and Current Teachers Assess the City’s State of Education

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Richmond’s public schools are deep into the 2018-2019 semester, with midterm exams on the horizon for some, and the long shadow cast by the condition of the city’s education hanging over all.

That condition, detailed in a report released on September 27 by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), revealed that less than half of Richmond Public Schools (RPS) met the state education standards required to be awarded accreditation. Additional data released by VDOE also showed RPS had statewide lows in on-time graduation rates and attendance, and statewide highs in dropout and absentee rates at a middle school and high school level. The sole omission was George Washington Carver Elementary, who became embroiled in a cheating scandal earlier this year.

For Gladys Wilder, a retired teacher with 30 years of experience in RPS primary, correctional, exceptional and special education that includes establishing an annual “book tasting” event at Swansboro Elementary, the effort to meet state standards is still fresh in mind.

“It was a struggle to get there. But Swansboro broke out because of leadership,” Wilder said. “I mean local leadership, in-school leadership, principals and assistant principals. It was a whole school effort.”

“No child, no human learns the same way. There’s no box where you can put every child and this is it. Our philosophy, and I’m sure the philosophy now, is every child can learn, every child can achieve. You just have to meet that child where it is.”

RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras seems to share some of Wilder’s beliefs.  In a statement published following the report’s release, Kamras was adamant that any cause for the data’s findings didn’t come from the learning ability of RPS’s students, instead serving as “a reflection of our failure to provide them with the education they deserve.”

My administration is committed to changing this – once and for all – for every young person in RPS, Kamras said.

Wilder, for her part, stressed the importance of not placing guilt for educational failures on individual error, including parents and educators, something she felt may been implied in the wording of Kamras’ response.

“To me, is that like placing the blame on those who are in the trenches, the teachers? I will not do that,” Wilder said, instead drawing attention to the curriculums teachers are expected to abide by — and may occasionally have to veer away from to ensure all students learn what they need.

True to her skillset, Wilder referenced Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade in describing this situation RPS teachers are placed in.

“There’s blame all over,” Wilder said.

The state requirements for accreditation, recently updated in 2017, include increases in academic performance and decreases in failures in advancement, with special focus for high schools on absenteeism, graduation and dropout rates, in addition to the Standards of Learning (SOL) pass rates that were the sole criteria for accreditation in the past.

The continued presence of SOLs, and the challenges they bring to education, was a point of concern for both Wilder and Sharonda Ragland, an instructor in Virginia Union University’s Department of Mathematics.

“We need to stop teaching to the test,” Wilder said. “If you just teach to the test, and if the words in the test are not what you’re teaching, the kids are going to fail. Teach the child.”

Joining the conversation, Ragland adds, “And they don’t learn at the same rates, but they’re expected to take a standardized test that all of them may not be prepared for.”

Just because it works for one doesn’t mean it’s going to work for all. You’ve got to see what works for your school.

The topic of preparation for students is one Ragland is familiar with, serving last year in a math and science summer program designed to act as a “stepping stone” to college-level coursework for high school students, complete with college credit, improved study habits and early connections with other students. Virginia Union is also home to the Upward Bound program, offering graduating high school students in the RPS system a brief but direct experience at college-level courses and residential life.

Referring to her experience in the summer program, Ragland said, “The ones that have come in through that bridge seem to retain better versus the ones just coming from high school to college without any preparation. It makes a difference.”

The question of how RPS moves forward following this report is one with a number of answers. Tinkhani Ushe White, Ed.D., whose experience stretches from RPS teacher to principal in the Henrico County Public School system to School Improvement Specialist with Chesterfield Public Schools, suggests a path forward may lie in greater cooperation between state authorities, school divisions and the schools themselves. However, White acknowledges the difficulty this method may have with solving “issues outside the school’s control,” like absenteeism or poverty.

“The big thing there is for schools divisions and states to work hand in hand with their schools to try to figure out the issues that are preventing schools from reaching those minimum benchmarks, and then working to supply those needs and close those gaps,” White said.

Gary Broderick, an advocate for Richmond education and School Board candidate in Richmond’s 7th District, had his own ideas in his diagnosis of what he described as a “moral crisis for our city” in a statement to RVA Mag. Broderick wrote that fair funding and compensation should serve as parts of creating an ”atmosphere of support that makes long term investment in RPS a sustainable choice for teachers.”

Gary Broderick, School Board Candidate. Photo by Gary Broderick

“The path forward is clear,” Broderick wrote. “We must exert the political courage to demand corporations pay their fair share of taxes, so that we can staff our schools properly and wholly counteract the racist and systemic defunding of our schools.”

Some measure of Broderick’s recommendation may be coming to RPS, as Richmond City Council prepares for an uphill battle in requesting greater state support for public education as part of the city’s legislative package during the upcoming General Assembly session.

RPS Fails to Supply Schools With Toilet Paper and Other Essentials

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Nearly 50 Richmond Public Schools are struggling to keep basic supplies stocked, such as toilet paper, paper towels, and soap, during the last two weeks of school, according to local parents.

Last Friday, World of Mirth posted to their Facebook page a call to action for anyone who wished to donate supplies to a long list of public schools across the state. The post was both in response to an online public sign-up sheet posted on Sign Up Genius by Cindy Anderson, as well as complaints from World of Mirth owner Thea Brown’s son.

My son is a 9th grader at [Thomas Jefferson High School] and he said he doesn’t use the bathroom because there is maybe one roll of toilet paper in a bathroom if you are lucky, and absolutely no soap,” Brown said. “When he got to high school, he thought maybe they just didn’t have hand soap in high school.

World of Mirth also started an Amazon wish list for anyone who wishes to ship supplies either to a school or to the store, from which they will make deliveries. Schools listed as options for donation on Sign Up Genius include Chimborazo Elementary School, Lucille Brown Middle School, and John Marshall High School, as well as 54 other public schools and public educational centers. Brown spent eight hours this morning delivering supplies to schools after dozens of volunteers donated supplies.

“I just got back from delivering to 10 different schools and I had a head custodian hug me with tears in his eyes because he had just gotten back from Wal-mart spending his own money to buy toilet paper for the kids [at Reid Elementary],” Brown said. “They were incredibly grateful. We walked into one school and they yelled, ‘Toilet paper! We’ve been waiting for you all morning!’”

According to Anderson, only five schools out of 54 on the list contacted her asking to be taken off the list, as they were well-stocked and did not want to take supplies away from other schools who may need it. Anderson is a member of the Parent-Teacher Association at Albert Hill High School, where her son attends the 8th grade.

“We don’t need folks to donate,” Jason Kamras, superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, said in a Tweet delivered on Saturday. “A couple of schools had issues on Friday. That’s unacceptable and I’ve made that abundantly clear to the RPS team. But I guarantee that every school will have supplies on Monday morning.”

Kamras then asked if anyone knew their school was out of supplies, they could message him directly on the issue. When contacted about the issue, Kamras’ media office replied that there was a delay in a supply order, but the issue has been resolved as of today. According to Anderson, 40 orders of toilet paper were backordered due to a lack of funding.

“As of right now, I have not heard anything about whether the schools have received anything from administration,” Anderson said. “What I do know is I just got a text from one of the people out delivering and every school has been very appreciative and said they were a ‘blessing in disguise.’ I just know that it’s not two schools, it was all but five [out of 54].”

Anderson began the donation list after seeing Facebook posts from local teachers on the Support Richmond Public Schools page who claimed their schools had no toilet paper, soap, and had to borrow paper towels from a neighboring school. The teacher also said children were using their pants to wipe their hands after using the restrooms.

“I cringe thinking about teenage girls in middle school and high school dealing with their periods every month,” Brown said. “We have to show to our kids and prove to them that we believe in them and that they are important, and that we are investing in their future.”

Parents continue to report complaints from their children that this is an ongoing issue, not an isolated instance. Betsy Milburn, mother of four, said her children complain every year about the lack of supplies, the disrepair of the bathrooms, as well as her daughter’s reluctance to use school bathrooms. 

“I find it frustrating when the school system tweets out that it’s only a couple schools who need supplies, and then a parent calls every school and it’s only a couple of schools who don’t need supplies,” Milburn said. “I think that RPS can do better and should do better. When the basics work, then the big things can be tackled. We can’t tackle anything big until we can do the simple things.”

The School Board is set to discuss the budget Monday night, which will include money for toiletries.