
Personality: Elwood ‘Coach Pat’ Patterson Jr.
Spotlight on co-founder of the East End Boxing Club
Everyone needs an emotional outlet to cool off, unwind or clear their head of life’s troubles. For Richmond youths, the East End Boxing Club offers a unique way to re-center their minds and improve their bodies, courtesy of Elwood Patterson Jr.

‘Vote now!’
As an activist and engaged pastor, I am appalled at the lack of voter excitement in the Black community.

Remedies for years of neglect, by Marc H. Morial
Filibuster. Cloture. Reconciliation. The chatter surrounding President Biden’s landmark infrastructure investment and Build Back Better agenda seems endlessly focused on the legislative process, on political maneuvering, on faceless numbers taken out of context.

Why I went to jail Oct. 5, by Ben Jealous
Sometimes friends have to hold friends accountable. That’s why I got arrested outside the White House on Oct. 5. I was there with other civil rights and religious leaders to call on President Biden to do more to protect voting rights that are under attack.

Remembering Gabriel and the enslaved
More than 220 years after Gabriel planned a rebellion against his enslavers in Henrico in 1800, more than 80 people gathered at the site in Shockoe Bottom where he was executed and where roughly 22,000 other African-Americans of that time are buried.

Lines form to taste Richmond ice cream queen’s winning creation
The line was long, but Richmonders had the opportunity to finally taste and enjoy the new prize-winning Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor created by Richmond’s own Rabia Kamara.

Russell Wilson sidelined with injury
Russell Wilson, among the most talented and durable quarterbacks in NFL history, will be taking some time off to mend.

’Surviving COVID: Local author details battle her husband endured and she waged against the virus
He survived. This is the detail that Charlene Warner Coleman wants Richmond — and the world, really — to know about her husband, Ed Coleman, and his near-death battle with COVID-19 during the pandemic’s early stages in 2020 when the hope of a vaccine was moving into a national reality.

Dissatisfied voter calls for write-in support
I am very dissatisfied at the choice of candidates we have for governor this fall. There are many Virginians who don’t trust Republican Glenn Youngkin for governor and believe he is a RINO, a Republican in Name Only.

Republicans and the Santa Claus strategy
Re: Editorial “Playing politics,” Free Press Sept. 30-Oct. 2 edition:

Police policing themselves, by David W. Marshall
I wish Cariol Horne had been on the scene when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes. If she had, George Floyd may be alive today.

U.S. asylum policy needs to be clear, by Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
Today, the makeshift migrant border camp in Del Rio, Texas, is virtually empty, cleared of thousands of Haitian refugees who went there seeking asylum in America. State troopers now line the border area to discourage others from gathering.

Captain Kirk of ‘Star Trek’ fame to rocket into space next week
Actor William Shatner, who is known for his long- time role as Captain Kirk on “Star Trek,” is rocketing into space this month — boldly going where no other sci-fi actors have gone.

Elegba Folklore Society to host cultural history tour Oct. 9
The Elegba Folklore Society is hosting a cultural history tour exposing some of the city’s and state’s hidden history at noon Saturday, Oct. 9, beginning at the society’s Cultural Center, 101 E. Broad St.
Folk Festival returns to city this weekend
Following an all-virtual event last year, the Richmond Folk Festival is set to return in person to the Downtown riverfront Friday, Oct. 8, to Sunday, Oct. 10.