‘Our ballots will stop bullets’
Thousands take to streets in Richmond, D.C. and across the nation to demand gun control and school safety
Chanting “Enough is enough” and “Never again,” more than 5,000 students and other demonstrators marched through Richmond last Saturday as part of a nationwide protest against mass school shootings and gun violence.
Volunteers working hard to clear, maintain cemetery
Re “VCU center developing master plan for historic Evergreen Cemetery,” Free Press March 15-17 edition: We’re writing to offer a clarification to your article. Toward the end of the story about Evergreen Cemetery, the writer refers to “adjoining neglected and abandoned East End Cemetery.” In fact, a huge swath of East End has been cleared for years and is being maintained year-round by volunteers.
The other Ms. Walker
Nine years ago, when she was just 26, Natalie Cofield was looking for a mentor. A young woman with entrepreneurship hard-wired into her spirit, Ms. Cofield was discouraged that people did not take her seriously and was disheartened that she could not make the connections she needed to further her entrepreneurial mission. So she started reading biographies of businesswomen, hoping to find inspiration on the pages that she could not find in real life.
Razor thin Pa. victory underscores importance of voting
“Eight days after Bloody Sunday, President Lyndon Johnson spoke to a joint session of the Congress and made one of the most meaningful speeches any American president had made in modern time on the whole question of voting rights and introduced the Voting Rights Act. And at one point in the speech, before President Johnson concluded the
Richmond love?
School shootings. A mad bomber.
The greater good
We are disappointed that Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s proposed 2018-2020 budget holds no more additional funds to fix up the city’s dilapidated schools than the revenue expected from a meals tax increase.
March for Our Lives
Two more people were hurt this week in the latest school shooting, this time at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Md.
4 area students receive Pi Lambda Theta scholarship awards
Four area high school seniors were honored by the Virginia Area Chapter of Pi Lambda Theta at its annual scholarship program on Sunday.
Activist Mandy Carter to speak March 23 at Diversity Richmond
Mandy Carter, co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition and of Southerners on New Ground, is speaking 7 p.m. Friday, March 23, at Diversity Richmond Event Hall, 1407 Sherwood Ave. The theme: “What do we do now?”
3 honorees to speak March 31
Two educators and a historian from the Richmond area will speak at a panel titled “Honoring Women Who Tell Our Stories.”
National Geographic acknowledges racism in coverage
National Geographic acknowledged last week that it covered the world through a racist lens for generations, with its magazine portrayals of bare-breasted women and naive brown-skinned tribesmen as savage, unsophisticated and unintelligent.
U.Va. makes NCAA history it would like to rewrite
The University of Virginia basketball team seemed ticketed for a magic carpet ride to the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
1963 NCAA game went down in the record books for different reasons
On March 15, 1963, an NCAA Tournament basketball game was played in which both schools could claim victory of sorts.
Coach Tubby Smith gets the boot at Memphis
Memo to colleges in search of a new basketball coach: One of the very best, Tubby Smith, is available again. With Richmond roots, Smith is among college basketball’s most successful coaches. He is also among the most traveled.
Maye to leave VCU Rams
Tyler Maye becomes the latest player with the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams to come down with “transfer-itis.”
VSU’s Aaron Harris becoming a heavy hitter
Aaron Harris has compiled some batting statistics even the great Hank Aaron would be proud of. Baseball fans are familiar with Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, who set numerous slugging records — most notably with a former record 755 homers — largely with the Atlanta Braves.
‘Rethinking Incarceration’
Author on justice, race and Jesus as a prisoner
The problems in the United States’ criminal justice system go all the way back to slavery, according to Dominique DuBois Gilliard, who directs racial reconciliation work for the Evangelical Covenant Church. Both slavery and incarceration are means of racial and social control, said Mr. Gilliard, who sees these controls working together throughout American history — from Jim Crow to lynchings to the war on drugs to the privatization of prisons.
Dr. Marshall Banks, retired urologist and Roman Catholic deacon, dies at 78
Dr. Marshall D. “Billy” Banks devoted his life to ministering to people as a physician and as a deacon at Cathedral of the Sacred Heart near Virginia Commonwealth University.
Former rapper Craig Mack dies at 47
Former rapper Craig Mack, best known for the platinum 1994 hit “Flava in Ya Ear” has died in South Carolina. Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey says the 47-year-old Mr. Mack died at his home in Walterboro around 9 p.m. Monday, March 12, 2018. Dr. Harvey said it appeared Mr. Mack died of natural causes.
Personality: Alex Mejias
Spotlight on president of nonprofit Business Coalition for Justice
Alex Mejias, president of the Business Coalition for Justice, believes Richmond and the nation face new challenges requiring new ideas, new coalitions and new leadership.
