Local music minister treasures experience at Stellar Awards
James Johnson did not win any Stellar Awards in Las Vegas last Saturday night, but he said it was an experience he will forever treasure. “I had an amazing time,” the minister of music at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God told the Free Press Monday after returning to Richmond. “The outpouring of phone calls, text messages and Facebook posts I received in support from everyone back home in Richmond made me feel like nothing less than a winner.”
Two new women’s groups chartered
Two national women’s organizations chartered local chapters in luncheon ceremonies last weekend. Above, 40 women were installed into the Richmond Metropolitan Area Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc. The 33-year-old organization’s mission is to develop leaders and empower African-American women.
MBL honors business owners at awards gala
Software developer Keshau Rogers is the Metropolitan Business League’s Entrepreneur of the Year. The founder and CEO of Richmond-based Websmith Group, Ms. Rogers received the MBL’s top award March 26 at the group’s 24th annual awards dinner and reception at a Downtown hotel. A Lynchburg native, Ms. Rogers founded the company in 2004 after working 10 years in software development. Her company is at 318 W. Broad St. in Downtown and offers Internet software and mobile applications for information management.
Monument Avenue race freezes out African elite runners
The popular Monument Avenue 10K looks pretty much the same as it always has — except for the runners at the very front of the pack. Approximately 30,000 runners, joggers and walkers signed up for this year’s 16th edition of the annual event coordinated by Richmond Sports Backers.
Petersburg PACE program closing
Riverside Health System is closing its Petersburg PACE program designed to keep elderly people in their homes and avoid expensive nursing home care. Sixty-seven people served by the program will be affected, said Riverside spokesperson Caitlyn Worner. She said they are being encouraged to continue the program at one of two Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) locations in Richmond, with transportation provided. Individuals known as navigators are assigned to help them transition to care in Richmond this month.
Senate race may prove crucial in chamber control
Richmond will be in the center of the high-profile political fight to replace retiring Republican state Sen. John Watkins in the General Assembly. Both major political parties are expected to go all out to capture the 10th Senate District seat that appears to be the key to control of the closely divided state Senate where Republicans now hold sway. The GOP already has selected its candidate, Glen H. Sturtevant Jr., an attorney and a member of the Richmond School Board since 2013.
3 Dems knocked out of primary races
Three potential contenders for Richmond area seats in the General Assembly have been knocked out at the starting gate — at least temporarily. Former Delegate Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey and Dr. Derik E. Jones, son of Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones, are among the disqualified. Both were blocked from challenging state Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance in a Democratic primary in the 16th Senate District that stretches from Richmond to Petersburg.
Judge throws out felony charges against Morrissey
Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey no longer has four felony charges hanging over his head. Judge Alfred D. Swersky threw out the indictments facing the former General Assembly member Wednesday at a hearing in Henrico County Circuit Court. Judge Swersky, who was appointed to hear the case, agreed with defense attorney Anthony Troy that a previous plea deal that resulted in Mr. Morrissey serving 90 days in jail included a grant of immunity that blocked prosecutors from bringing any new charges related to that case.
‘Bloody, but unbowed’
U.Va. student beaten by ABC agents; Gov. McAuliffe orders all agents retrained
The photo of Martese Johnson lying dazed, bloodied and bruised on the pavement is almost iconic. Blood streams like huge tears from the gash on his forehead and covers his face. His shirt is saturated with blood. The gruesome image of the University of Virginia honors student was captured in photographs and by video only seconds after he was slammed to the ground by state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents outside a Charlottesville bar last week on St. Patrick’s Day. The images, posted on the Internet, have gone viral — drawing fire from people across the nation as yet another example of unwarranted police brutality unleashed against a young black male.
When Freedom Came, Part 1
The Free Press presents a series chronicling the black experience during the liberation of Richmond in April 1865 and the end of the Civil War.
Bishop T.D. Jakes uplifts Richmond audience
Bishop T.D. Jakes strutted, danced, shouted and spoke in hushed tones Saturday, adding a thunderous exclamation mark to the 2015 Transformation Expo, an annual faith gathering hosted by Radio One. Time and again, fiery exhortations by the 57-year-old, best-selling author and filmmaker who leads the 30,000-member Potter’s House church in Dallas drew the enthusiastic audience of about 4,500 people to its feet. They applauded and shouted approval during his moving one-hour message. The event, at the Richmond Coliseum, also featured about a dozen gospel artists.
Song by local music minister up for Stellar Awards
James Johnson was aboard a plane last spring bound for a recording session with the Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir when inspiration struck. “I was looking out at the clouds, at his creation, and I was thinking about just how great God is,” he recalled. At that moment, Mr. Johnson, the minister of music at Richmond’s Cedar Street Baptist Church of God, wrote the verses and the end of the song, “You Alone.”
C’evon Jones wins NCAA track title
For years, C’evon Jones trained for a moment like this. And when the moment arrived, she was ready. The Virginia Union University sprinter won the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field title in the 60-meters competition March 14 in Birmingham, Ala. The junior from Pompano Beach, Fla., was timed at 7.35 seconds. Taking second place was Winston-Salem State University’s Raven Covington with 7.42 seconds.
Kind acts should be recognized
There are many acts of kindness in the Richmond community that I think go unrecognized and deserve more attention. I’d like to point out three that I know of: Eight-year-old Marty Cobb was killed last May trying to protect his 12-year-old sister from a sexual assault. He made the greatest sacrifice: He gave his life for his sister.
Racism is stupidity
There has been a lot in the news this past year about racism and hate crimes. But to me, racism is the stupidest kind of stupidity there is. I just cannot fathom hating someone because of the color of their skin.
Fight with ballots, not bullets
It’s time for another Revolutionary War. Not a violent conflict like the one that brought this country into existence, but instead one that should be fought with ballots, not bullets. The necessity for this new war of American liberation became clear to me just days after President Obama led a 50th anniversary march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., to celebrate the event that sparked Congress to pass the 1965 Voting Rights Act. That legislation opened the way for millions of disenfranchised voters — mostly black and Hispanic — to exercise this democracy’s most basic freedom. It provided federal protections to ensure that state and local governments did not create barriers to voting for black people and other minorities.
Black vote must count in Ferguson
Ferguson, Mo., will hold municipal elections April 7. The mayor and five of the six city council members are white. Three are up for re-election. Since Michael Brown was gunned down by former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, the one loud refrain has been how could a city where African-Americans make up the overwhelming majority of the population be policed by a nearly all-white police force, and governed by a nearly all-white city administration? The thought was that the Brown slaying angered and engaged so many thousands that it was almost a done deal that the first chance black residents got they’d jam the polls and totally revamp city government in Ferguson.
Missed opportunity
Talk about a missed opportunity to put Richmond in the spotlight. We are talking about the celebration next week of the liberation of our city from the grip of slave power and the human oppression that was taken for granted since the nation’s founding. This should be a huge event. After all, Richmond was at the epicenter of a dramatic struggle for the soul of America. For four terrible years, the question of whether a flawed democratic nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal was debated in blood and cannon fire.
Grayland’s pastor to preach his retirement sermon
The Rev. Clifton Whitaker Jr. says he is eternally grateful to the members of Grayland Baptist Church for allowing him to be their pastor. “They took a chance when they hired me,” he told the Free Press. “I was still a student in the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. I had never pastored anywhere else before.” Now, 33 years later, it’s apparent the spiritual marriage between Rev. Whitaker and the congregation at 2301 Third Ave. on North Side was a match made in heaven.
U.S. Colored Troops re-enactors to march into Richmond for 150th anniversary events
A four-day commemoration in Richmond organized by a coalition of organizations called The Future of Richmond’s Past will mark the 150th anniversary of the liberation of Richmond, ending its role as the epicenter of the slave trade. A major highlight will be the “Blue Coats Parade,” starting 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4. It is a commemorative procession along East Main and Bank streets from Rockett’s Landing to the State Capitol to follow the route of the United States Colored Troops who led the Union Army in liberating Confederate-held Richmond. Re-enactors will march west along East Main Street, follow 14th Street to Bank Street and enter Capitol Square along 9th Street between 10:30 and 11 a.m. Contemporary military units will join the procession.
