Bucks to retire NBA great Bobby Dandridge’s number
Bob Dandridge’s No. 10 jersey soon will be hanging from the rafters at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
City Council seeks regional efforts on new ballpark
Mayor Dwight C. Jones keeps saying that he might one day return with a revamped proposal to build a new ballpark in Shockoe Bottom. However, his prospects of gaining the six City Council votes he would need to move such a proposal forward — particularly after his initial plan to build a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom went nowhere — are growing increasingly dim.
Morrissey trial set for April 28
Delegate Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey hoped for a speedier trial. Now he must wait two months to fight new grand jury indictments — including a charge that he forged a document that he presented as evidence in the case that landed him in jail.
Elkhardt’s closing signals harsh reality for mayor, City Council
Elkhardt Middle School is a fresh reminder of the increasingly shabby and dilapidated condition of most of Richmond’s school buildings — a condition that the mayor’s office and City Council have yet to seriously address despite repeated reports and warnings in recent years. Set to be shut down this Thursday night, with students, teachers and staff moving 10 miles north across the James River into the vacant Clark Springs Elementary building, Elkhardt on South Side reflects the stark reality the city is facing — the need to provide big money to keep Richmond’s school buildings usable, a reality that no longer can be papered over with rosy talk about bike races, baseball stadiums and football training camps.
A home of her own
Agencies help homeless woman with new start
Joanne H. Murray greeted the visitor to her apartment with a warm smile. She sat on a small couch in the modest one-bedroom dwelling on the city’s North Side.
Equal rights for women should be in constitution
For the third time in four years, the Virginia Senate has voted to ratify the long overdue Equal Rights Amendment. If ratified by the House of Delegates, Virginia would become the 36th out of the 38 states needed to ratify this important economic and civil rights constitutional amendment for women.
All movements are connected
As we celebrate Black History Month, we have the opportunity to reflect on our culture, our history, our triumphs and all the mountains we still have yet to climb. From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we have learned that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” In Richmond, several organizations and individuals are carrying the torch toward an equal and just society. We realize that all movements are connected as they all are symptoms of deeply engrained societal issues such as racism, classism, sexism and corporatism.
Real realities of poverty
The racial differential in the poverty rate is staggering. About 12 percent of the people in the United States, one in eight people are poor. Depending on race and ethnicity, however, poverty is experienced differently. Fewer than one in 10 white people are poor; more than one in four African- Americans and Latinos are poor. Differences in occupation, income, employment and education are considered the main reasons for poverty, with current and past discrimination playing a role in educational, employment and occupational attainment. We see the discrimination when we consider that African-American women with a doctoral degree have median earnings of about $1,000 a week, compared to about $1,200 a week for black men and white women, and $1,600 a week for white men. White men earn 60 percent more than African-American women, and a third more than black men and white women.
Each generation offers something
Whether it is in an inner-city neighborhood across America, the Caribbean, in Europe or in a sprawling mass of people in an African or Brazilian urban area, millions of black youths throughout the world are crying out for a better quality of life. They should always have a better life than their parents. I always try to keep my eyes and ears open to see and hear what our youths are saying and doing. The axiom that the future is in the hands of the young is certainly true today. I admire and support young people who stand up and speak out for freedom and equal justice.
Enhancing all lives
We applaud the Richmond Police Department brass and Chief-to-be Alfred Durham for initiating and carrying out a confab with more than 150 people in response to the #BlackLivesMatter protests across the city. We also applaud the scores of Richmond area young people who are actively committed to ensuring social justice is given more than lip service by public servants — accountable to the people — who hold elected and appointed offices.
Christians are no exception
It has been exasperating to read and listen to the attacks against President Obama for the comments he made during last week’s National Prayer Breakfast. In case you missed the speech, or the resulting dust-up, here are the comments that drew the ire of his critics: “And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
Reuben V. Burrell, 95, Hampton University photographer
Reuben V. Burrell captured the history and essence of Hampton University during more than 65 years of service as the university’s staff photographer. He was affectionately known as “One-Shot Burrell” for skills developed during the 1940s wartime when film, flashbulbs and photographic resources were hard to get.
Donald G. Hatcher, 75, social justice advocate
Donald G. Hatcher would step to the podium to address the mayor, members of Richmond City Council, the School Board or officials at other city meetings and one could sense the representatives’ trepidation. They knew, more often than not, that Mr. Hatcher, the quick- witted, sharp-tongued social activist, was about to give them an earful.
Church headed by controversial pastor burns
Tampa firefighters battled a blaze at a church led by controversial pastor Dr. Henry J. Lyons, former head of the 7.5 million-member National Baptist Convention.
Ugandan children’s choir to give free concert
The internationally acclaimed Watoto Children’s Choir of Uganda is scheduled to perform at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Henrico County, it has been announced. The free concert will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the church at 4247 Creighton Road, accord- ing to Dr. Lance D. Watson, pastor of St. Paul’s.
Richmond Outreach Center sheds properties
The Richmond Outreach Center continues to try and shed high-priced properties in the wake of the sex scandal involving its former senior pastor, Geronimo “Pastor G” Aguilar. The South Side church has had its former School of Urban Ministry at 3000 Chamberlayne Ave. on North Side for sale since October.
Richmond Unitarian church starts pledge to end racism
The Birmingham Pledge to end racism is painted on the wall of the city’s police headquarters in Birmingham, Ala. “I will discourage racial prejudice by others at every opportunity ...” the pledge on the wall reads. A painting of four white and black boys with their arms around each other accompanies the pledge, which first circulated around Birmingham about two decades ago.
Sophomore Taya Robinson drawing collegiate interest
Now there are two good reasons to visit Huguenot High School — to eyeball the sparkling new school and to observe the Falcons’ sophomore basketball star. Few glow brighter with a basketball in her hands than Taya Robinson, a 5-foot-10 tower of talent who has drawn nationwide recruiting attention.
Residents spar over views on local policing
Richmond residents clashed Tuesday at a community forum on whether they believe the city has a policing problem. Several older residents viewed the Richmond Police Department as a benevolent force. They questioned whether a local discussion about police misconduct and brutality is necessary, even as young people have taken to the streets to protest discriminatory police practices across the country. “This is 2015,” said longtime Richmond resident Carrie Cox at the community gathering dubbed the “Peeps and Police Community Conversations,” held at the Richmond Police Training Academy. “We have the best department in the world.”
Love Stories
Follow your heart
I was the 28-year-old executive director of the Virginia United Negro College Fund, scouting locations in Richmond for the annual Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon.
