Level the education playing field
I am saddened and frustrated every time I hear about the academic achievement gulf that exists between black students and their white classmates in our nation’s public schools. I am saddened because I know that, without a quality education, the future for these children is bleak. I am frustrated because if we don’t do something now, we will continue to fail these children in a way that will cause irreparable harm to them, their families — both current and future — our communities and the world.
Power in the word
Performing spoken word helps 15-year-old Leslie Reyes deal with the gruesome death she witnessed at age 9 of a 16-year-old friend. With a steady voice, Leslie tells a packed audience of more than 100 people that she watched her best friend die from gunshot wounds in El Salvador. She tells the room of mostly strangers about the “blood-covered gauze and stitched up holes on his shoulder and leg.”
‘Do Something’ awards presented this weekend
Twenty-one people will be honored this weekend for their impact on the Richmond community. The honorees will be presented with the first “Do Something” awards from two nonprofits, The Disciples Journey and The Dream Makers Academy. The goal of the awards is “to create an awareness of organizations and people who are making a difference and to move others to take action,” said Ervin Johnson, founder and director of the two organizations.
Broadway returns to Richmond this fall
The Grand Ballroom of Richmond’s Altria Theater was turned into a mini musical last week with a preview of the 2015-16 “Broadway in Richmond” season. About 100 subscribers to the series and media representatives were treated to lively performances by talented cast members from three of the five upcoming shows that will run from November through May at the Altria Theater. The performances had the audience dancing in their seats.
Local input sought on Shockoe Bottom
Wanted: Community involvement in creating a new development plan for Shockoe Bottom. An activist group is seeking public input now that Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ plan for a new baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom appears to be going nowhere. The mayor’s combo baseball-development plan has been on hold for 10 months after failing to win City Council support. The Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, which battled the mayor’s plan as an effort to erase the history of slavery in Richmond, announced it would hold several brainstorming sessions in the next few days to solicit public suggestions for the historical and commercial development of Shockoe Bottom, an epicenter of the slave trade before the Civil War.
Transformation Expo at Coliseum
Renowned preacher, author, filmmaker and entrepreneur Bishop T.D. Jakes is coming to Richmond this weekend. The 57-year-old pastor at the 30,000-member The Potter’s House church in Dallas is scheduled to speak at the annual 2015 Transformation Expo 4 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at the Richmond Coliseum in Downtown. Doors open at 11 a.m. for the expo, which is scheduled from noon to 5 p.m. Organizer Radio One describes it as “a day of empowerment, education and entertainment.”
‘The Gong Show’ dancer succumbs
Eugene Patton, the stagehand who earned fame as “Gene Gene The Dancing Machine” on NBC’s quirky television talent program “The Gong Show,” has died, his family announced. He died Monday, March 9, 2015, in Pasadena, Calif., after suffering from diabetes, his family said. He was 82. The show, hosted by creator and producer Chuck Barris, featured acts by amateurs who auditioned for three celebrity judges. The judges would bang a gong onstage to send the bad acts packing. The show aired from 1976 to 1978.
Rovenia Vaughan, former president of Virginia NAACP
Rovenia Vaughan was a trailblazing member of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP. In 1999, she was the first woman to be elected president of the state’s largest civil rights organization. The state branch was started in the 1930s. “Once the ballots were counted, I felt the delegates had spoken and my past service to the organization was the reason I was elected,” she said when featured as the Free Press Personality in the Nov. 11-13, 1999, edition.
VUU women’s coach resigns; men’s coach under evaluation
Barvenia Wooten-Cherry has resigned after five seasons as Virginia Union University women’s basketball coach. Her Lady Panthers were 9-18 overall this past season, 4-12 in the CIAA and advanced to the second round of the recent conference tournament in Charlotte, N.C. In accepting Coach Wooten-Cherry’s resignation, VUU Athletic Director Joe Taylor applauded her for her efforts, but noted that college coaching is a bottom-line occupation. “Off the court, Coach Wooten-Cherry did a lot to assure it was a good experience for her players,” said Taylor. “But at this level, it’s about wins and losses.”
High court’s war on President Obama
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was lambasted as a turncoat, traitor and betrayer by conservatives when he cast the deciding fifth vote in 2012 upholding the constitutional soundness of the Affordable Care Act. This allowed states and the federal government to put in an array of measures to fully implement the act. That didn’t end the matter. Conservatives dug deep and found a provision buried in the law that purports that only states and not the federal government can set up insurance exchanges. The case is King vs. Burwell. If the court upholds the challenge, it would nullify the subsidies in the form of IRS approved tax credits that the millions of people who signed up for coverage in those states receive.
George Wythe High driving toward state championship
In 1975, Willard Coker was an up-tempo, high-energy guard who led Winston-Salem’s R.J. Reynolds High School to the state championship in North Carolina. Now, 40 years later, Coach Coker — still brimming with energy — is close to winning another high school state title state, this time as coach. Coach Coker’s fast-breaking George Wythe High School Bulldogs were playing unbeaten Spotswood High School of Rockingham County in the State 3A finals at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center at press time for the Free Press on Wednesday, March 11. The Wythe Bulldogs improved to 25-4 on Tuesday, March 10, by cruising past Northside High School near Roanoke, 78-57. Coach Coker “let the Dogs out” at just the right time for peak perfection.
Prospects dim on third city charter school
Plenty of words are expected to be spilled next week when supporters and foes of a proposed boys-only charter school appear before the Richmond School Board to speak about the combination middle-high school. But the public hearing that the Richmond School Board has scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, March 16, could be an exercise in futility for charter school organizers such as Tunya Bingham, a corporate tax expert who has spent three years trying to get the Metropolitan Preparatory Academy open.
Selma march inspires Richmonder
Rita Willis said she was overcome with emotion when she reached the top of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., late Sunday afternoon. “I just broke down and cried,” the 65-year-old Henrico County resident said. Ms. Willis was among the tens of thousands of people from across the nation — including President Obama, his family, dignitaries and foot soldiers from the time — who assembled in Selma last weekend to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody
Preston to challenge Dance for Senate seat
In a surprise move, Joseph E. Preston announced this week he would give up the seat he recently won in the House of Delegates and challenge freshman Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance in the16th Senate District that stretches from Richmond’s East End to the Petersburg area. Delegate Preston’s decision comes barely two months after he replaced Sen. Dance as the representative for the 63rd House District. It also appears fueled, in part, by a dispute he and Sen. Dance have over the choice of the first African-American judge for the Petersburg Circuit Court.
Dreams deferred
Hopewell brothers jailed 72 days until charges dropped
At first, the story seems all too familiar. Two Hopewell teenagers rob two pedestrians at gunpoint near a private school, but are quickly caught when responding police officers scour the area and arrest them a few minutes later as they are buying sodas and pastries at a nearby convenience store. With police boasting about having strong evidence, the teenage brothers are kept in jail for two and a half months — twice refused bond because they are charged with a crime of violence involving a weapon. But just as suddenly, the case evaporates. The evidence does not stand up, and the brothers are freed to resume their lives.
Movie screening to raise money for Sudan refugees
Virginia Commonwealth University is hosting a screening of the movie “The Good Lie” 4 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at the VCU Commons Theater. The goal is to raise money to aid Sudanese refugees living in camps across the Sudan border in Gambela, Ethiopia, according to Manyang Reath Kher, founder and CEO of the Henrico County-based Humanity Helping Sudan Project. The group is organizing the fundraiser. An estimated 200,000 Sudanese now live in such refugee camps, Mr. Kher said.
Sen. McEachin to speak at Garland Ave. Men’s Day
Fresh from serving as chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus in the recently adjourned Virginia General Assembly’s 2015 legislative session, Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico County, will wear his ministerial hat at a North Side church’s Men’s Day celebration this weekend.
Personality: Samantha Thompson
Spotlight on founder and president of Esteem Teens
Samantha Thompson tries to pass along to youngsters one of the most valuable lessons she learned growing up in the Fairfield Court public housing community in Richmond’s East End. That lesson: “It doesn’t matter where you come from. Anyone can overcome those obstacles to succeed.” She founded Esteem Teens, a nonprofit mentoring group, in 2008 to impart that uplifting message to youths living in disadvantaged communities in the city. “We share our stories with the kids to do and be more than their physical address,” says Ms. Thompson, who serves as president of the organization.
Ferguson’s double message
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Ferguson investigation offers plenty for both sides of this dispute to hate. Seven months after the shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by former white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson sparked national protests and a #BlackLivesMatter movement, U.S. Justice Department sleuths found enough evidence to let the cop off the hook but indicted the criminal justice system in which he worked. That’s enraging to Michael Brown’s family and many protesters nationwide who wanted to see Mr. Wilson prosecuted. But the evidence kept pointing the other way, said Mr. Holder, who would hardly be called an apologist for police abuse or racial profilers.
The Arena brings back memories
Re “Hoop Dreams: Playing at The Arena was ‘big time,’” Feb. 26-28 edition: Kudos to the Richmond Free Press for its article by Fred Jeter. It was a jewel!
