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Retiring HU president offers advice to graduates
Hampton University’s 152nd annual commencement celebrated graduates as well as the 44-year tenure of HU President William R. “Bill” Harvey, who is retiring on June 30. Dr. Harvey, 81, served as the keynote speaker for the commencement, which was held on Mother’s Day at the Hampton University Convocation Center on campus. Dr. Harvey highlighted a long list of accomplishments made by the university under his stewardship, such as the creation of the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute to treat cancer and increasing the university’s endowment from $29 million to more than $400 million today. Dr. Harvey told the graduates, “Don’t settle with being the employee; I want you to be the employer. Don’t settle with representing the firm or corporation; I want you to own the firm or corporation. See the horizon as not a limit, but an invitation….” He offered grandfatherly advice to graduates, ranging from the financial -- “Pay yourself first. Save something from every single paycheck. Buy some property”– to the social – “Stay away from drugs and drug dealers. They will destroy your life or make it miserable.” Dr. Harvey went on to tell graduates to “fight racism every time it arises” and to “be positive role models. Be somebody.” He closed out his address by telling graduates to support Hampton University with their money. During the ceremony, Rashida Jones, who became the first Black woman to lead a cable news network when she was named president of MSNBC in February 2021, received the Outstanding 20-Year Alumna Award. The Henrico High School graduate earned a bachelor’s degree in mass media arts from Hampton University in 2002. Earlier this year, she launched the Rashida Jones Scholarship Fund for journalism students at the university. Thomas Hasty III, senior executive vice president and chief regulatory risk officer of TowneBank, received the Outstanding Alumnus-at-Large Award. He graduated from HU in 1977 with a degree in business. Honorary degrees were awarded to former Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Charles Thomas, who was the first Black named to the state’s highest court in 1983, and Christopher Newport University President Paul S. Trible Jr., who represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate from 1983 to 1989.
Our dollars as a form of resistance, by Julianne Malveaux
Our nation’s gross domestic product, or GDP, is a function of consumer spending. We are prodded, cajoled, enticed and engaged in the spending exercise, and all that happens because money makes the world go round.
No debt deal = doom
The clock is ticking on a potentially serious financial crisis that could affect you and your family.
Slavery memorial to gain in capital budget plan
The battle over the ballpark in Shockoe Bottom apparently is over. At the same time, hopes are fading for Richmond Public Schools to gain funding to develop essential new schools on South Side to relieve overcrowding.
GRTC adding unlimited rides
Pay one fare and get unlimited bus rides for a day, a week or a month. That’s an option that cash-strapped GRTC expects to begin offering by the fall in a bid to pump up ridership. GRTC won a 9-0 vote Tuesday from Richmond City Council to inaugurate what is regarded as the biggest change in fare pricing since the start of public transit in the city.
Young people and vaping
Nearly half a million people die every year from complications from smoking. About a tenth of them never put a cigarette to their lips; they die from exposure to second-hand smoke.
Obamacare still vital
Signature health care law remains intact despite GOP assaults
Don’t panic if you bought individual or family health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. The ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare, is struggling but still alive and will continue to operate, according to experts in the field, despite President Trump’s decision last week to cut off premium subsidies to insurance companies.
What will the Black History Museum leave out with Confederate statues?
Re “Confederate pedestals out: Grass and landscaping to soon replace dead soldiers,” Free Press Feb. 3-5 edition:
Leadership needed
We are disappointed at the tumult engulfing the Virginia State Conference NAACP, which was brought on by the resignation last week of the civil rights organization’s 29-year-old executive director, Da’Quan Love.
VLBC rejects ‘whitewash’ of state’s school curriculum
The members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus (VLBC) write to condemn and reject the revised draft Virginia History and Social Science standards of learning proposed last Friday by the Governor’s Administration. The members of the VLBC have deep concerns with the politically-drafted revised standards that literally revise, whitewash, and omit important history in Virginia’s school curriculum.
Accrediting body imposes warning on VUU
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) placed Virginia Union University on warning last month.
Voices for the Vote Rally slated for Saturday in Petersburg
The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, along with several partner organizations, is hosting rallies across the state this weekend to speak out against voter suppression and to assist people to register to vote. The Central Virginia Voices for the Vote Rally will be held 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 4, on Pocahontas Island in Petersburg.
Why Lee statue should remain
I am aghast at the performance of Gov. Ralph S. Northam. He has ordered the removal of and permitted the desecration of the statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue by a rowdy mob of anarchists.
State Supreme Court halts evictions through June 29
At least 1,349 households in Richmond and hundreds more around the state have a three-week reprieve from eviction proceedings as the state prepares to roll out a rent relief program.
How will race impact pardons for marijuana possession?
President Biden has signed an executive order pardoning thousands of Americans who have been federally convicted for a “simple” marijuana possession charge prior to Oct. 6.
Walker wall tribute
Cityscape: Slices of life and scenes in Richmond
This dramatic mural graces the back entrance of Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School at Lombardy and Leigh streets.
Trouble doubles
Petersburg’s creditors lining up, suing to get paid
Dironna Moore Belton is counting on a flood of money pouring into Petersburg’s treasury in coming days from residents paying their first quarter property tax bills.
City businesses ready to reopen, welcome customers next week
Renada Harris, owner of Silk Hair Studio on Broad Street near Virginia Commonwealth University spent last Thursday calling clients to cancel appointments made for Friday, May 15, the date businesses were to partially reopen under Gov. Ralph S. Northam’s executive order.
Saving the past
Bradford family descendants, supporters work to protect old Sons and Daughters of Ham Cemetery
Dense woods fill much of a largely uncelebrated and essentially abandoned African-American burial ground in Henrico County that had been best known in recent years as a practice area for University of Richmond runners.
