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Mortician Shawn Troy stands at the grave of his father, William Penn Troy Sr., at Hillcrest Cemetery outside Mullins, S.C., on Sunday, May 23, 2021. …
Published on September 16, 2021
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Constance Guthrie, who is 74, sits in a hospital-style bed propped up by a pillow. Her daughter, Jessica Guthrie, stands next to the bed, smiling. …
Published on July 13, 2023
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An Eventbrite announcement for the “I AM HERE” healing circle read: “May the many lives that our city has lost from this tragic shooting and …
Published on July 13, 2023
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Maggie Walker High School class of 1966 class- mates Yvonne Wingfield and Charles Gilmore, below, smile for the camera Saturday at a Short Pump restaurant. …
Published on August 24, 2023
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‘Defund the FBI’? Seriously?, by Clarence Page
Yes, I had to polish my eyeglasses and put them back on for a second look before I could believe what the always provocative and occasionally rational Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had just tweeted. In a takeoff on the Black Lives Matter slogan, she tweeted “Defund the FBI.” Cute. Barely a step ahead of other like- minded law- makers, the Georgia Re- publican went on to sell hats and other sou- venir merchan- dise online with the slogan, all in response to the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of her hero, former President Donald Trump. Although more than a dozen other Republicans publicly shared Rep. Greene’s sentiments, others, like Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, were not amused. Although he was “impressed Democrats finally got us to say, ‘Defund the FBI,’” he said sarcastically, the slogan “makes you look unserious, when you start talking like that.” On that, I agree. I have ex- pressed similar criticism of the original “Defund the police” sloganasitemergedamid global protests by the Black Lives Matter movement follow- ing George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020. Although apologists defended the slogan as a call for construc- tively rethinking policies that pile too many social service burdens on police, conservatives easily turned it into a call for softness on crime. Now, in another ironic twist, a disturbing number of Repub- licans are using it to call for softness on Donald Trump. After the FBI search at the Mar-a-Lago estate, many Trump supporters have turned a slogan they hate into one that they love, Clarence Page even at the cost of the GOP calls to “Support the police” and “Back the Blue” going back at least to Richard M. Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign. Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom I call Rep.Greene’s brother in shameless grandstand- ing, threatened to give “not one more damn penny” to the FBI and other such agencies. To which BLM tweeted back with “you are corny..... But we’ll work with you to defund and dismantle the FBI. Welcome to #DefundThePolice.” While most of the GOP’s establishment leaders stayed out of the fray, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Cali- fornia tweeted after the search, “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.” Thisisthesameleaderwho, during a Police Week speech in May, said “hateful rhetoric” and policies have helped create an “environment of rising crime and put our officers in danger.” The search came after Mr. Trump failed to comply with polite invitations to return clas- sified government documents he had taken to his home. Instead, he claimed to have declared the documents “declassified” without any documentation to back that up. That’s not how declassification is done, especially when you’re no longer president. Now we see some Republi- cans finding virtue in “Defund the FBI” as a rallying cry for Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) base. They’re hungrily looking for some solace amid the pile of scandals threatening their favorite potential candidate. So far, echoing Mr. Trump’s FBI attacks appears remarkably to be working, even in the wake of shocking revelations uncovered by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. After the committee took its summer break, a poll by The New York Times and Siena College showed Trump support had weakened. But after the search at Mar-a- Lago, a new poll by the Trafalgar Group and the Convention of States Action revealed more than 80 percent of Republican respondents said the feds’ action made them more motivated to vote in this November’s midterm elections. Regardless, our justice system is being tested in this case, along withourdemocracy.Let’stake our time and do it right. Our system of justice isn’t perfect but, for now, it’s all we’ve got. The writer is a syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune edito- rial board.
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Larry J. Bland, whose leadership of The Volunteer Choir spanned more than 45 years, dies at 67
Larry Jerome Bland left his mark on gospel music in Richmond and beyond during an artistic career that spanned more than a half century.
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New president elected for National Baptist Convention USA
The Rev. Jerry Young, the convention’s former vice president, emerged from a pack of five candidates to take over from the Rev. Julius Scruggs of Huntsville, Ala.
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Fatigue and despair build as Calif. copes with massacres
In the wake of the worst mas- sacre in Los Angeles County history, the California governor was meeting gunshot victims in the hospital when he was pulled away and briefed on a mass shooting at the other end of the state.
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Harriet’s Place tea ministry opens in Washington Park
More than 100 colorful teapots of all shapes and sizes fill the idyllic home in the historic Washington Park community on North Side. They will serve as the centerpiece for Scripture Tea Fellowship Ministries, whose mission is to “provide spiritual, social, educational and economic empowerment in a safe place of refuge and relaxation over a cup of tea and the word of God,” according to the Rev. Jeanette Brown, the ministry’s founder.
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Serena loses at U.S. Open, but remains a champion
Serena Williams had been a vulnerable conqueror at this year’s majors, living dangerously and dicing with defeat on numerous occasions as she tried to become only the fourth woman to complete a calendar Grand Slam. Her luck finally ran out Sept. 11 at the U.S. Open on a court where she had not been beaten since 2011.
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K'Von Wallace playing for a national win for Clemson
A local athlete figures to have a large say in who be- comes the next NCAA football champion.
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John Marshall heads to Saturday’s state final
John Marshall High School has proven it’s tops in the Richmond area. Now the Justices are out to show they are No. 1 in Virginia.
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Stacey Abrams’ zeal for activism began with preacher parents
Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader who lost a razor-thin race for governor in 2018, voted on Oct. 15, driving her ballot to a local drop box.
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Changes creating upheaval at Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club
The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club in Church Hill is undergoing the biggest upheaval in the nearly 70 years it has offered programming.
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Questions, doubt about credibility of Rep. Robert C. Scott’s accuser
Instead, Marsheri Reese Everson appears to have completely fizzled with her claim that veteran Virginia Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd, sexually harassed her when she worked in his office more than four years ago. Since Ms. Everson leveled the charge last Friday in the company of a Republican attorney and lobbyist known for embracing conspiracy theories, doubt has been raised about her credibility.
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She's a Little League winner
Chicago squad also a standout
Mo’Ne Davis is taking the sporting world by storm with her pitching in the Little League World Series.
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Local supplies, hope headed to Africa’s Ebola-stricken areas
First it was a problem “over there.” Now it’s over here. And people are scared.
