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Equal justice, even for Trump, by Clarence Page
Yusef Salaam, whom you may remember as one of the exonerated Central Park Five, had only one word to tweet to those who wanted to know his feelings about the indictment of Donald Trump: “Karma,” he offered. Karma? I’ve heard about it. Drawn from concepts of re- birth in Indian religions, I’ve been advised to think of kar- maasaformof cosmic justice: Good deeds and intent lead to good karma and happier re- births while bad karma may lead to times that are not so jolly. Mr. Salaam was one of five Black and Hispanic teenagers wrongfully imprisoned for the 1989 rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park, a case that later was explored in a 2019 Netflix series “When They See Us” and a PBS documentary “The Central Park Five.” In 1989, before any of the five teens had been tried, Mr. Trump, then a major Manhat- tan real estate developer with a bottomless appetite for self- promotion, took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the death penalty to be reinstated in New York. Adding kerosene to public anger at the time, the ads were reported to have played a major role in securing a conviction. So did false confessions, it turned out, since no DNA linked them to the crime scene and their descriptions of the victim didn’t match. Mr. Salaam served nearly seven years in prison before he and the other wrongfully accused teens—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise—were Clarence Page exonerated in 2002. Serial rapist Matias Reyes, already in prison, confessed to the assault and DNA confirmed his admission. Ah, how the mighty have fallen. The presumption of inno- cence until proved guilty seemed almost nowhere to be seen in Mr. Trump’s world when the Central Park Five case raged across the headlines and boiled over into a national media frenzy. Yet, as Mr. Salaam mentions in his tweet, Mr. Trump—for whom “apologetic” is not part of his brand—never has apologized. Still, he seeks the presumption of innocence he has denied to others. So be it. Let’s see how well his innocence claims hold up. For now, Mr. Trump’s chants of “Lock her up” in his 2016 race against Hillary Clinton come to mind. Now that it is he who faces what has been reported to be more than 30 counts related to business fraud in a sealed indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, I wonder: Can chants of “Lock HIM up” be far behind? Still, the stress test to which the former president has put our crimi- nal justice system offers a valuable opportunity to view fairness in our system with new eyes. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the ultraconservative Repub- lican from Georgia, suddenly has become a major advocate for inmates of the District of Columbia jail, now that their ranks were joined by detainees from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Interesting, I said to myself. Since the alleged insurrectionists are mostly white and the D.C. jail’s traditional population is overwhelmingly Black, maybe now they can see how the other half lives. Unsurprisingly, they were shocked. The jail’s conditions, were so bad that 34 of them sug- gested in a letter to federal court last fall that they would rather be moved to Guantanamo Bay. Detainees, through their lawyers, raised concerns that included threats from guards, standing sewage, and skimpy food and water. A federal judge held top jail officials in contempt after they delayed prompt medi- cal care for a Capitol defendant in their custody. Things have gotten better, spurred partly by Rep. Greene and other congressional visitors. But the irony of how it took 40 or so Capitol rioters to get more attention and action than the jail’s roughly 1,400 total inmates is not lost, especially on the inmates of color. Rep. Greene, seldom known for understatement, visited the jail and likened the rioters inside to “prisoners of war,” implying that they were being punished for their politics. Actually they’re being held for a lot more than that. Don’t forget the physical assaults on Capitol Police with pepper spray, bear spray and riot shields, just for starters. Equal justice for all is a cherished ideal in the American system, a system they tried to disrupt. We must do all that we can to preserve that ideal, even for those who try to destroy it. The writer is a syndicated columnist and senior member of the Chicago Tribune edito- rial board.
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Richmond Symphony celebrates MLK weekend with three concerts
Dr. Henry Panion III, a Grammy-award winning arranger, composer, conductor, educator and producer, has worked with artists across the musical spectrum.
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Personality: Altamese R. Johnson
Spotlight on winner of AARP Virginia’s Shaw Advocacy Award
Altamese R. Johnson first met the late Elvira B. Shaw in the early 1990s, when the two attended an AARP meeting with Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott of Newport News. The two became fast friends, advocating for issues important to AARP, whose stated mission is “leading positive social change and delivering value to people age 50 and over through information, advocacy and service,” according to the organization.
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Undeterred
Not to be blocked by court, Gov. McAuliffe restores voting rights of 13,000 felons; creates system to help thousands more
Just a month after the Virginia Supreme Court blocked his attempt to restore the voting rights of more than 200,000 felons, Gov. Terry McAuliffe is once again charging ahead on this “issue of basic justice.”
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Personality: Enjoli Moon
Spotlight on founder of Richmond’s Afrikana Independent Film Festival
Enjoli Moon first contemplated the idea of starting the Afrikana Independent Film Festival in 2014. “I was planning to attend black film festivals in other areas and began to wonder why Richmond didn’t have one,” the Richmond native recalls.
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Magic moment
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, is first Black woman chosen as running mate by a major party’s presidential candidate
For the first time, a Black woman will be on a major party’s presidential ticket.
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'Hair Love' gives color to Oscar winners list
A touching story about an African-American father trying to do his daughter’s hair for the first time is an Oscar winner.
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Dems win control
For the first time in 24 years, Democrats will hold the majority in the state Senate and House of Delegates
For the first time in 24 years, Virginia voters handed Democrats control of both houses of the General Assembly in Tuesday’s election.
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Weathering addiction
Spencer Christian, Va. native and former national television weatherman, has been haunted by a gambling addiction for decades
Growing up in Charles City County in the last decades of legally mandated racial segregation in Virginia, Spencer Christian did not think as a child he would someday become a top nationally known television weather forecaster. As a young adult in a new American era, he became a well-recognized television personality as part of ABC’s “Good Morning America” team for 13 years.
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’His Airness’ Michael Jordan also knew how to swing a bat
Michael Jordan the basketball player is a global legend. His greatness is beyond debate. Meanwhile, Jordan the baseball player remains a bit of a mystery, his status open to discussion.
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Personality: LaFarn L. Burton
Spotlight on president of nonprofit LB Beauty Education Foundation
If you want to make the beauty industry your livelihood, you want to be the best there is.
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MLB playoffs start Oct. 4
After a grinding seven-month regular season, Major League Baseball is starting all over this week with playoffs leading to the World Series.
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Hooray for the Hoos!
The University of Virginia Cavaliers beat Texas Tech in a nail-biting overtime game to clinch the first NCAA title in school’s history
The University of Virginia’s dream season could turn into dream seasons —plural. U.Va. won its first NCAA basketball title Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, defeating Texas Tech 85-77 in overtime.
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A lifetime of racism makes Alzheimer’s disease more common in Black Americans
Constance Guthrie is not dead yet, but her daughter has begun to plan her funeral.
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Love Stories
The Free Press proudly presents its annual Valentine’s Day feature. It shares the Love Stories of five Richmond-area couples.
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Personality: Lynette Lewis Allston
Spotlight on the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees president
When the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts named its newest Board of Trustees president, Lynette Lewis Allston became the first Native American elected to the role in the museum’s 86- year history. The current chief and chair emeritus of the Tribal Council of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia also will be the first Native American board chair of a top 10 U.S. comprehensive art museum.
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Personality: Margaret Rose ‘Meg’ Medina
Spotlight on National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
Amid ongoing campaigns against certain kinds of literature in the United States, Margaret Rose “Meg” Medina has been given a new platform and new responsibility to champion the value of the written word.
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Personality: Brenda A. Campbell
Spotlight on founder of The Enhancement Foundation
For Brenda A. Campbell, founding executive director of The Enhancement Foundation, “Christmas: A Season of Celebration, A Lupus Fundraising Event” is an opportunity for her nonprofit organization to reach out to women across the city and inform them about an illness that affects women by a large margin.
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Personality: Shelly McKee-Sutton
Spotlight on volunteer chair of The Compassionate Friends RVA’s ‘Walk to Remember’
The loss of a child is one of the most horrific times for parents and their families who suffer grief, sorrow and, sometimes, guilt.
