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3 of 9 quarterbacks chosen in NFL draft are black
A wave of talented African-American quarterbacks has emerged as NFL headliners in recent years. But what are the prospects for the next wave?
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For Toronto Raptors fans: Fast facts
Maybe it’s time for the National Basketball Association to shift its name to the International Basketball Association. With the slogan “We the North,” the Toronto Raptors have reached the NBA Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.
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Cam Newton wins league MVP, but loses Super Bowl
From Super Bowl 50, we learned the “D” in Denver stands for “defense,” and Cam Newton remains a work in progress. In a game sandwiched between endless commercials and a marathon halftime show, the Denver Broncos defeated the upstart Carolina Panthers 24-10.
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Reaching toward justice
Bryan Stevenson’s inspiring and best-selling book “Just Mercy” shares some of the fruits of his lifelong fight to push our nation closer to true justice. In January, our nation took two more steps forward in the ongoing struggle to treat children like children and ensure a fairer justice system for all, especially for our poor and those of color.
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Afflicting the comfortable
In American society, we claim to support freedom of speech as a cornerstone of our democracy. Yet when it comes to certain kinds of information — particularly ideas that threaten the basis for white supremacy — censorship suddenly becomes justifiable. A teaching tool created by the African American Policy Forum recently was subject to this form of censorship in Henrico County.
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Protesters seek year-round city-run homeless shelter
About 30 members of the city’s homeless community, advocates for homeless people and other concerned residents gathered behind the city’s old Public Safety Building early last Friday evening for a rally and sleep-in protest at the entrance of the emergency overflow shelter.
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TJ’s new football coach trying to ‘translate talent into more wins’
Chad Hornik scored noteworthy victories, both on and off the field, as football coach at Richmond’s Thomas Jefferson High School from 2012 to 2015.
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Demand economic justice
This year’s presidential primaries have highlighted the importance of people of color to the Democratic Party coalition. Hillary Clinton’s lead in the party’s nomination race comes almost entirely from her strength among African-American and Latino voters. When people of color favor one candidate by large margins, they make the difference.
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Chesterfield player headed to Final Four with Syracuse
The Virginia teams in the NCAA basketball tournament are gone, but a Chesterfield County player remains in the competition. Talented Michael Gbinije is headed to the Final Four in Houston as Syracuse University’s 6-foot-7 graduate student point guard.
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Violent crime in city down in 2015
Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Police Chief Alfred Durham trumpeted a major decrease in violent crimes committed in the city during 2015 at a news conference last Friday. But the grim reality of crime’s impact on the community was illustrated when Charlene Boone stepped to the podium during the officials’ announcement last Friday at the Richmond Police Training Academy.
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Richmond Public Schools losing budget director during critical season
Richmond Public Schools is losing one of its chief budget architects as the School Board and Superintendent Dana T. Bedden prepare to kick off their budget negotiations for fiscal year 2017 with Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond City Council. Betsy Drewry, RPS director of budget and planning, will leave her position Friday, Feb. 5, to become director of budget and finance for Prince George County, she told the Free Press at Monday’s School Board meeting at City Hall. Ms. Drewry is exiting after 18 months in the position. She was the Prince George school system’s budget chief for 14 years prior to coming to Richmond.
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Gov. Northam acknowledges his own uncomfortable truths
Nearly a year after public revelations of racist photos published on his medical school yearbook page, Gov. Ralph S. Northam offered a mea culpa at Virginia Union University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Leaders Breakfast and acknowledged the lessons he has learned confronting some of his own painful truths.
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Rosa Parks’ home displayed in Italy amid racial justice backdrop
The rundown, paint-chipped Detroit house where civil rights icon Rosa Parks took refuge after her historic bus boycott is going on display in Italy in a setting that couldn’t be more incongruous: The imposing central courtyard of the Royal Palace in Naples.
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U.Va. kicks off all-ACC football season against rival Virginia Tech on Sept. 19
This will be an upside-down season for the Virginia Cavaliers.
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Now’s the time for police reform, by Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
As the worldwide demonstrations continue three weeks after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman, the question is whether o
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City attorney cautions officials against any emergency order to remove Confederate statues
Calls for City Hall to remove the last three city-owned Confederate statues on Monument Avenue before people are injured or killed trying to pull them down appeared to die this week after Interim City Attorney Haskell C. Brown III cautioned that city officials and any contractors hired to do the work could face felony charges.
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Even for conservatives, no denying reality by Rev. Dean Nelson
Too many white people on the right and left only want to listen to Black people who agree with them on everything.
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Low-key efforts waged to remove statue of segregationist Harry F. Byrd Sr. from Capitol Square
In the midst of widespread efforts to remove Confederate memorials, a similar change may be on the way for Richmond’s Capitol Square.
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NASA names D.C. headquarters for engineer Mary W. Jackson of ‘Hidden Figures’ fame
The early African-American women at NASA will not be hidden anymore.
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Are you safer today? by Dr. E. Faye Williams
We have an impeached president in our country because he has done so much destruction to our country. He has even destroyed who others believe we are.
