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Jamestown Jackal’s Myles Copeland helps save referee’s life
Basketball player Myles Copeland will forever be a hero, even if he never makes another shot.
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Juneteenth events had something for everyone
Richmonders celebrated the second official Juneteenth holiday with a four-day weekend of dancing, music, marches and several family-oriented activities.
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Mariah Carey, Neptunes join Songwriters Hall of Fame
After a glittering career of No. 1 hits Mariah Carey was finally inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 16, but not before challenging her new fellow members to do better by women.
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Historic Black cemeteries need substance, not symbolism, by Brian Palmer
Across the South on any given day, volunteers of all ages, races and backgrounds gather with hand tools and weed whackers to help restore historic Black burial grounds, many of which have been subject to the structural neglect and active violence that Jim Crow visited on African-American individuals, communities and institutions for generations. groups such as Richmond’s Friends of East End Cemetery (I’m a founding member) and Woodland Cemetery Volunteers, along with Durham, N.C.’s Friends of Geer Cemetery, have devoted years to clearing these sites of invasive overgrowth and illegally dumped garbage. They have revealed thousands of grave markers and stones, each standing for a person, that had been obscured for decades.
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New RPS teachers to earn $51,182 annually; bus drivers will earn $23 per hour
Starting pay for Richmond schoolteachers will top $50,000 for the first time after July 1.
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Personality: Corey M. Nicholson
Spotlight on board chairman of Metropolitan Junior Baseball League
Corey M. Nicholson’s lifelong appreciation for baseball, its history and its impact, goes back to his childhood spent watching hours of New York Mets games on black and white television with his grandparents. Today Mr. Nicholson uses his passion and knowledge for the game to help guide the formative sports experiences of Richmond youths as board chairman for the Metropolitan Junior Baseball League.
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Welcome home, Bobby
Robert “Bobby” L. Dandridge was a star long before the NBA made his name a household word. No one knew that better than Mr. Dandridge’s family, friends, fans and former teammates who were on hand for “The Bobby Dandridge Legacy Celebration” last Saturday at his alma mater, Maggie Walker High School (now the Maggie Walker Governor’s School) where he was a star in the late 1960s.
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John Marshall High School’s Class of 2022
Richmond Public Schools’ Class of 2022 started high school two years before the COVID-19 pandemic and spent part of the last two years as virtual learners. Now equipped with perseverance and resilience, these new graduates are primed for their next chapter.
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U.S. failed to stop fraud in COVID loan program, Clyburn says
The U.S. failed to take basic steps at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to prevent fraud in a federal aid program intended to help small businesses, depleting the funds and making people more vulnerable to identity theft, the chairman of a House panel examining the payouts said Tuesday.
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Freedom then, freedom now, by Dr. E. Faye Williams
Juneteenth is known by many names. It’s officially Juneteenth National Independence Day, but is also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day. On that day we commemorate the emancipation of enslaved persons of African descent and celebrate the richness of the African-American culture.
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Sherman Washington, 31, of Richmond watches the demolition of the Creighton Court public housing community along Nine Mile Road in Richmond’s East End on Monday. …
Published on June 9, 2022
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Personality: Sanaa Hayes
Spotlight on Richmond Public Schools top 2022 valedictorian with 5.03 GPA
It was in early May when Sanaa Hayes learned that she was an extraordinary academic achiever, not just for her high school, but the entire Richmond Public Schools system.
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Longtime VCU executive assistant dies
Antoinette Louise Best Dickerson was ‘values-driven and even-keeled’
For three decades, Antoinette Louise Best Dickerson worked behind the scenes to help keep Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts humming.
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Civil rights advocate Xernona Clayton is still ‘fearless’
A key aide to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who helped sustain the civil rights movement in the 1960s says she’s deeply saddened by the hate crimes seeking to terrorize people across America. But Xernona Clayton has been working for racial harmony since the movement began, and refuses to accept mass killings as routine.
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Area school districts review safety measures after Uvalde school shootings
The May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has prompted local school systems to review their safety measures.
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Personality: Walter M. Dotts III
Spotlight on board chair of Branch Museum of Architecture
For Walter Maxwell Dotts III, the preservation and improvement of architecture and design in Virginia’s capital has always been a family affair.
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Sidney DuPont finds a ‘powerful, dynamic and necessary’ role
Sidney DuPont knew he’d made the right career decision when musical theater icon Chita Rivera not only threw a shoe at him but also slapped his face.
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Pinkett Smith talks hair loss ‘shame,’ outcome of Oscars slap
Jada Pinkett Smith turned her husband’s Oscar-night blowup into a teachable moment about alopecia areata, the hair loss disorder affecting her and millions of others that, in some cases, can impact a person’s sense of identity.
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Episcopal Diocese of Maryland distributes $175,000 in reparations grants
The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has made an inaugural grant distribution of $175,000 after church members overwhelmingly approved a reparations fund a year and a half ago.
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Much has changed, much remains in newsrooms
The news business is consumed by constant disrup- tors and interruptions. So much so that non-breaking news often gets tossed aside. I should know. Twice in the past two weeks an announcement about me coming aboard as managing editor for the Richmond Free Press was kicked to the curb in favor of major, breaking news. As it should be. No one wants to read about journalists when mass shootings, gun violence and a deadly pandemic continue to wreak havoc locally and throughout the country. Add to that soaring gas prices, babies lacking basics, and a trip to the grocery store akin to a five-course dinner or luxury hotel stay. When such tragedies occur and wallets are hijacked, journalists should be covering them rather than focusing on themselves. This week the news has been a little less jarring, providing time for me to reflect on my new role in a city that I moved to in 1981. Back then, I accepted an offer to work at Richmond’s afternoon daily newspaper, intrigued that the City Council was predominantly Black, which indicated to me that the city was progressive. While that remains a matter of debate among many, I will say that having left Richmond in 2011 to teach Black college students in my hometown of Greensboro, N.C., I was elated to return here five years later. I missed my favorite haunts, my home in a quiet neighborhood, my fun-loving, quirky friends, my church, my sorority and my museums. Upon returning, I continued to teach at various uni- versities but experienced profound joy as a substitute teacher in Henrico County. I completed a book about Black women journalists. I also started a nonprofit me- dia organization and spent several years as a freelance reporter and editor for publications that included the Richmond Free Press. My first few days as the Free Press managing editor were chaotic to say the least. Having just returned from a restful vacation in Hilton Head, S.C. and Savannah, Ga. — you know, the city that Hyundai just chose over Virginia’s Pittsylvania County to spend $5.5 billion and hire more than 8,000 workers — I was tossed into a sea of local, state and national news that I’d not experienced since ...last February. That was when, for two weeks, I served as the Free Press guest editor in the absence of the newspaper’s former managing editor. That also was when, during Black History Month, Virginia’s newly inaugurated governor caused a furor with his condemnation of critical race theory and had folks fired up about a “tip line” to snitch on classroom teachers who dared to teach the truth about American history and slavery. The furor almost made the Ralph Northam 2019 black face debacle appear quaint. (Note to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin who made his fortune at one of the world’s most influential private equity firms: Don’t you think that time spent dissing teachers could have been better spent helping Pittsylvania County, decimated for more than a decade by furniture industry losses, secure that $5.5 billion Hyundai deal?) Before my recent re-entry into the newsroom, it had been nearly 25 years since I was a full time newspaper employee. Although much has changed since then, many aspects of the industry remain. The decline of daily newspapers began with buyouts and mergers in the early 1990s, around the same time that the Richmond Free Press was born. The dissolution of newsrooms continues today in the form of tight budgets, lean staffs, 24/7 hour news cycles and decreased circulation. Although the Free Press is a weekly newspaper, our mission is similar to that of daily print publications and online outlets. Still in the game, we are deadline driven, truth seekers and zealous about serving Richmond and surrounding communities. We are a Black-owned news- paper and revel in our reputation for providing relevant information for and about Richmond’s Black commu- nity. We also delight in knowing that our newspapers, more often than not, are consumed by many non-Black readers, too. Our staff is small, but mighty. A cadre of talented freelance reporters and photographers stand ready to support us when needed and we are proud of their presence. I remain honored and humbled (and somewhat speech- less) by an invitation from Jean P. Boone, Richmond Free Press president and publisher, to lead the Free Press. In accepting my new role, I am the second editor to do so since the death of Richmond Free Press Founder Raymond H. Boone. Never did I envision being in this position once occupied by a man whose backbone was made of steel, whose mind was sharper than any sword, and whose heart was good as gold. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Boone for allowing me — a woman who penned her first newspaper article for a Black newspaper, The Carolina Peacemaker, as a col- lege student in 1977 — to lead your life’s passion and tireless work in its continuing journey. It is my hope and prayer that you, dear readers and new readers, will continue this journey with us.
