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Survival, by Dr. E. Faye Williams
My focus has been the achievement of social and economic justice for those who’ve been historically or systematically disadvantaged by the imposition of impediments to their progress — typically, women and people of color.
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President Biden promotes education spending at Virginia stops
President Joe Biden traveled Monday to Yorktown and Portsmouth to promote his plans to increase spending on education and children, part of his $1.8 trillion families proposal announced last week.
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Rejected casino group threats legal challenge to city selection process
Dennis Cotto has spent much of his adult life fighting legal battles.
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Personality: Navi Johnson
Spotlight on founder of RVA Black Farmers Market
For many, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to difficult times. For Navi Johnson, it was the impetus for a new public space for African-Americans.
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Funeral traditions changed – maybe permanently – by COVID-19
John E. Thomasson was a hero in his hometown. As a member of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, he was the first African-American elected to public office in the county. Across 98 years, he built a successful realty company, helped to save mortgages, paid for college scholarships and owned the local funeral home for 53 years, where he oversaw the burials of thousands of Virginians. When he died of an age-related illness on July 22, there was hardly anyone in Louisa County who had not been touched by his life. Other than his wife of more than 65 years, the Rev. Christine Thomasson, there is likely no one who knows his impact better than his successor, D.D. Watson Jr., who was handpicked by Mr. Thomasson to purchase and take over his funeral home business in 2004. And yet upon the death of Mr. Thomasson—a businessman, philanthropist, politician and public servant whose life and work was recognized this year in a proclamation from the Virginia Senate—the largest single gathering in his honor held barely 12 people. That’s because of government-imposed safety restrictions on public gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Collegiate’s Krystian Williams is breaking records
Krystian Williams runs and jumps like he has rockets in his sneakers and coils in his knees.
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Biden-Harris at 100 days, by Marc H. Morial
One hundred days into their administration, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have made surprisingly bold inroads in confronting racial injustice and the COVID-19 pandemic, but significant challenges remain.
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Families want answers in latest police shootings in Va. and N.C.
Families in North Carolina and Virginia are still demanding answers from law enforcement authorities fol- lowing separate shootings by sheriff’s departments that left one man dead and another fighting for his life in intensive care.
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Personality: Donald S. ‘Don’ Richards
Spotlight on vice chair of Autism Society of Central Virginia
After decades in broadcasting, Donald S. “Don” Richards is gearing up for a new chapter of community advocacy.
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Oscars awarded to people of color during year of pandemic
The 93rd Annual Academy Awards was a mix of triumphant firsts for African-Americans, other people color and women during a glitter fest held Sunday for the first time at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.
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GOP gubernatorial candidates meet in first debate
Four out of the seven Republicans running for governor in Virginia met Sunday in their first debate, covering topics ranging from education to law enforcement to the economy, with each promising to turn back liberal Democratic policies and end a GOP losing streak.
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Transforming police must come from bottom up, by Ben Jealous
Hearing the words “Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.” in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial brought millions of Americans a feeling of relief. But that relief was incomplete.
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Guilty
Former Minneapolis police officer faces decades in prison after a jury convicts him of three counts in the heinous kill of George Floyd; tears of joy and relief flood the nation
MINNEAPOLIS Black Americans and others from Missouri to Florida to Minnesota cheered, marched, hugged, waved signs and sang jubilantly in the streets Tuesday after a Minneapolis jury found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murder in the death of George Floyd.
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Patients and doctors alike adapt during a year of COVID-19
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, everyday activities people often took for granted — hugs, seeing friends at birthday parties, dinners out and midday coffee runs with colleagues — were no longer considered safe and harmless.
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Historic site review slows rail lines planned over historic Black cemetery
Could a long-hidden Black cemetery impact plans to improve rail service between Richmond’s Main Street Station and Union Station in Washington, D.C.?
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John Marshall High renames gym, field to honor former coaches
The John Marshall High School gymnasium and athletic field are getting new names to honor two coaches who were instrumental in the North Side school’s sports history and in mentoring youths.
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Former WNBA player new part-owner of the Atlanta Dream
ATLANTA Former Atlanta Dream guard Renee Montgomery made history recently as part of a three-member investor group that was approved to purchase the team.
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Personality: Dr. Madeline G. McClenney
Spotlight on president-founder of Exodus Foundation.org
Baptist minister, prison abolitionist and self-described “mass clemencyist.”
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Police brutality should not become the norm
Letters to the editor
We should not be looking at murders live on television of Black men and women and saying, “I’m shocked! Oh my God, another one murdered!”
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Personality: Dr. Sesha Joi Moon
Spotlight on co-creator of The JXN Project
The 150th anniversary of Jackson Ward’s creation is close, and Dr. Sesha Joi Moon is intent on seeing that the full history of the district in Downtown is recognized and celebrated.
