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She’s lovin’ it
Former Richmonder’s career with McDonald’s has made her a millionaire
Flipping burgers leads to millionaire status
Reinstate Cornell Brooks
Black people have fared best when our collective interests and goals are held paramount. We’ve made the greatest headway when our assumed leaders are guided by principles of self-sacrifice above self-aggrandizement. I pray that we have the wisdom to remember and embrace these lessons learned “over a way that with tears has been watered ... through the blood of the slaughtered.” Since 1909, the NAACP has been the most recognized and venerated civil rights organization in the United States. Most Americans respect and admire the NAACP. Those of us 50 years old and older remember that, when intervening in civil rights matters, the NAACP often mitigated outcomes of interracial conflict to the benefit of often maligned African-American victims. It’s said, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” A lapse of time often adds to that contempt. Outside of “the faithful,” the NAACP’s reputation as a relevant player in the civil rights arena had diminished. This perception was especially true among youths who were more likely to ask the question, “What have you done for me lately?” While I am an NAACP life member and I’ve always seen its relevance, many people thought the organization had moved close to being irrelevant. Several episodes of questionable leadership did little to rehabilitate its reputation. For many, that changed in May 2014 with the selection of the Rev. Cornell William Brooks as national NAACP president and CEO. Lacking the bravado and ostentatiousness of many leaders of our community, Rev. Brooks came to the job as an experienced civil rights professional. A fourth generation A.M.E. minister and Yale-trained civil rights lawyer, Rev. Brooks was eminently qualified and well focused on directing the activities of the NAACP to meet contemporary imperatives. Three years ago, he inherited a staff demoralized by layoffs and uncertain funding. Now, fundraising is up and he had begun hiring additional staff to conduct the organization’s business. In nearly three years, Rev. Brooks has led the NAACP with purpose, dignity and skillful determination. His “hands-on, lead by example” approach to activism has inspired a new generation of youths to pick up the mantle of the NAACP. We have seen substantial participation and the increased membership of young people. Young people were constantly seen with Rev. Brooks demonstrating consistent, targeted action and participation in activities that gave renewed meaning to the concept of peaceful and intelligent resistance to injustice. Rev. Brooks is not a lip service leader. With the exception of being called away for related obligations, he walked every step of the two marches he organized between Ferguson and Jefferson City, Mo., and Selma, Ala., and Washington. The marchers and he became targets of racist snipers in Missouri and he remains under threat by domestic terrorists who would love nothing more than to stop his work. Rev. Brooks’ testimony against the confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general was topped only by his sit-in and arrest in the Birmingham offices of Mr. Sessions. He gave national attention to the fact that the NAACP was once again a genuine player in the fight against injustice. This revitalized NAACP attracted a new following and, accordingly, online memberships increased significantly. For individuals and institutions alike, longevity can mistakenly be assumed to be the same as indispensability. Logic should inform that the only foundation of indispensability is in the sustainment of relevance. Under Rev. Brooks, the NAACP escaped the image of doing little and existing in outdated ineptitude to a state of true relevance. Sadly, the NAACP executive board has chosen to take a step backward by not renewing Rev. Brooks’ contract. I pray that decision will be reversed. Rev. Brooks was the right leader when he was chosen and remains the right leader for our challenging times. The board should reverse its ill-advised decision. The writer is president of the National Congress of Black Women.
Exceptional? Data tell the story, by Lee H. Hamilton
Like most Americans, I have always considered the United States an exceptional country.
County official chosen as new city auditor
Richmond City Council this week tapped a veteran of Chesterfield County government to make City Hall operations more efficient and track down waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Louis G. “Lou” Lassiter, deputy Chesterfield County administrator, was approved to be the new city auditor at a special council meeting at Free Press deadline Wednesday night.
Lighting a fire
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones lit a fire Tuesday when she spoke to an online group of 120-plus local people about school re-segregation and equity in education.
Free community testing for COVID-19 continues
The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:
Free community testing for COVID-19 continues
The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:
Free community testing for COVID-19 continues
The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations:
Queen Harrison to host Queen Track Classic in Richmond for girls
Girls will not only be the main attraction, they will be the only attraction for the inaugural Queen Track Classic, named for Queen Harrison, the former Hermitage High School track standout and 2008 Olympic runner.
Herring launches online program to help teens with police interactions
A new interactive program, “Give It, Get It: Trust and Respect between Teens and Law Enforcement,” is Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring’s latest initiative to help educate teens about their rights and responsibilities when interacting with law enforcement.
Global warming is real, by Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
Record fires in Oregon and California. Floods in Houston and New York. Deadly winter storms in Texas. Droughts across much of the west. Flash floods in England and Germany. Blinding dust storms in China. One hundred year cyclones devastate Fiji and Indonesia. Deadly droughts across sub-Saharan Africa. Wildfires in Greece and Italy.
‘Reading Riders’ starts summer routes
In 2015, Reading Riders, Richmond Public Schools’ mobile library program promoting literacy among youngsters in kindergarten through fifth grade, started with a bus full of books, five scheduled stops in students’ Richmond neighborhoods and about 10 to 15 teacher volunteers at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School.
Settlement reached in South Side mobile home suit
The war over mobile homes in Richmond appears to have ended in a truce. Under a settlement approved Monday in federal court, the City of Richmond has agreed to modify an aggressive code enforcement program that led to the condemnation of dozens of mobile homes in the past three years, displacing mostly Latino families.
VUU president accused of fraud
Dr. Hakim J. Lucas was supposed to be the ideal fit when Virginia Union University’s board named the 40-year-old as the historic institution’s 13th president in August.
Protest over teacher transfers
Dozens of angry teachers, parents and students protested Richmond Public Schools’ plan to move 10 teachers from four elementary schools into classrooms at other schools in the district. Teachers held signs proclaiming “Save Our Teachers,” “Our Students Deserve Better” and “Teacher Power!” Their protest mounted at Monday’s meeting of the Richmond School Board is against the school administration’s process known as “leveling,” which Superintendent Dana T. Bedden explained is to provide more equitable teacher-student ratios in schools across the district.
Keeping land in the family, by Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan and Parker C. Agelasto
As Virginia and America continue the long overdue work of addressing structural inequity, our Commonwealth has taken one significant step toward fixing a leading cause of loss of land and wealth for African-Americans.
City introduces 4 new executives
Four people have been named to executive positions at City Hall, including one charged with ferreting out fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars.
