virginia
-
To Hell With Y’all: Charlottesville Judge Rules Confederate Statues Will Stay
Well, it was a good idea while it lasted. I’m referring to the removal of public monuments of known racists. But the law—in that comfortable cradle of great virtue the world knows as Charlottesville, Va.,—has prevailed. And it’s the celebration of racist business as usual. On Wednesday, a judge in the fair, ahem, city ruled…
-
‘Octoroon,’ ‘Mulatto’ or ‘Aryan’: Couples Sue Virginia to Stop It From Forcing People to Choose a Race in Order to Get a Marriage License
Three couples in Virginia are invoking the names of Richard and Mildred Loving, the couple whose fight to be legally wed led to the striking down of laws banning interracial marriage, in their quest to stop Virginia from requiring racial ID — including outdated or outright offensive terms like “quadroon,” “mulatto” and “Aryan” — in…
-
Trump’s Presence at Virginia Event Marking Jamestown Anniversary Brings Boycott, Protest
An event to mark the 400th anniversary of the legislative start of Jamestown, Va.,—the English colonial settlement that saw the first captive Africans arrive on these shores—was boycotted by much of the state’s black caucus, as well as other Democrats, and openly protested by another, due to the presence of one Donald J. Trump. According…
-
Put Under the Jail: Charlottesville Murderer James Alex Fields Jr. Gets Life Plus 419 Years
So, Charlottesville rally murderer James Alex Fields Jr. apparently will never, ever, ever be seeing the light of day again as a free man. That’s the basic reality for the 22-year-old white supremacist, who got handed a sentence of life plus 419 years for mowing down Heather Heyer and injuring dozens more with his car…
-
Tennis Great Arthur Ashe Honored With Street Naming Ceremony in Virginia
In 1968, a year fraught with violent civil rights protests and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., tennis legend Arthur Ashe became the first black male athlete to win the U.S. Open. But beyond his groundbreaking accomplishments on the tennis court, Ashe’s tireless activism off of it is equally commendable. And to celebrate his…
-
A New Lawsuit Against a Virginia Apartment Complex Shows How Modern Day Redlining Works
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against a Virginia apartment complex Tuesday morning for its policy of banning all housing applications from people with criminal records. Filed in Richmond, Va., the lawsuit accuses Wisely Properties and Multifamily Management Services, Inc., owners and operators of the Sterling Glen apartment complex, of imposing…
-
Virginia Beach Shooter Resigned from His Engineering Job Before Rampage Despite Good Standing
DeWayne Craddock, the 40-year-old engineer who officials say murdered 12 people at the government building where he worked in Virginia Beach, Va., submitted a formal letter of regulation from his post as an engineer for the city, according to the Washington Post. Police arrived at the building within minutes of a call about shots fired…
-
America Is Finally Facing the Fact that Solitary Confinement Is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The research is in—in fact, the facts on solitary confinement have been known for years—but finally, we seem to have reached a tipping point for ending this well-studied, torturous practice in American jails and prisons. In New York, there is currently a bill before the upper house, the HALT Solitary Confinement Act, which would prohibit…
-
Preserving Evidence of the Nation’s Slave-Holding Past Can Sometimes Prove Difficult as the US Commemorates 400th Anniversary of the 1st Enslaved Africans at Jamestown, Va.
As the country this year commemorates the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans being brought to what was then the outpost of Jamestown in the colony of Virginia, history buffs and historians alike say physical evidence of the brutal trade that built this nation and of the people who fought to end it is…