Community Discussion with the Tilted Scales Collective: "A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant."

Thursday, August 10th 2017, from 7-9pm, at the Comm Room (3110 West Leigh Street, Richmond VA), the Scuffletown Anti-Repression Committee is hosting the Tilted Scales Collective, a small collective of legal support organizers. They will hold a community discussion on their new book, "A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant." From the event description:

"With increasing confrontations with the far right, cops, FBI, ICE, capitalism, the Trump administration, and the systems of dominance that seek to keep us down, the importance of resistance is crystal clear. So too are the costs and risks of our resistance. Since the inauguration, there have been hundreds of new felony charges filed against us across Turtle Island. Our book aspires to be a resource for radical left struggle to help us all figure out ways to deal with serious criminal charges so we can strengthen our organizing and fight for liberation more strategically."

Free, open to the public. A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to the Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC), a prison abolitionist collective that produces a free resource directory that is mailed to prisoners nationwide upon request.

For more info and to RSVP, see this link.

2nd Annual RVA Breastfeeding Symposium: the Intersection of Health, Race, Policy, and Practice

Friday, August 4th 2017, from 8am-4:30pm, at the Virginia Historical Society (428 North Boulevard, Richmond VA), the 2nd Annual RVA Breastfeeding Symposium will be held. This year's theme is "First Food: The Intersection of Health, Race, Policy, and Practice."

Free, but you must register through the link.

For more information and to RSVP, see this link.

Showing of "Here's to Flint," a documentary on the Flint, Michigan mass poisoning

Today, Thursday July 20th 2017, from 6:30-9pm, at the Virginia Historical Society (428 North Boulevard, Richmond VA), there will be a showing of the 2016 documentary "Here's to Flint," examining the origins of the Flint water crisis and the efforts of residents, activists, and researchers to uncover the truth about the city's heavily lead-contaminated drinking water. After the film, Siddhartha Roy, a Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Tech's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will comment.

Free, open to the public.

For more info and to RSVP, see the link.

New option: subscribe by e-mail

If you want to get new posts on this blog sent directly to your inbox automatically, enter your email address in the new "Subscribe by Email" field to the right, above the search function. I recommend this function if you rely on this bulletin to get word of events. 

Anti-Racist Parenting Meeting with SURJ RVA

Sunday, July 23rd 2017, from 2-4pm, location to be added, Showing Up for Racial Justice SURJ Richmond is holding an anti-racist parenting meeting.

Free. 

For more info and to RSVP, see this link. 

Youth Saving Ourselves Benefit Show

Sunday, July 23rd 2017, from 5:30-8pm, at the Hofheimer Building (2818 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA), Advocates for Richmond Youth, a team of young researchers who have been homeless, will be holding a benefit show. Proceeds will go to support quarterly pop-up drop-in centers supporting young people in need.

$10 suggested donation. Acts to be listed at a later time.

For more information and to RSVP, see this link. 

All Americans Summer Block Party at Diversity Richmond

Friday, July 28th, from 5:30-9:30pm, at Diversity Richmond (1407 Sherwood Avenue, Richmond VA), Richmond's LGBTQ community center is holding a summer block party celebrating community unity. The evening will feature karaoke (with cash prizes), food trucks, photobooth souvenir photos, and more. Proceeds go to support the programs of Diversity Richmond.

Free, open to the public. This event will be held rain or shine, and is indoor/outdoor (the event hall is air conditioned). There will be alcohol available for sale. If you'd like to volunteer, contact Rodney Lofton at rodney.lofton@diversityrichmond.org.

For more info and to RSVP, see this link. 

Stops on the 2017 RIHD Mobile Justice Tour

Resource Information Help for the Disadvantaged (RIHD), an advocacy group of prisoners and their families working on issues related to incarceration, holds a Mobile Justice Tour each year, during which they hold public meetings at different stops around the state. 

Meetings this year will follow this basic agenda: 

1. Criminal Discovery Reform (presented by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) 
2. Fishback & Sentencing Guideline Reform (presented by RIHD) 
3. Reinstating Parole - What it would look like? (presented by RIHD) 
4. Introduction of Virginia chapters of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls (NCIFIWG VA) (presented by Lillie Branch-Kennedy) 
5. Geratric Parole/Releases (presented by VA-RAPP, Virginia Release Aging People in Prison)

Volunteers will be present at each meeting to provide attendees with Restoration of Rights applications, and to help people look up assistance. All meetings are free and open to the public. 

Here's the schedule of meetings: 

Thursday, July 20th, 6-8pm, Gethsemane Community Fellowship (1317 Brambleton Avenue, Norfolk VA 23503). 

Saturday, July 22, 3-6pm, the Church of the Incarnation (292 North Liberty Street, Harrisonburg VA 22802). 

Tuesday, July 25th, 5:30-8pm, Sandston Public Library (23 East Williamsburg Road, Sandston VA 23150). 

Showing of Trouble Episode 4, "No Justice, Just Us"

Thursday, July 20th 2017, from 7-9pm, at the Community Room (3110 West Leigh Street, Richmond VA), the Scuffletown Anti-Repression Committee is holding a screening of the 4th episode of subMedia's documentary series, Trouble. Episode 4, "No Justice, Just Us," deals with state repression and the ways we defend our movements against it.

$5-$10 donation, with funds going to the support needs and legal fund of the J20 defendants arrested at Trump's inauguration. Vegan snacks and beverages will be served. Open to the public; bring a friend.

For more info and to RSVP, see this link. 

Tour of Evergreen Cemetery

This Saturday, July 15th 2017, from 7-8pm, at Evergreen Cemetery (50 Evergreen Road, Richmond VA) park rangers Ajena Rogers and Ben Anderson are holding a one-hour walking tour of the historic section. The tour will highlight some of the most famous people buried there— including Maggie L. Walker, who's being honored with a monument in Jackson Ward earlier in the day— as well as the history of the cemetery itself.

Evergreen is one of the oldest privately-owned Black cemeteries in Richmond, and you might have heard of it due to the cleanup and restoration efforts carried out every weekend by a dedicated team of volunteers. Cleanups are listed on the Active-RVA Community Calendar, and you can learn more (including how to help out or donate to the effort) at the Evergreen Cemetery Wordpress.

Free, open to the public.

For more info and to RSVP, see this link.

SURJ Richmond Research and Policy Meeting

Tuesday, July 18th 2017, from 5:30-7pm, location TBA, Showing Up for Racial Justice SURJ Richmond is holding a research and policy meeting. From the event description: "Join other Richmond-area folks using research and policy to advance racial justice alongside key campaign partners. All who support these goals are welcome to attend."

For more information and to RSVP, see this link. 

Screening of "No Borders" with the Black Rose Anarchist Federation

Next Saturday, July 22nd 2017. from 4:30-6:30pm, at 3110 West Leigh Street, Richmond VA, the local Black Rose Anarchist Federation ( Black Rose / Rosa Negra - RVA ) is holding a screening of "No Borders: Social Struggles Across the USA," a new web series highlighting struggle across twelve US cities. The series presents social organizing and anti-capitalist resistance around the world, and focuses on anti-authoritarian practices within social movements. This screening will feature the first two episodes of the series.

$10 donation requested, but nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. The money will go to Sur Negro, the group that produced the series.

For more information and to RSVP, see this link.

Stand Up! Speak Out! On the future of Shockoe Bottom!

Tomorrow, Wednesday July 12th 2017, from 5:30-8pm on the second floor of the Bon Secours Football Training Center (2401 West Leigh Street, Richmond VA), a company hired by the city, SmithGroupJJR, is holding a public hearing on plans to memorialize slavery-related sites in the city.

Currently, there are two plans, both pertaining to Shockoe Bottom. The city plan would preserve the Lumpkin's Jail site, a small plot of land. A community plan calls for a 9-acre Shockoe Bottom Memorial Park, which would include the Lumpkin's site, the African Burial Ground, and two additional blocks which were the site of several additional slave jails and trader's offices.

For more information and to RSVP, see this link.

Vigil for the Wrongfully Convicted

Saturday, July 22nd 2017, from 6-8pm, on the sidewalks outside of the Virginia State Capitol (1000 Bank Street, Richmond VA), Virginians for Judicial Reform are holding a rally and vigil to raise awareness of 3 wrongful convictions and 2 unfair sentencings. The cases are as follows:

Dustin Turner was convicted of the 1995 murder of Jennifer Evans. Turner maintains that he was only an accessory after the fact, and that fellow Navy SEAL trainee Billy Brown, also convicted, actually committed the murder. In 2002, Brown confessed to being the sole murderer, and Turner appealed his conviction. He won the appeal, but the state attorney general's office filed their own appeal and won, in a decision which was upheld in 2011 by the state Supreme Court. (The reasoning appears to be that although Turner likely did not commit the murder, and although there is no evidence indicating he abducted Evans, a theoretical jury might find it plausible that he abducted her by means of deceit.) He has now served 18 years in prison. For more information, see Free Dusty Turner or Virginians for Justice - Clemency for Dustin Turner.

Tim Wright was convicted of the 2008 murder of Justin Robert Baumgardner in Amherst County. He was arrested based on the testimony of Justin Davis, the son of a local deputy sheriff who Wright contends actually committed the murder. There are a number of irregularities in the case, including lost exonerating evidence and a refusal to perform DNA tests on casings found at the scene. The handgun used to kill Baumgardner belonged to Davis, who claimed that Wright had stolen it. For more information, see Innocence 4 Tim.

Ivan Teleguz was convicted of the 2001 murder of Stephanie Sipe in Harrisonburg and sentenced to death. His death sentence was commuted by Gov. McAuliffe to life in prison earlier this year, due to doubts about his guilt. The prime witnesses against Teleguz were Michael Hetrick, the actual murderer, Edwin Gilkes, and Aleksey Safanov. Hetrick, who claimed that Teleguz hired him to commit the murder, was threatened with the death penalty if he did not testify against Teleguz, but later admitted to not knowing him or having ever had contact with him. Gilkes and Safanov both later indicated that their accounts were fabricated in exchange for more lenient sentencing in their uninvolved crimes. Learn more at Justice for Ivan Teleguz.

The other cases which are the subject of this vigil are unknown to me.

For more info and to RSVP, see this link.

Book Talk with Dave Coogan, coauthor of "Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail"

Today, from 6:30-8pm at the Hull Street Library (1400 Hull Street, Richmond VA), the Books for a Better World book talk series will host Dave Coogan, local author, discussing his book "Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail." The book is the culmination of a writing class at the Richmond City Jail. 

Free, open to the public. 

For more info and to RSVP, see this link. 

Brief recap: July 8th 2017 Anti-KKK Counterprotest, Charlottesville VA

To see photos of the demonstration, check out the Virginia Defender's album here. 

This past Saturday, I attended a counterdemonstration opposing a Klan rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A segment of the Ku Klux Klan from Pelham, North Carolina held a rally in Charlottesville's Justice Park, in front of the Robert E. Lee statue, to protest the city's decision to sell its monuments honoring Confederate leaders. To my understanding, the group Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Charlottesville called this specific counter-demo, but there were a ton of groups with a presence, and various events earlier in the day. Lots of Richmonders were there in solidarity.  

There were about 2,500 counterdemonstrators, around 100 police officers from the city, county, and state, and approximately 30 to 40 Klan members. There were also a handful of Klan supporters in the crowd, but they were a tiny minority who mostly stayed clustered near the police. 

Police erected barriers to allow the Klan to move in and out of the park; a couple of activists tried to prevent their entry, and were arrested. The Klansmen ultimately entered at about 3:45, guarded by police in riot gear, and stood around shouting racial slurs and doing Nazi salutes for a while— I'm certain they spoke, also, but they were drowned out by boos and chants. When they were eventually ushered out, still under heavy guard, another group of counterdemonstrators tried to block their egress and were arrested. The police then issued an order to disperse, declared the gathering unlawful, and used three tear gas canisters. Mayor Mike Signer is now saying that police were provoked when protesters attacked them with pepper spray, but there's no evidence, video or otherwise, that this actually happened. Black Lives Matter Charlottesville has a write-up confronting this claim here. 

Throughout the course of the event, 23 anti-Klan activists were arrested. You can contribute to their legal fund here. 

Prior to the demonstration, anti-racist activists in the area faced police surveillance and unannounced visits to homes and workplaces from detectives wanting information on their activities and affiliations. Al-Jazeera recently published an article on the disparate reaction of Charlottesville police to left groups vs. far right groups like the Klan. 

Groups like the Klan hold events like these for two reasons: to intimidate, and to recruit. When you show up to oppose them in numbers like Charlottesville did this weekend, you prevent recruiting and show them for cowards. For all their posturing, they were only able to show up and scream racial slurs from behind a line of riot cops. 

That said, let's get ready for Round 2: a local white supremacist has called a larger "Unite the Right" rally on August 12th, at Charlottesville's Emancipation Park. More details on that in another post.