Running for repair
On March 3, 1865, Union army troops arrived in Charlottesville, liberating over 14,000 enslaved people—more than half of the city and Albemarle County’s population.
In celebration of Liberation and Freedom Day, the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center is hosting its second annual Reparations Fun Run/Walk from March 1 through 6. The 9.7-mile route takes runners and walkers past over a dozen local Black historical sites, including First Baptist Church, Daughters of Zion Cemetery, Washington Park, Jackson P. Burley Middle School, and the Kitty Foster Memorial. Participants are encouraged to stop by the city’s Black-owned restaurants, like Mel’s Cafe and Royalty Eats, along the way.
“There are monuments to Blackness in this town—the question is are they visible?” says Andrea Douglas, executive director of the Jefferson School. “What that course does is say to us that these spaces are not in easy view…but they’re there and we need to recognize them.”
“People need to revisit these sites over and over,” she adds.
The Jefferson School aims to raise $45,000 to support seven local Black-led organizations: African American Teaching Fellows, the Jefferson School’s teacher training program, the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP’s youth council, the Public Housing Association of Residents, Vinegar Hill Magazine’s Black business advertising fund, We Code Too, and 101.3 JAMZ. Last year, the event raised $22,000.
“We are trying to address all of the areas of concern in the African American community that are being dealt with by African American-led organizations,” says Douglas.
To kick off Liberation and Freedom Day, Descendants of Enslaved Communities at UVA will lead a discussion about African American spirituals at the university’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. The Jefferson School will also host the first community engagement session for the Swords Into Plowshares project—which will melt down the Robert E. Lee statue, and transform it into a new public artwork—as well as an art exhibition on climate justice.
Douglas ultimately hopes the festivities will push the community to not only “focus on African American history,” but “think about what repair looks like.”
Schools brace for life without masks
Starting March 1, masks will be optional at all Virginia public schools, under Governor Glenn Youngkin’s new state law.
Charlottesville City Schools and Albemarle County Public Schools will continue to strongly recommend mask wearing, but will not be allowed to require students to mask up—that choice will be up to their parents.
“As mandated, the decision on whether a child will wear a mask in school will be made and enforced at home, not at school,” wrote ACPS Superintendent Matt Haas in an email to the school division last week. “Students will not be questioned at school about this choice.”
In accordance with federal law, masks will still be mandated on school buses in both districts. Employees and visitors must also continue to mask up on school property.
Youngkin signed the new bill last week, after attempting to end school mask mandates by executive order on his first day as governor. Both local school districts immediately pushed back against the executive order, and issued statements confirming they were keeping their mask mandates in place, in compliance with Virginia Senate Bill 1303. The now-overturned law required public schools to follow the CDC’s mitigation recommendations.
Most Democratic lawmakers opposed Youngkin’s ruling, but a handful helped the anti-mask bill pass the Democratic-controlled state Senate.
“Based on the strong feedback in favor of masking that we’ve received, we anticipate most students to continue masking,” wrote CCS Superintendent Royal Gurley, Jr., in an email. “Although the numbers look better today than in January, our community transmission is still classified as ‘high.’”—Brielle Entzminger
New polling offers VA temperature check
How are we feeling, everybody? With the General Assembly hashing out the future of Virginia from Richmond, voters weighed in on key policy issues in a new batch of polls from Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Civic Leadership.
Perceptions about the state of Virginia were somewhat pessimistic and largely divided along party lines. Forty-five percent of voters (and just 22 percent of Democrats) believe Virginia is headed in the right direction while 41 percent (80 percent of Republicans) think the opposite. Republicans overwhelmingly approve of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s performance (85 percent), whereas Democrats overwhelmingly disapprove (81 percent). Voters were particularly gloomy when asked about the direction of the country, with 67 percent saying the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction.
Support is high for Youngkin’s proposal to repeal the 2.5 percent grocery tax, with the majority favoring either a total repeal (47 percent) or giving tax credits to low-income residents (25 percent). With the current budget surplus, most voters (59 percent) want the extra money to be spent on education, public safety, and social services rather than returned in the form of tax cuts (38 percent).
But schools remain a policy battleground. While a majority of respondents agree on mandating vaccines for teachers, around 50 percent oppose mandatory vaccines for students. Youngkin’s ban on the teaching of critical race theory in public schools—implemented on his first day in office—saw minimal support (35 percent) and significant opposition (57 percent), but Republicans’ desire to station a police officer in every school was met with overwhelming support, with 70 percent of respondents in favor.—Maryann Xue
Do do do, do-do-do do dooo…
Third-year UVA classics major Megan Sullivan competed in the “Jeopardy! National College Championship” last week, testing her knowledge against other sharp undergrads from around the country. Sullivan made it to the semifinals of the event, correctly answering questions about Edgar Allan Poe and Shaquille O’Neal before being eliminated when asked about the 1928 D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover. (It’s alright Megan, we didn’t know that one either.)
In brief
Cops still short-staffed
The Charlottesville Police Department, citing staffing shortages, says it won’t be able to respond to certain non-emergency calls, and that dispatchers will instead instruct callers to submit their comment or request through an online service portal. The department reports that 24 percent of its sworn positions are currently unfilled, and the city still has not hired a permanent police chief since RaShall Brackney’s departure in the fall.
Brackney’s next move
Brackney announced on LinkedIn last week that she is retiring from policing. She was controversially fired from her post in Charlottesville last October, and has since threatened to sue the city for the manner in which she was laid off. Brackney says she’s accepted a post as a visiting professor of practice at George Mason University, and is working on a book which will be titled The Bruising of America: When Black, White and Blue Collide.
Down with it
Local COVID cases have continued to decline since the peak of a major winter surge in the middle of January. Monday saw the seven-day rolling average of new cases in the region drop to 51, the lowest its been since November. Vaccinations and testing are available throughout the week—visit the Virginia Department of Health website for details.
Peas in a pod
Astronauts need hummus, too: On Saturday, NASA launched chickpea seeds—and a custom-made mini greenhouse—from Virginia State University’s College of Agriculture all the way to the International Space Station. The researchers hope to learn more about whether chickpeas can be cultivated in space.