Do you, or someone you know, need dental care, but can’t afford it?
Richmond Smiles provides free emergency dental treatment (exam, fillings, and extractions), and can refer you to local area dentists for continued treatment. Here is their schedule for May. This operates on a first come, first served basis, so you will want to arrive early.
Please share widely.
A strip center at 900 W. Grace St. was demolished last week to make room for the 154,000-square-foot development. The project will add 156 apartments to the VCU campus and 3,400 square feet of retail on the ground floor.
The asking price for the tower’s ground floor retail space is $24 per…
Research shows we work better with ambient noise–like the sounds we hear in coffee shops. A local man has created a service that streams those coffee shop noises right to our computers.
I asked a young White woman why she was studying social anthropology. She replied that she was hoping to go to Zimbabwe, and felt that she could help women there by advising them how to organize. The Black women in the audience gasped in astonishment. Here was someone scarcely past girlhood, who had just started university and had never fought a war in her life. She was planning to go to Africa to teach female veterans of a liberation struggle how to organize! This is the kind of arrogant, if not absurd attitude we encounter repeatedly. It makes one think: Better the distant armchair anthropologists than these ‘sisters’.
—
African feminist Ifi Amadiume
(via newwavefeminism)
white people, stay the fuck out of Africa
(via thisiswhiteculture)
White people, stay the fuck out of Africa
White people, stay the fuck out of Africa
WHITE PEOPLE, STAY THE FUCK OUT OF AFRICA
(No more White Saviours)
phil tho..
(via initialresponse)
I have mixed feeling on this. Firstly, I agree that many white people, including myself to a degree, are fucking ignorant and arrogant in their attempts to “save” Africans, which shouldn’t even be the language used when talking about traveling to Africa or attempting to work with Africans. Colonialism is very much alive, especially in the “development” field.
I have traveled to South Africa twice, once with family in middle school, and this past winter on a study abroad trip with my university. I also hope to have the opportunity to return this summer on another research trip regarding health in public housing, a collaborative effort between VCU and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
My personal reasons for traveling to South Africa are to experience how social justice work is carried out in a different culture and context, and hopefully have the privilege to participate in some capacity. I also wish to identify and analyze how struggles there can be related to Virginia and the United States, as well as how various organizing and coping(?) strategies can be adapted for our own contexts, and vice versa.
While the trip I went on did have a sort of charity element to it (we brought clothes, soccer balls and jerseys), the main focus was to learn about Zulu culture and the struggles in post-Apartheid rural South Africa. Our professor was born and raised in the area we spent a majority of our time in, and his sister is the principal of the school we worked/learned with. We also were trained/worked with a local ngo based out of UKZN, Sinomlando, who performs Oral History & Memory Work. In this context, it was largely based around the impact of HIV/AIDS on children in this community, many of whom have lost parents due to the epidemic.
I think using a blanket statement of “white people stay out of Africa” is problematic. If as white people, especially when we are young, do not travel and experience other cultures first hand, we can still become prone to the trap of armchair (insert -ist here), simply relying on secondary and tertiary sources. I believe it is very important to read and listen to the so called subaltern, individuals from the Global South (third world, majority world), but it isn’t the same as seeing, hearing, feeling for yourself the situations in places other than the “Great White West”. That being said, it is still VERY IMPORTANT to not get caught up in “white saviourism”, which I try not to do, but I very much appreciate others to call me out.
My roommates, who are by no means “radical”, like to tease me by saying “you only hang out with black people when its for charity”. This hurts me every time I hear it, because I don’t see myself that way, but there must be some truth to it? But it’s not like I hang out with black people, or other POC for that matter, for “rad points” or anything, because that would be tokenizing right? I hang out with people because we have something in common, because we are friends, regardless of race. However I also recognize my whiteness and combating the systems of white supremacy in my life is a daily struggle. Sure, most of my friends and people I hang out with are white, and male for that matter, but by no means all of them.
I will be giving a presentation on my trip to South Africa on Monday, April 15 at 6pm in Hibbs 426 (world studies media room). I encourage anyone who wants to attend to come and talk with me afterwards (and come see scott crow!). I’d also be glad to present another time, or just meet up and continue this conversation. tumblr works too for those of you not in Richmond
(via initialresponse)
On Saturday, April 20th, at 5pm, at Strange Matter (929 West Grace Street, Richmond VA), there will be an early show to benefit the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project. $5 donation at the door.
Jake Mayday, Furious George, Queer Rocket and Harrison Four will be playing.
The venue is wheelchair accessible, with accessible bathrooms, and non-sex-specific bathrooms. RSVP through the link.
hooray SSA!
"Scott Crow: Black Flags and Windmills" presentation at the Flying Brick Library 
On Monday, April 15th, at 7pm, at the Flying Brick Library (506 South Pine Street, Richmond VA) there will be a presentation by Scott Crow based off his book, titled “Black Flags and Windmills: Hope, Anarchy and the Common Ground Collective.” Does anyone actually read this part of the post. Free and open to the public.
The Flying Brick Library is wheelchair accessible. RSVP through the link.
RICHMOND GROUPS TO MARK ‘RICHMOND LIBERATION DAY’ BY OPPOSING PLAN FOR A BASEBALL STADIUM IN SHOCKOE BOTTOM
The African Ancestral Chamber and the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality will hold a press conference and vigil at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3rd, at the corner of Crane and East Broad streets in Shockoe Bottom. The purpose of the events is to commemorate Richmond Liberation Day, and bring attention to unfavorable developments such as a sports stadium within the historic district where captive Africans were sold.
April 3rd will be the 148th anniversary of the day that African American soldiers led Union troops into Richmond, liberating its people from Confederate rule, freeing enslaved Africans from the notorious Lumpkin’s Jail and ending slavery in the city, where it had existed for more than 300 years. The day was annually celebrated by Richmond’s African American community until the beginning of the Jim Crow era.
The corner of Crane and East Broad streets is next to the Exxon gas station, which stands on the site of what once was Omohundro’s Jail, a holding structure for enslaved Africans similar to Lumpkin’s. Plans by various groups in the City call for placing a stadium at this site.
Following the vigil, participants will visit Richmond’s African Burial Ground to show their respect for the ancestors buried there.Facebook RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/228613547279567
(Source: , via mokarnage)
English 391: Topics in Literature: Political Prisoners, Political Literature
Summer Session: 5/21/13-7/11/13, MW 1:00-3:40pm
The course engages the most enduring dilemmas facing prisoners globally in 20th century; it will survey people whose lives are interrupted by incarceration as a result of political upheaval. Our course will question how they overcome the isolation and injustice in order to write and publish. We will explore what their writings can teach us about the individual’s relationship to the community once they have been ostracized from that group. Our readings may include selections from the works of Reinaldo Arenas, Leonard Peltier, Nawal El Saadawi, Jean Genet, Evgenia Ginzburg, Wole Soyinka, and Liu Xiaobo.
This course is a part of OPEN MINDS, a partnership between the Richmond City Sheriff’s Office and Virginia Commonwealth University offering dual enrollment classes held at the Richmond City Jail. Students must apply in writing to be considered for this course.
To apply: in 2 -3 paragraphs explain what you hope to learn from this course and what you hope to contribute. Send your application essay to Professor Reed at kreed@vcu.edu by Friday April 26 2013.
All OPEN MINDS students must pass a background check and comply with the rules and expectations outlined by the Richmond City Sheriff’s Office.
See the program’s website for more details. Direct any questions about the program to Dr. Coogan at dcoogan@vcu.edu.
In 2003, Richmond had a 4,000 person anti-war demonstration. Hundreds participated in civil disobedience. A recruitment office was smashed. The Catholic Workers were there, the Women in Black were there, the Virginia Islamic Center was there, some neo-Nazis showed up but were escorted away by police for their own safety. It was a big deal.
What happened?
I have attached the article from the Richmond Independent Media Center, which closed as of 2008. If you were at this march and wish to be interviewed, please contact me here, or at activerva@gmail.com.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Largest march in Richmond’s history —- 4,000 protest war! 700 continue disrupting illegally into the night.
March 23 was a day for the history books in Richmond. In a small, sleepy southern city that rarely sees hundreds gathered together at once for any reason, more than 4,000 antiwar protesters marched together up Monument Ave, in the largest march in the city’s history. “Largest march, I would guess,” said Annette Cousins, “but it was definitely the angriest.”
The march, which ended at sundown with a candlelit vigil by the Women In Black in Monroe Park, was followed by a spontaneous, 500 person illegal snake march through downtown Richmond. Hundreds of angry protesters, of all ages, races and backgrounds, suddenly began an illegal and disobedient march through the streets, defying police and temporarily shutting down the area.
Frenzied chants of “we will stop this war” and “1,2,3,4, Richmond is against the war!” raged in what can only be described as the most excited march this reporter’s ever seen in Richmond. One father who has a son serving in the military in Iraq right now, while participating in the illegal spontaneous march, said, “For Richmond, this is amazing.”
The legal and illegal marches were the culmination of Reclaim, a weekend-long conference that had been taking place in Richmond in hopes of building a statewide Virginia antiwar movement. Hundreds of folks from around the region attended workshops, teach-ins and cultural events, learning skills and getting inspiration to go out and organize a mass peace movement. “This weekend was awesome. I’m going to be involved from now on,” said local hip-hop poet Rasul Nobody, who co-hosted an antiwar hip hop and poetry event Friday night at Taste Restaurant. Attendance and spirits were high, expectations exceeded, and hundreds of new activists got a running start at organizing a movement.
Those hundreds turned to thousands on Sunday, however, when a permitted antiwar march down Monument Ave took place. Spirits were extremely high, as a huge, diverse crowd gathered in Monroe Park to hear speakers and cheer for peace. Union member George Wacksmunski, standing in the bed of a pickup truck to be seen while speaking, exclaimed “I am against having an illegitimate war brought on us by an illegitimate president!” while the crowd roared under him.
“This is a racist war, this is an imperialist war and this is a cruel war,” said Maliha Balala of the Virginia Islamic Center while speaking to the crowd. After hearing and cheering about ten speakers from unions, civil-rights, Muslim, Christian and homeless groups, the crowd began marching down Monument Ave.
Passing the palatial, elite homes that line the street, the crowd gathered at the Lee Monument, the historic focal point of white supremacy in Richmond. There, several more speakers from the city’s African American community addressed the connection between racism and war, past and present. “Here beneath the hoof of oppression,” longtime civil-rights activist Marty Jewell said while pointing up at the stone monument to Virginia’s most famous racist war general, “we gather to denounce war and racism!” The crowd, to put it mildly, went nuts.
The antiwar sentiments could not have been more timely, because in the confusion of the huge march, two white supremacists attempted to infiltrate and spew anti-semitic propaganda. Ron Doggett, central Virginia’s infamous fascist organizer, began harassing Aaron Tenenbaum, a local Jewish pro-Palestinian activist. Doggett was then surrounded by a furious and diverse crowd of about a hundred anti-racists, who let him know that white supremacists have no place in our antiwar movement. In fact, they almost gave him a pounding. With the crowd chanting “smash the nazis” in the nazis’ faces, the police eventually asked Doggett to leave for his own safety.
Despite the confrontation, the 4,000-strong march proceeded back down Monument Ave to Monroe Park, chanting “Good for the rich, bad for the poor, we don’t want your racist war” and more. The mood was festive and defiant, with many in the crowd vowing to each other to begin organizing an even bigger march and more disruptive actions in the future. Drums were beating, Christians and Jews were marching in solidarity with Muslims, anarchists and communists chanted with union members, homeless folks and soccer moms; “this is a *huge* success,” beamed longtime Catholic Worker Sue Frankle-Strait.
As many of the marchers filtered back into Monroe Park for a candlelit vigil led by the Women In Black, a large chunk of the crowd refused to leave the streets. As the legal protest permit expired 700 were still milling about in confusion on Franklin Street, when individuals began shouting “disruption stops wars!” and “stay in the streets!” The shouts and chants rose to a fevered pitch, and suddenly the crowd surged and began running towards downtown.
Everything went up a notch, basically,” says IMC reporter Jen Lawhorne about the splinter march, where enthusiasm and defiance rose markedly higher. Young and old, all races and backgrounds, were united in disobedience together, shutting down the streets of Richmond for over two hours. Shouts of “this is what stops wars!” and “don’t let them have business as usual!” were heard between booming chants of “We *will* stop this war!” while the crowd attempted to evade riot police and make it’s way to the Richmond Time Dispatch.
With hundreds uniting to shut down a city with coordinated, angry disruption in the streets, the police eventually sank to violent repression to clear the streets. Pepper spray was fired and individuals were grabbed and arrested, while the crowd took to sprinting down alleys and through parks in attempts to escape the cops and hold the streets.
At one point some in the crowd broke off to smash the windows of a local recruitment center. One of the window-breakers, a masked person who declined to give their name, said “at this place poor people are enticed into the armed forces as the only way out of a life of deprivation. We wanted to physically damage the building in whatever way possible; no one was hurt. If that building stays closed because of this tomorrow, that’s one less recruitment center for one less day building Bush’s war machine. Seriously, this is the kind of thing that stops wars.” Others in the march disagreed with the action, but continued marching in united solidarity.
The illegal march continued for hours in high spirits, with everyone involved vowing to do it again. “Real soon,” said one. “We’re going to be out here again like this real soon.” Another person yelled, “We can do this any night and we can do this every night, until Bush stops killing Iraqis!” meeting wild hoots of approval.
With a weekend of broken records and broken windows, some are already describing Reclaim and the march as the equivalent of “Richmond’s Seattle,” in reference to the successful shutdown of the WTO in 1999 that gave new strength to the American left. Having had the biggest march in city history and some of the wildest civil disobedience as well, in addition to movement-building teach-ins and antiwar hip hop poetry jams, Richmond’s antiwar movement is surely at a new level. Stay tuned for more mass marches and disruption as long as the slaughter in Baghdad goes on—- like the marchers chanted, “WE *WILL* STOP THIS WAR!”
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