March on Washington this weekend B3
Richmond Free Press © 2020 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 29 NO. 36
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
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Meet board chair of Rx Partnership B1
August 27-29, 2020
Not again
Jacob Blake
Wisconsin man, 29, paralyzed after being shot in the back Sunday by police as his children watched Free Press wire report KENOSHA, Wis.
Suddenly there is a new name and a new face to remind people that the lesson of George Floyd has not sunk in among many in the police rank and file. Three months after a Minneapolis police officer was captured on video killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nearly 9 minutes, sparking worldwide protests, Kenosha Police are taking their turn on video and triggering new, violent protests. The man police shot in Kenosha is Jacob Blake, 29. He was shot multiple times in the back Sunday, survived, but is paralyzed, and it would “take a miracle” for him to walk again, his family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, said Tuesday. Mr. Crump called for the officer who opened
fire to be arrested and others involved to lose their jobs. The details are still murky, but what is known is that officers were responding to a domestic abuse call. A cell phone video taken by a bystander shows Mr. Blake in an altercation with three officers. Mr. Blake is then seen walking to his SUV in which three of his young children, ages 3, 5 and 8, were seated. The officers, guns drawn, are following behind him. On the video, Mr. Blake opens the door and leans into the SUV. Then an officer grabs Mr. Blake’s shirt from behind and starts firing. Seven shots can be heard, though it isn’t clear how many struck Mr. Blake or how many officers fired. It is unclear whether the officer who fired thought Mr. Blake was going for a gun. Kenosha Police are keeping mum, and Wisconsin’s Department of Justice is investigating. Please turn to A4
(Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP
Jacob Blake Sr. (red plaid shirt) and Julia Jackson (standing beside him), the parents of Jacob Blake, attend a news conference Tuesday in Kenosha, Wis. Violent unrest broke out after video of the shooting of Jacob Blake, 29, was widely disseminated on social media Sunday. Mr. Blake was shot in the back several times by a Kenosha police officer. According to his father, Mr. Blake is paralyzed from the waist down.
Former city councilman pushing African-American perspective missing in Lee statue lawsuit By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Mr. El-Amin
New drama is about to be injected into the already charged legal fight over removing the last and largest offensive Confederate statue from Monument Avenue — the one to slavery’s top military defender, Gen. Robert E. Lee. Sa’ad El-Amin, a former Richmond City Councilman who has long been outspoken about the need to remove the white supremacist Confederate statues that have dominated the Richmond landscape for more than a century, is preparing to enter the fray. The former attorney who led City Council’s creation of the Slave Trail Commission to recognize the enslaved and unsuccessfully fought the placement of a mural of Gen. Lee on the city’s floodwall, said he will file on Thursday a motion to intervene and join Gov. Ralph S. Northam as a defendant with the Richmond Circuit Court. To Mr. El-Amin, the case is crying out for an African-American presence to push the argument about the “pain and anguish” the Please turn to A4
Trump uses Black people to defend him at RNC
Free Press staff, wire report
President Trump has aggressively asserted control over the Republican National Convention, a four-day event that started Monday and featured African-Americans defending
the president’s history of racist rhetoric and actions. Former NFL star Herschel Walker, speaking on the opening night, defended President Trump, whom he called a “personal friend,” and said he isn’t a racist.
Free COVID-19 testing
“It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people call Donald,” Mr. Walker said in a televised speech. “I take that as a personal insult, that people would think I’ve had a 37-year friendship with a racist.” He continued, “Growing up in the Deep South, I’ve seen racism up close. I know
Free community testing for COVID-19 continues. The Richmond and Henrico County health districts are offering testing at the following locations: DATE
LOCATION
ADDRESS
Thursday, Aug. 27, 9 to 11 a.m.
Tuckahoe Middle School
9000 Three Chopt Road in Western Henrico
Wednesday, Sept. 2, 9 to 11 a.m.
Broad Rock Community Center
4615 Ferguson Lane in South Side
Thursday, Sept. 3, 9 to 11 a.m.
Tuckahoe Middle School
9000 Three Chopt Road in Western Henrico
People are advised to bring an umbrella in case of inclement weather or to use as shade from the sun while waiting in line. Appointments are encouraged by calling the Richmond and Henrico COVID-19 Hotline at (804) 205-3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walk-up testing will be offered while test supplies last. The Virginia Department of Health reported on Wednesday a total of 115,458 positive cases of COVID-19 statewide, along with 9,326 hospitalizations and 2,515 deaths. Officials said Virginia’s positivity rate has fallen to 6.6 percent. According to the data, African-Americans comprised 25.7 percent of cases and 26.1 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 33.8 percent of the cases and 11 percent of deaths.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Melania Trump delivers her address Tuesday to a largely virtual 2020 Republican National Convention from the Rose Garden of the White House.
what it is, and it isn’t Donald Trump.” He went on to say that President Trump cares about social justice and the Black community. Mr. Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner, started his pro career as a running back with the New Jersey Generals, a team that was part of the now-defunct United States Football League.
President Trump bought the team in 1984 after Mr. Walker completed his first season. The USFL folded in 1986. After leaving the Generals, Mr. Walker, now 58, enjoyed an 11-year career in the NFL, beginning with the Dallas Cowboys. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. The Republicans also used Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones, a Black Democrat and lawyer from suburban Atlanta, to showcase that some Democrats plan to cross party lines and vote for President Trump. It was a play from the Democrats’ convention playbook in which several prominent Republicans who plan to vote for Joe Biden were highlighted. Rep. Jones praised President Trump, saying he had delivered on promises. And he tore into Democrats, saying they had taken advantage of Black voters. Rep. Jones said when he first announced his support for President Trump this spring, “all hell broke loose.” But as Rep. Jones spoke, other Georgia Democrats quickly blasted his endorsement of President Trump. Nikema Williams, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia and a candidate for the U.S. House, Please turn to A4
Eric English to become Henrico’s first Black police chief By George Copeland Jr.
For the first time in its history, Henrico County will have an African-American police chief. Eric D. English was named Monday to lead the county’s police department. He will take over Sept. 14, succeeding Chief Humberto Cardounel, who announced earlier this summer that he would retire Sept. 1. Mr. English, who earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond and a master’s in public administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, worked 28 years in the Richmond Police Department, rising through the ranks to Please turn to A4
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Double time Wisdom Sadiq, 6, left, and her sister, ShyQueen Sadiq, 5, have some fun following a program Aug. 8 blessing a new building now used by The H.O.P.E. Organization at 4880 Finlay St. in Henrico County. The girls, a double ball of energy, are relatives of the nonprofit’s founder, Ollie Harvey. The organization assists people with food and other needs.