Check out the latest VDEF Updates & Announcements

Updates & Announcements   A service of THE VIRGINIA DEFENDER  newspaper.  Editorial Board: Ana Edwards & Phil Wilayto Sept. 24, 2020 On this date in 1973, Guinea-Bissau declared its independence from Portugal.  The declaration was recognized almost a year later on Sept. 10, 1974. Sat., Sept. 26 - PEOPLE FIRST FISH FRY 1-4 pm at the Marcus-David Peters Circle, Monument and North Allen avenues, Richmond. Join Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters along with their partners for a People First Fish Fry, community day, and meet-up with Justice and Reformation’s 2020 endorsed candidates for Richmond City Council. “We’re raising up local leaders who put people over profit. Hear their vision for community care and real, people-first public safety. Supporting partners for this event: Richmond Action Alliance; Richmond For All; RVA26; Santos en Virginia; Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice, & Equality; Virginia Poor People’s Campaign. #TimeForChangeRichmondVA - On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1010454896034450 Sun., Sept. 27 - SACRED GROUND PROJECT TOUR OF SHOCKOE BOTTOM 3-4 pm at Richmond’s African Burial Ground. Hosted by the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project of the Virginia Defenders. Richmond's Shockoe Bottom was once the epicenter of the U.S. domestic slave trade. More than half of all people of African descent in this country could likely trace some ancestry to this small downtown district. Shockoe Bottom deserves a proper memorialization, one that tells the true story of the suffering, resistance and need for reparations that this site represents - something that Richmond activists and their national and international allies have been fighting for for nearly 20 years. But we need the new generations of anti-racist activists to join in this effort. Please come and take this tour of Shockoe Bottom. Hear the stories of courage and resistance. All are welcome, but we particularly invite the youth. We have been out on the streets with you - now come on the tour with us! NOTE: We will meet at Richmond's African Burial Ground, located just north of East Broad Street between I-95 and the CSX railroad tracks. Look for us at the small white building at what would be Broad and 16th streets. There is no charge for the tour. For more information, email us at DefendersFJE@hotmail.com or call or text us at 804.644.5834. On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/2691435577787463 Sat., Oct. 10 - 18th ANNUAL GABRIEL GATHERING 5:30-7 pm at Richmond’s African Burial Ground. Hosted by the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project of the Virginia Defenders. Oct. 10 is the date in 1800 that the great slave-rebellion leader was executed at what is now known as the African Burial Ground. Each year since 2003 the Defenders and our friends and allies have gathered at this site to stand in solidarity with Gabriel and his co-conspirators and rededicate ourselves to the struggle for Freedom, Justice and Equality. This year we will focus on the anti-racist Rebellion and its meaning for reclaiming Shockoe Bottom, once the epicenter of the U.S. domestic slave trade. Plan to wear a mask and socially distance. Program details will be posted at http://www.sacredgroundproject.net/ and https://www.facebook.com/events/2911198682283163. STATEMENT BY THE VIRGINIA DEFENDERS ON THE SHOCKOE BOTTOM MEMORIAL PARK WE CAN DO BOTH! - Attempts by local elected officials to pit the Shockoe Bottom Memorial Park against the needs of poor & working people in Richmond is a hypocritical attempt to kill the park proposal. Please see our statement posted at SacredGroundProject.net. NEW FROM THE VIRGINIA DEFENDER! THE COVID-19 RICHMOND JAIL CRISIS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED RICHMOND, VA, Sept. 8 -- “Some terrible mistake was made along the way.” That was how a federal judge described the recent massive COVID-19 outbreak at a private immigrant detention center in Farmville, Va., the result of officials transferring a large number of detainees from Arizona and Florida without first quarantining them. The same words could describe the coronavirus crisis at the Richmond city jail, where one out of every eight inmates now has the disease. Click here to read. REBELLION DEMANDS FACE STIFF OPPOSITION IN DEMOCRATIC-CONTROLLED LEGISLATURE RICHMOND, VA, Sept. 15 -- For the first time since 1993, the Democratic Party controls both houses of the state legislature and the governor’s mansion, but that still hasn’t resulted in the critical police-abuse reforms demanded by thousands of Richmond anti-racist protesters. Click here to read.

The Summer 2020 edition of The Virginia Defender is out, online & on the streets! READ IT HERE Information is Power - Help bring Power to the People!  Take a bundle of newspapers to distribute in your neighborhood, workplace, school and at actions. Email: DefendersFJE@hotmail.com - or call / text: 804.644.5834.

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