Robert E. Lee statue to be removed from Marcus-David Peters Circle...Citizens Review Board presentation on September 13, 2021

Today, the Supreme Court of Virginia cleared the way for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond, VA.

Of course a statue depicting a traitor, a war criminal, a death camp operator, a kidnapper, a torturer, and human trafficker should removed.

The fact that we should have to debate this, the fact that we should have to wait for over a year, is dystopian. Perplexing. As my sister said, it's like handing in a term paper one year late, missing a few pages, and expecting an "A."

No one is clapping, no one is applauding. At least not among people I know.

A reminder: the Uprising of 2020 was in direct response to the brutal, nauseating murder of George Floyd by a paid agent of the state  - a member of law enforcement - on the streets on the United States, in broad daylight, in front of minor children, and with the complicity of other law enforcement.

But while George Floyd's death was horrifying for all to witness, it was not anomalous. It was merely a searing reminder to Black and Brown people of our second class status. It was a call to learn more about policing in this country. I learned more. I learned more than I had ever known, and it was devastating. 

Mapping Police Violence

It was devastating on the face of it, and it was devastating to be confronted with the embarrassing truth I had lived my whole life with my head buried in the sand (or, as aficionados of Jordan Peele's Get Out will understand, I was "sunken").

It was devastating to me personally to remember having a gun drawn on me in my own suburban New England neighborhood by law enforcement, and the fright it gave me, which ricocheted through my spirit like a seismic fault line, the reminder that my Ivy League degrees, my straightened hair, my standard English grammar, my ability to play Western classical instruments - all of these trappings of assimilation - do not insulate me from the consequences of being Black in this nation. 

It was devastating to fully comprehend that my family's adherence to the law, to the "rules," over generations, will not protect my Black and Latine nieces and nephews. That no amount of adherence and compliance can protect my uncles, and brothers, and cousins, and neighbors, and co-workers, and students from the dystopia that is America.

They're shooting us in the streets, like dogs.

They are bursting into our homes and executing us - with impunity.

They shoot children, and let them bleed out in the street.

Black children are 6 times more likely to be shot to death by police, study finds - CNN

***

The protestors did not disappear or go away, although many of them had to recover from the trauma of law enforcement abuse, both physical and verbal. 

I witnessed some of these abuses, in real time, through the magic of technology and the hard work of citizen journalists, who themselves experienced over-policing and abuse in the summer of 2020.

Many protestors had to piece their lives back together after enduring unjust, unfair, and grossly disproportionate legal consequences. I’ve met protesters who returned to the site of law-enforcement crimes and seen these young people tremble with PTSD.

Even after enduring emotional and physical trauma, activists and organizers pushed on with the harder work, one could say, the "real work" of last year's uprising. The marching and direct action has morphed into:

• Direct aid to community members in need
• Community building
• Organizing
• Marijuana Justice (Legalize it Right — Marijuana Justice - Virginia)
• Eviction Defense and Housing Justice
• Food Justice initiatives such as RVA Community Fridges
• Defending protestors against abuses of the legal system
• Court Watch programs
• Prison Reform and Abolition
• Achieving Equity in our Public Schools

All of these initiatives are so vital to building a beautiful, just, safe city.

But mainly, I want to say to my friends, neighbors, and anyone still reading, but particularly in the City of Richmond:

Rejoice, be happy, be relieved that this statue will come down. 

But understand that when the statue comes down, almost nothing has changed.

If you REALLY want to help Black and Brown people be safe from disproportionate, unjust law enforcement interactions in your city, I implore you to call your City Council member - some of whom plan to run for mayor - and demand that they vote "yes" to establishing a Citizens Review Board for police accountability, one based on the recommendations of the Citizens Review Board Task Force.

The Citizens Review Board (CRB) Task Force was comprised of Richmond community members and has been working for months to survey community members, research best practices nationwide, and outline a process for the establishment of such a body.

According to their topmost/pinned tweet:

Our final report has been submitted to the City Clerk's office and City Council. We will present our recommendations in a City Council meeting on September 13, but you can read our report now!

To learn more about their work:

(1) CRB Task Force (@RVACRB) / Twitter

City of Richmond Task Force on the Establishment on a Civilian Review Board for police accountability.

To review the presentation they will make on September 13:

Task Force Recommendations - Google Docs

Yes, the statue(s) and plinths will come down.

Millions of dollars will be poured into Monument Avenue, increasing the real estate value of people who are (almost all) millionaires. Richmond will benefit from the work of the protestors, who forced this city 

to imagine a just and equitable future.

The community's demands remain the same.....

scratch that - we have MORE demands:

 Drop all charges against protestors.

Establish a Citizens Review Board 

for Police Accountability with subpoena power.

Cease harassment of journalists.

 Re-open the Marcus-David Peters case.

Re-open the Marco Loney case.

Re-open the Jeremy Gilliam case.

Remove all vestiges of monuments to white supremacy.

Defund and demilitarize the police.

Ban all weapons of war.

Evict the Daughters of the Confederacy.

End qualified immunity.

Implement a genuine, funded Marcus Alert.

Investigate white supremacist ties and affiliations in RPD 

and Virginia State police.

Fund Our Schools.

Cease Evictions.

Create Permanent Solutions for Unhoused Community Members.