After the Monuments

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman.

In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Kristin Szakos. During the time of the rally, and before, Kristin was a member of the Charlottesville City Council. She perhaps the first council member to recommend the removal of the Confederate monuments which she did during her campaign for council in 2013.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman.

In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Dr. Wes Bellamy again. Dr. Bellamy recalls the events in Charlottesville immediately before, during and after the deadly Unite the Right Rally in 2017.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman.

In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Dr. Wes Bellamy. Dr. Bellamy was a central figure during the Unite the Right Rally and to the removal of the Confederate monuments as having been a city council member and vice mayor of Charlottesville. Dr. Bellamy recalls the taunts and acts of intimidation the rally's organizers showed towards him leading up to the rally.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman.

In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Devon Henry. Devon is the owner of a Team Henry Enterprises, a Black-owned contracting firm, that was contracted to take down the Confederate monument in Charlottesville, Richmond and several other cities. In this conversation, Devon shares stories of the journey from being awarded the contract to removing the monuments, his safety, to fulfilling the prophecy that the monuments that were once put up by Black men would one day be taken down by a Black man.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a brief hiatus, Kelli and Michael Paul catch up on the news of the past couple weeks. During that time, the Jefferson Davis statue was unveiled in Richmond at the Valentine Museum in its 2020 state, complete with pink paint and a toilet paper noose, Roe vs. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Juneteenth holiday was celebrated.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Kelli and Michal Paul talk with The New York Times Magazine and 1619 Project contributor Linda Villarosa about her new book, Under the Skin: Racism, Inequality, and the Health of a Nation. In the conversation and book, Linda shares troubling statistics that college-educated Black mothers are more likely to die, almost die, or lose their babies than white mothers who haven’t finished high school.
Linda also shares that some of today’s medical texts and instruments still carry fallacious slavery-era assumptions that Black bodies are fundamentally different from white bodies, causing disproportionate suffering. After the Monuments  is supported by VCU Massey Cancer Center and Team Henry Enterprises.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the two year anniversary of George Floyd's murder, Kelli and Michael Paul catch up to talk about the civil unrest that took place in Richmond and across the country but also how so much of the world changed from that point. Since 2020, Confederate monuments have come down, conservatives have come to power in Virginia leading to things like critical race theory, banning divisive books and initiating teacher snitch lines. Kelli and Michael Paul cover it all in this episode of After the Monuments presented by Massey Cancer Center and supported by Team Henry Enterprises.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the proposed legislation and upcoming laws for cannabis and marijuana will be applicable for everyone, the justice carried out is too often different. In this episode of After the Monuments, Kelli talks with Sheba Williams, founder and executive director of No Left Turns, a re-entry organization for individuals being released from the department of corrections on marijuana related charges and otherwise.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michal Paul and producer Matt Pochily drop in to discuss the May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York that killed 10 and wounded three. Reports on the shooter show a theme of the shooting having been racially motivated and incited by internet forums of "replacement theory" and other ideas aligned with white supremacy. 

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent legislation put forth by Virginia's Governor Glenn Youngkin, to many, represents a re-criminalization of marijuana within less than a year of Virginia having legalized up to an ounce of marijuana to adults.

In this episode, Michael Paul Williams is joined by Marijuana Justice Executive Director Chelsea Higgs Wise who shares her perspective on how the recent legislation will affect the community, entrepreneurs and Black entrepreneurs in the cannabis space especially.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pharrell Williams is taking his Something in the Water festival away from Virginia Beach and headed north to Washington, D.C. on Juneteenth weekend. The Foundation Board of Directors at James Madison's Montpelier reverse and edit a previous decision to admit descendants of the enslaved from the property onto the board.

A small redemption of some of the broken promises is the approach St. Paul's Church in downtown Richmond is taking. The church was once the home of worship for the Confederacy and known as "the church of the Confederacy." This year, however, the church commissioned an artist to install 14 pieces across the church, similar to a church's stations of the cross, that depict the evolution of the church from that history to its present place in the community. Kelli and Michael Paul offer insight and background on all of these in this week's episode.

After the Monuments if presented by VCU Massey Cancer and supported by Team Henry Enterprises.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine an growing population of people in a city, even concentrated within a specific neighborhood, whose public health and access is almost invisible when it comes to investment from state policy and not put in a position to receive healthcare services.

Kelli and Michael Paul are joined by Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Sabrina Moreno who shares insights from her three-part series on the Southwood community of Richmond - the largest concentration of Latinos in the City of Richmond, a predominately working-class neighborhood. Studies and data compiled by local health districts show a large number of COVID cases concentrated in the neighborhood with hurdles in their way to public health access.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When looking at public health and health outcomes, there are few better sources to consult than data. Data that can show life expediencies and allow public health practitioners to determine what is driving those outcomes. Dr. Danny Avula, Commissioner of Virginia's Department of Social Services, joins Kelli and Michael Paul to share what he's learning and sees in Richmond, Virginia, and across the country as being contributors to health outcomes, health practices, and contributors in communities of color.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Teacher snitch lines, mask mandates, banned books and LGBTQ+ rights in public education are all under attack from the right, seemingly, so White kids aren't uncomfortable. Kelli and Michael Paul continue the conversation on public education and the cyclical nature of issues coming up today the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, Mary Bauer. Mary shares insight on the ACLU's present-day work on mask mandates, LGBTQ+ rights and how those areas in particular are under attack in public education from the right.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Across the country and in Virginia in particular, there has been an assault on public education. From banned books, school-policing, and parent tip lines what’s taught, discussed and shared in public schools feels under the microscope. Kelli and Michael Paul visit with the Superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, Jason Kamras, to hear his experience as the leader of a largelay Black school system in the states capital city. Kamras notes of a sense of White fragility that seems to be so dominating everything that is discussed today.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelli and Michal Paul drop in to offer insight through their lens on the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap at the Oscars, a proposed increase on police funding in the City of Richmond and the University of Richmond announcing they'll be changing the names of six campus buildings that had Confederate ties. They be back with regularly scheduled episodes on Tuesday, April 5.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his legislative petition of 1785, Abraham Skipwith says, “Do not reference me as a slave. I am a man.” It was Skipwith’s autonomy, audacity, entrepreneurship and vision for creating his own economic stability and generational wealth that shaped so much of the Jackson Ward community of Richmond. While on their journey and discovery of the history of Jackson Ward, sisters Enjoli and Dr. Seisha Moon found Skipwith’s story to be the north star of what would lead the Ward to be known as the Black Wall Street. This conversation talks about the lasting legacy of Abraham Skipwith and the effort to have his estate returned to Jackson Ward. 

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What was meant to begin as a simple Google search to learn the history of a historically black neighborhood, led sisters Enjoli and Dr. Seisha Moon down a rabbit hole that included The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Valentine Museum to open their archives for continual research that ultimately lead to the re-framing and updates to the history of the Jackson Ward neighborhood. The project sheds light on how the true history of a place is too often painted over and how reparative historic preservation can restore pride and appreciation for the past and outlook for the future. 

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

History is on the ropes due to government, right-wing censures, claiming race-neutral policies yet, with a look at our past, we can see how these types of legislation have gone before us and resulted in racial divides and inequity. Kelli and Michael Paul then get into topics to expect throughout the season including how children experience a public education, public health, legalization of marijuana, the future of policing, and more. 

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelli Lemon and Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Michael Paul Williams retrace Richmond, Virginia’s history with Confederate monuments from the monuments being erected, starting in 1890, to their removal in 2022. Lemon and Williams talk about progress made by Black Americans in Richmond in the early 20th century only for it to be thwarted and dismissed with the rise of the monuments. Throughout the 20th century and through today America has seen a backlash and rise between black and white.

Support the show: https://richmond.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.