Race Capitol

November 25, 2020, on our episode “Solidarity Forever”, hosts Chelsea and Kalia talk to Afro-Indigenous activists in Portland Melanin Msvkoke (@melaninmvskoke) and Mark Herrera (@MarkAnthony195) about the critical role of Black and indigenous solidarity in our collective movement for total liberation.

We also go through the latest headlines during our Race Capitol reframe segment.

Become a monthly sustainer for our independent Black media platform on our patreon: patreon.com/racecapitol

Donate to the Richmond Indigenous Society (venmo: @spitfire17) to support local work happening on Powhatan lands.

Link to “2 Live & Die on The Plains” by Frank Waln: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtSW75us_rM

Link to “RICHMOND” by Nickelus F: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7otCmWApY&list=RDAMVMZB7otCmWApY

This week on Race Capitol, we will speak with members of the Richmond chapter of CounterPower, a US-based communist organization, about their book “Organizing for Autonomy: History, Theory, and Strategy for Collective Liberation” and about the role of militant research in creating a world that centers justice and liberation.

Join us at 10am on WRIR 97.3 FM for this conversation and after on your favorite streaming platforms.

Purchase the CounterPower book here: https://www.commonnotions.org/organizing-for-autonomy

Guests:

Asma (they/them): part of Richmond chapter of CounterPower and Lil Rad Library;

Tay (they/them): part of Richmond chapter of CounterPower; involved with Mutual Aid RVA

Patrick (he/him): part of the Richmond chapter of CounterPower; currently involved in VCORE, left-wing opposition group within VEA

Become a monthly sustainer for our independent Black media platform patreon.com/racecapitol

Why all the kids are Communists (PT. 2) Race Capitol co-host, @naaayonce sits down with feminist, abolitionist youth voices to discuss moving past elections and into revolution. Joining us is Asma Alomari (@halalsoulfood + @lilradlibrary ), Natalie Romero (@nisantas_niputas ), Sarin Glenn (@hermosxsol ), Kalynn Francis-Powell (@imagineabolitionrva + @itsinthewaterz ) and Aida Campos (@a.e.campos )!

You can listen to “Why All the Kids are Communists (and you should be too!)” or last week’s episode, “Burn Down the Amerikan Plantation” on your favorite podcasting app ! #LANDBACK #TURTLEISLAND

ll three hosts join the Reframe and the first ever Race Capitol Book Talk that features the book: BURN DOWN THE AMERICAN PLANTATION. Hear the hosts give a synopsis on the book and how its relates to our place, space and time of Richmond, Virginia in 2020 as we build our freedom land and work towards abolishing slavery once and for all.

Episode links:

Burn Down the American Plantation full book PDF: https://www.revolutionaryabolition.org/bdap.pdf

Clips that are not ours:

-Janelle monae, Turntables

-Malcolm X: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHJEUZ2FMYe/

-Fred Hampton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVzbSvWaMkc

-Lorraine Hansberry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqxjc7PULJ8

Wednesday at 10am Tune in to “Project Innocence” where Race Capitol interviews Jarrett Adams, a once wrongly accused man who was set free by the help of the innocence project and now a lawyer fighting for Terrence Richardson and Ferrone Claibourne right here in Virginia.

In 1998, a police officer was murdered, but after 20 years the community and the courts agree that Terrence nor Ferrone are guilty of taking the life of an officer, yet they remain sentenced to life.

Tune in to this episode, follow their page @notguilty_servinglife and share the flyer for their vigil on November 2.

This week Race we discuss Organizing through the Divide. Chels talks to author Dr. Peter Rachleff & labor educator Bill Fletcher Jr about how the institutions of Richmond have worked strategically to divide the movement and how the Lee Monument represents the literal fight in the court and the current symbolic fight to defend Black lives.

We go back to why the gigantic monument was proposed in 1890; public memory can verbalize that it was to solidify the white race but do you know the context of the time?

Have you learned about the Workingmen’s Reform Party that built the old City Hall on an 8 hour day?

Have you learned that it was this labor organizing movement that brought the proposal to glorify a Confederate General and construct the “Lost Cause” narrative we still fight today?

Join us this week to learn about this third political party that organized through the national Knights of Labor but was stopped in their tracks with the contract to build the statue of Robert E. Lee. Tune in this week on Race Capitol, and don't forget to subscribe!

Learn something? Join our Race Capitol patreon and support our work as we interrogate the racial narratives of our place, space and time in Richmond, VA

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Music: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=RDyfQNdwgvJMw&feature=share&playnext=1

resources from episode:

-Learn and Read from Bill Fletcher Jr.: http://billfletcherjr.com/books/

-The Story Behind The Robert E Lee Statue by Peter Rachleff: https://progressive.org/dispatches/story-behind-lee-statue-richmond-virginia-rachleff-200707/

-Industrial Slavery in the Old South by Robert S. Starobin https://www.jstor.org/stable/3112636?seq=1

-Black Labor in Richmond VAa 1865-1890 https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/65ngq4ck9780252060267.html

-The Freedman’s Savings Bank: -https://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/pages/freedmans-savings-bank.aspx

-The Half Thats Never Been Told by Edward E Baptist: https://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-half-has-never-been-told-by-edward-e-baptist-1409952510

-Yohuru Williams http://www.yohuruwilliams.net/YW_publications.html

-Marcus Rediker: https://redemmas.org/titles/16303-the-amistad-rebellion--an-atlantic-odyssey-of-slavery-and-freedom

-Never Caught by Dr Erica Armstrong: https://www.amrevmuseum.org/read-the-revolution/history/never-caught-washingtons-relentless-pursuit-their-runaway-slave-ona

-The Debt: What Americans Owe to Blacks: http://www.randallrobinson.com/debt.html

-Amazon is building on a plantation: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/11/27/virginia-portion-amazons-hq-should-acknowledge-what-lies-beneath/?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.2fb9b0917c41

-Richmond Magazine: Old City Hall: https://richmondmagazine.com/news/richmond-history/40-moments-you-can-fight-for-city-hall/

Wednesday 10am on WRIR Race Capitol Roundtable comes to the airwaves, featuring Frank Hunt who shares his story of being hit by an RPD rubber bullet in the eye this summer. The hosts revisit this Monday’s Richmond City Council vote to strict the public comment to ban the use of military weapons, as well as the Race Capitol Reframe bringing you the latest local, national and international news in defending Black lives. Learning and motivated from our show? Join our PATREON to help fuel the late night production hours and be sure you're subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts!

Catch up to the race Capitol Roundtable where we discuss the upcoming legislation for Richmond City Council, a resolution to ban military grade weapons.

The full council is set to strike the resolution from the agenda without hearing public comment. We need the public to push the council to hear our voices and to vote to ban these weapons.

We talk about the history the funding and speak to Frank Hunt who was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.

Sign the petition: bit.ly/VA-BAN-TEARGAS

We are working to ban all these weapons from across the Commonwealth! Join us!

This week at 10am Race Capitol interrogates the fallen capital of the Confederacy’s resistance to de-militarizing the Richmond City Police Department. We revisit the July 28th City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting that heard a resolution patronized by Councilman Jones to ban non-lethal military weapons.

Well barely. After being reminded about the public’s time to comment on the resolution, the committee made up of Councilwoman Trammel (chair), Councilwoman Gray (vice chair) and Councilman Hilbert heard the public that all said to support the resolution to ban the weapons. But on Monday October 12th, the full City Council will meet with the recommendation per the committee to strike the resolution.

Tune in this week to hear testimony from the people, the latest local and national news PLUS this week we have a call to action: sign the petition to tell council to de-militarize the Richmond Police Department.

Links for description:

-Resolution proposed to ban non-lethal weapons: https://richmondva.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8644065&GUID=366E4B46-88AE-4ACC-8C71-7163F3B499CD

-July 28 Richmond City Public Safety Committee Meeting: http://richmondva.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=2058

-Post Office Mailboxes are robbed throughout Metro area: https://t.co/3kO4GgXiXU?amp=1

-Mayor’s Task Force to Re-Imagine Policing https://t.co/OAblYSEe6c?amp=1

Commonwealth Attorny files 18 possible indictments against 8 RPD officers https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/grand-jury-considers-18-sealed-indictments-related-to-richmond-police-actions-during-unrest

-The occupant of the White House has contracted COVID19: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/10/06/920785708/cutting-edge-covid-19-care-for-trump-not-available-for-regular-folks

-Policing Protest Spending: https://vpm.org/news/articles/14944/richmond-police-spent-nearly-2-million-responding-to-protests

-Policing Protest Spending update: https://vpm.org/news/articles/15474/for-protests-rpd-spent-over-200k-on-tear-gas-vans-meals

-Politics Now: Teargas impacts on menstral cycle https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGBsY2NJ6gz/?igshid=1gw4kt31b54k9

-Richmond Physicians speak out against the weapons: https://vpm.org/news/articles/14367/doctors-urge-richmond-police-to-stop-pepper-spraying-gassing

-Letter to the Editor written by Alan Dow after the Council postponed the meeting until September: https://richmond.com/opinion/letters-to-editor/letter-to-the-editor-july-31-2020-use-of-chemical-irritants-for-crowd-control-must/article_3f9392cb-2cd6-5113-a55a-f8e7ecedbbd7.html

-Matt Schefft was quoted by the RTD in response to the subcommittee's decision not recommend a ban: https://richmond.com/news/local/city-council-subcommittee-opposes-ban-on-non-lethal-weapons-deployed-against-protesters/article_e33bb05f-b411-5469-86af-f97b7287715a.html

-More From doctors: https://www.bustle.com/p/can-tear-gas-affect-your-period-doctors-explain-what-to-know-22987529#:~:text=Deploying%20tear%20gas%20creates%20panic,or%20have%20underlying%20health%20conditions.%E2%80%9D

-ruling on Teargas: https://www.wbtv.com/2020/07/24/judge-dissolves-restraining-order-that-limited-cmpds-use-riot-control-agents/

-How they control us: https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/factsheet.asp

-VPM reporting on money spent: https://vpm.org/news/articles/15474/for-protests-rpd-spent-over-200k-on-tear-gas-vans-meals

-Chile suspends use of tear gas in protests (2011) https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-chile-suspends-use-of-tear-gas-in-protests-2011may17-story.html

-Information about tear gas + Arab Spring

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-tear-gas-works-a-rundown-of-the-chemicals-used-on-crowds/

This week guests on Race Capitol ask the question, “When Is My Punishment Unconstitutional?” We welcome Jessica Moore who is best friends with Virgil Tucker, Jr. Tucker is a Richmonder who is currently advocating for his life in the Richmond City “Justice” Center. Plus Christopher Rashad Green of New Virginia Majority shares about the “Bring Them Home” Rally this Saturday at 1pm which will target Virginia’s top cop Brian Moran to prioritize decareration. Finally, Wednesday’s episode features words by Askari Danso, who is incarcerated in North River Correctional Center and inspired this week’s title. Thank you to all of our guests and let's BRING THEM HOME.

Sources:

-https://www.justia.com/criminal/procedure/search-and-seizure-rules/the-good-faith-exception/

-https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-a-conservative-6-3-majority-would-reshape-the-supreme-court/

-https://www.nbc12.com/2019/10/01/most-public-defenders-richmond-make-less-than-secretary-prosecutors-office-they-want-raise/

-https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-financial-markets-pandemics-jerusalem-austin-2097fdd24e809f892550cabbb687e5f8

-https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54342356

-https://www.nbc12.com/2020/09/23/dr-avula-sheriff-irving-address-inmates-covid-concerns-jails-during-virtual-town-hall/

-www.newvirginiamajority.org

Music:

-https://youtu.be/lw6GFCupesI

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yxoob6aPtk