News & Commentary

These laws codify meaningful state civil rights protections for the first time for Virginians and make Virginia the first state in the south to extend state nondiscrimination laws to all members of the LGBTQ community.

As a 19-year-old Black man navigating a world enmeshed with implicit bias, I’ve always heard and seen things differently depending upon which article of clothing I wear, be it a hoodie or a suit.

It's time for Commonwealth's Attorney Collette McEachin to show up, lead, and do the right thing, right now. Demand she drop all charges against protesters, set standards for police in calling an unlawful assembly, and make sure Marcus-David Peters' case is re-opened and gets an independent investigation.

Instead of seeking peace, the governor has doubled down on police use of force. He can help stop the violence by lifting regulations on state property, telling state police to allow people to gather undisturbed, and ending his order expanding police power.

America — a country established on July 4, 1776, that prides itself of being a place where “all men are created equal,” yet inequities fostered from race, wealth and social status have festered in existence to this very day. A country that went to war with a government that strangled it under a tyrannical English crown, is similar to a constant war that some Black people encounter daily as they leave their homes questioning if their lives will be taken at a moment’s notice. A country where finally affirming the importance of Juneteenth, also known as Black Independence Day, has been long overdue.

On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a historic ruling declaring Virginia’s ban on interracial marriages unconstitutional. That landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, 'paved the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015 and led to the diverse country that we see today.

Now is not the time for escalation of violence against Black people and Black communities by deploying military force of any kind. Even our own military commanders recognized that laws “prohibiting direct military involvement in law enforcement [are] in keeping with long-standing U.S. law and policy limiting the military’s role in domestic affairs". We must oppose resolutely any use of the military to police our communities.

It is clear that Virginians are impacted by this virus at every level, and among the most vulnerable are Black and brown people, including the disproportionate number held in Virginia’s custodial facilities.

Even in a public health emergency, we must keep a watchful eye on the government to ensure that any COVID-19 response is grounded in science and accepted public health policy, and does not  infringe on our civil rights, including the right to privacy.