A Summer of Remembrance
Vigil for Orlando shooting held in Compass
A few hundred members and allies of the Richmond LGBTQ+ community gathered in response to the tragic mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub — the worst in United States history.
Participants convened with lit candles to discuss the need for support and strength within and outside of the community. Speakers called for the harmony of people of all faiths, races, nationalities and sexualities.
Philando Castile and Alton Sterling remembered in Monroe Park
The police shootings of unarmed black men Philando Castile of Minesota and Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge sparked nationwide protests and debate. In Richmond, local photographer Joi Donaldson took the lead organizing a vigil in remembrance of the two men. Richmond citizens expressed various concerns regarding police brutality, violence and race in America.
“What do you want me to do? I’m sitting here with questions. I got to deal with walking out the house and thinking somebody’s going to judge me on the way I look, the way I talk and the way I move,” said one speaker, who identified himself as Timone Brown. “While I’m in the house I got my own internal conflicts because I’m black. I got to go home and sleep and when I wake up I got to see another man dead.”
Richmond’s 1,000 Man March brings numbers to Belvidere Bridge
Also, in the wake of the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of law enforcement, Richmond’s Triston Harris organized a “1,000 Man March”g to bring unity to the community, he said.
The name of the event was akin to the historic 1995 Million Man March organized by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who called for unity and the revitalization of African American communities by demonstrating in Washington, D.C., in 1995. Last October, the Nation of Islam hosted a 20-year anniversary of the original event.
In Richmond, hundreds of community members gathered in Monroe Park campus and walked across the Belvidere Bridge into South Side — effectively shutting down all lanes of traffic.
News Editor, Fadel Allassan
Fadel is a junior political science major. He is fluent in English, French and Sarcasm, and he probably doesn’t like you. Fadel enjoys writing about local, regional and national politics and making people drive him to Cook-Out. // Facebook | LinkedIn
allassanfg@commonwealthtimes.org
