On the recordJune 16, 2020
on Saturday, I attended a rally for justice sponsored by two young women--one, a high-schooler and one a middle-schooler--in my hometown. The rally was one of numerous marches and rallies that have occurred every day, sometimes multiple times a day, in Richmond in the weeks after the horrific public murder of George Floyd. Hundreds of people gathered in the Maggie L. Walker Plaza, a plaza named after a pioneering African-American woman, a business and civil rights leader. They gathered in the plaza to hear from our city's young people. Many raised their hands when they were asked if they were graduates of this class of 2020, a class whose senior year was upended in mid-March and who face a future that, frankly, seems very, very frightening to many of them. I attended to listen. I used to be the mayor and Governor--now a Senator--but I attended as a neighbor to listen. I wasn't on the program, and I didn't ask to speak. I wanted to hear how our young people view this moment in time and what they are asking of us.…
