A Letter and Appeal to Defend Black History! Endorse by July 11!
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
The Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality is a community organization based in Richmond, Va. For some time now, we have been building a campaign to stop the construction of a commercial sports stadium in Shockoe Bottom, site of Richmond's former slave market. The stadium is to be surrounded by an "upscale" residential/retail area called "Market Village."
The stadium would be owned by the Richmond Braves, farm team of the Atlanta Braves, itself owned by the Time-Warner media conglomerate.
This struggle has recently intensified with the commitment of a $50 million investment by Lehman Bros., the powerful Wall Street investment firm with roots in the pre-Civil War Alabama cotton trade.
While we have organized meetings, rallies, marches and mass educational campaigns on this issue, our biggest weapon is the threat of an economic boycott of Richmond if the stadium project goes through. The boycott would be targeted for the year 2007, when Virginia will be celebrating the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first English-speaking colony in what would become the United States.
This is not a local struggle. Up to 350,000 enslaved Africans were sold from Virginia between 1808, when U.S. involvement in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was banned by Congress, and the end of the Civil War in 1865. By 1860, there were just 4 million Black people in the United States. This means that the majority of U.S. Blacks can likely trace at least part of their personal ancestry to Virginia, and many of them to the slave auction houses of Shockoe Bottom.
In short, this site is the Goree Island of the United States, and we will not allow it to be desecrated.
We are now appealing for your help in this struggle.
Each month, the Defenders publish 10,000 copies of our 12-page newspaper, The Richmond Defender. The July issue will include a list of all the organizations and individuals who have endorsed the statement below opposing the stadium.
We are asking that you and/or your organization endorse this statement. The more endorsers, the more seriously will Richmond's city officials will have to consider the wisdom of selling out this Sacred Ground.
We'd appreciate it if you could get back to us by Monday, July 11.
We also ask that you help by circulating this appeal as far as possible.
For more information, see our Web site at www.DefendersFJE.tripod.com.
In solidarity,
Ana Edwards Chair Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project
Phil Wilayto Editor The Richmond Defender
ENDORSEMENTS NEEDED
Defend Black History! NO Stadium in Shockoe Bottom! Reclaim this Sacred Ground!
We declare our total opposition to the construction of a sports stadium in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom.
This was once the site of one of the largest slave-trading areas in the United States. It was here that, in the decades before the end of the Civil War, thousands of enslaved Africans were sold into lives of brutal exploitation. This is Sacred Ground that must not be further desecrated for commercial profit.
Instead, we call for the proper reclaiming and memorializing of this site. There should be a museum that tells the history of Virginia’s key role in the slave trade. There should be a genealogy center where descendants of enslaved Africans can research family histories. This should be a place of reverence, of learning, of education and reflection.
Further, this project — to be paid for by the corporations, institutions, families and individuals whose present-day fortunes can be traced to the exploitation of slave labor — should be developed in a way that directly benefits the Black community today. This means job training, good jobs with decent wages, academic credits for participation in ongoing educational projects and tax revenue set-asides for community development and university scholarships.
If such a center were to be developed, it would quickly become a destination for people of African descent and others from all over the world. In addition to being a proud and noble achievement, it could be an economic engine for the entire Greater Richmond area.
But if the decision is made to build a baseball stadium and residential “Market Village” on the site of this former slave market, we pledge to call for an economic boycott of Richmond during the quadcentennial year of 2007.
[To endorse as an organization, please include the name of the organization, city and state and the name and e-mail address of a contact person. If endorsing as an individual, please include your name, city and organizational affiliation, if any.]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality
A group of Richmond area residents dedicated to improving the lives of people in our community.
Phone & Fax 804.644.5834 .
PO Box 23202, Richmond VA 23223 .
DefendersFJE@hotmail.composted July 6, 2005
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: mailto:iacenter@action-mail.org
En Espanol: iac-cai@action-mail.org
Web: http://www.iacenter.org
Support Mumia Abu-Jamal: http://www.millions4mumia.org/
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
Make a donation to the IAC and its projects
The International Action Center
Home ActionAlerts Press
Share this page with a friend