Media Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 10, 2013 MEDIA CONTACTS: ANA EDWARDS – Cell: 804.517.4049; Email:
[email protected] PHIL WILAYTO – Cell: 804.247.3731; Email:
[email protected]
Stadium opponents to respond to developers' proposal for Shockoe Bottom Individuals and representatives of organizations opposed to building a baseball stadium in historic Shockoe Bottom will hold a press conference at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, in front of the East Broad Street entrance to Richmond City Hall , 900 E. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23219. The speakers will explain why they oppose a stadium in Shockoe Bottom and will call for the area's development as a historic tourism destination that could produce significantly greater economic gains for the city than a local ballpark. Scheduled speakers include: Ana Edwards – Chair, Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality; Host, DefendersLIVE radio program (WRIR); Member, The Future or Richmond's Past Leadership Team Christy S. Coleman – President, American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar; Member, The Future or Richmond's Past Leadership Team Philip J. Schwarz, Ph.D. – Emeritus Professor of History, Virginia Commonwealth University; nationally recognized expert on the social and political history of Colonial America and slavery in Virginia Shawn O. Utsey, Ph.D. – Professor of Psychology & Former Chair, African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University; Producer & Director, “Meet Me in the Bottom: the Struggle to Reclaim Richmond's African Burial Ground” and “Until the Well Runs Dry: Medicine and the Exploitation of Black Bodies” Representative – African Ancestral Chamber, which preserves the sacredness and legacy of African ancestors In addition, there will be written statements by Randolph M. Bell, a former U.S. Ambassador and now Trustee of the First Freedom Center; Randall Robinson, a best-selling author, leading anti-apartheid activist and native of Richmond; and S. Waite Rawls III, President & CEO of the Museum of the Confederacy. As of Oct. 10, more than 1,600 people, about 80 percent of them Richmonders, have signed a petition opposing a Shockoe stadium because of the area's importance to the history of people of African descent. This represents by far the largest mass expression of opinion on this issue to date. In addition, 35 Virginia university professors, holders of doctoral degrees and museum officials have signed a statement opposing a stadium in the downtown area they describe as an “irreplaceable treasure.” Copies of the statement and a list of signees will be available at the press conference. In the decades leading up to the end of the Civil War, Richmond's Shockoe Bottom was the site of the secondlargest slave-trading district in the United States. Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people were bought and sold like chattel in this market area that extended west of what is today Interstate 95 and east to around 20 th Street. The majority of African-Americans today could likely trace some ancestry to this small piece of land. It is totally inappropriate to build a commercial sports stadium on this sacred ground. Further, if properly promoted as a historic district, Shockoe Bottom could draw people from across the country and beyond, producing economic benefits to many more people than the small group of wealthy developers now behind the stadium proposal. For more information on this issue, visit: www.shockoebottom.blogspot.com. −