Aime Tudor needed a cause. So when activist Dick Gregory came to Richmond for a lecture in late October, she was among the students looking to him for inspiration.
"The thing that he said was, 'When y'all get serious about the burial ground, call me,'" recalled Tudor, a Virginia Commonwealth University senior from Fredericksburg.
Tudor got serious. She watched "Meet Me in the Bottom: The Struggle to Reclaim Richmond's African Burial Grounds," an award-winning documentary on a graveyard that lies near — and perhaps beneath — a VCU parking lot on East Broad Street next to Interstate 95. Weeks later, she organized a silent protest on campus in which black-clad students lay prone on the ground.
On Wednesday, Tudor was at Capitol Square when Gov. Bob McDonnell announced a budget amendment that would ultimately transfer the VCU property to the city — a first step toward the Richmond Slave Trail Commission memorializing the burial ground.
It was a grass-roots triumph in a city where grass-roots efforts tend to wither. But several activists who helped make it happen aren't celebrating in the end zone.
"This is not a resolution. We should be very clear about that," Tudor, 22, said Thursday. For one, she and the other activists want those cars off the lot sooner than later. "I understand it's an inconvenience, but change is inconvenient. Status quo is comfortable," she said.
Tudor said she won't rest until the burial ground property "gets into the community's hands."
Largely obscured by the epic battle between activists and VCU has been the tension between activists and the Slave Trail Commission, headed by Del. Delores L. McQuinn.
While activist Sa'ad El-Amin filed an unsuccessful suit seeking to force test excavations at the property, the Slave Trail Commission worked behind the scenes, averse to controversy and confrontation. No one should expect a kumbaya moment when the city gains control of the property — if, indeed, that happens.
"That's the next challenge," said activist Ana Edwards of the Sacred Ground Reclamation Project. McDonnell's amendment "means that has to pass the General Assembly. That's a process. And that's not a guarantee."
Also up in the air is what, if anything, VCU will do with the property before it receives a $3.3 million reimbursement from the state. "The truth is that this feels very much like a twofold process," Edwards said.
Still, the activists couldn't resist savoring their achievement.
Edwards called it "a pivotal moment for the potential for Richmond to look at its history more directly and a bit more completely."
Shawn O. Utsey, the creator of the burial ground documentary, said the lesson for the community is "if you engage, you can make a difference. For me, that's the beauty of this."
But Utsey, chairman of African-American Studies at VCU, said he fears the community might see this as a mission-accomplished moment and disengage. "It's definitely not over."
Moving forward on the issue requires the involvement of the grass roots, elected officials, the academic community and all people of good will. "But let's not shut the grass roots out," Utsey said.
Tudor, who is majoring in African-American studies and women's studies, says her peers at VCU have been energized since the protest. "This is an opportunity for the community to become involved in what happens to our history," she said.
This week's forward movement is something to celebrate. But the deal isn't sealed, the cars remain parked in the lot and the fate of the burial ground — despite this breakthrough — remains unresolved. Now is no time to sit on the sidelines.
mwilliams@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6815
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement