Nearly 12,000 people have signed our petition in the past two weeks. Governor Northam has been silent. Enrichmond, meanwhile, has stated publicly that our "claims"/"allegations" are "false" or "unfounded."
Apparently, the city of Richmond doesn't think so. We have received word from the mayor's office that the city has decided—for now—not to pursue the right-of-entry agreement to Colored Paupers Cemetery that it was negotiating with Enrichmond. It has also redirected $75K in nondepartmental funds that had been destined for Enrichmond's coffers.
This is excellent news.
But it is not enough. In their March 10 letter to the governor, descendants and others called for accountability, transparency, and genuine—not token—community engagement. We launched our petition in support of those demands.
As the letter stated: "The situation at Richmond’s historic African American cemeteries is critical. Rather than continuing to rush ahead with top-down plans that have not been fully vetted, now is the time to pause, reflect, and reset. Many mistakes have been made. We now have an opportunity to correct them—and to give descendants the voice they deserve."
We will continue to call on the governor to respond to their letter and to take the necessary steps to protect East End, Evergreen, and other historic Black cemeteries in Richmond and beyond.
For the latest updates, please follow us on social media: @friendsofeastend (Instagram), @friendseastend (Twitter), @eastendcemeteryproject (Facebook).
Thank you for your support.
The Friends of East End