Originally published in the Autumn 2024 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 75, printed November 6. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Autumn 2024 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

Editor’s Note: In our 20 years of publishing, The Virginia Defender has never once been asked to correct a fact or a quote. We’re very proud of that record. But since other publications publish corrections, we’d like to do the same – in our case, corrections to factual errors that have appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Here are our first offerings.

9 protesters arrested after wrapping themselves in wire, lying down on I-95 (3/11/24) — This story stated that “The protests caused delays of up to 4 miles until nearly 11 a.m., according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.” The protest began about 7 a.m. Later testimony at the trial was that traffic was blocked for three miles, but two lanes were reopened shortly after police moved the protesters, which lasted until about 7:45 a.m. (We know this because the Defender was the only media at the site of the protest.) The story also stated that police “guided” protesters to the side of the highway. In fact, according to trial testimony, they were lifted or dragged. So the RTD story exaggerated the effect of the protest on the public and downplayed the police actions against the protesters.

Pro-Palestine protesters march to Kaine’s office, block Richmond intersection (5/6/24) — The story failed to mention the main reason for the march: The day after the police raid on the pro-Palestinian encampment at Virginia Commonwealth University, Kaine had voted to send billions more to Israel. The protesters were taking an Open Letter to his office demanding he stop voting to fund the genocide in Gaza.

Pro-Palestine protesters block traffic, march to Virginia State Capitol (5/14/24) — Protesters marched to the State Capitol May 14 to draw attention to the existence and role of the Virginia-Israel Advisory Board, the only state agency specifically set up to promote trade with a particular country. The RTD story on the march totally neglected to state the purpose or target of the march.

Nonprofit group demands Richmond leaders make changes as city enters year 2 of housing crisis (5/29/24) — The story reported on a housing protest at Richmond’s City Hail, but totally ignored the mass walkout at the City Council meeting to protest the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Richmond city council members vote to nearly double their salaries (6/11/24) — This story stated that “Currently, [Richmond City] council members make $25,000 each year, or $12.02 an hour, and the council president makes $27,000, or $12.98 an hour.” Those figures assume that all council members spend roughly 40 hours a week on their council duties. In fact, council seats are intended to be part-time jobs, and most council members also have full-time jobs. If a typical council member spent 20 hours a week on council business, their hourly rate would be $24.04 an hour. Still not much, but, after granting the next council an 80% raise, a nice side gig.

RVA 100: The Freedom Monument on Brown’s Island (10/17/24) — The story states that Richmond “was once a primary market in the transatlantic slave trade.” Actually, there was very little importation of captured Africans in Richmond as compared to major centers like Charleston. Richmond’s significance was that it was the center of the U.S. domestic, not “transatlantic,” slave trade. (And by the way, it’s “trans-Atlantic,” according to the AP Stylebook.)

This last one isn’t really a correction, but still noteworthy:

Introducing new comics, puzzles in The Times-Dispatch (9/14/24) — In a front-page “note to readers,” RTD Executive Editor Chris Coates referred to the color of his childhood Silly Putty as “flesh-colored.” Without the quotation marks. Coates did not explain what race’s “flesh” he was referring to. While we were unable to find any reference to a “flesh-colored” Silly Putty, the Crayola company began producing a “Flesh” crayon back in the 1920s meant to represent Caucasian skin color. In 1962 the color was changed to “Peach,” which eventually was paired with seven other colors in a box of “Multicultural Crayons.” Evidently some people – including some in a position to influence the public – still prefer the term “Flesh.”