Originally published in the Winter/Spring 2025 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 76, printed March 26. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

By Ana Edwards

Since the Shockoe Project was announced in February of last year, a major focus for the Defenders has been how the development and operation of the quarter- billion-dollar Shockoe Bottom memorial park will materially – financially – benefit the Black community.

When the project was first launched, white-owned firms dominated the roster of city contracts, which were awarded without RFPs – Requests for Proposals. In other words, no open bidding.

Since then, there has been some progress. The lead construction contractor for the park is Team Henry Enterprises. This is the Black-owned and staffed Norfolk-based company that courageously took on dismantling the Monument Avenue statue of Robert E. Lee after several white-owned companies refused to do so.

The CEO and COO of the Shockoe Institute—the visitors and interpretive center that will be housed in the Main Street Station—are both Black, and recently hired a Black artistic director. There are currently 18 consultants or employees of color, primarily African-American, that we know of now at work on aspects of the Shockoe Project.

And the lead architect of the memorial park is African-American, although the company he works for—and is a part owner of—is predominantly white.

So the record is mixed, but slowly improving. The Defenders, along with the Shockoe Bottom Community Advisory Group that we initiated, will continue to keep a close eye on this part of the park’s development, but ultimately it must be the community as a whole that insists that the economic benefits of this project primarily go to the descendant community.

After all, whose story is it that’s being told?