The Winter 2020 issue of the Virginia Defender was published on February 17, 2020. Click here to find a full PDF and links to each story.
Winter 2020 Issue
The Virginia Defender
Established in 2005 as The Richmond Defender, The Virginia Defender is a free community newspaper, published quarterly for the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality. Print distribution is currently 12,000 and statewide. The online publication launched in Summer 2020.
IS THERE A MASTER PLAN TO REMOVE THE POOR FROM RICHMOND? TWO INTERVIEWS AND A LOOK BEHIND THE ‘MASTER PLAN’
The Defender interviews a resident of Camp Cathy and the city official who sent the letter ordering it to be shut down, followed by a discussion of the developer who thinks Richmond needs to get rid of people who make less than $50,000 a year.
AT AN IRANIAN CELEBRATION OF ITS REVOLUTION
Virginia Defender Editor Phil Wilayto’s account of attending a reception celebrating the 41st anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Iranian Interests Section in Washington, D.C.
THREAT OF WAR ON IRAN SPARKS PROTESTS, NEW COALITIONS ACROSS VIRGINIA
On Jan. 3, a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport ordered by President Trump targeted and killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The reaction across the world was immediate. Protests broke out in more than 20 countries, especially Iraq and Iran, and over 200 U.S. cities.
SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE
It was a packed house Feb. 9 for a film showing of “Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine” at the Masjid Bilal in Richmond’s East End.
IN MD., D.C., GIANT AGREEMENT NEAR, BUT SAFEWAY WORKERS ANNOUNCE MARCH 5 STRIKE VOTE
In Virginia, the land of almost no unions, there’s one supermarket chain whose workers are covered by a collective bargaining contract. The chain is Kroger, and the union is United Food & […]
VIRGINIA IS THE WILD, WILD WEST FOR PREDATORY LENDING
Predatory lending is personal to me. I’ve pastored in the Richmond area for more than 30 years. Many members of my congregations and surrounding communities have found themselves locked into predatory loans that they struggle to repay. They become trapped in a debt cycle that harms them for years.
The Virginia Defender 