Good Morning, RVA: 150 years later

Both the heat and the display of offensive symbols are subsiding.

June 24, 2015; 7:05 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: JOzPhotography

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and yesterday’s storms, which rolled through mostly north of here, have cooled things down a bit. Highs today just in the lower 90s. Relief! Kind of!

Water cooler

It only took 150 years, but we’re finally getting around to taking down the Confederate flag and putting it in a museum where it belongs. Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Sears (which still exists?) have all decided to stop selling Confederate flag merch. Governor McAuliffe has even put the wheels in motion to strip the symbol from the Sons of Confederate Veterans special license plates (while also unveiling a portrait of Oliver Hill and announcing reforms to the restoration of voting rights process–good day for that guy). Now it’s time to move on to the more complex, more systemic effects racism has on our city, state, and country. I like how Marc Cheatham put it: “Removing that flag is the right thing to do but if it’s the only thing done…we’ve failed miserably.”

Related, WTVR talked to to the Flaggers about the Gov ditching the SCV license plates, and they had this hilariously tonedeaf thing to say: “Governor McAuliffe’s decision to stir up this controversy, and his insistence on exploiting the tragedy in South Carolina for his own political aspirations… will serve to divide the Commonwealth, and create strife and dissension where none existed.” Says the group whose sole reason for existing is to stir up controversy and create strife and dissension on a sidewalk where, previously, none existed.

Council will look to extend the Flying Squirrels’ lease in the Diamond by a year to give them a bit of breathing room–their current lease ends in 2016. Graham Moomaw and Katy Burnell Evans have the details, along with some slightly juicy follow up on the Mayor and Lou DiBella’s relationship after the latter published a scathing open letter.

Read this piece in Style Weekly by Peter Galuszka about the aging (and embarrassing) Gilpin Court, the RRHA, and pools.

Sports!

The Voice of the Squirrels is now the Voice of the Hokies! Jon Laaser has been named the lead broadcaster for Virginia Tech football and basketball. He replaces the iconic Bill Roth, who left Blacksburg to take a job at UCLA. Laaser’s broadcast partner, Jay Burnham, will don the Voice of the Squirrels mantle in his stead.

• Squirrels picked up a win in the first game in a series against Trenton. They continue tonight at 6:35 PM. As always, tickets can be purchased online.
• Wahoos are in the finals of the College World Series, did you know this? With last night’s 3-0 win over Vanderbilt, they’ve forced a winner-take-all game three. Tonight! 8:00 PM! ESPN! Go Wahoos!
• Nats beat the Braves yesterday, 3-1, and now ride a four-game win streak. They’ll try and extend it to five tonight at 7:05 PM.
• D.C. United faces the Chicago Fire tonight at 8:30 PM.

What to expect

Today, learn about:

• Five things to do with your ding dang family
• The new exhibit at the Holocaust Museum
• The Festival of the Arts at Dogwood Dell

This morning’s longread

One Hipster’s Battle Against the Confederate Flaggers

Please excuse the Atlantic’s condescending use of “hipster” while watching this video about a charming guy who’s tired of the Flaggers ruining the sidewalk in front of the VMFA.

Every Saturday, Goad Gatsby hops on his tricycle and heads to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. There, he blasts rap music as a form of protest against the Virginia Flaggers–who, in turn, show up at the museum every weekend to protest the removal of the Confederate flag from the museum’s grounds. This micro-battle has been waging for three years; Gatsby plays his Kanye West tunes while the Flaggers assert their right to fly the flag high.

This morning’s Instagram

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June 24, 2015 7:05 AM 5