Posts Tagged ‘ervin coley’
Earth Day in North Richmond is about honoring past, looking to future
More than 100 residents and activists turned out in force to work and celebrate Earth Day in North Richmond on Saturday. But they had a lot of help from those no longer here in body, but very much loom over this historic community in spirit. “It feels so good that the community thinks so much…
Read MoreTeens and young adults look to forge peace among Richmond’s neighborhoods
George Mitchell stood in front of the mic, glanced at his notes, and let fly. It’s not always easy for Richmond’s young people like Mitchell to express their feelings and their fears, especially to their peers. But Mitchell was bold, thanks in part to the supportive audience, and his poem took a frank approach to…
Read MoreRichmond 2011: The year in review
2011 was quite a year, to borrow a favorite phrase from longtime resident Sims Thompson, in “our fair city.” I know that’s vague, but it’s tough to turn a pithy phrase that sums up a year in a vibrant, bustling and changing city. We had tragedy and triumph, tumult and harmony. Alliances and rivalries. Echoes of the past and glimmers from the future.
Read MoreMarquis Hamilton: Recollections of a life lost
Marquis Hamilton was a 20-year-old father of two. On Nov. 25, he became the fifth young adult homicide victim in the tiny neighborhood of North Richmond this year. Before that, a RichmondConfidential.org reporter got to know him a bit, and wants you to know him too.
Read MoreThe ‘prince’ of North Richmond’s projects
In his songs and videos, he is “Macho,” the North Richmond everyman who sneers at his harrowing surroundings through jaundiced eyes. But despite the overt bravado and taunts toward rivals, the real Crummie is hopeful, witty, and funny, like an overgrown kid calloused by a life suffused in tragedy.
Read MorePart 10: A hopeful vision for the future
North Richmond knows the blues of economic and social decay, but a brighter day will come – the real question may be when.
Read MorePart 9: North Richmond crime, tragedy beyond the stats
The kids walked east on Silver Avenue, tossing back and forth a frayed, half-deflated football. It was the afternoon of March 30, 2011.
Read MorePart 6: North Richmond’s unceasing struggle
From 2005 to 2010, at least 28 homicides occurred in the county area of North Richmond alone, an area with a population that has averaged about 2,300 people.
Read MorePart 4: North Richmond’s moribund housing projects
In the 1940s and 1950s, the growth of public housing projects swept across urban America. North Richmond was no exception.
Read MorePart 3: North Richmond blues
The music scene that emerged in North Richmond featured a strong, bluesy, country twang that represented not only the influx of southerners to the area during World War II, but also other unique geographical and cultural heritages.
Read MorePart 1: North Richmond, a neighborhood on the brink
It’s a blend of hope and heartbreak, of promise and peril.
Read MorePlanting a healthier North Richmond
In North Richmond, a community farming project may be the answer to providing healthy choices to residents who have long lived in a “food desert.”
Read MoreNorth Richmond lays to rest a native son
More than 500 people filled Hilltop Community Church on Thursday to mourn Ervin Coley III.
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