Two local activist groups armed with signs shut down the first City Council meeting of 2015 Monday night, singing and chanting inside of the chambers. The demonstration, organized by Justice RVA and Black Action Now, forced Council members to leave their seats, putting the meeting at the mercy of the protesters.



Two local activist groups armed with signs shut down the first City Council meeting of 2015 Monday night, singing and chanting inside of the chambers. The demonstration, organized by Justice RVA and Black Action Now, forced Council members to leave their seats, putting the meeting at the mercy of the protesters.



After opening the meeting with a single award presentation, Council members opened the floor for public comment. Several members of the social justice groups spoke during a brief public comment period at this time, including Vanessa Nunes, one of the organizers behind Richmond’s #BLACKLIVESMATTER.

City council began debating the consent agenda and opened the floor again to public comment. Towards the end of this second public comment period, one audience member stood up and began singing “Amazing Grace.” A larger portion of the crowd joined in. It was at this point members of City Council walked out of the meeting.

The event was publicized under the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.

“We shut down the meeting because black lives matter and there’s been a lot of legislation through city council that has been affecting black lives,” said group leader Vanessa Nunes. “We chose this meeting because its the beginning of the year and we want to start the year off right.”

City council meeting ending for all intents and purposes A video posted by Ben Weiner (@susainmcsweeny) on Jan 12, 2015 at 4:29pm PST

Cherry Payne, media contact for Justice RVA, said that shutting down the meeting was a “necessity for [the council] to take us seriously.” Payne described the other events the groups have done, including protesting in the streets and shutting down Monroe Park.

The demonstration took place during the voting for the consent agenda, legislation which is usually considered noncontroversial. During this section of Council, Nunes threatened further action saying, “If our demands are not met by the mayor and city council we will be boycotting and/or disrupting the UCI bike race in 2015.”

Nunes spoke about a variety of issues relating to the black community of Richmond, including the underfunding of schools, mass incarceration, public transportation, housing, a living wage, and homelessness.

She went on to demand that the council “engage in respect for black life, especially with a black president,” referring to newly elected City Council President Michelle R. Mosby. “We would hope that with her background in criminal justice and reparative justice that she would be on that side, but with voting that she’s done around the stadium issues, we’re not sure we can trust her.”

"Whose city, our city!" Shout protestors after shutting down the meeting A video posted by Ben Weiner (@susainmcsweeny) on Jan 12, 2015 at 3:57pm PST

However, the election of President Mosby has no regard to the groups’ messages. “City Council should be focusing on black lives regardless of who is at the helm,” said Nunes. “We do hope that there’s positive change because of the election of a black woman,” said Payne.

The protestors planned to briefly meet outside of city hall to discuss issues and organize, but could not gather due to the rain. Some demonstrators briefly chatted outside.

Brittney Maddox, a VCU junior and an organizer with Black Action Now said that she felt a responsibility to come demonstrate. “I’m a Richmond local. I have to be both aware of my privilege and advantages as being a student here, and a resident, while most VCU students are just students here and their homes are somewhere else. Coming out to this council meeting is very important to me because I live here.”

The groups are planning on continued action through more means than just protest. Nunes said, “We’re here, we want to make change and we want them to hear our voices.”