Our two A12 events around Ézé Amos’ photo exhibition The Story of Us: Reclaiming the Narrative of #Charlottesville through Portraits of Community Resilience were very successful.• Presentation (8/10) — 50 people, in-person and online, attended Ézé’s overview of the exhibition (partially given “in conversation with” Andrea Douglas, Executive Director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center). If you missed it, here’s a recording of Ézé’s presentation; the first 24 minutes, mostly Ézé and Andrea discussing how Eze’s became a photojournalist, why he chose the Downtown Mall and racial justice struggles as his main subject areas, and how he chose the 36 photos for this exhibition. The first 24 minutes are audio-only, but the video kicks in when he starts showing the photos.
• Walking Tour (8/13) — What was planned as a one-hour tour lasted two hours as Ézé led us to each installation and explained (much abridged) what was going on in each photo and a bit about each person featured. 100 or more people joined the tour at various points to listen and ask questions.
Thank you Ézé and Andrea and everyone who turned out for this very meaningful A12 commemoration.
If you’ve not seen the photos yet on the Downtown Mall, don’t wait much longer; the photos will be taken down after September 29th, though you’ll be able to visit Eze’s website.
The Charlottesville Democratic Committee deplores Governor Youngkin’s appointment of Bert Ellis to the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia. Ellis has repeatedly and loudly denounced the University’s efforts at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Two years ago, he traveled to the University Grounds and attempted to deface with a razor blade a poster with which he disagreed, which a University student had hung on her door. Most alarmingly, when he was co-chair of the University Union in the 1970’s, he refused to invite a speaker on gay rights because of his opposition to homosexuality, and he invited a notorious eugenicist to a public forum at the University to present his belief that Black people are lower in intelligence than White people. 
ocal photojournalist and artist Ézé Amos is the creator of the exhibit “The Story of Us: Reclaiming the Narrative of #Charlottesville through Portraits of Community Resilience”, 36 larger-than-life 10′ x 8′ photos mounted front and back on trees all along the Downtown Mall. Each photo will have a QR code linking to a 3-minute recording of the person highlighted in the photo describing that moment in their own words and voice. Eze donated the photos to the City, which will install them August 9-10 (this exhibit is the City’s only anniversary commemoration event).
Every Saturday we meet to canvass (10-Noon and/or 1-3) at the Dairy Market, 946 Grady Ave. Join us and help get Josh elected!