Virginia—Black workers in Virginia are being laid off or furloughed disproportionately in Virginia due to COVID-19. Because of gaps in education, discrimination in hiring, racist zoning, and many other factors based in systemic racism and white supremacy, Black people are over-represented in jobs that have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. “It’s already more […]
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Poll Shows Majority of Virginians Support Major Structural Reforms to Policing
A June 26-27th poll of 1083 registered voters found 51% support major structural reforms to policing in the commonwealth.
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Betsy DeVos Should Mind Her Own Business and Stay Out Of Fairfax County
Fairfax, Virginia—Over the weekend, Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, called for the full reopening of public schools across the country, despite the fact that the Center for Disease Control says “full-sized, in-person classes” would be of the “highest risk.” In making her dangerous call for schools to fully reopen five days a week with no […]
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Progress Virginia Stands in Solidarity With Youth Organizers Taking a Stand Against Systemic Police Brutality
Richmond—Today, student and youth organizers from the Virginia Student Power Network filed a lawsuit suing the City of Richmond, the Richmond Police Department, and the Virginia State Police for violating their constitutional right to free speech, assembly, and protest. The lawsuit requests an immediate order to stop these violations. This lawsuit comes is a direct […]
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Progress Virginia Calls on Senator Chap Petersen to Apologize For Racist Comments
Fairfax, Virginia—Progress Virginia is calling for Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax City) to immediately apologize for the racist comments made on the John Fredericks Show yesterday. Senator Petersen said the atrocities committed during the Jim Crow era, segregation, and Massive Resistance were “bad decisions…but at least they had a school system, ok, at least they had […]
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Some Confederate Monuments Will Come Down, But There’s Still More Work To Do
Richmond, Virginia—Grassroots activists who have worked for years to remove the racist monuments to white supremacy from public spaces have something to celebrate today with the announcement that the statue of celebrated racist and traitor to the United States, Robert E. Lee, will finally be removed from Richmond’s Monument Avenue. Additionally, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney […]
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Progress Now Statement on White Supremacy
The undersigned state affiliates of ProgressNow released the following statement today regarding last week’s murder of George Floyd and the ongoing murder of Black people at the hands of police in this country. “George Floyd. Jamar Clark. Philando Castile. Thurman Blevins. Ahmaud Aubrey. Breonna Taylor. Marcus-David Peters. Freddie Gray. Patrick Harmon. Darrien Hunt. Damon Grimes. […]
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Progress Virginia Stands With Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and Urges Delay of Reopening
Richmond, Virginia—Progress Virginia stands with the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus in urging Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to delay Phase One of his “Forward Virginia” plan to reopen Virginia businesses in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Data from the Virginia Department of Health shows ongoing serious outbreaks, some clustered in communities of color. Reopening too […]
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Polls Show Social Distancing Is More Popular Than Pet Ownership, Beyonce, and the NFL
A new Navigator Research poll tracking public opinion around COVID-19 released numbers today showing that social distancing measures like avoiding public events and gatherings, skipping dinner out a restaurant or drinks at a bar, and spending most of the time inside the home are more popular than some of America’s favorite things, including pet ownership, the NFL, […]
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ICYMI: Trump Recklessly Vows to End Health Insurance Coverage Through Affordable Care Act Despite Pandemic
Washington, DC—Despite the fact that millions of Americans have lost their jobs and their health insurance coverage as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump announced yesterday that he still plans to completely gut the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration has no plan to ensure that the millions of hardworking families who will […]