Reclamation East End: Resisting the Recreation Plantation (feat. Brian Palmer)

Race Capitol

This week on Race Capitol, tune in to our latest: "Reclamation East End: Resisting the Recreation Plantation", where we dive into an in-depth interview with Brian Palmer of the Friend of the East End, about his entry into the work of reclaiming East End Cemetery and archiving Richmond Black history. The cemetery has over 15,000 people buried there and is at risk of becoming a new bike lane and green space, per the Enrichmond plan. The Enrichmond master plan is lacking the critical preservation component that would ensure the evidence of Black existence and resistance isn’t buried under gentrification to come. We discuss how the Enrichmond Foundation has exploited the labor and efforts of the descendants of East End Cemetery. The white led non-profit has now been given ownership of the land, as they are the sole recipient of the $400,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoor Association and now is planning what we call the “recreation plantation”, that includes construction but no preservation. Per usual, the nonprofit industrial complex has teamed up with Black elected officials who have lost the political will and moral courage to fight, and still, we rise. The resistance to our sacred spaces lives on through persistence of the Friends of the East End Cemetery. -- It takes our team about 30 hours each week to research, interview, record, and produce our politically educational episodes. Be sure to become a monthly sustainer of our independent Black media platform by joining our #patreon www.patreon.com/racecapitol -- Resources: Brain Palmer University of Richmond Visiting Professor Profile: https://journalism.richmond.edu/faculty/bpalmer/ New York Times East End Cemetery: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/opinion/sunday/for-the-forgotten-african-american-dead.html In Need of Repair, richmond Magazine East End Cemetery: https://richmondmagazine.com/news/news/in-need-of-repair/ The Nation: Reclaiming Black History, One Grave At a Time: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/reclaiming-black-history-one-grave-at-a-time/ Style Weekly Brian Palmer Wins Peabody Award: https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/richmonds-brian-palmer-wins-peabody-award-for-investigation-into-spending-on-confederate-memorials/Content?oid=14579165 WRIC East End Cemetery Grant Voting Promotion: https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/friends-of-east-end-cemetery-competing-for-25k-grant/ Why Does this Old Cemetery Matter: https://www.readingthepictures.org/2016/05/brian-palmer-old-cemetery/ AtlaticBlackStar Black Leaders fight to Save and restore Black Cememtaries https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/02/16/jim-crow-is-embedded-into-the-landscape-leaders-fight-to-save-and-restore-black-cemeteries-in-richmond-after-years-of-neglect/ 1708 East End Cemetery: https://www.1708gallery.org/exhibitions/exhibition-detail.php?id=99 VPR East end Article: https://www.vqronline.org/photography/2020/12/lives-east-end Church Hill People’s News (CHPN) East End Cemetery: https://chpn.net/2020/11/14/friends-of-east-end-update/ Dumbarton Oaks East End Article: https://www.doaks.org/research/garden-landscape/project-grants/palmer-2017-2018 2016 Vimeo Timelapse video of East End Cemetery Clean Up: https://vimeo.com/190653055