Anti-Racism Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Service Of Repentance Planned For Juneteenth

The service is to be held on Juneteenth at 6:30 p.m. on the steps of the Capitol building. It will be a time of reflection on West Virginia’s history of racism, remembering those who were murdered, and repentance of the state’s complicity in the practice of lynching.

The West Virginia Council of Churches will hold a Service of Remembrance and Repentance for those who were lynched in West Virginia.

Rev. Ronald English, former Pastor of First Baptist Church of Charleston, will deliver a message at the service.

“I think that intention was not to so much bring around regret, or guilt in terms of what they are up to, but they do want to make sure that we connect the suffering and the deaths of African Americans, and particularly in the state of West Virginia because we didn’t know that they have a burial ground of African Americans in the state of West Virginia until very recently,” English said.

The service is a program of the council’s Dismantling Racism Task Force, which has focused its efforts on establishing a West Virginia Historical Remembrance Project to help the state understand its past and to place a monument on the State Capitol Grounds highlighting African American history in West Virginia.

Pastor Kay Albright sits on the board for the task force and said it is important to face history and repent for wrongdoing.

“Well, it is important for people to realize the gravity of the lynching back in the 1800s, 1900s,” Albright said. “And it’s important to have a day, which is freedom has not been freedom for these lynching victims, and we want them to be free. And so we’re saying we’re having the service to name them and to have freedom for them.”

House Committees Advance ‘Anti-Racism’ Bill And Restrictions To Gender-Affirming Medical Care

On this episode of The Legislature Today, Government Reporter Randy Yohe speaks with Senate Finance Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, and House Finance Committee member Del. Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha, to get the latest on the state budget.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, Government Reporter Randy Yohe speaks with Senate Finance Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, and House Finance Committee member Del. Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha, to get the latest on the state budget.

Also, the House Education Committee had a vigorous debate Monday on a bill titled the Anti-Racism Act of 2023. This is the same bill that died in the final hours of the 2022 state legislative session.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to restrict gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. As Curtis Tate reports, the bill has more restrictions than one approved earlier by the House Health and Human Resources Committee.

Finally, state education groups say school discipline is at a near crisis level. A bill debated in the House is intended to offer educators a tool to limit disruption in the classroom. Randy Yohe monitored that debate.

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The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.

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House Committee Moves ‘Anti-Racism Bill’ Forward

According to the bill itself, Senate Bill 130, known as the Anti-Racism Act of 2023, prohibits teaching that one race is inherently, morally, or intellectually superior to another race, but nothing in the bill prohibits the discussion of those concepts in theory as part of an academic course.

The House Education Committee had a vigorous debate Monday on the anti-racism bill. This is the same bill that died in the final hours of the 2022 legislative session.

Supporters of the bill say it offers protection for teachers, students and parents. Those against the bill say it inhibits open discussion and creates a chilling effect for teachers.

Del. Patrick Lucas, R-Cabell, said he thinks the bill protects students, parents and teachers.

“It protects teachers, number one, from talking about it in a way that can cause things to get out of hand,” he said. “And it also keeps teachers who might want to push their ideals onto students from doing so, too.”

Del, Elliott Pritt, D-Fayette, voted no on the bill.

“I voted against this act because there are too many ambiguities and it leaves the door open for punitive actions against teachers with very little recourse for them to be able to defend themselves,” he said. “It’s not well defined, and that becomes a problem.”

The anti-racism bill passed the House Education Committee and now moves on to the House Judiciary Committee.