Friends,

This Saturday, June 19th, we celebrate the freedom and emancipation of those enslaved in the United States. On this day in 1865, federal troops reached Galveston, Texas, and brought with them the news of liberation — two and half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

Just as it took more than two years before enslaved people in the farthest corner (at the time) of the United States heard the news of their freedom, we, as a nation, have still not achieved our highest ideals of liberty and justice for all Americans. The holiday itself is an example of this long delay: Though Black Americans have celebrated Juneteenth for generations, the rest of our communities are still catching up — for the first time, Virginia will observe Juneteenth as a state holiday, and just yesterday, the House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate in passing a measure that marks Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

We should not look to this holiday, which is new for so many, as the closing of a long, dark chapter in American history. Rather, we must take this day of celebration to reflect on how far we’ve come, so that we can reaffirm our commitment to traveling still further on the road toward racial justice. Our fight for equality continues without reservation.

Visit to Richmond Historic Asylum
This month, as we celebrate Pride and Juneteenth, marking the ways in which we’ve grown closer to our highest ideals as a nation, it seems appropriate to call attention to those histories in our communities that have been largely forgotten. Richmond has its own share of such narratives, and while some of these histories are full of pain and suffering, they also include instances of grace and courage.

On Monday, June 7, the city of Richmond unveiled a historic marker for Richmond’s Central Lunatic Asylum, in Church Hill at the corner of 20th and Fairmount Streets. In December 1869, a former Confederate facility, known as Howard’s Grove Hospital, was designated as a mental health hospital for African Americans. The name was later changed to Central Lunatic Asylum. In June 1870, the General Assembly passed an act incorporating the Central Lunatic Asylum as an organized state institution, now known as the Central State Hospital located in Petersburg.

Historically, Black Americans were thought to be immune to mental illness and some other diseases, too, according to Dr. King Davis, a former behavioral health commissioner for Virginia and the current director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis at the University of Texas at Austin. Some argued that slavery was a “natural state of being” for those of African descent and, further, not owning property offered immunity to mental illness because it left individuals “carefree.” After Emancipation, however, disproportionately large numbers of the formerly-enslaved were designated as insane or suffering from other mental or behavioral issues and confined to the Central Lunatic Asylum.

This historical marker is a way of recognizing troubled moments in our history, so that we learn from them and ensure such events never happen again. More information about this history is available in this Washington Post article.

Education Town Hall
Next Thursday, June 24th from 7pm-8pm, I’ll be hosting a town hall centered on K-12 education. We’ll discuss school reopenings, what students and faculty can expect for the fall, and how each school district is emerging from the pandemic.

Joining me for this important discussion will be key leaders from the Virginia Department of Education and all three Superintendents of the school systems within Senate District 10: Kathy Burcher (VA Deputy Secretary of Ed.), Holly Coy (VA Dept. of Ed. Assistant Superintendent), Jason Kamras (Superintendent for Richmond Public Schools), Dr. Mervin Daughtery (Superintendent for Chesterfield County Public Schools), and Dr. Eric Jones (Superintendent for Powhatan County Public Schools). I do hope you’ll join us. You can RSVP here.

Contacting our office
As always, if you need assistance, or if you want to schedule a Zoom or phone call with our team, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office. Email is the best way to contact us. We can be reached at [email protected].

— Ghazala Hashmi