Student-based 'Henrico Justice' group to hold Short Pump march Saturday

An organization of about 20 current and former Henrico County Public School students plan to hold its second protest calling for changes to the school system, at noon tomorrow in Short Pump Park.

The group, Henrico Justice, has an Instagram account, a website and a petition on change.org with 258 signatures as of 2 p.m. Friday. Their first protest was at Matthew Robinson Park on June 27.

Taylor White, representative of the group and rising senior in the Henrico High School IB program, said the group has worked with the Henrico NAACP and with police to make sure that tomorrow’s event is safe and that roads are blocked.

“We just really want it to be a safe space for students to have their voices heard,” she said.

The protest will have speakers and performers. The performers are Kennedy George and Shania Gordon, Black ballerinas; JLewis, a Black rapper; and Kai Nero and Breanna Prentis, Black poets and HCPS students, White said. George was one of two ballerinas featured in a viral photo taken in front of the Robert E. Lee monument by Julia Rendleman.

“The idea of that was that we didn’t want to focus on Black trauma and what we’ve been through,” White said “but instead focus on Black talent and how we can showcase that as well.”

The students compiled their demands by sharing their experiences and brainstorming realistic ideas in a group chat, White said. White credited Natalie Christensten, an HCPS alumna, for the formation of the group.

The group’s demands are listed on its website and petition and urge the county and school system to:

• scrap the current school district plan and redistrict HCPS (specifically Hermitage, Glen Allen, Tucker, Freeman) and subsequently the elementary and middle schools that feed into those schools;

• implement a citizen review board to oversee those changes in order to create rather than diminish diversity;

• reform the Equity Ambassadors program by holding regular meetings between all members of Equity Ambassadors in the county (students, the group believes, should become Equity Ambassadors through an application as opposed to teacher recommendations);

• create a quota of spots in specialty centers for students of different districts in order to promote a balance of West End and East End students in centers.

• institute a uniform countywide definition of racial discrimination and a uniform procedure that defines consequences in cases of racial discrimination;

• defund Henrico Police, prohibit the use of pepper spray and tasers on students, and reinvest money into teachers and school resources;

• include the same number and type of safety procedures at each school, and same resources allocated to each school for: drug searches, fire drills, hide and lock, etc;

• call for the state to change curriculum to include comprehensive Black and POC history;

• create a PTSO pool and a cap on booster funds, with additional booster funds distributed equitably to the PTSO pool.

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