Kelli and Michael Paul continue their conversation with Allan-Charles Chipman, Executive Director of Initiatives of Change USA. In this portion of the the interview, the three talk about the death of Irvo Otieno, a young man in a mental health crisis who died at the hands of nearly a dozen prison personnel, and why such untimely and misdiagnosed deaths persist and how to prevent them.

Kelli and Michael Paul welcome Allan-Charles Chipman to the show. Chipman is the Executive Director of Initiatives of Change USA, a global network of people of diverse cultures and backgrounds committed to healing historical harms, whose mission is to inspire, equip, and accompany changemakers in the pursuit of a just, connected, and peaceful world. In this conversation, the trio talk about Chipman's work in Richmond and beyond to create new mindsets, new cycles and new futures for people of color across the country.

Kelli and Michael Paul catch up on the news out of Virginia of the state's chief of diversity, equity and inclusion referring to DEI initiatives as "it's dead." The pair also discuss Governor Glenn Youngkin's ceremonial recognition of Jewish people and that, "hate is wrong. Love is right." and omitting any reference to racism in that ceremony or statement which came a week after his own official had said that DEI is dead.

Kelli and Michael Paul catch up on the national mental health conversation and the death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway train and how race factors into the equation. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli Lemon and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Michael Paul Williams are back with a new episode of After the Monuments where the duo discuss the social and cultural progress, or lack thereof, in the three years since the murder of George Floyd and the protests and cultural-awakening it sparked. Read more from Michael Paul Williams on Richmond.com and in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Kelli and Michael Paul are checking in on some of the topics Michael Paul has been writing about including the death of a inmate in mental health crisis at the hands of nearly a dozen law enforcement officials, renaming a Virginia school and the topic of whether Buckhead can secede from Atlanta. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

In this episode, Kelli and Michal Paul talk with The New York Times Magazine and 1619 Project contributor Linda Villarosa about her new book, Under the Skin: Racism, Inequality, and the Health of a Nation. In the conversation and book, Linda shares troubling statistics that college-educated Black mothers are more likely to die, almost die, or lose their babies than white mothers who haven’t finished high school. Linda also shares that some of today’s medical texts and instruments still carry fallacious slavery-era assumptions that Black bodies are fundamentally different from white bodies, causing disproportionate suffering. After the Monuments  is supported by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with urban agriculturalist Duran Chavis to hear about environmental justice and developing community green spaces. As Duron points out, some of the issues that Black communities faced before the monuments came down still persist today. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with urban agriculturalist Duran Chavis to hear about environmental justice and developing community green spaces. As Duron points out, some of the issues that Black communities faced before the monuments came down still persist today. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli and Michael Paul welcome Sheri Shannon to studio to talk about her work as the co-founder of Southside ReLeaf, a volunteer-run organization committed to building a healthy, equitable and sustainable environment for all residents in South Richmond. After the Monuments is sponsored by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli and Michael Paul continue their conversation with Marland Buckner who shares his first-hand experience with the monument removal and civil unrest in Richmond in 2020 and since. Marland lived across the street from the Jefferson Davis monument, until it's removal, which was ground-zero of 2020 civil protests in Richmond. Additionally, Marland was the interim Executive Director of the Black History Museum which has taken possession of Richmond's confederate monuments since their removal. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli and Michael Paul welcome Marland Buckner to the show to share his first-hand experience with the monument removal and civil unrest in Richmond in 2020 and since. Marland lived across the street from the Jefferson Davis monument, until it's removal, which was ground-zero of 2020 civil protests in Richmond. Additionally, Marland was the interim Executive Director of the Black History Museum which has taken possession of Richmond's confederate monuments since their removal. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

Michael Paul Williams is joined by Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Lyndon German and photojournalist Eva Russo who share their first-hand experience of covering the removal of the monument and exhuming of the general's body beneath it. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli Lemon and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Paul Williams are back for a new episode of After the Monuments. In this episode the two are catching up on recent events such us the removal of Richmond's last-standing Confederate monument, the Virginia governor's proposed history standards and the story of the six-year-old in Newport News, Virginia who shot a teacher. More episodes of After the Monuments will follow weekly.

Kelli Lemon and RTD Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist return for a check-in with discussion on the New York Times investigation into Bon Secours and their Richmond Community Hospital. They cover the community organization that had been in charge of the some local predominately Black cemeteries that recently disbanded and the battle over a monument that is still up in Matthews County. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center.

Kelli Lemon and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Michael Paul Williams return for another episode of After the Monuments where this week they're talking about white supremacy in law enforcement, Mississippi's drinking water and more. Presented by Massey Cancer Center and supported by Team Henry Enterprises. 

Michael Paul Williams and Kelli Lemon are back in the studio talking about some of the recent events in world news. Topics of discussion include the varying response in America to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the recent progression in Richmond of the Confederate monuments. Some monuments will go on loan to a museum in Los Angeles while others will stay in Richmond and continue to be under consideration as to what their future should be. After the Monuments if presented by Massey Cancer Center and supported by Team Henry Enterprises.

While Kelli and Michael Paul have been doing After the Monuments, Michael Paul has been doing another podcast with a friend of ours, Mallory Noe-Payne. Mallory is a local radio reporter here in Richmond who spent the majority of 2021 researching in Germany for the very podcast she’s producing with Michael Paul called Memory Wars. It’s a great listen that we think listeners of After the Monuments will really enjoy and they record it in out studio so it all goes together nicely. It’s about how Germany has worked since World War II to overcome their history of hate and discrimination and whether or not America ever can overcome ours. It fits well with what we talk about on After the Monuments.  We'll be back soon with a new episode of After the Monuments. After the Monuments is presented by Massey Cancer Center and Team Henry Enterprises.

In this episode of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are reviewing some of the racially sensitive stories in the news including what Richmond, Virginia police originally reported as a thwarted mass shooting plan but may not have actually been, the search and seizure of confidential documents at the former President's private residence in Mar-a-Lago and with the retirement of Serena Williams, Kelli and Michael Paul reminisce on Richmond native Arthur Ashe and others who used their position in sports to promote a social message. After the Monuments is sponsored by Massey Cancer Center and Team Henry Enterprises.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman. In the finale of the series, Kelli and Michael Paul are recapping what they heard from guests and sharing feelings of their own just a few days before the five year anniversary of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman. In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Kristin Szakos. During the time of the rally, and before, Kristin was a member of the Charlottesville City Council. She perhaps the first council member to recommend the removal of the Confederate monuments which she did during her campaign for council in 2013.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman. In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Dr. Wes Bellamy again. Dr. Bellamy recalls the events in Charlottesville immediately before, during and after the deadly Unite the Right Rally in 2017.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman. In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Dr. Wes Bellamy. Dr. Bellamy was a central figure during the Unite the Right Rally and to the removal of the Confederate monuments as having been a city council member and vice mayor of Charlottesville. Dr. Bellamy recalls the taunts and acts of intimidation the rally's organizers showed towards him leading up to the rally.

During this special series of After the Monuments, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with folks who were involved and nearby the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville about the Confederate monuments in that city that ultimately turned violent and led to the death of a young woman. In this episode, Kelli and Michael Paul are talking with Devon Henry. Devon is the owner of a Team Henry Enterprises, a Black-owned contracting firm, that was contracted to take down the Confederate monument in Charlottesville, Richmond and several other cities. In this conversation, Devon shares stories of the journey from being awarded the contract to removing the monuments, his safety, to fulfilling the prophecy that the monuments that were once put up by Black men would one day be taken down by a Black man.

After a brief hiatus, Kelli and Michael Paul catch up on the news of the past couple weeks. During that time, the Jefferson Davis statue was unveiled in Richmond at the Valentine Museum in its 2020 state, complete with pink paint and a toilet paper noose, Roe vs. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Juneteenth holiday was celebrated.

In this episode, Kelli and Michal Paul talk with The New York Times Magazine and 1619 Project contributor Linda Villarosa about her new book, Under the Skin: Racism, Inequality, and the Health of a Nation. In the conversation and book, Linda shares troubling statistics that college-educated Black mothers are more likely to die, almost die, or lose their babies than white mothers who haven’t finished high school. Linda also shares that some of today’s medical texts and instruments still carry fallacious slavery-era assumptions that Black bodies are fundamentally different from white bodies, causing disproportionate suffering. After the Monuments  is supported by VCU Massey Cancer Center and Team Henry Enterprises.

On the two year anniversary of George Floyd's murder, Kelli and Michael Paul catch up to talk about the civil unrest that took place in Richmond and across the country but also how so much of the world changed from that point. Since 2020, Confederate monuments have come down, conservatives have come to power in Virginia leading to things like critical race theory, banning divisive books and initiating teacher snitch lines. Kelli and Michael Paul cover it all in this episode of After the Monuments presented by Massey Cancer Center and supported by Team Henry Enterprises.

While the proposed legislation and upcoming laws for cannabis and marijuana will be applicable for everyone, the justice carried out is too often different. In this episode of After the Monuments, Kelli talks with Sheba Williams, founder and executive director of No Left Turns, a re-entry organization for individuals being released from the department of corrections on marijuana related charges and otherwise.

Michal Paul and producer Matt Pochily drop in to discuss the May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York that killed 10 and wounded three. Reports on the shooter show a theme of the shooting having been racially motivated and incited by internet forums of "replacement theory" and other ideas aligned with white supremacy. 

Recent legislation put forth by Virginia's Governor Glenn Youngkin, to many, represents a re-criminalization of marijuana within less than a year of Virginia having legalized up to an ounce of marijuana to adults. In this episode, Michael Paul Williams is joined by Marijuana Justice Executive Director Chelsea Higgs Wise who shares her perspective on how the recent legislation will affect the community, entrepreneurs and Black entrepreneurs in the cannabis space especially.

Pharrell Williams is taking his Something in the Water festival away from Virginia Beach and headed north to Washington, D.C. on Juneteenth weekend. The Foundation Board of Directors at James Madison's Montpelier reverse and edit a previous decision to admit descendants of the enslaved from the property onto the board. A small redemption of some of the broken promises is the approach St. Paul's Church in downtown Richmond is taking. The church was once the home of worship for the Confederacy and known as "the church of the Confederacy." This year, however, the church commissioned an artist to install 14 pieces across the church, similar to a church's stations of the cross, that depict the evolution of the church from that history to its present place in the community. Kelli and Michael Paul offer insight and background on all of these in this week's episode. After the Monuments if presented by VCU Massey Cancer and supported by Team Henry Enterprises.

Imagine an growing population of people in a city, even concentrated within a specific neighborhood, whose public health and access is almost invisible when it comes to investment from state policy and not put in a position to receive healthcare services. Kelli and Michael Paul are joined by Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Sabrina Moreno who shares insights from her three-part series on the Southwood community of Richmond - the largest concentration of Latinos in the City of Richmond, a predominately working-class neighborhood. Studies and data compiled by local health districts show a large number of COVID cases concentrated in the neighborhood with hurdles in their way to public health access.

When looking at public health and health outcomes, there are few better sources to consult than data. Data that can show life expediencies and allow public health practitioners to determine what is driving those outcomes. Dr. Danny Avula, Commissioner of Virginia's Department of Social Services, joins Kelli and Michael Paul to share what he's learning and sees in Richmond, Virginia, and across the country as being contributors to health outcomes, health practices, and contributors in communities of color.

Teacher snitch lines, mask mandates, banned books and LGBTQ+ rights in public education are all under attack from the right, seemingly, so White kids aren't uncomfortable. Kelli and Michael Paul continue the conversation on public education and the cyclical nature of issues coming up today the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, Mary Bauer. Mary shares insight on the ACLU's present-day work on mask mandates, LGBTQ+ rights and how those areas in particular are under attack in public education from the right.

Across the country and in Virginia in particular, there has been an assault on public education. From banned books, school-policing, and parent tip lines what’s taught, discussed and shared in public schools feels under the microscope. Kelli and Michael Paul visit with the Superintendent of Richmond Public Schools, Jason Kamras, to hear his experience as the leader of a largelay Black school system in the states capital city. Kamras notes of a sense of White fragility that seems to be so dominating everything that is discussed today.

Kelli and Michal Paul drop in to offer insight through their lens on the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap at the Oscars, a proposed increase on police funding in the City of Richmond and the University of Richmond announcing they'll be changing the names of six campus buildings that had Confederate ties. They be back with regularly scheduled episodes on Tuesday, April 5.

In his legislative petition of 1785, Abraham Skipwith says, “Do not reference me as a slave. I am a man.” It was Skipwith’s autonomy, audacity, entrepreneurship and vision for creating his own economic stability and generational wealth that shaped so much of the Jackson Ward community of Richmond. While on their journey and discovery of the history of Jackson Ward, sisters Enjoli and Dr. Seisha Moon found Skipwith’s story to be the north star of what would lead the Ward to be known as the Black Wall Street. This conversation talks about the lasting legacy of Abraham Skipwith and the effort to have his estate returned to Jackson Ward. 

What was meant to begin as a simple Google search to learn the history of a historically black neighborhood, led sisters Enjoli and Dr. Seisha Moon down a rabbit hole that included The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Valentine Museum to open their archives for continual research that ultimately lead to the re-framing and updates to the history of the Jackson Ward neighborhood. The project sheds light on how the true history of a place is too often painted over and how reparative historic preservation can restore pride and appreciation for the past and outlook for the future. 

History is on the ropes due to government, right-wing censures, claiming race-neutral policies yet, with a look at our past, we can see how these types of legislation have gone before us and resulted in racial divides and inequity. Kelli and Michael Paul then get into topics to expect throughout the season including how children experience a public education, public health, legalization of marijuana, the future of policing, and more. 

Kelli Lemon and Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Michael Paul Williams retrace Richmond, Virginia’s history with Confederate monuments from the monuments being erected, starting in 1890, to their removal in 2022. Lemon and Williams talk about progress made by Black Americans in Richmond in the early 20th century only for it to be thwarted and dismissed with the rise of the monuments. Throughout the 20th century and through today America has seen a backlash and rise between black and white.

Co-hosted by Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Michael Paul Williams and Kelli Lemon, After the Monuments captures the zeitgeist of a nation struggling to move from symbolic to substantive change on racial issues. The podcast will analyze current events about race through a historical context, examining the ideas of leading black thinkers over time, and encouraging broader and deeper insights into racial tensions, divisions and reconciliation. Williams and Lemon, both with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, engage with a wide range of guests to bring context, relevance and resonance to events, going well beyond breaking-news headlines.