Portsmouth must look to the future

November election, judge’s decision to toss out monument charges provide hope

District Court Judge Claire Cardwell last week dismissed felony charges against 19 people, including several elected officials, related to a June protest that resulted in damage to the city’s Confederate memorial.

This was the right decision. The charges were unwarranted and even the judge voiced her belief that they were politically motivated — not a serious attempt to punish wrongdoing or make Portsmouth safer.

The episode roiled Portsmouth, prompting changes in leadership and a national spotlight that showed too many of the city’s flaws and too few of its charms. With this matter closed, Portsmouth should turn its full attention to economic development, education and public safety to build a stronger community for all its residents.

Portsmouth has endured more than its share of turmoil in recent months, though the roots of the discord there are far older, and run far deeper, than the fallout from one protest. The city has long been a place where race seeps into all manner of debate, a stain that time or concerted energy seems hopeless to fully erase.

That’s little different from a lot of communities — in the South and, yes, in the North — where race remains a deeply painful subject for discussion and a source of justified anger and resentment. The Confederate memorial in Portsmouth has been the flash point for that debate, a concrete-and-steel reminder of our region’s lamentable legacy.

The protest which took place there in June was generally festive, even as people spray painted the statue and made efforts at tearing it down. It turned ugly, however, when the crowd managed to topple part of it, severely injuring one of those in attendance.

That was terrible and regrettable, but it was made worse when a police sergeant two months later circumvented the commonwealth’s attorney to swear out charges against several city leaders, including prominent Black officials: Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas, NAACP President James Boyd and Vice President Louie Gibbs and School Board member

LaKeesha “Klu” Atkinson.

The complaint listed Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales as a witness in what seemed to be an attempt to sideline her. And it came despite an apparent consensus agreement in City Hall that charges shouldn’t be pursued in the case.

In the weeks that followed, Police Chief Angela Greene was put on administrative leave, City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton resigned and City Attorney Solomon Ashby was fired. And a resident filed criminal charges against Vice Mayor Louise LucasBurke, Sen. Lucas’s daughter, over the vice mayor’s public comments about the police chief; those charges were dismissed last month.

Judge Cardwell’s decision this month to toss out the charges related to the monument protest should help bring this episode to an end. Likewise, the November election should give Portsmouth residents reason to look with hope toward the future.

Voters selected Councilman Shannon Glover to replace Mayor John Rowe, who did not seek another term in office, and elected De’Andre Barnes, Lucas-Burke and Mark Whitaker to the City Council.

Does all that mean a new day is dawning for Portsmouth? Time will tell. Certainly, the dismissal of these charges won’t usher in a period of racial harmony or put an end to the political infighting in Richmond. There is considerable work to do if the city hopes to find common ground.

Still, it would be a big step if Portsmouth could turn its focus to the future, rather than the past, and devote its energy to building a stronger, more productive and more prosperous community.

That means focusing on economic development opportunities, including redevelopment of the waterfront. It’s tending to public education and public safety, and making investments in services with broad public benefit. And it means listening to residents more attentively and focusing on their needs rather than political gamesmanship.

Portsmouth can be better — and should be better. This is the opportunity to make that a reality rather than only a far-fetched dream.