Virginia Voices is a monthly podcast where you will hear first-person stories from people most affected by current politics, policy and economic trends.  Host and Richmond journalist, Leah Small, gives Virginians outside the news a full stage to explore their thoughts and experiences, beyond a few soundbites or paragraphs in a daily news story.  Virginia Voices is a project of the Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO.

Special thanks to Virginia Humanities for their generous support of Virginia Voices.

Episode 5

Georgia Allen, 70, remembers growing up during segregation in Pleasant Ridge, a sleepy, agricultural community in southern Virginia Beach. Her family bought groceries at the local country store, where her parents suffered the indignities of white customers always being served ahead of them. 

But as a young girl, Allen wasn’t aware of it because her mother would find ways to distract her during shopping trips. Before Allen walked to the counter with her chosen toy or candy, her mother would say, “Come here a minute, are you sure you want that?”

“She would keep us busy, I ultimately realized later in life that you know, my mom was creative,” Allen said. “She was making sure we weren’t experiencing it (racism) as much as other people.”

Allen is now a civil rights activist and long time member of the Virginia Beach branch of the NAACP, having served as branch president from 2001 to 2012.

In 2021, she was a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that successfully changed the local election system in Virginia Beach after decades of underrepresentation for the city’s Black residents. In most cities, people living within voting districts elect city council members from within their districts to represent them in local office. But Virginia Beach had a system in which council members must win elections citywide, instead of solely within their districts. 

This voting system prevented the election of candidates preferred by voters of color, plaintiffs argued. The city of Virginia Beach, created in 1963 by a merger between Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach, did not have its first Black city councilmember until 1986. Before the lawsuit, it had had only five Black city councilmembers in its history. 

A federal district court barred the city from at-large voting, except for mayor, and approved ten new voting districts. The result was the election of the most diverse city council in Virginia Beach history in 2022.

Following a series of legal challenges to the ruling, the Virginia General Assembly voted this year to keep in place changes to the city’s election system. 

Allen recently applied to fill a vacant seat on the Virginia Beach School Board, but was not selected. She still plans to be active.

The way her mother chose to stand against racism inspired her activism.

“My mother was very tactical, and that’s the difference in seniors of that age group; they watched everything that was going on around them,” Allen said. “They maneuvered through this horrible system in a manner that kept their dignity.”

Click here to read the interview

Episode 4

Tatiana, a Ukrainian artist in her forties, has left the safety of her Central Virginia home to travel to her native country three times to volunteer humanitarian aid during the Russian invasion. 

Tatiana has lived in the U.S. since her early twenties. Most of her family remains in Ukraine, and her heart remains connected to her home. Working with the U.S.-based nonprofit Razom, which means “together” in Ukrainian, Tatiana has returned to her homeland to coordinate fundraising and provide aid for war victims such as hospitalized children, amputees and soldiers on the frontline. In one instance, she secured medical treatment in bordering Poland for a young soldier badly burned during battle.

A professional artist, Tatiana has raised upwards of $15,000 for Ukrainian aid from selling her paintings, and has partnered with Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church and other organizations to raise relief funds. Influenced by the war, her paintings evoke the trauma of refugees and loss of life. Black, blood red, and grim expressions are the main features of her most recent works; a departure from pre-war pieces that captured natural and idyllic scenes. 

“When I express my emotions [in paintings], it’s not blue and yellow colors, patriotic,” Tatiana said. “It’s red because this war [is] about blood. It’s about losing people, about losing generations.”

The conflict has killed more than 26,000 Ukrainian civilians as of early August, and has displaced more than 11 million people, about a quarter of Ukraine’s population. 

As Ukraine endures Russian attacks on  civilians and other war crimes, Tatiana is haunted by constant loss.“There’s a funeral everyday” she said, “and the friends of friends dying everyday.”

Tatiana has received online threats for her support of her homeland, and is being identified only by her first name for her security. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Click here to read the full interview.

Episode 3

Stephen Baek, a native of South Korea, took an oath of loyalty to the United States on the Fourth of July at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.

Baek joined more than 50 immigrants for the 61st annual naturalization ceremony held on the mountain-top estate of the author of the Declaration of Independence. Under the bright morning sun, an audience of friends, family and welcoming citizens wearing red, white and blue celebrated the new Americans. 

Before the ceremony’s close, those gathered listened to a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Baek sat silently with head and eyes lowered, as he read along from a pamphlet. It was the first time, Baek said, he had read the declaration in its entirety. He was struck by how the founding document speaks to America’s history as a nation of immigrants. 

“America has such a diverse society. Immigrants from all backgrounds gathered, worked hard, and achieved this shared goal of building a society where individuals can pursue their happiness, their dreams,” Baek said.

Baek, a scientist and engineer, pursued his dreams when he came with his wife to the U.S. in 2015 on a work visa to teach at the University of Iowa. Their daughter was born shortly after they arrived. The family moved to Virginia in 2021. Six months ago, Baek began the process of applying for citizenship, which first requires five years of permanent residency. 

Baek, 37,  is an associate professor of data science at the University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson. Living in the U.S. has broadened the possibilities for his work, he said, and his. research is wide-ranging. He has analyzed body shape to determine, to the dollar amount, how much weight and height impact annual salaries, and has shed light on how tumor shape correlates with cancer metastasis. 

Baek’s interest in the U.S. was first sparked by his father’s love of Hollywood movies.  Now in America, he copes with homesickness and navigates cultural differences, but feels his family’s choice to leave Korea has brought both promise and opportunity.

Read more of the interview.

Episode 2

Teaching Black history in Virginia classrooms today means sprinting through a political minefield. One misstep brings the ire of parents and conservative leaders who say teaching how race has shaped American history is harmful and divisive.

Virginia is one of 18 states that limits how teachers can discuss racism in the classroom. Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin made the issue a cornerstone of his election campaign, and his first executive order banned teaching “inherently divisive concepts” in the state's public schools. The order says K through 12 curriculum are subject to a compliance review by top education officials in Virginia. Youngkin even established a short-lived hotline for parents to complain about teachers and lesson plans involving race. 

Matthan Wilson, who teaches government and African American history at a high school in Newport News, aims to objectively teach the painful parts of American history, while dodging a political firefight. A 56-year-old Black man, Wilson, was raised in Portsmouth and was bussed to a predominantly white elementary school.  As a young student, he began to distrust the history he was being taught, leading him to read independently and question narratives that favored white American exceptionalism.

Today, Wilson teaches the African-American history elective. The course was developed in 2020 under former Governor Ralph Northam, following the racial reckoning brought by the Black Lives Matter movement. He helps his students think critically about complexities such as Blacks passing as white during segregation, and the contradiction of the founding fathers owning slaves and advocating for equality under the law. 

In his classroom, only two students stand for the pledge. Most feel the U.S. government has failed them, having spent their formative years in a society where systemic racism persists, as evidenced by many metrics of inequality.  

But Wilson sees  hope. He’s inspired by his student’s motivation to learn outside of the classroom, and desire to bring Americans of all races closer in both fellowship and equity. He encourages students to seek balanced perspectives and to challenge the mythos of American history. It’s his way of making sure that some of the darker chapters of history are not repeated.

Read more of the interview.

episode 1

Deborah Skeldon met her husband, Patrick, on a blind date in Hawaii in 1980. She was a civilian, recently divorced. He was a Marine Corps fighter pilot, a Vietnam veteran based at Kaneohe Air Station.

The two forged an immediate bond – one that would remain unbroken for decades through the devastating diagnosis of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, attributed to his military service.

Skeldon flew more than 280 combat missions during two tours in Vietnam. He retired as a lieutenant colonel after 23 years of service, including training dozens of Marine and Navy pilots. 

Years later, after a career as a commercial pilot, Sheldon was diagnosed with ALS. The deadly neurological condition attacks neurons needed for muscle movement, leading to severe paralysis and usually death within 2 to 3 years. 

For unknown reasons, military veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS than the general population. In 2008, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that all veterans with ALS, who served for at least 90 days, were eligible for full disability benefits. 

Debrah Skeldon, 71, lives in Springfield, Va. and is a member of Gold Star Spouses of the United States. She remembered her Marine and the life they shared.

Read more of the interview.