Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will discuss how local leaders can tackle critical social issues including racism and racial disparities, the history and symbolism of monuments and how to chart a path toward dismantling inequities. Julian Hayter, historian, author and associate professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, will serve as moderator.

The event will be held Tuesday, March 19, 2019 from 9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m. at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, located at 428 N. Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23220. Doors will open at 9 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. Members of the public can rsvp to info@unumfund.org.

“It’s imperative we have the tough conversations about the history of racism and systemic inequities that continue to harm our communities,” said Mayor Stoney. “Historically marginalized communities — primarily low-income neighborhoods and communities of color —continue to feel the burden of a Jim Crow-era system in every facet of society, including in education, housing, transportation, economic development and health. Each of us share in the responsibility to speak honestly and work boldly to undo historic wrongs and give our children, families, and communities their due opportunity to thrive. I am excited to welcome former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to Richmond to engage in this critical dialogue with our community.”

Landrieu will be visiting Richmond with his E Pluribus Unum initiative, which is bringing people together across the American South around issues of race, equity and economic opportunity.

“As Virginia honors the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans, the country must reckon with its tumultuous past and the institutional racism that shapes us today,” said former Mayor Landrieu. “Growing up in the South and having dealt with the issues of equity, poverty, and violence in New Orleans, I strongly believe the time has come for America to have a national conversation about race. I’m honored to be coming to Richmond and excited to speak with Mayor Stoney about how our two cities can learn from each other as we seek to improve our communities.”

Landrieu and his team are traveling across the South with the goal of listening to local leaders and residents in order to learn about their concerns, hopes and efforts around the movement to create more equitable communities. They are convening community members in nearly a dozen cities and towns, visiting each state across the south to listen and learn, exploring how these issues are playing out in these communities and how local organizations are working together to address them. Following this phase, E Pluribus Unum will develop programs and initiatives seeking to bring people of different races and backgrounds together around their shared values.

For more information about this mayor-to-mayor initiative, please contact Osita Iroegbu at Osita.Iroegbu@richmondgov.com or (804) 646-4336.