Virginia’s woke 2021 time capsule: Box filled with BLM stickers, Pride badges, COVID vaccine vial and photos from protests will replace 1887 artifacts buried in pedestal of Richmond’s toppled Robert E. Lee statue
A time capsule that has been in the base of the toppled Robert E. Lee Confederate statue in Richmond, Virginia, for 131 years will be replaced today with a metal box filled with woke 2021 artifacts including an expired COVID-vaccine, photos from Stop Asian Hate protests, BLM stickers and a ‘Virginia is for Lovers’ Pride badge.
This is the list of what is going in the new time capsule:
1. ‘Ballerina at the Lee Statue’ photo taken on June 5th, 2020
2. Expired Vial of COVID-19 Pfizer Vaccine and CDC Vaccination Record Card
3. National Geographic Special Issue ‘2020 in Pictures’ with cover image of Lee Monument in Richmond
4. Black Lives Matter sticker
5. Collection of Michael Paul Williams’ Pulitzer prize-winning columns on Monument Avenue
6. ‘Writing a new history’ Kente cloth worn by the Commissioners of the Congressionally chartered 400 Years of African-American History Commission and Ghanian emissaries that participated in the 400th commemoration of 1619 at Point Comfort in Hampton
7. New Virginians” booklet with portraits of 24 immigrants
8. General Assembly Acts of Assembly from the 2020 Special Session
9. ‘Virginia is for Lovers’ pride pin and stickers
10. The Protagonist poem in uncontracted Unified English Braille
11. Better Together LED Board coded by local schoolgirls
12. VA Ratify ERA sash and ERA 2020 pins
13. YOU ARE NOT ALONE pink heart print found on Richmond street after George Floyd protests in May 2020
14. Election Officer Badge for 2020 General Election
15. Monument Avenue Hip Hop Album by Noah-O and Taylor Whitelow
16. Prayer beads left by a family member who passed away from COVID-19
17. Danville Public Schools “First Lady” face mask, donated by Pam Northam
18. Photos of the June 4, 2020 press conference announcing the removal of the Lee Statue
19. Steel railroad spike talking piece found near African Ancestral Burial Ground
20. Photos and fliers from Stop Asian Hate protests in May 2021
21. Program and video from the dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard featuring a keynote from former Congressman John Lewis
22. Letter describing Virginia University Union’s history and commitment to the Richmond community
23. Photo of the Virginia State Police at 14th and F Street NW in Washington helping DC Metro Police Department patrol the city for unrest after the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
24. Essays and poems from Arcadia Middle School students reflecting on the experience of being a student during a pandemic
25. Senate Resolution Commending the League of Women’s Voters
26. ‘Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee Monument is Coming Down, Thanks to Me and Black Women Like Me’ July 10, 2021 Teen Vogue article written and submitted by Zyahna Bryant
27. Hard copy of the Virginia Poet Laureate Luisa Igloria’s work Dear America
28. Gifts from the dedication ceremony from the Mattiponi and Pamunkey nations, hand painted gourd rattle and hand crafted earrings with sturgeon scale and beading
29. Booklet which outlines Virginia’s first One Virginia Plan for Inclusive Excellence
30. Rumors of War Wasn’t a Rumor photo lithographic plate with oil-based ink & sealant
31. Copy of the LGBTQ Richmond Walking Tour created by Blake McDonald
32. First Presbyterian Church Session 2020 minutes approving the formation of a Dismantling Racism
33. Video of the One Commonwealth Many Virginians: Uniting in Interfaith Prayer for Healing and Unity event
34. Piece of tarp from the unveiling of Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War Statue and photos from the unveiling event
35. Document describing selected student submissions from the Governor’s Inaugural Black History Month Historical Marker Contest
36. Post-Colonial Love Poem by 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry Winner Natalie Diaz
37. New Legacy Postcard
38. List of artifacts in the previous capsule as described in a Richmond Dispatch article
39. Photo collage of individuals who contributed artifacts to the new time capsule and thank you note
Black Lives Matter, LGBT Pride, COVID paranoia, anti-American hatred, racism, destruction and chaos in the name of social justice, it’s honestly a fitting monument to the stupid ages we are living in.
If you wanted to pick items that explain the endarkenment and collapse of society, would you pick anything different?
It hasn’t been announced what will happen to the contents of the old time capsule, so the answer is clear that it will be thrown away as relics of a racist age and not worthy of study.
Again, befitting our current stupid age.
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