THE ROAD YOU TRAVEL MAY SEEM WIDE AND CLEAR

BEWARE OF OBSTACLES IN THE WAY

TAKE YOUR TIME, IT’S A BIG DECISION

CHOOSE CAREFULLY YOUR DIRECTION TODAY

WILL YOU GO STRAIGHT AHEAD OR WILL YOU GO RIGHT OR LEFT

REGARDLESS THE PATH YOU TAKE

ASK FOR GOD’S GUIDANCE IN ALL THAT YOU DO IT’S
REALLY HIS  CHOICE TO MAKE

WE WEREN’T PUT ON THIS EARTH TO ONLY CAUSE REVOLUTIONS

WE’RE ALSO PUT HERE TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION  (BPOS) EJR

                                                                                                 

The mission and purpose of BPOS Inc. (Be Part of the Solution) is to bring together the participants and supporters of the "Civil Rights Movement" past and present.  This will include seasoned community leaders as well as Civil Rights Activists both locally and nationally.  The institutional knowledge and experience garnered through this organization will be shared with youth in the elementary grades and at the secondary level.  Young adults on college campuses, as well as other professional organizations such as businesses, non-profits,  and religious organizations will be included.  We will continue to work toward bringing about positive change by the development of solutions to on-going violence, inequality, injustice, persecution, hatred and racism. Our mission is to provide historical perspectives in shaping today’s solutions as young and old dedicate and rededicate themselves to the principles of freedom in a just society.

One of the major atrocities of our age is the huge number of illiterates within our midst.  They are our generations of lost men and women who cannot read, who have no hope or direction to improve their lives, who have no means of getting a "GED" or of ever entertaining the possibility of going to college.  The paths which they have followed are ones which have taken them to  lives of despair and disappointment  which often has led to incarceration or death. The "RICE READING PROGRAM(READING IS CONFIDENTIAL AND ESSENTIAL)" THROUGH, "BPOS" will provide an alternative, a beacon of light and a safety net to catch, ,motivate, educate and direct Adults and Young Drop-Outs  to a better life where they can take their place in society empowered with the tools to make them assets and citizens of importance rather than  liabilities in this current age we now live in.. See Services Section on the "RICE READING PROGRAM".

February 22, 2010  marked the special 50th Anniversary of the arrest of the “Richmond 34”; a significant event in the history of the Civil Rights Movement in which Virginia Union University students played the leading role.

On February 1, 1960, the first student sit-in occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina, as determined students from North Carolina A & T attempted to desegregate the Woolworth’s department store lunch counter. The sit-in movement spread and Virginia Union University, as the south’s most venerable HBCU, located in the former capital of the Confederacy, was of crucial significance to the movement’s success. On February 22, some 200 students, led by Frank George Pinkston and Charles Melvin Sherrod, assembled on campus and marched all to downtown Richmond, shutting down operations in Virginia’s major shopping district. The climactic moment occurred when 34 students were arrested on charges of trespassing for picketing the luxurious Richmond Room restaurant at Thalhimer’s department Store. Subjected to insult, abuse and intimidation the students stood firm and submitted to imprisonment. As he was being led away, Pinkston declared, “The students have set the flame. Now we challenge you to put some oil on it and keep a blaze going!”

The response was overwhelming. The students had galvanized the Richmond community; they were quickly bailed out and celebrated as heroes. Their sacrifice that day set into motion the Campaign for Human Dignity which would destroy racial discrimination laws in Richmond and change the course of history.

A Project Recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the Thalhimers Lunch Counter Sit-In occurred in Richmond Virginia on
February 17 – 22, 2010.   On February 20, 1960, more than 200 students from Virginia Union University walked from the Lombardy Street campus to the shopping district along Broad and Grace Streets. Once there, they entered the “Whites Only” lunch counter at Thalhimers Department Store and were refused service, though they remained in their seats until the store closed.

Two days later, 34 VUU students returned to Thalhimers and were again refused service. This time around, they were arrested for trespassing at the request of store management. The students became known as the Richmond 34, a reference to their place in the Civil Rights Movement as sit-ins became a form of peaceful protest against segregationist policies.

Over time, Thalhimers responded by integrating its facilities, and other local businesses followed. The 1964 U.S. Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in schools, public spaces, and in places of employment.

On February 22, 2010, Richmond Center Stage  hosted Sit-In|Stand Out, an event honoring the 50th anniversary of the Sit-In at the Thalhimers building, now a part of the Richmond CenterStage downtown performing arts center. In addition, Virginia Union University  hosted a series of lectures, performances and commemorative  events from February 17-22.

Sit-In|Stand Out  included an education forum for CenterStage partner schools grades 7 through 12, a community luncheon, several performances, and inspired paintings and exhibits created by children from our partner schools in the Showcase Gallery – all serving as a remembrance of an often overlooked and forgotten part of Richmond’s and America’s past.

On Monday, February, 22 – 50 years to the day of the Richmond 34’s Sit-In – a Historic Marker  was dedicated at Sixth and Broad Streets at Richmond CenterStage. The commemoration was capped off with special evening performances:

SunTrust Bank presented Amaranth Contemporary Dancer’s
"Equalizing the Lines: Prelude to a New Dream" followed by

"An Evening of Reflection was with John Legend"