Richmond Planet

12/02/2026

How did we get here?
The thirteen founders of The Richmond Planet:
Editor Edward A. Randolph (First Black graduate of Harvard Law),
James H. Hayes, James H. Johnston, E.R. Carter, Walter Fitzhugh, Henry Hucles, Albert V. Norrell, Benjamin A. Graves, James E. Merriweather, William H. Andrews and Reuben T. Hill.
The Fighting Editor:
JOHN MITCHELL JR.
The Flame Keeping Editors:
Albert Norrell and Roscoe C. Mitchell
The Young Apprentice of Black media:
John Thomas "Tigertom" Mitchell.
The Champions & Revivers of Truth: Editor & Founders
RAYMOND H. BOONE and JEAN P. BOONE
( The Richmond Free Press is the Phoenix that rose from the ashes of The Afro Newspaper)
Our Queens of The Good Fight Editors: Bonnie: Winston and Bonnie Newman Davis
The last of the truth sayers.
Editor: Craig Belcher.

We cannot allow their work be cast aside. In print. Online. In your home or in conversation. Saying their names and telling the story of how they told our stories is mandatory. To fail is to die.

09/03/2025

Join us for a dinner experience. Remarkable courses and ambience.

Purchase your tickets now for an exclusive invite-only event at the Firehouse Theatre, introducing the John Mitchell Jr. Project!

23/10/2024

As a culture we accept whatever is sold to us. In the 90s and 2000s I saw that the acceptance of "Pimp Culture" was not good for anyone. That is anyone accept Snoop, Ice T, Too Short, Puffy, Biggie Jay Z and a host of other so called music personalities.
I had a best friend that insisted on calling girls bi***es and hoes. It was weird. It was his reaction to being rebuffed by "the pretty girls". He eventually fell in love, repented, married a sweet girl and had two daughters. The irony of it all.

But make no mistake. The the rappers that thought they were pimps were actually being pimped. HBO, record labels and corporate heads set the standard. Remember Pimps up Hoes Down and American Pimp on cable? They made money and poisoned the artistic well water. This led to non musician producers emulating their bosses. (some musical ones too) Puffy didn't invent the Freak Party. He learned it from the realities of the crime boss his father worked for and the Clive Davis-es and Tommy Mottolas of the industry.

And if anyone does not see the proliferation of former st*****rs flipping pimp culture and calling it female empowerment as the offspring of pimp culture, you are repeating the failings of the previous decades The culture that once had an uneasy balance between the sacred and the secular has been reduced to an either or choice. You can sing songs about being eternally h***y while refusing to wear pants on stage OR you can sing about king Jesus being the only man in your life. You can rap about mindless masculinity and destroy the language of the ancestors OR you can praise a God that has no social or political vision to heal the community. I yearn for the return of "The Inbetween" .

22/10/2024

Before the election? ..A SOUL CLAPBACK Night.
SATURDAY November 2nd - 7pm to 8:30pm
I will be hosting a fundraiser for The Moore Street School Foundation. It's a project close to my heart. The old building (behind Carver Elementary) will become a haven for local musicians, Jazz programing and education.
The evening will be a night of revolutionary Soul. No red light R&B or Jazz for Jazz's sake. We're looking for singers and players (solo or duet) that can give up that Donny Hathaway, Gil Scott Heron, Les McCann, Nina Simone, WAR, Isley Bros, Curtis, Sly, Staple Singers, EWF..etc etc. VIBE.

Also if you have a original song or spoken word that fits the revolutionary vibe send me a message thru FB. I'd love to feature your art.