Slavery was not “the fault” of the South. In fact, it was a northern enterprise, funded by northeastern interests. It produced Southern cotton for immense Northern profits.

Comment articles reflect the opinion of the writer, not the Rapp News. Reply below or by writing a letter to editor: editor@rappnews.com.

Comment articles reflect the opinion of the writer, not the Rapp News. Reply below or by writing a letter to editor: editor@rappnews.com.

So we must ask, will the president’s America First foreign policy be maintained with his re-election, or will we return to the DC Establishment’s Endless Wars with the election of Joe Biden?

My name is Cameron Webb and I am running to represent Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District. It has been an honor to spend the last year on the campaign trail and I wanted to take this final opportunity to speak with you directly and share who I am and what I stand for.

Comment articles reflect the opinion of the writer, not the Rapp News. Reply below or by writing a letter to editor: editor@rappnews.com.

Once upon a time in America there was a bipartisan consensus that our leaders should embody reason and character. I long for those days and therefore will vote for Joe Biden, whose moral compass and basic human decency will restore the United States to the greatness, and global respect.

Trump has stood tall on the international stage, redrawing trade agreements more in America's favor, securing a more balanced sharing of the West's defense burdens, taking out the most vicious leaders of radical Islam, orchestrating peace agreements between historical antagonists in the Middle East, and rebuilding and modernizing the nation's defenses.

Some are actively planning to make this place again an environment grown to again have families, housing, jobs, and now, better communication systems for as many as possible. Together, we can achieve this important goal, vision.

“Face coverings” and masks will not prevent viral infections. “Face coverings” and masks will not give you health and well being. This is not opinion. This is valid science which I provided in a letter to Virginia Health Commissioner, Dr. M. Norman Oliver. I am happy to share it with anyone. 

A recent FOIA request shows County Attorney Goff citing Code of Virginia 15.2-109 when determining if the “Farmer’s for Trump” hay bale sign was complying with state and local codes.

Culpeper didn’t fully integrate schools until 1968; the last in Virginia to do so. George Washington Carver Regional High School bussed African American students from four counties [including Rappahannock County].

So over the past few years we’ve been subjected to a relentless stream of edification telling us we’re too different, too behind the times, too rural, too old and just too out-of-it compared to the other counties of Virginia.

The past is prologue. Lies from Biden will continue. Accomplishments from Trump will be the norm. I will trust the future to Trump. His performance says all I need to know about how to vote in November.

Taking a look at the U.S. Constitution ratified in 1787, we find the provision that a Black person would count as 3/5 of a person for purposes of determining a state’s allotted number of Congressional representatives.

I want to be able to continue to farm with some degree of certainty, predictability, and success. I want farmers, in each region of the country, to be able to feed their communities.

The more people I talk to tell me there is no housing crisis in Rappahannock County. Yes, there are some people who would like to live here, but find it financially difficult to do so. 

Rather than outline specific proposals for the next four years of Republican rule, these scaremongering Republican predictions have so terrified people that there’s a reported shortage of guns and bullets in Rappahannock County! 

As Rappahannock voters prepare to go to the polls this fall, we have a responsibility to closely examine the choices before us, as well as the rhetoric by which we are surrounded. 

Another week has come and gone. I don’t know about the rest of you, but here in the health department it seems akin to Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.”

“No problem at all,” he said. “Someone will take care of that for me. They always do and they always have in this community, my whole life.”

In this time of COVID-19, what better and safer way to get a group of people together to hear from and support a political candidate than with a virtual event?

Since I have been contributing opinions to this newspaper for over twenty years, I suspect that many readers know of my involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, but apparently some do not.

Seth Heald is not an opposition candidate in Belarus, but his recent experience as a candidate in the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) board election could be a case study in Alexander Lukashenko’s playbook. 

Your last issue had a touching obituary of Ms. Cecelia Pike, who passed away a few days ago. Thank you. Not mentioned, and worth adding, is that she was the first female president of the Rappahannock Lions Club.

The stone pyramid adjacent to the Washington Virginia Town Hall was created by William Carrigan in 1983 as a time capsule to be opened 100 years later. Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection founder Phil Irwin was invited to contribute the following to be next seen in 2083.

“It takes a village to raise a child.” It is certainly true that children thrive best when they grow up in a safe and healthy environment, surrounded and supported by a caring and nurturing community.

At the July Supervisors meeting, a vote cast by Debbie Donehey, who represents the Wakefield District, was questionable and needs to be examined. 

For two hours that Saturday, our family sat in chairs in a grassy field watching the joy of baseball, cheering on James and his team and just for a period of time forgetting all the troubles of the world.

Let’s stop romanticizing the Confederacy and the plantation system that it upheld and get on with building a truly equitable society.

I won't reiterate what I've already written about Black Lives Matter, but regarding Gresinger's comments, let's not get it twisted, George Floyd's death was a “tipping point”

Future generations will see through the virtue signaling and condemn the do-gooding malefactors. The inescapable fact of history is that we are the inheritors of all who came before. They made us who we are.

From the start, the idea of the Appalachian Trail was both radical and visionary. The idea of the Trail was never just about hiking and was very political. 

I wish to present a different “solution” to what these folks think is a “problem,” but it requires what in theatre and film is called “the suspension of disbelief.”

My filmmaking business partner and wife, Tracy, began this documentary in early April interviewing DC Central Kitchen Founder, Robert Egger, about food insecurities in the US.

It was an honor to be able to use a few moments of public time to put these self-reflective and, I think, constructive remarks from our community’s Peace and Justice Gathering on the public record.

In fact, to students of American History like myself, Alexander Stephens “cornerstone speech” is extremely well known. That text is routinely used by Yankees as “the one and only” rationale for Southern secession. 

Many of us here in Rappahannock use our local library, and know just how rare, unique and special it is. It may be smaller than some, but it is mighty. 

In response to the death of Castro, the Black Lives Matter Movement posted a piece in Medium titled, Lessons from Fidel: Black Lives Matter and the Transition of El Comandante.

We’re all in this great boat called life while that evil presence is casting seeds of dissent on the currents swirling through the river of hope upon which our boat travels.

“The song is called ‘On Our Way To Liberty’ and was inspired by a painting from 1862, A Ride for Liberty by Eastman Johnson,” writes Kid Pan Alley’s Ryan Benyo.

Three years ago I volunteered to co-chair the Northern Shenandoah Valley chapter of ComingToTheTable, a group dedicated to healing the wounds of slavery and of the systemic racism in its aftermath. 

While I'm encouraged that you, Mr. Mills can state, ‘Black lives matter,’ but not support the BLM organization, actually, we’re on the same page. 

Finally, Wes, the you’re-a-commie thing went out with Richard Nixon. I fear you are stuck in the past. It is one thing to say you support the message Black lives matter.

We are writing to express our wholehearted support of the Joint Resolution for Improved Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Calming Measures, created by the Sperryville Community Alliance (SCA).

Are you one of those fellow citizens who believe our country is on a perilous path? It’s not just the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s income inequality greater than our nation has experienced in the past 150 years if not longer.

For African Americans and other people of color in the US, this song ends on a note of hope and displays the resilience of people who long for inclusion and acceptance by "all" of us. 

Sitting on a hill at Eldon Farm looking out at the beauty of Rappahannock County on a lovely Sunday evening a week ago, the words of a former president of the United States came to mind:

Sunday, June 28, 2020, was an historic day in Rappahannock County. The Black Lives Matter Community Gathering held at Eldon Farms, Woodville, was epic!