As Richmond’s success story unfolds toward a bright future, we have a responsibility to address the shameful chapters of our city’s complex history leading up to, and following, the Civil War.

We have made strides in this effort just this year by convening a civil, civic conversation focused on the future of our Confederate statuary on Monument Avenue. We are also continuing to take the steps necessary to acknowledge, commemorate and preserve Richmond’s notorious role in perpetuating the evil of slavery.

The Richmond Slave Trail Commission, under the leadership of Del. Delores McQuinn, began this process nearly 20 years ago with the support of many other concerned residents, officials and stakeholders. The importance of these efforts was further underscored in 2006 by the archeological assessment of what was known as Lumpkin’s Jail, the installation of the Richmond Slavery Reconciliation Statue in 2007, the archeological excavation of the Lumpkin’s site in 2008, the unveiling of Richmond Slave Trail Markers located along the Slave Trail in 2011 and the transfer of the African Burial Ground site to the City of Richmond from the Commonwealth of Virginia in 2011. The African Burial Ground Site was where enslaved and free blacks were buried between 1750 and 1816, and where Gabriel Prosser was hanged in 1800.

The city, through community engagement, is currently developing a plan for the development of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail archeological site and a future slavery museum. The “Devil’s Half Acre,” as Lumpkin’s Jail was known, was one of at least five “slave jails” in Shockoe Valley in Richmond, which was the second largest slave trading sites in the nation behind New Orleans. More than 300,000 human beings were held, tortured and auctioned like cattle from 1830 until April 3, 1865, when Union troops marched into Richmond to liberate the city.

As the mayor of a city that was once the former capital of the Confederacy, I feel not only a civic but a personal responsibility to ensure Richmond realizes its potential to become a place where we tell the complete and heartbreaking story of the people in bondage who helped build this city, and our nation, with their sweat, blood and very lives.

The sacred grounds contained within Shockoe Bottom, in particular, the Shockoe Valley footprint, is a nationally significant historical area we will protect and honor. In doing so, we have an opportunity to create a cultural and international destination that will not only educate, but also promote contemplation, dialogue, reconciliation, and ultimately, healing.

Earlier this fall, I was fortunate enough to be one of four mayors selected by the National League of Cities and Urban Land Institute to be a 2018 Daniel Rose Land Use Fellow. This program provides leaders the opportunity to present a design and land use issue to a world-renowned team of urban planners, who provide expert guidance and technical support to cities to assist them in addressing their challenges.

I have decided the land covered by the Shockoe Valley footprint will be the focus of our participation. This week, the other mayors and I are in Toronto with our respective delegations of city officials to learn about the resources and tools available to us through the program, and to discuss how they can be applied to the challenges and opportunities in our respective cities.

In February, a team of experts and Rose fellowship faculty advisors will come to Richmond to review our project. They too will engage the community through additional interviews with stakeholders and make additional recommendations on how we are moving forward to enact our vision for the area.

My vision is to develop an area plan that will enable us to better protect and honor the untold and painful history of this sacred ground. This plan will not be limited to the jail and burial grounds, but will also include the broader footprint of Shockoe Valley.

Furthermore, I believe the development of this plan will support the significant public and private investments that are underway and that have already been made in Shockoe Valley, such as the renovated Main Street Station and 17th Street Farmers Market. It will also strengthen the connections to other historic resources throughout Shockoe Bottom, like the Slave Trail and Reconciliation Statue.

Linking these resources will be critical to the area’s long-term success as an environmentally and economically sustainable community. This plan will help ensure these assets, and others which may develop, will exist in concert, not conflict, with our plans to protect and honor our history.

Charting the future of this area of our city presents challenges, but also incredible opportunities. Our participation in the Rose Fellowship program underscores my commitment to recognizing our complex history. Working together, I truly believe we can find a path that not only honors and protects our past, but also helps to define our city’s future.

On July 19, the Virginia Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments challenging Governor McAuliffe’s historic order restoring the civil and voting rights to more than 220,000 Virginians. No one understands how important of a step forward this was for Virginia than me. Not only was I the architect of the restoration of rights order as Secretary of the Commonwealth, but I am also the son of a former offender.

My father made a mistake as a young man that followed him for the rest of his life. I remember being a child and watching him walk miles trying to find work, only to have doors literally slammed in his face. Condemning returning citizens like my late father to wear a scarlet letter on their chests for years after they have paid their debt to society only perpetuates the cycle that leads so many back to incarceration.

Despite what opponents to this order would have you believe, those who have had their rights restored are not monsters. They’re Richmonders. They’re Virginians. They’re Americans. These are individuals who have completed their sentences. These are individuals who have held up their hands and said, “I made a mistake, and I am asking for forgiveness.” These are individuals who are trying to become responsible members of our workforce and our society again. But until the historic event that restored their civil and voting rights on April 22nd, they had no voice.

My father’s story is just one example of the struggles returning citizens face. Behind the numbers there are stories to be told. I remember the story of a Vietnam veteran, James Ray, who had his rights restored during my tenure as Secretary of the Commonwealth. James was convicted of a non-violent felony and cried tears of joy when his rights were restored. Under the process that was in place, this man needed to beg to have his voting rights restored — a right that he risked his own life to protect for others.

In granting these rights, Virginia joined the majority of other states who have said they will not tolerate a second-class citizenship. Let us not kid ourselves, refusing to allow returning citizens who have paid their debt to society to vote disproportionately affects the African American community. It was estimated that 1 in 5 of the African American voting-age population had been disenfranchised in Virginia due to the restrictions on individuals with felony records. We should be doing all that we can to encourage people who have been through the criminal justice system to participate in civic society. If they do not feel included in society, if they do not have a voice, how can we expect them to fully re-enter our communities?

The answer to that question seems simple, and yet, there are those that would have us believe this was not the right thing to do. Our friends across the aisle wasted no time lamenting the fact that this Democratic administration had made restorative justice a primary goal. Now, they have taken their case to the Virginia Supreme Court. While the Governor and I chose to stand up and make sure voices were heard, Republicans in Virginia, and Donald Trump, are mobilizing over the idea that voices should continued be silenced.

What’s right is right. There is no political debate here, just Republican objection to moral conviction. The people of Virginia are a caring, compassionate, forgiving people. Being the home of second chances is preferable to being the home of discrimination and disenfranchisement. Amid the backdrop of a national election where the Republican nominee is using the politics of division to preach demagoguery, we are offering unity, inclusion, and hope.

That is why I am challenging those who are objecting to this historic moment, one that moves Virginia out of our sometimes dark and discriminatory past, to take a different approach. Instead of villainizing people who have repented for a mistake, get to know them. Understand their stories and their desire to be once again part of our community. Instead of trying to silence them, encourage them to engage in the process and help make it more democratic. Instead of telling them they shouldn’t be allowed to vote, go out and actually earn their vote.

For me, public service has always been about two things, giving a voice to the voiceless and righting the wrongs. I have always tried to view politics and public service through the lens of people like my father. Though I grew up in a situation that could lead one to a life of apathy, I instead found inspiration in what government could achieve. By standing up for what’s right — by giving a voice to voiceless — we show that our Commonwealth represents forgiveness, despite our contentious past with this issue. As the first African American Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I know first hand that history is our foundation, but it doesn’t need to be our anchor.

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Levar Stoney was the first African American Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia and is a current candidate for Mayor of Richmond