Flashback 2019: Justin Fairfax Was Right to Invoke Virginia’s Lynching Past

#Juneteenth Special

By Dr. Avis Jones-Deweever, originally published on Medium on February 25, 2019.

My family’s blood runs deep in Virginian soil. It has seeped through, down to the roots, engulfing the brutal period of enslavement and embedding itself in the tyrannical terrorism that was Jim Crow. In the end, we survived Virginia’s worst days. And perhaps because of the numerous stories of survival I have heard all my life, a desire was birthed in me as a child to not just witness wrong, but to fight for right — not for what’s easy, not for what’s expedient, not for what contorts with the whim of the crowd, but for what I truly believe to be righteous and consistent with the notion of justice. This imperative remains at my core, even when it’s hard, even when it’s unpopular, and even when there are uncomfortable consequences to be paid. It is my personal North Star, and it has informed my life choices, including my decades of work on behalf of Black women and girls in the US and around the world.