Racism in #Loudoun: @PastorMichelleT @FairfaxJustin, Randall on Racist Vandalism
LAST NIGHT IN LOUDOUN. Last night, on a very cold winter evening, Pastor Michelle Thomas, fmr. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, Chairwoman Phyllis Randall, Del. Suhas Subramanyam and Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj spoke out last night against the lastest episode of racism in Loudoun, Virginia.
They were convened by Rev. David Milam of Loudoun Interfaith Bridges and joined by numerous other members of the community as a crowd of about 150 people listened on.
Del. Subramanyam relayed a dream he had of the vandalism returning after it was removed. That dream may have real world meaning.
On the night of Dec. 3, Loudoun4All posted:
It has come to our attention that #HateSpeech has been graffitied in a shopping center in South Riding. We are rallying tomorrow at 11 to show our #Loudoun community we will not stand idly by when hate shows up in our county.
The gathering last night came in reaction to the latest act of racist vandalism in Loudoun County. Though a few of the community speakers were young, others who have lived in the community for a while spoke with an aura of weariness on the latest incident. Just yesterday (12/5/22) Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration released a report on antisemitism in Virginia that found it, “surprising and disturbing that incidents of such hatred and bigotry have been increasing both nationally and in Virginia.”
But some who have grown up in Loudoun have noted the problem in the past.
“I almost have no words because my soul is tired of being accosted,” Pastor Michelle Thomas, President of the Loudoun NAACP, began.
“I’m tired of being first on the list of being hated. I’m tired of calling for elected officials and law enforcement to help me out — try and figure out is this a ‘credible’ offense and are we being accosted again,” Thomas explained.
”To me this isn’t graffiti this is the racial writings of a racist people,” she told the crowd bluntly.
On Dec. 4, 2022, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office posted a message on social media saying they were, “investigating a vandalism in South Riding involving hateful, racist rhetoric,” and adding, “there is no place in society for this behavior. Anyone with any information that may be helpful, please call Detective Fornwalt at 703-777-1021. Thank you.”
The latest episode of racism and anti-Semitism came in the form of white spray paint in a Food Lion parking lot in South Riding.
As she spoke last night, Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj told the crowd to look around and stated, “when I came to Loudoun County in 1996 I bought my first house not three blocks away from here. I put myself in South Riding because it was the community that I wanted to be a part of.”
“We did not look like this in 1996,” Biberaj observed.
Many believe that changing demographics and more diverse communities in Virginia are what may be driving some of the latest racist episodes as communities become more diverse.
Last year’s discussion during the gubernatorial campaign of Glenn Youngkin on “critical race theory,” which is not taught in public schools, was an example of how race is injected into political discussion where it does not factually exist. But the CRT discussion made it’s way from the campaign trial to many city council and school board meetings in Virginia.
Others note that the tone in national politics witnessed via backlash to the presidency of Barack Obama and and the election of Donald Trump is a factor. Trump’s hiring and platforming of individuals who have made careers out of stoking white grievance politics — such as Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon — and anti-semitism, such as Trump’s recent Mar-a-Lago dinner with well known white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes, is undoubtedly a factor in how racism and antisemitism is steadily normalized.
Several of the leaders who spoke last night were focused on making sure that racist and anti-Semitic writings were in no way business-as-usual. The normalizing of racism perpetrated by some elected leaders who refuse to speak against it is part of the recent rise and the direct question of “whose side are you on” was raised by Phyllis Randall, Chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
”I am angry. And my anger is righteous. I have every right to be angry,” said Randall.
“We don’t have to jump from ‘this happened’ straight to love. There’s a process you go through,” Randall told the crowd.
“Everyone who was included on that horrific list was slandered. They were lied about. The thing about those names that were put on that list is: We don’t answer to those names. Those are not our names,” said Justin Fairfax, the 41st Lt. Governor of Virginia.
”I’m going to challenge every single person here to elevate every single space that you’re in for the rest of this year. Elevate every person that you meet. Elevate every situation that you’re in. Elevate people who don’t look like you,” Fairfax continued.
“As everyone of these speakers talked about we need to have everyone of these conversations in our homes,” Biberaj said in her remarks which was an often repeated theme made by other before and after her remarks.
Until next time.
Yesterday, Loudoun NAACP posted on their Facebook page the following:
The NAACP Loudoun Branch is deeply troubled and disavows the heinous acts of racism, community terrorism, and vandalism that occurred late Friday night, in the historic African American community of South Riding, where the purveyors of hate vandalized a Food Lion building and shopping center parking lot by spray painting racial slurs and symbols of hate targeting African Americans, Latinos, Jews, LGBTQ’s and Asians in Loudoun. These vile acts of hate, underscore the recent increase in hate crimes committed against African-Americans and other minority groups under the Trump Administration and have increased in Virginia under the Youngkin Administration.
The NAACP will not sit by idly by while our people continue to be assailed by the racist and cowardly actions of white supremacist. We will not remain silent while racists political hacks infiltrate our school boards and strong arm our education systems to strip black history, Indigenous peoples history and AAPI History from the K-12 Standard of Learning (SOLs) and curriculum. We will not relent while our history is erased from historic black communities and our civil rights are repealed and our human rights are sacrificed on the altars of local, state, and national politics. We call on our law enforcement officers, our elected officials, our faith & civic leaders, our parents, students and community at large to recommit themselves to protecting the civil and equal rights of all persons and to eliminating race-based discrimination in Loudoun and throughout the United States. We will not provide cover for hate to build a home in Loudoun! #HateHasNoHomeInLoudoun
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