Rouse Backs JD Spain; Rep. Scott Speaks to Black Educators; Video: Network NOVA Candidate 1min Speech-a-Thon

🚩 There are 23 days until the June 18, 2024 primary. Early voting 🏃🏼‍♂️ has begun!
➳ Their are 33 days until the Network NOVA Women’s Summit on June 28.
➳ Their are 99 days until the annual Bobby Scott Labor Day Cookout.
➳ There are 163 days until Election Day November 5, 2024.

The Thunder rolled today near the Lincoln Memorial today as we honor those who served this 🌹 Memorial Day Weekend.

Momentos left at the Vietnam Memorial on the National Mall as seen on May 26, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Senator Rouse Backs JD Spain for Arlington County Board

In his run for the Arlington County Board, Marine veteran JD Spain is energetically campaigning in all parts of Arlington. Yesterday, Spain kicked off another canvas in north Arlington on May 25 with close to twenty supporters gathered to talk to voters on a busy Memorial Day weekend. The canvas was launched by one of Spain’s many endorsers: State Senator Barbara Favola, who has represented the area for over 20 years. The primary is June 18 and early voting is underway.

In Arlington on May 25, 2024, JD Spain kicks off a canvass with the support of State Senator Barbara Favola.

JD Spain, center, is joined by State Senator Aaron Rouse, left and Virginia NAACP Regional Vice President Mike Hemminger in Arlington on May 23, 2024.

Rep. Scott Speaks, Takes Questions to Black Education Group on Education Policy, Brown v. Board

On Friday, May 24 in Washington, Congressman Bobby Scott delivered a speech and answered questions at the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators conference. Rep. Scott was joined on a panel of education policy experts by Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education, Catherine Lhamon.

If the U.S. House flips back to Democratic Party control in 2025, Scott is likely to serve again as Chairman of one of the House Education Committee which covers federal policy issues everyone can related to and are impacted by.

In Virginia on May 10, the Shenandoah County School Board reversed a decision made in the wake of the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 to re-re-name two schools named after soldiers who fought in the Civil War to maintain the enslavement of Black people in the U.S.

The decision made Virginia first in the nation to return to naming public schools after military leaders who fought to uphold slavery. The schools had been renamed from Stonewall Jackson High School to Mountain View, and Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run.

The 5-1 decision by the Shenandoah County School Board to revert back to honoring the defenders of slavery was would appear to run counter to what Gov. Glenn Youngkin defined as racially “divisive concepts” in Virginia’s education system. The Governor has made no public comment on the public schools in Shenandoah County being once again named after the defenders of slavery and Black subjugation.

Over 300 Black educators gathered in Washington this week to discuss contemporary issues in education in the U.S.

June 18 Primary: Network NOVA Candidate 1min Speech-a-Thon

The annual Network NOVA Women’s Summit will take place June 28-29 in Tysons.

Virginia’s Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Fund at $3.4 Million

By Nathaniel Cline for the Virginia Mercury | On the heels of the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which mandated public school desegregation nationwide, Virginia’s scholarship fund named after the landmark Supreme Court case has gained $2.5 million in federal and state aid.

The state’s Brown v. Board of Education scholarship fund now stands at more than $3.4 million, after $500,000 in federal funds were awarded in March and $2 million in state funds were confirmed in the commonwealth’s newly passed two-year spending plan, according to the scholarship committee.

At a Wednesday morning meeting, the committee elected Sen. Angelia Williams Graves, D-Norfolk, as chair. In an email to the Mercury  after the meeting, Graves wrote that she’s “grateful” the committee was able to receive the funds “so that we can continue to contribute to the education of Virginians adversely affected by the Brown v. Board of Education decision and their descendants.” READ ENTIRE

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