By Marcus R. Motta: Last Tuesday evening, June 23, the Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously in a virtual meeting to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, ending a long campaign to remove the Confederate general’s name from a public school. The vote followed a lengthy, and often emotional, virtual public hearing the day before,…
By Marcus R. Motta: The Fairfax County NAACP drew an estimated 1,000 vehicles to a rally recently designed to demonstrate that large protests can be safely mounted during the pandemic. The event, Justice for Black Lives Car Rally, was staged in the Fairfax County Government Center parking lot on Wed., June 3. Attendees, who had reserved parking spaces earlier through…
By Brad Swanson: Sean Perryman has only been president of the Fairfax County NAACP for a month, but he already has his priorities clear. “My plan is to focus on fewer issues, but go deeper,” he said. The top three topics for him are cannabis legalization, school name changes, starting with Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, and more…
By Sean Perryman: In August of 2017, James Alex Fields, Jr. intentionally drove his Dodge Challenger into dozens of people, mowing them down and murdering Heather Heyer. In response to the day of violence surrounding the “Unite the Right” rally, President Trump infamously said there are “very fine people on both sides.” The president had apparently equated unabashed white supremacists…
By Brad Swanson: Fairfax Democrats looked inward on Wednesday night – and were not too happy with what they saw. About 60 members of the Fairfax Democratic Committee (FCDC) attended a Racial Equity Workshop and most gave their party low grades on a self-evaluation for racism. Nevertheless, the Dems ended the evening on an upbeat assessment, recognizing that the first…
By Sean Perryman: Following the election of Donald Trump, the Democratic Party at both the local and national level continues to grapple with race and the role it should or shouldn’t play in its platform and organizing. In that vein, on September 12th, the Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) will hold a Racial Equity Workshop for its membership. The workshop…