Editor’s Note: The following editorial is written by Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye, who recently held a town hall on racial healing and justice reform, which you can view here. We thank Supervisor Boddye for his contributions to our community.

As of the writing of this post, it will have been 68 days since the murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin; 141 days since the killing of Breonna Taylor by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove; and 66 days since the shooting of Tony McDade by an officer of the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD), whose identity is currently being protected.

While images of police brutality is nothing new to Black Americans and their allies across the country, the sustained protests and public outcry over the past two months haven’t been seen in decades. Even under charges of unlawful assembly, threats of violence by an extreme segment of law enforcement supporters, and physical peril at the hands of federal officers in some parts of the country, the movement of Black Lives persists.

Here in Prince William County, the heart of the movement for Black Lives now rests in a group of young people who come from a wide variety of backgrounds, colors, creeds and walks of life. Unsatisfied with the slow pace and incremental steps often present in all levels of government, these young people have organized and participated in marches and rallies across the county, and have also shown up to speak and several Board of County Supervisors meetings. Even under charges of assault and battery, threats of violence by angry detractors, and the trauma of being vilified by those who do not seek to try and understand their anger, they persist.

Their anger at the perceived slow pace in which our community is taking to address long-standing issues of inequity and white supremacy is not unfounded, either. Even in just the last three years, Virginia and Prince William County has been the venue of several acts of intimidation and racial terrorism at the hands of white supremacist organizations and their affiliates.

In 2017, Neo Nazis, Klansmen, and others marched the streets of Charlottesville, Greater Praise Temple Ministries in Dumfries was defaced with racist messages, Early Years Academy was vandalized with a swastika. In 2018, KKK recruitment flyers were distributed in several parts of Northern Virginia, including Bristow. Just this year, Forest Park High and Unity Braxton Middle had their bathrooms vandalized with swastika graffiti and KKK stickers were distributed in Lake Ridge.

In response to the 2017 events, the Board of Supervisors failed to pass a resolution presented which would have condemned the KKK, Neo Nazis and other white supremacist groups by name, and instead passed a Hate Free, Bigot Free Zone resolution and a press conference was held at Early Years Academy. In 2018, a community meeting was held, and several grassroots activist groups joined together to hold dialog and proclaim that hate had no home in Prince William County. This year, we have not yet reacted meaningfully to the white supremacist activity of the past few months.

We can no longer sit idly by as a county government in the face of continued white supremacist activities in our community that intimidate and terrorize Black residents, other residents of color, and our Jewish residents. 

At this Tuesday’s Board of County Supervisors Meeting, I will be presenting a resolution during Supervisors Time which condemns white supremacist organizations and calls upon our residents to foster a culture of racial reconciliation, equity and inclusion in our county. This comes during the very same meeting in which Supervisor Margaret Angela Franklin’s past directive on the creation of a Racial Justice Commission will be presented to us in its first workable form as the option between two task forces. 

It is long overdue for the most diverse community in Virginia to proclaim loudly – both in words and in actions – that white supremacy has no home in Prince William County.

If you would like to weigh in on these issues, and the above linked resolutions, please feel free to email the full Board of Supervisors at BOCS@pwcgov.org.