Karen Sheehan – John Lewis Good Trouble Vigil – 7/17/21
I grew up in Northern Virginia and have lived in Prince William County now for 22 years.
I am so happy we have this beautiful place to share together today. All of these fields and green open spaces to honor our past, to bring home our legacies, to remind us of what matters and what is important. John Lewis continuously fought for what mattered, making his Good Trouble. I am all about making Good Trouble to protect our environment, our history, and our people.
Can you imagine what it will be like for us, and for all the people of this country, if we have to watch all of the greenery surrounding this park being torn out so that we can drive through acres of data centers, electric substations, and transmission lines to get to the entrance to this National Park treasure? That is exactly what Chair Wheeler and the majority of our board of supervisors are pushing to have happen. It doesn’t seem to matter to them that bringing data centers to this rural area will have a huge negative impact. That this industrial blight will be a significant turnoff to tourists coming to Manassas Battlefield – tourism which brings $643M to our county today. And that impervious surfaces from increased roads and millions of square feet of data centers right outside of this park will affect all the groundwater and creeks in the Bull Run watershed, critical to the Chesapeake Bay.
Data centers may have a place in today’s world. But the lands surrounding this place are not the right place. The supervisors are ignoring the fact that the natural resources that will be torn out can never be replaced. All of those concrete buildings and substations and transmission lines won’t be required in about 15 years when technology has found another way to handle data. What environment and what legacy will they be leaving for our children?
The men and women who were involved with the Civil War battles of Bull Run-Manassas showed up for what mattered in their time. John Lewis showed up and spoke out for what mattered in his time. They left us legacies that now matter to us, and that we want to protect. The citizens of this county have been showing up and speaking out about what matters to them and what they want to protect. They don’t want data centers here – they don’t want data centers in the wrong places. The citizens used their voting right to elect county supervisors – supervisors responsible to protect citizen’s quality of life, to enable their families to thrive. The citizens need to be listened to – rather than being disenfranchised and marginalized.
John Lewis is now part of our past history. My good friend, Frank Washington, is our present, he is part of our living history. Frank is going to tell us about his community of Thoroughfare and why what is happening there today also matters to all of us.
Frank Washington – John Lewis Good Trouble Vigil – 7/17/21
JOHN LEWIS WAS CALLED THE CONSCIENCE OF CONGRESS BY HIS COLLEAGUES. HE LED WITH HEART, COMPASSION AND UNDENIABLE STRENGTH WITHIN HIS VOICE FOR EQUALITY.
IN ONE OF HIS SPEECHES HE STATED THAT OUR STRUGGLE IS NOT THE STRUGGLE OF A DAY, A WEEK, A MONTH OR A YEAR, IT IS THE STRUGGLE OF A LIFETIME.
THAT IS THE STRUGGLE WE ARE FACING WITH THE BRAZEN ATTACKS ON OUR VOTNG RIGHTS. THE REVISITING OF A STRUGGLE OF A LIFETIME.
IT IS ALSO THE STRUGGLE OF THOROUGHARE. A SMALL TOWN HERE IN THE RURAL CRESCENT THAT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1865 BY FREED SLAVE AND NATIVE AMERICANS. A TOWN WHOSE ROOTS DATE BACK TO THE 1600’S. A TOWN WHERE NATIVE AMERICANS AND FREED SLAVES INTERMARRIED AND BUILT A SELF SUFFICIENT TOWN ON A LAND THAT WAS ONCE HOME TO A SLAVE BLOCK AND A PLANTATION. WHERE FAMILIES WERE TORN APART. SOME NEVER TO MEET AGAIN. SOME WHO IN PART GATHERED IN THOROUGHFARE AFTER THE CIVL WAR TO FIND THOSE LOST LOVE ONES SOLD INTO SLAVERY.
I AM A DESCENDANT OF THOSE SLAVES AND A DESCENDANT OF THE TUSCORORA AND CHEROKEE INDIAN NATIONS THAT ARE THOROUGHFARE. WHERE MY ANCESTORS AT TIMES ENDURED HARDSHIPS BEYOND WHAT MANY OF US COULD EVER IMAGINE. BUT YET WERE ABLE TO PERSEVERE AND BUILD A LEGACY OF FAMILY, FAITH AND LOVE. THIS TOWN, MY FAMILY, OUR HISTORY, OUR CEMETERIES ARE UNDER ATTACK. THE VERY EQUALITY AND JUSTICE THAT JOHN LEWIS STOOD FOR IS BEING DENIED. I’VE WATCHED AS ONE OF MY FAMILY CEMETERIES HOLDING THE BODIES OF 75 TO 100 SLAVE, FREED SLAVE AND NATIVE AMERICANS WAS COMPLETETLY BULLDOZED OVER AND DESECRATED WITH NO CONSEQUENCES OR TRUE ACCOUNTABLITIY. ANOTHER OF MY FAMILY CEMETERY, WITHIN YARDS OF THE FIRST, HOLDING ANOTHER 75 TO 100 BODIES OF SLAVE, FREED SLAVE AND NATIVE AMERICANS WAS BLOCKED WITH A BOULDER AND A GATE. NO LONGER ALLOWING US ACCESS. THEN THREATS WERE MADE TO POSSIBLY REMOVE MY ANCESTORS FROM THEIR RESTING PLACE AND THREATS OF A LAWSUIT IF WE CONTINUED TO BURY FAMILY THERE, AS WE HAVE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. A THIRD FAMILY CEMETERY OF 50 TO 60 SLAVE, FREED SLAVE AND NATIVE AMERICANS IS BEING THREATENED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF 5 HOMES ENCROACHING UPON IT AND THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED 20 TO 25 ADDITIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVES. WE’VE HAD THE PROPERTY TAKEN FROM US AND SOLD WITHOUT OUR KNOWLEDGE. THIS IS A PATTERN OF DEVASTATION THAT HAS HISTORICALLY TAKEN THE LAND AND DESTROYED THE TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MANY FAMILIES OF COLOR NATIONALLY BY THOSE IN POWER AND POSITION.
SYSTEMIC RACISM IS ATTEMPTING TO WIPE OUT THOROUGHFARE AND ITS RICH HISTORY, WHICH IS OUR COLLECTIVE HISTORY. AN UNDERLYING CURRENT OF DEVALUING OUR LIVES, RIGHTS AND OUR VOICES FOR JUSTICE. EVEN THE VOICES OF THOSE WEARY SPIRITS THAT HAVE PASSED ON. THEIR LIFE’S BLOOD AND TEARS ARE SOAKED IN THE HALLOWED AND SACRED GROUNDS OF THOROUGHFARE.
A DEVALUING OF THAT GROUND WHICH WAS MADE EVEN MORE CLEAR BY A RECENT 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION THAT WAS HELD ON THE DESECRATED BULLDOZED FAMILY CEMETERY. MANY OF THOSE LYING IN THESE GRAVES FOUND PEACE AND SOLACE ONLY THROUGH DEATH. NOW AFTER ALL THEY ENDURED THEY DO NOT HAVE PEACE IN DEATH. THEY ARE ENSLAVED ONCE AGAIN. SUBJECTED TO PEOPLE BASICALLY DANCING ON THEIR GRAVES AS IF THE LIVES THEY LIVED STILL DO NOT MATTER.
THOROUGHFARE FEELS AS IF IT IS BEING ENSLAVED ONCE AGAIN. AS WE CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE TO OFFICIALS THAT REFUSE TO HEAR AND EYES THAT REFUSE TO SEE THE LEVEL AND MAGNITUDE OF PAIN THAT THEY ARE ALLOWING TO DEVASTATE OUR LIVES.
CIVIL RIGHTS ARE UNDER ATTACK IN MANY FORMS AT THIS MOMENT AND TIME. IT CAN BE AN INCONSOLABLE GRIEF AND ENDURING SADNESS. BUT CHANGE CAN BE IMPLEMENTED IF PEOPLE IN POWER FIND THEIR WAY BACK TO A SENSE OF INTEGRITY, DIGNITY AND CHARACTER. RATHER THAN SELF PRESERVATION, PRIVILEDGE, AND GREED. THAT GOES FOR PEOPLE OF ALL RACES, RELIGIONS, POLITICAL PREFERENCES AND GENDERS. FOR I HAVE FOUND THAT SYSTEMIC RACISM IS NOT AN ISSUE OF WHITE AGAINST BLACK. IT IS A MENTALITY INGRAINED INTO THE FABRIC OF LAWS AND GOVERNMENT OF OUR NATION. BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT ALWAYS DESIGNED TO PROTECT ALL EQUALLY. IT LEAVES TOWNS LIKE THOROUGHFARE AT A DISADVANTAGE.
WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT IS NOT RIGHT, NOT FAIR, NOT JUST, YOU HAVE TO SPEAK UP. YOU HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING. YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. THESE ARE MORE WORDS GIVEN BY JOHN LEWIS.
HE WAS DESCRIBED AS ONE OF THE MOST COURAGEOUS AND DEDICATED PERSONS TO COME OUT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
WE ALL CAN PAY TRIBUTE AND HONOR TO HIM BY BEING COURAGEOUS IN OUR EFFORTS TO ENSURE THAT WE ALL MEET FACE TO FACE IN ACCEPTANCE AND COMPASSION OF AND FOR EACH OTHER. SEEKING JUSTICE AND THE TRUE EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL UNDER THE EYES OF GOD.
AS JOHN LEWIS STATED,” NOTHING CAN STOP THE POWER OF A COMMITTED AND DETERMINED PEOPLE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN OUR SOCIETY. JUSTICE IS NOT RESERVED FOR A SELECT FEW.”