(This Letter to the Editor was published by the Royal Examiner on October 16, 2020.)
The Examiner’s decision to scrutinize the cost of police presence at Front Royal Unites’ recent racial justice events begs the question: Why now, and why not for any other rallies or parades? And, more importantly, why aren’t we talking instead about the costs white supremacy has inflicted upon our Black friends and neighbors?
One of those costs is life itself. Law enforcement, in theory, was designed in large part to protect our first amendment rights, including both life and peaceful assembly. George Floyd’s birthday observance this week was held in remembrance of a man whose first amendment right to life was stolen from him because of the color of his skin by law enforcement—the very institution we all agree has a duty to protect that right.
And what about the costs to Black citizens, like former NAACP President Suetta Freeman, who was locked out of school during Massive Resistance in 1958 and who spent her entire career in auditing and finance commuting to Northern Virginia because she was unable to secure equal and fair employment here in our town? Let’s consider the costs to Black families like hers, and to our community for silently accepting the exodus of diversity and talent that has come with our institutional inequities.
Citizens should expect that some police funding will be allotted protect our first amendment right to peaceful assembly, just as they, and apparently the Examiner, are willing to accept the thousands of dollars accrued by police staffing at various celebrations and rallies for other causes, like the Back the Blue rally on September 1, without question. At least these figures might have been researched to provide more balanced reporting.
No one is asking for police to shut down a lane of traffic to celebrate Little Joe’s sixth birthday—but for a much-needed reflection on our history of oppression. It seems that much of Front Royal is uncomfortable when public resources are used to uplift voices other than those in their own echo chambers. Good, let’s be uncomfortable. Let’s talk about our white fragility, and let’s do better.
Laura Lee Cascada
Front Royal, Virginia