2019
400 years after the first Africans were brought to Virginia against their will, Virginia is still grappling with its ugly history of legalized, hereditary chattel slavery followed by systems of white supremacy enshrined in law, most notably school segregation.
Fairfax County Public Schools is making a deliberate, intentional investment in "Equity and Cultural Responsiveness", understanding that the road toward equity in education is now no longer mostly about access to school buildings, but is now primarily about dismantling the less obvious systems that stand in the way of equity for all students.
Virginia has seen a startling and frightening resurgence in white supremacist crime and rhetoric in the past few years. A better understanding of where we have been as a state is necessary to help ensure that we do not go backwards or repeat mistakes of the past.
To that end, Governor Ralph Northam organized a Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in Virginia Law, including many of the laws referenced in this timeline that are still on the books today.
"Gov. Ralph Northam asked state lawmakers Thursday to repeal 98 racist, Jim Crow-era laws that are still on the books in Virginia — legislation that charted the state’s policy of Massive Resistance to school desegregation, mandated segregated public transportation and blocked minorities from voting." (Oliver, 2019)
"The Commission believes that such vestiges of Virginia’s segregationist past should no longer have official status. The Commission also notes that there have been several previous Acts on other topics codified in the Code of Virginia that have since been declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalidated. Without repeal, these provisions could be revived with a change of law or interpretation by a different leadership or court. The Commission recommends that they, too, be repealed." (Commission, 2019, p. 2).
"In the view of the Commission, the work must serve dual purposes: it must purge Virginia’s legislative record of invidious laws and enactments, while also avoiding the unintended consequence of historical sanitization. To move forward while acknowledging Virginia’s mistakes, Virginians must never lose sight of the harm caused by failing to recognize the inherent value in one another as people." (Commission, 2019, p. 2).