GRASSROOTS ALEXANDRIA

a statement from Grassroots Alexandria

Democracy is fragile. To keep democracy we need to succeed at holding a free and fair election. And then do it again for the next election. And again. And again. And again. Sounds routine. So much so that some might become apathetic, which scares us. Here the thing, and we’re serious about this; for some, apathy could mean the difference between life and death.

The fascists, unlike the small-d democrats, only have to succeed once. They push their violent propaganda. They say democracy is corrupt. They say we are in an emergency. They say a strong leader is needed. Then, one day, an elected leader declares martial law and suspends the Constitution. At this point, the public either defends democracy with their lives through massive civil disobedience, or… the fascists win, we live in a dictatorship, and the executions begin.

The fascists only have to win once. Restoring democracy without massive loss of life is, as far as we know, impossible. The fascists will only attempt a coup if they think the public is apathetic. The media will only accept the situation if they think the public is apathetic. The public will only accept the situation if they think the public is apathetic. See the pattern?

This why we must always support democracy, loudly, and never, ever project apathy in the face of fascism. This is why we protested Richard Spencer and never backed down. We don’t support violence, but we do support loud, disruptive, anti-fascist protest. Indeed, we are begging for it.

Those not able to march in the streets can write to local media and political leaders. People living in DC are being asked to speak up by posting signs. Political leaders must renounce fascism and focus arrests, if any, on the fascists that acted so violently during November and December.

If fascists win, and they only need to succeed once, our democracy dies and all of our lives are in danger.

No apathy, please.

by Jonathan Krall, writing on behalf of the Grassroots Alexandria Steering Committee

If not for the pandemic, right about now we’d be hosting a holiday gathering at my house to celebrate both the season and the anniversary of our first meeting, on December 19, 2016.

Our mission in 2016 was both to respond to specific issues, such as the Women’s March and high-profile white nationalism in Alexandria, and to promote personal engagement in democracy and personal skill-building.

I am happy to see that, four years later, we are continuing this work.

It is the nature of activism to wax and wane. Major “people power” events, such as the protests of this summer, are difficult to sustain. Indeed, any decent activism handbook will explain that the power to force political leaders to act boldly (instead of timidly) for the common good is temporary. A coalition is assembled, outreach campaigns are launched to reach political leaders and the public, and coalition-building and outreach activities build up until political leaders act. Later, a renewed coalition will come together to launch the next campaign.

While coalition power is temporary, personal activity is not. In a free country, there is no requirement that we engage in politics. However, we see what happens when most people vote only in major elections; it isn’t good. In this time of change, we see the influence of city hall and Richmond over our quality of life and that of our neighbors. Elections have consequences; especially state and local elections.

It is the mission of Grassroots Alexandria to teach effective political engagement. We focus on local politics because that is where we can most readily have an effect and can see the results of our work.

Individuals may come and go, work harder or take a break. We all need to take time for self care. Because we work together and learn together, however, no one should fail to act because they do not know how to act.

We hope that, as we work together, we are sharing that knowledge. If not, you are invited to speak up, volunteer, and help us do better.

Best Wishes for 2021.

by Jonathan Krall

Last Saturday I walked and biked the streets of Washington DC with friends. I participated in the collective outpouring of joy and relief as the election was called for Joe Biden. It was beautiful. It was uplifting. But now we have work to do. Job #1, as my Extinction Rebellion friends say, is to tell the truth. The truth is that the conditions that produced Trump are still in place. Normalization of anti-science predates Trump. Voter manipulation predates Trump. As long as the Republican Party talks propaganda instead of policy, uses division, marginalization, disenfranchisement, intimidation, and mass incarceration to suppress voting, is dishonest about its privatize-everything agenda, another Trump isn’t just possible, it is inevitable. As long as the Democratic Party is complicit in a two-party system that marginalizes third parties, a return to Republican control is inevitable. There is a way forward. It won’t come from the toxic Republican leadership. I doubt it will come from the complicit Democratic leadership. I am hopeful that it will come from the people.

What is the way forward? The consensus view is that President-elect Biden will “reach across the aisle.” The consensus view is that Republicans will shut him down. The consensus view is that we are stuck with gridlock. The way forward is to break the pattern. To allow third parties to come to the table. To expand democracy. Anti-gerrymandering reforms and ranked-choice voting–to encourage candidates to appeal to those beyond their narrow constituencies–would be good first steps. Electoral college reform and bringing colonies to statehood (including DC) would be significant further steps, if attainable.

Virginia’s successful anti-gerrymandering reform is a ray of hope. It might not be perfect, but it is a break from business as usual that cannot be easily undone. Continue reading “Escaping the toxic two-party trap”

by Jonathan Krall

Like many people, I’ve joined an antiracist study group[1]. We slowly read books like White Fragility or The New Jim Crow, spending months on each book. We study systemic racism and interrogate our complicity. We share the stories we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel like “good people” and ask ourselves, out loud, if these stories are lies. It is one thing to study antiracism; still another to practice it. Antiracist study requires self-questioning. Antiracist action also requires self-questioning, but with different questions. The results are more than worth the effort.

Below we present the exercise and suggest an action. If you aren’t feeling introspective, you can scroll down to the Requested Action below (thanks!). Continue reading “How do we feel about police in schools? An antiracist exercise”

by Jonathan Krall

Throughout the working life of Grassroots Alexandria, we have immersed ourselves in the study and practice of anti-fascism and, more recently, anti-racism. Our ongoing studies suggest a new “anti” for us to consider, anti-binary. Like “intersectionality” anti-binary is a word that connects overlapping concepts in gender, white supremacy and personal politics. Put simply, good/bad and correct/incorrect binary thinking incentivizes self-delusion. While self-delusion can be comfortable, it is also dangerous. As an alternative we, and others, suggest that learning to live with ambiguity can be healthier, for ourselves and for those around us. Continue reading “How to be anti-binary”

by Zeina, Abdel-Rahman, and Jonathan

Communities, including Alexandria, are re-thinking policing. In Alexandria this is taking the form of police reform, which we address below, and first-step police defunding. Two police reform ideas are reportedly being implemented: a community review board and greater transparency. We say “supposedly” because transparency was promised in February 2018. Two years later, it has only been partially implemented. We have limited data on the race of people arrested and virtually no ethnicity data. To obtain robust oversight of policing, Alexandrians will need to keep up the pressure on City Council. Past experience suggests that public pressure is the only thing that works.

On June 20, two Grassroots Alexandria volunteers spoke to City Council about these efforts. Here are their statements.

From Abdel-Rahman, Grassroots Alexandria volunteer:

I am here today representing Grassroots Alexandria in support of an ordinance for Police Data transparency and a community review board.

Grassroots Alexandria has been an active part of a coalition of several activists, community leaders, and organizations demanding transparency and robust community oversight over the Alexandria Police department. We are demanding that City Council pass an ordinance requiring Alexandria Police to publicly share data on all police encounters with citizens, not just for vehicle stops or encounters that result in arrests. Stopping a citizen and questioning them or searching them is an example of a potentially harassing encounter that needs to be captured. The data needs to be broken down by race, gender, age and ethnicity of citizens subject to stops.

We are also demanding an independent community review board with real powers, investigatory tools, and oversight. The Human Rights Commission, which was brought up several times, lacks independent investigatory authority, it can’t compel the police to provide evidence, and they don’t have subpoena power over the police. Continue reading “Who Watches the Police?”

by Dan Moshenberg

Like the rest of the country, Virginia is facing an eviction crisis. This is the week to stand up and speak out or stand by as our neighbors are evicted en masse.

On June 28, Virginia’s eviction moratorium ends. On June 29, eviction courts will re-open, and their schedules are already packed. Today, June 25, Governor Northam announced a rent relief program which, while it provides some assistance, will take time to implement. Tenants will need time to wade through the application process. Time is of the essence. Governor Northam has the authority to prohibit evictions until the rent relief package is fully funded and implemented.

Please join New Virginia Majority, the Legal Aid Justice Center and Virginia Poverty Law Center in asking the Governor to prohibit evictions now. Call Governor Northam’s office and ask him to extend the eviction moratorium. To call Governor Northam: 804-786-2211, select option 1 for his voicemail.

Locally, Tenants and Workers United is organizing in the Arlandria community, where the double hit of Covid-19 and job loss has been devastating. Our neighbors in Arlandria are worried for the health of their loved ones and the stability of their housing, at least through the pandemic. Across the country, the pandemic and the economic crisis has struck particularly deeply and broadly in communities of color, particularly Black and Latinx. In Alexandria this year, Arlandria has been the epicenter of a double crisis. That crisis does not have to turn into a tragedy. We can turn this around, but to do so, to support our neighbors, we must act. Call Governor Northam and ask him to extend the moratorium.

For more details, check out New Virginia Majority’s response to Governor Northam’s rent relief program and the joint NVM – LAJC – VPLC Letter to Governor Northam[2].

Most people get through life by telling themselves “it’s not that bad.” This is a lie. On a recent bonus episode of the Code Switch podcast Kenya Young, executive producer of NPR’s Morning Edition, talks about giving “the talk” to her three black sons. This segment, beginning 27 minutes into the podcast, is devastating. After listening, we reached an inescapable conclusion: if we cannot bring ourselves to take power away from cruelly unequal policing, then we ourselves are cruelly complicit. Continue reading “It’s Not That Bad, It’s Worse: a statement of support for Black Lives Matter”

by Jonathan Krall

The death of George Floyd has ignited yet another round of protests. Because the last round of protests seems to have accomplished nothing, the new protests are bigger and the messaging is more direct. Many protesters are asking us to defund the police and are calling for system-wide reforms. Here in Alexandria, Grassroots Alexandria is joining with community leaders to ask for transparency and accountability in policing. As part of an effort led by former school board member Chris Lewis’ initiative Just NOVA, we are asking for both a data transparency ordinance and a substantive community review board. If enough Alexandrians speak out and write to city council, we can accomplish these small steps.

Data Transparency

With your support, Alexandria can enact an ordinance requiring quarterly reporting on Alexandria Police Department data broken down by race, ethnicity, and other factors related to:
1. investigative stops, frisks, and searches
2. traffic stops
3. use of force incidents
4. civilian complaints
5. arrests

On February 27, 2018, the APD presented a Data Refinement and Transparency Plan. As presented, the plan would “capture information on stops, information and assist contacts, community outreach efforts and other activities not currently collected. It will also include subject demographic data related the activity performed by the officer as suggested in the 21 st Century Policing report.” Unfortunately, City Council accepted the new policy without passing an ordinance. The promised reports were not required and have not been delivered. Continue reading “Transparency in Policing: a good first step”

by Jonathan Krall

In Grassroots Alexandria, we have reacted to the covid-19 threat by working with allied groups and political leaders on immediate needs (enabling vulnerable communities to access healthcare and rental assistance) even as we work on long-term goals (restorative practices, affordable housing, protecting immigrants). But this crisis is personal. We are in our homes, venturing out only for work, food, and exercise, each in a unique world of deprivations, obligations and opportunities. Some are devastated. Some are relatively secure. At a time when so many are experiencing so much loss, it is up to those of us who have resources of time or money to find ways to share. Even in separation, we are a community.

Time

Volunteer work is a great way to become more connected to your community, even if that volunteer work is 100% telework.

Volunteer Alexandria is seeking volunteers to assist with food distributions and other community needs.
https://www.volunteeralexandria.org/careforcommunity

The Alexandria Medical Reserve Corps needs medical and non-medical volunteers to support the Alexandria Health Department. Want to help with emergency response and recovery? Want to become a contact tracer? The MRC is a good place to start.
https://www.alexandriava.gov/medicalreserve

Tenants and Workers United needs volunteers, particularly to help with online teaching and tutoring. Work can be done from home. Please contact Mia Taylor at mtaylor@tenantsandworkers.org

Money

In the US, wealth is mostly held by white people. We’d say that, in the face of government failure to enact anti-racist corrections, now is time for individuals to step up, but that isn’t true. The time to step up was long ago, when the 40 acres (and the mule) weren’t delivered, or when redlining and segregated universities kept people of color from benefiting from the G.I. Bill, or… But what of the present? And the future? As a famous Washingtonian said, the future is now.

ACT and the City of Alexandria established the ACT Now Covid-19 Response Fund to provide emergency funding to nonprofits that are delivering the critical services and programs that are needed by Alexandrians right now.
https://www.actforalexandria.org/act-now-covid-19-response-fund

Tenants and Workers United. “In the wake of this global pandemic, our community faces a dire economic crisis. Many of our members have had their work hours reduced or been laid off completely. For the undocumented community, there is no social safety net: no unemployment benefits and no stimulus check from the federal government. We believe it’s our collective duty to take care of one another, right now and always.”
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/twucovid-19

La Colectiva is accepting monetary and in-kind donations for NoVA migrant families. If donating food or household supplies, please reach out to them in advance.
https://www.facebook.com/LaColectiVA703
https://lacolectiva.org/mutual-aid

Because the experience of this crisis is so personal, I’ll speak personally. I am saving money by not going out. My employer is paying me to telework and is depositing money into my retirement account with every paycheck. This enormous privilege gives me pause. I am not comfortable with the idea that my wealth is increasing while so many others are suffering.