GRASSROOTS ALEXANDRIA

by Jonathan Krall

In January 2023, Alexandria city announced a BIPOC Small Business Grant Program to address negative pandemic-era impacts on local businesses, impacts that were “particularly felt by Black, Indigenous and people of color (“BIPOC”) owned businesses due to structural barriers and discriminatory financial lending practices.” Sadly, an “equal protection of the laws” lawsuit alleged discrimination against White people, causing Alexandria “to scrap the grant program.” Reacting to this lawsuit, Meronne Teklu of the Economic Opportunities Commission told me that “City Council needs to push back without compromise; these people want us to believe that reparations of any kind are illegal.” Ms Teklu, and City Council, recognize that it is unjust to treat people “equally” in a society that routinely produces “tailwinds for White people and headwinds for Black people.” Shouldn’t we be allowed to measure and address the impacts of systemic injustice? In some areas of law, the answer is yes. We need to expand that “yes.” The key is to focus on, and push back against, the very real impacts of racial disparities.

As activists, it is up to us to choose where and how to spend our energy and how we frame our messages. In a nation where White people are implicitly raised to be ignorant of racism, how do we identify and oppose racism? How do we address systemic racism, where no specific person can be identified as the cause of the harm? In many instances, as in pandemic impacts on Black-owned businesses, we have numerical measures. As reported by ALXnow, in the USA, “Black-owned businesses were disproportionately hit by the pandemic, showing a 28% earnings decrease in 2020 compared to a 15% drop for White-owned businesses and a 17% overall decline.” The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia found that 79% of White-owned firms received all of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding they sought, compared to 43% of Black-owned firms. In our quest to push back against systemic racism, instances where we do have clear evidence of racially-disparate impacts seem like a good place to start.

by Jennifer O. and Jonathan Krall

The ever-expanding privatization of Medicare should be of concern to Alexandrians who have Medicare. Alexandrians over age 50 cited aging-related health concerns as one of the community’s top health issues. More than a third of residents worry about paying rent or mortgage. Low-cost healthcare is even more important for low-income seniors and people living with disabilities. The more we learned about the privatization of Medicare, the more alarmed we became. Fortunately, there is hope. Growing nationwide support for universal healthcare suggests to us that Medicare should be expanded not exploited.

Requested action: Alexandrians can join the action by signing our petition: please tell City Council to pass a Medicare for All Resolution for Alexandria.

by Jonathan Krall

In our work, we often focus on injustice and inequity. We ask for policy changes, such as restorative practices, that reduce injustice. In these discussions we have not always centered the issues of dignity and respect. Thanks to a podcasted interview with Judge Victoria Pratt, author of The Power of Dignity, we now have better vocabulary with which to articulate the importance of dignity and respect. According to Judge Pratt, procedural justice is the recognition that dignity is a human right and that any system that does not treat people with dignity and respect is unjust. Here in Alexandria, we can apply this lesson by asking that our police officers, in non-emergency situations, always practice respect.

by Scott G., Jonathan K., and Boyd W.

Alexandria, Virginia – Local activists campaigning in support of nationwide universal health care (Medicare For All) received a significant boost earlier this month via a resolution of endorsement from the Alexandria Democratic Party. Continue reading “Campaign for Universal Health Care Boosted by Alexandria Democrats’ Endorsement”

by James D. and Jonathan K.

Grassroots Alexandria advocates for effective mass transit as a matter of economic justice and as a response to the climate emergency. Alexandria’s Duke Street In Motion project is a potential step forward.

What is the Duke Street in Motion project?
What is the purpose of the project? What problems is it trying to solve?
Will this project include improvements for people walking and riding bicycles?
How will a dedicated transitway fit on Duke Street along with car traffic?

What is the Duke Street in Motion project?
Duke Street in Motion is a concept design project for improved transit on a 4-mile section of Duke Street, from the Landmark Mall area to the King Street Metro station. The design effort follows a 2008 Council decision designating this section of Duke Street as a future high-capacity transit corridor, and a 2012 Transitway Corridor Feasibility Study. The 2012 Feasibility study recommended dedicated bus lanes in the six-lane sections of the Duke Street corridor, i.e. in about 2/3 of the 4 mile section, and a two-phased approach for the four-lane section in the middle of the corridor, from Jordan Street to Roth Street. The study recommended that transit operate initially in mixed traffic in the four-lane section and later in a dedicated reversible lane. Continue reading “Duke Street Transitway: Frequently Asked Questions”

by Jonathan Krall

In Alexandria and across the DC area, there is a basic fact that we must not ignore: it is currently impossible, even for a non-profit developer, to build housing for working class families without taking a loss. Thus, we have two types of affordable housing for working class Alexandrians: decaying buildings, where a landlord can make a profit by neglecting maintenance, and designated affordable housing, where the “loss” is covered by public or private subsidies. Recent public debate not only fails to elevate this basic fact, it fails to support the working class people already in our neighborhoods. Do we welcome them? Do we even see them? We say we value diversity, but our actions speak more impactfully than our words.

For example, the Washington Post tells me that “Starbucks is departing Union Station on Sunday while citing safety concerns…” That is the first sentence of the article. The second sentence tells me that crime in Union Station is decreasing. The safety concerns they cite? Houseless people.

Here in Alexandria, where the government is preserving green space by building taller instead of wider, I’ve learned that co-locating affordable housing and a school is a non-starter. It seems that people who live in affordable housing are a “quality of life” concern, even when the purpose of the project is to “provide affordable housing to teachers.” Continue reading “Housing: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

By Isabelle A.

The proposed expansion of Medicare to all Americans (and Alexandrians) would solve an important health problem in our community: nearly 10% of Alexandrians are currently uninsured. This matters because under-insurance disproportionately impacts our marginalized and undocumented communities. Medicare For All would alleviate this disparity by providing universalized care. At present, 25% of pregnant Alexandrians do not receive early prenatal care. With reproductive healthcare under attack in the United States, this is unacceptably immoral. Medicare For All is an antiracist and intersectional method of minimizing disparities for Alexandrians, and will support our local service economy; 69% of restaurant-industry workers lack work-provided insurance. You can help by taking action today. Continue reading “Alexandria Needs Medicare For All: You can help”

by Jonathan Krall

Lately, Grassroots Alexandria has been the subject of public criticism over our engagement with City Council and our efforts to shift school resources away from policing and towards wellness. In the latest example, published by the Alexandria Times on February 10, two Alexandrians take issue with the public process. Complaints about the public process are common, but they do not usually involve personal accusations and innuendo. While scorched-earth politics is sadly accepted on the national scene, it should not be tolerated at the local level. We should never pit neighbor against neighbor by demonizing each other. If people who engage in the public process are attacked for doing so, we might not have a public process at all. Continue reading “In Defense of the Public Process”

By Rebecca Loesberg, writing for Grassroots Alexandria

Recent fighting and community tragedy at and nearby Alexandria schools have many residents raising the issue of safety in our schools. These residents are right—there is a safety issue in ACPS, but it’s not the one you think. And, there is something we can do about it. What we do have is a bunch of children returning to in person school after over a year of at-home learning, some in-person learning, and continued isolation due to COVID-19. From a mental health perspective, it’s no surprise that these kids are overwhelmed and overstimulated during our collective trauma, resulting in increased tension and expression of that tension through physical violence. After all, we are also inundated with videos of grown adults losing control of their emotions in supermarkets, on airplanes, and in shopping malls.

Requested action: Please write to the school board and city council with a simple message:

“For the health and safety of our students, please increase the implementation of restorative practices, which models active discussion and resolution of conflict. Please add staff, training, and an active plan that can be measured for accountability. Please fast track the hiring and implementation of more mental health resources for our kids that was promised when the School Resource Officer (SRO) money was re-allocated. Please implement greater structure around free/lunch periods. Let’s please, listen to our students, many of whom spoke out against implementation of SROs. Let’s not rush back to implement an ineffective program, but use this as an opportunity to increase resources for our students.”

We do not make this request lightly. We urge you, when contemplating what safety means for you, your children, and our school system, to look at the broader context. To encourage you to act, we offer this fact-based assessment:

Continue reading “For healthy students, we need more care, not more cops”