A new collaboration between a South Arlington church and a local artist is seeking to memorialize places where immigration enforcement has arrested people in Arlington.
Led by the Rev. Ashley Goff, members of Arlington Presbyterian Church, artist Sushmita Mazumdar and other “trusted neighbors” set out yesterday (Tuesday) to locations where residents have documented recent detainments by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“This is about a public sign that harm has been done here, and that people are still grieving,” Goff told ARLnow. “People are still resisting. We name what happens with this sticker. We set an intention about how we want to keep showing up as neighbors.”
The stickers, which Mazumdar designed, draw inspiration from the county’s stumbling stones, which honor the lives of enslaved people, as well as memorial markers called “Stolperstein” that memorialize victims of Nazi persecution across Europe.
Kids played basketball and residents passed by the 800 block of S. Florida Street yesterday afternoon as the group said a dedication and placed the first sticker on the sidewalk.
“We are here to tell the truth,” Goff said. “To name harm that was done on this block. To place a mark where someone was taken by ICE. To remember what others would rather forget. To build a community of memory, resistance and care.”
The first stumbling stickers are now visible on sidewalks near the following six addresses in South Arlington. Goff confirmed each arrest spot through videos, photos and eyewitness accounts.
- The 800 block of S. Florida Street
- S. Greenbrier Street and 7th Road S.
- Columbia Pike and S. Frederick Street
- The 5000 block of Columbia Pike
- The 900 block of S. Buchanan Street
- Columbia Pike and S. Thomas Street
The 6-inch markers include no names or arrest dates, but a simple hand-and-heart design by Mazumdar, founder of Studio PAUSE on Columbia Pike. The artist and Goff connected after both women attended a stumbling stone ceremony in June.
As the group visited the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Thomas Street, a passing Barcroft resident spoke up about the fears that ICE arrests have aggravated in the neighborhood.
“We are a multicultural community,” the woman, who requested anonymity, said. “If somebody knocks on our door and somebody takes the breadwinner away, then what happens to the rest of the home? It’s scary to think that it could happen here, at any time.”
Goff, whose congregation has distributed “know-your-rights” cards and is collecting $50 Aldi and Giant gift cards for Arlington’s immigrant families, previously told ARLnow that “the role of the church is to speak truth to power.”
Yesterday, she spoke out against the Trump administration’s ICE raids and recent law enforcement activity in D.C., which she described as part of a larger “playbook of authoritarianism.”
“Christian nationalism is to impose fear,” she said. “Authoritarianism is to create fear … but also, it’s a clear attempt to harm people of color in D.C.”
In response, Goff hopes the stickers “disrupt numbness” in residents who see them.
“I hope it gets them to pause and think about not only what happened, but that beauty is in our neighborhoods,” she said.
More stickers are planned in the Buckingham, Courthouse and Rosslyn neighborhoods, as well as the intersection of 18th Street S. and Walter Reed Drive, which ICE reportedly visited yesterday, according to Goff.
As long as immigration enforcement continues to make arrests in Arlington, the group intends to continue placing stumbling stickers. The congregation is tracking the markers on a large map of the county, which will reside at Arlington Presbyterian Church.
“This will end, and [ICE], they’re not going to get the last word on this, because they’re not going to be able to break communities, especially in a place like Arlington,” Goff said.
