Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com
Arlington County and APS face extraordinary challenges because of COVID-19.
Opinion
Back in mid-March, no one could have fully predicted just how long or extensive the lockdown for COVID-19 would be.
Over the past three months, the County Board moved the most essential functions of governing to online platforms. Essential services and public safety continued largely without interruption. A modified budget moved through a revamped public comment process, though not without a couple blips. For example, the county’s pay plan set to take effect on July 1st still says County Board members will receive a raise. There has been no public announcement on how they will deliver the promised fix to prevent the raise from taking effect.
Progressive Voice is a bi-weekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.
By Cheryl Moore
A busy week has has given way to what looks to be a beautiful weekend.
We are grateful this week for the passion of those protesting in Arlington and elsewhere, the medical recovery of long-time ARLnow commenter Flood Czar, and the support of our readers and sponsors — who have propelled our readership to record levels and who have allowed us to stay business through the pandemic with no layoffs.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued detailed guidance this week for the phased reopening of schools. Because each of the three phases includes six-foot social distancing in school and on buses, Arlington Public Schools (APS) will have to provide a hybrid model of education this fall, with limited in-person instruction, combined with online learning.
The Governor’s guidance for instruction is as follows:
Following protests over the killing of George Floyd, there’s now a national movement to #DefundThePolice.
Most proponents say they want to redirect a portion of sizable police budgets to social services, investing in community rather than punishment.
As Arlington enters Phase Two of Governor Northam’s re-opening strategy, I have really struggled to empathize with my neighbors.
Despite the polarization and tribalism we see in debates that rage across social media and populate the headlines, I try to believe people are more nuanced and complex than the red and blue avatars we create for them. I refuse to concede the young couple walking their dog, or the woman on a run, or the family sitting out in their front yard during my evening walks, are as divided or as divisive as some would have us believe.
As Northern Virginia prepares to enter Phase 2 and our community businesses and organizations begin to look for ways to safely resume activities, I have noticed a distributing trend — the use of cars as required Personal Protective Equipment.
The first time it caught my eye was Arlington’s drive-through COVID testing site that opened in March, offering convenient testing for any citizen… as long as they own a car. Thankfully the County recognized the inherent injustice in this arrangement and opened a walk-up testing site, though unfortunately not until nearly two months later. Sadly, other local organizations don’t seem to have taken this lesson to heart.
Recently I was walking through a single-family neighborhood in South Arlington. As I turned onto the street of my destination I immediately second-guessed my decision to walk instead of drive. I wondered if I would be threatening as an unfamiliar Black person walking down their street.
As many of us have heard through countless testimonials of African Americans since the murder of George Floyd, on a daily basis, Blacks often have to assume that our presence and actions can be construed as dangerous. This is just one example of the effects of racism.
I grew up in a predominantly white suburb in Minnesota. My family didn’t talk about race, but we had plenty of ways to indicate that black people were not our neighbors. I remember my parents warning me not to cross the river into Minneapolis. Once, after taking the wrong exit into a black neighborhood of Northern Minneapolis, my dad told me to lock the doors as we drove through.
This prejudice didn’t disappear when I moved to deep blue, progressive Arlington. But now I am more aware of the coded language white people use to mark black people as outsiders. I read Nextdoor complaints about people from outside the neighborhood playing basketball in Virginia Highlands Park. I’ve seen posts on DC Urban Moms decrying the school busses that pull up in front of Arlington’s affordable housing buildings. Without ever mentioning race, we can clearly show who is and isn’t welcome in our neighborhoods.
It was a historic week in Arlington, D.C. and across the country.
Missed any of our coverage? You can find it here.
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(Updated at 10:25 a.m.) This year has certainly not been normal. Between the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, and the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has had on black and brown communities in our country, we continue to need to dig deep and to understand the why, to reflect, and to do better.
I watched the split screen of President Trump advocating the usage of our military against protesters across the country in his Rose Garden address, with another screen showing Arlington County Police on the front lines advancing against peaceful protesters prior to curfew in D.C. I was dismayed and broken-hearted. This was so inconsistent with the images I had been seeing of ACPD helping to block traffic and handing out water to peaceful protesters.