https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USIbfgnRwTk
Dozens of students, teachers and community members spoke at the Feb. 16 Arlington School Board meeting, many voicing concern about incidents of intolerance at Yorktown High School.
racism
A fight between two students but also involving one student’s parents broke out Monday morning just outside of Yorktown High School.
Arlington County Police responded to the school just before 11:30 a.m. for a report of a fight involving students, adults and a large crowd. The situation was deemed to be under control shortly after officers arrived on scene.
Racist Group Has Offices in Arlington — The National Policy Institute, a fringe white nationalist group that has gotten national media attention recently for a conference that culminated with Tila Tequila giving a Heil Hitler at a D.C. restaurant, has offices in Arlington. Asked about it, County Board members condemned the group but said “we have no standing to tell people who can and can’t be here.” [WTOP]
Remembering Arlington’s Racist Past — Arlington has not always been the welcoming, diverse community it is today. In 1968, for instance, Yorktown High School students protested outside of Washington Golf and Country Club in north Arlington, after the club refused to participate in interclub tennis matches with a black woman. Arlington was also once home to the headquarters of the American Nazi Party. [Falls Church News-Press]
APS Receives Top Ranking — Arlington Public Schools is the top school division in Virginia and in the D.C. area, according to new rankings from Niche.com. All three comprehensive high schools in Arlington ranked in the top 10 in Virginia, according to the website. [Arlington Public Schools]
Alleged Racial Confrontation at Metro Station — A local man says a trio of older white men confronted him last week in the Courthouse Metro station, a few days after the election, and told him “good thing you’ll all be gone soon” — an apparent racially-motivated comment — and “it’ll be great again soon.” [Patch]
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Arcing Insulator at Rosslyn Metro — An electrical issue on the Metrorail tracks outside of the Rosslyn station caused delays on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines during this morning’s rush hour. The arcing insulator prompted single-tracking and a large fire department response. [WJLA]
Beyer to Shadow DCA Worker — Today, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) is expected to “accompany contracted wheelchair agents to learn first-hand their role helping passengers with disabilities at Reagan National Airport.” The workers and their union, 32BJ SEIU, are fighting for a $15 per hour wage. Currently, they receive as little as $6 per hour plus “unreliable tips.”
Local leaders are considering a new plaque for Arlington’s World War I memorial in Clarendon.
As reported by the Sun Gazette, the 1930s-era memorial has a plaque with a dozen names of local war dead. Two of the names are presented away from the others — and include the extra label “colored.”
Arlington County Police are trying to figure out who is responsible for a series of racist and homophobic graffiti along the Bluemont Junction Trail and around the Boulevard Manor neighborhood.
The graffiti was first spotted last night along the trail, with the N-word and the F-word spray-painted on the trail and other graffiti on rocks and on a trampoline at a nearby property, according to scanner traffic. It was reported that a group of teenagers was responsible for the graffiti, but police were unable to locate the group at the time.
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Deal With Hospital Expected — Arlington County is expected to hold a public meeting next month to discuss a land deal with Virginia Hospital Center. The county is reportedly ready to sign a memorandum of understanding with the hospital for a five-acre, county-owned parcel of land adjacent to it, which would then allow the hospital to expand. Details of the deal were not yet available. [Washington Business Journal]
County History Survey — To help county leaders understand which aspects of local history are especially important to residents, Arlington is conducting an online survey, asking for “ideas on collecting, preserving, sharing our history.” An Arlington Historical Task Force will take the survey into account when presenting recommendations for historic preservation priorities later this year. [Arlington County, Preservation Arlington]
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A homeless man was arrested last Friday after allegedly writing “racist” graffiti around Ballston, according to Arlington County Police.
From this week’s Arlington crime report:
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Members of Arlington United Taxi Operators (AUTO) and Tenants and Workers United (TWU) took part in the protest, which was staged to highlight claims of unfair labor practices by Arlington cab companies and to show that drivers’ human rights had been violated based on their national origin.
ARLnow.com requested details regarding examples of human rights violations, but did not receive information about specific incidents. Instead, a TWU representative said the basics included “ad hoc firings, arbitrary changing of working conditions, and the fact that drivers are being bound to a single company.”
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In the latest round of mudslinging, Barbara Favola is being accused of making “racist comments” regarding the electability of her Democratic primary opponent, Jaime Areizaga-Soto — a charge she is calling “flat out untrue.”
Local Democratic blogger and Areizaga-Soto supporter Lowell Feld says he received a call from Favola last week in which Favola — thinking she was talking to a potential voter and not a vocal online critic — implied that Areizaga-Soto was unelectable because few Latinos live in the 31st District. Favola reportedly also noted that many of the donations to the Areizaga-Soto campaign have come from the candidate’s friends and family in Puerto Rico.
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In this week’s Arlington County crime report, a young man with a “baby face” exposed himself to a woman in Clarendon, followed her, and then ran off.
INDECENT EXPOSURE 04/05/11, 1000 block of N. Highland Street. On April 5 at 1 am, a woman was walking home when an unknown man jumped out from behind a tree. He exposed himself to her and followed her for a short time. The suspect is described as a white male around 20 years old, 5’8”, 140 lbs, with a “baby face”. He was wearing a dark sweater, jeans, and round gold framed glasses.