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Activists arrested: Violence erupts outside Albemarle school board meeting

A few silent, civil protesters stayed inside the auditorium. Eventually three were asked to leave for disrupting the meeting, and two were arrested. Staff photo

Public meetings held by elected officials in Charlottesville no longer go uninterrupted. But last night’s Albemarle County School Board meeting in which six people were arrested and one was hospitalized was a meeting of a different breed.

For about a year, the Hate-Free Schools Coalition of Albemarle County has pressured the school board to reexamine its dress code policy, and ban all Confederate imagery in an effort to dismantle systemic racism.

When the school board shut down its August 23 meeting after half an hour because of alleged disruption from the anti-racist activists, it planned a special August 30 meeting to resume its business, but with no public comment session.

It was at that meeting that some members of the Hate-Free Schools Coalition and other community activists held their own open forum outside the doors of Lane Auditorium, where the school board was holding its public session in the Albemarle County Office Building.

Cheers and chants from the group could be heard inside the auditorium, and things got ugly after county officials asked coalition members to quiet down.

“We aren’t going anywhere, and the more they try to silence us, the louder we will be,” said organizer Lara Harrison to about 50 people who were seated in folding chairs.

She called for the resignation of board member Jason Buyaki, who wore a necktie featuring versions of historic Confederate flags to the previous meeting.

“Racists must resign,” the group started chanting loudly as County Executive Jeff Richardson approached and said they’d have to lower their volume or leave. It wasn’t long before police cuffed Hate-Free Schools Coalition organizer Amanda Moxham, who was leading the group chant, and their chorus changed to sounds of screaming, and people falling over chairs made of plastic and metal.

Some community members demanded to see officers’ badge numbers as the police arrested four people outside the auditorium.

Michael Reid was knocked to the ground by officer Greg Jenkins, who claimed Reid assaulted him. The plainclothes cop straddled Reid and scolded him while aggressively gesturing at him with his right pointer finger.

Reid lay motionless on the ground for several seconds. Onlookers noticed his face beginning to turn purple, and continually called for him to receive medical attention.

Onlookers called for medical help as Michael Reid lay motionless on the ground. Police said an ambulance arrived for him after they arrested him and escorted him out of the building. Staff photo

Three uniformed officers, all larger than Reid, surrounded him and cuffed him tightly. Opening his eyes, Reid yelled that they were hurting him, and agreed to stand once they loosened his cuffs. Reid was escorted out on his feet, and police said an ambulance had been called for him. He was discharged from the emergency room with a summons that night.

Approximately two dozen police officers were on the scene.

Inside the meeting, a small group of anti-racist activists were peacefully protesting. Most had tape across their mouths that said “ban it,” and some held a massive sign that read, “racists don’t get re-elected.”

Three of those protesters “became disorderly,” according to a press release from the Albemarle County Police Department, and School Board Chair Kate Acuff asked them to leave. Two of them were also arrested.

Moxham was not charged. Reid was charged with trespassing, along with Andrea Lynn Massey, Sabr Lyon, Lara Lynn Harrison, Samantha Wren Cadwalder Peacoe, and Francis Xavier Richards. The latter two were also charged with obstruction of justice, and all arrestees were processed at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail, except for Reid, because he was hospitalized.

“The School Board as a group was committed to getting through the business it was elected to do,” Acuff said in the release. “Fortunately, with the help from the county attorney and county police, we were able to do that. We strive to hold meetings in a civilized manner.”

Superintendent Matt Haas said in the same release, “We are grateful to the Albemarle County Police Department and county staff for protecting our board, staff, parents, students, and community members. Overall, we were able to have a peaceful and productive meeting thanks to their efforts.”

Said Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci, who was also on the scene, “The right of free expression provides no right to engage in criminal misconduct.”

Protesters who left the building were not allowed to re-enter the public meeting, and press was only allowed to go back inside after showing credentials.

But inside Lane Auditorium, school board members did not appear to be concerned about what had just happened right outside of their doorway. They continued with their scheduled agenda, which included an update on the school division’s new anti-racism policy.

A panel of nine volunteer students has been tasked with writing the policy that will be implemented at all county schools, says school spokesperson Phil Giaramita.

“Truly, [racism] has become part of the daily life we go through every day,” said Western Albemarle High School senior and policy writer Cyrus Rody-Ramazani. “It breeds, or it almost makes people feel comfortable.”

So far, the students have suggested an anonymous reporting system for racism. This fall, they will officially present the policy they’ve drafted, and Giaramita says the division is waiting to hear their recommendations before addressing the dress code.

County schools are also considering the “constitutional issues” of a dress code that bans specific imagery, rather than the code’s current language that prohibits students from wearing anything violent or vulgar.

In fact, they’ve been burned for that before.

In April 2002, Alan Newsom, a Jack Jouett Middle School sixth-grader, wore a purple T-shirt advertising the NRA Shooting Sports Camp he had attended the previous weekend to learn about rifle target shooting and gun safety.

Newsom was asked to remove the shirt with three firearms on it, which led to a $150,000 First Amendment lawsuit against the school board, the superintendent, and Jack Jouett principals.

After two years of litigation, the suit was settled and a judge allowed Newsom to wear his purple NRA camp shirt to school.

The new dress code policy proposed by the Hate-Free Schools Coalition is grounded on the premise that: “All children deserve to feel safe in school.”

Lyon, who was arrested at the August 30 school board meeting, held a sign with those words painted on it at the meeting the previous week.

“The bottom line is we’re trying to protect our kids,” says Moxham, a mother of three.

Immediately following the election in 2016, she says a group of students wore Black Lives Matter shirts to school. “And in response to that, a number of students coordinated to wear Confederate imagery to school in order to intimidate…It got so bad that the police were actually called.”

Moxham says this instance has been corroborated by eye-witnesses including students, but school officials deny it ever happened.

“I do know of one incident that resembles this story because a member of the coalition brought it up some time ago, and I was able to track down the facts by speaking with the assistant principal who was personally involved,” says Giaramita.

The school spokesperson says last year at Monticello High School, a student was distributing Black Lives Matter shirts before class in the cafeteria. A few students said they were offended, and would wear confederacy-related shirts, which they did the next day.

“The assistant principal talked with all students involved and according to him, the student who was distributing the Black Lives Matter shirt willingly agreed to no longer do so and the students wearing the Confederate shirts agreed to no longer do so.”

This approach of education and counseling over discipline is what’s now being considered in the revised dress code, “ironically enough,” says Giaramita.

In his version of the story, police were not present. County police were not immediately able to corroborate either record.

Coalition members plan to continue fighting to end racism in schools.

“Confederate imagery and Confederate history certainly needs to be remembered, but it doesn’t need to be revered,” says Moxham. “By not explicitly banning the Confederate flag and white nationalist imagery, they are allowing for, enabling, and not making a strong statement that this is a school that supports non-discrimination and anti-racism.”

Coalition members declined to comment on the arrests made August 30, but posted a statement to their Facebook page, which said small children who witnessed the “police brutality” were sobbing outside of the county office building and have been “traumatized.”

“Six parents and community members arrested because we want ACPS to protect our kids,” it said. “You’re either racist or anti-racist.”

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Kumbaya moments at Lee Park—sort of

Bible in hand and on bended knees, activist Veronica Fitzhugh asks Jason Kessler, whom she's called a "Nazi," for forgiveness. Staff photo

Charlottesville religious leaders staged a counterprotest this morning at Lee Park in anticipation of a gathering of Confederate supporters that didn’t happen. And when two foes met amid the hymns and prayers, all was not forgiven.

According to a press release, the Confederates were supposed to be at the park at 10am. Members of the religious community, including Methodists, Unitarians and Sojourners, met at First Methodist Church before 9am and proceeded singing into the park.

More than 70 people gathered in front of the statue of General Robert E. Lee and sang,”We Shall Overcome,” “Give Peace a Chance” and “This Little Light of Mine” for more than two hours, while calling for racial justice, love and unity.

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People of faith gathered in Lee Park to support racial justice. Staff photo

At the same time off to the side, a handful of those who favor keeping the statue of Lee, an issue that has turned the park into a flashpoint that drew white nationalists two weeks ago, were not part of the unity the organizers advocated.

Western-heritage defender Jason Kessler said he was there to support City Council candidate Kenny Jackson.

Jackson, a native Charlottesvillian and an African-American, wants to keep the Lee statue, a position for which he said he’s been called an Uncle Tom. He pointed out that most of the people wanting to remove it—and assembled for the counterprotest—were affluent whites.

“When Dr. King came here,” said Jackson, “he talked about peace and unity. He didn’t try to make white people feel guilty about the past.”

And about the group of white activists with Showing Up for Racial Justice, he said, “They make us feel like we’re stupid and need special help,” he said.

The statue, he said, “is not an issue for the black community.”

And he denounced those who have been putting up posters around town with photos of Kessler and others, calling them Nazis.

Activist Veronica Fitzhugh’s peacemaking moment was rebuffed when she asked Kessler to hug her.

Instead, Kessler accused her of posting the “Know Your Nazi” posters around town. “It’s one thing to talk about love and peace, but this woman has been putting up fliers with my name and address, saying we’re Nazis, listing our places of business and telling people to harass us,” he said.

Ten days ago, Fitzhugh, wearing a pink wig, screamed in Kessler’s face for him to “fucking go home” when he sat at a table on the Downtown Mall May 20. Today, wearing a black mantilla-like scarf, she got on her knees before him and asked, “Are you going to forgive me?”

“I want you to leave me alone,” replied Kessler.

Jackson continued to object to the posters he claimed urged people to kill Nazis.

“What I said was, ‘Nazi go home,'” said Fitzhugh.

“Let him talk,” interjected Mason Pickett, a City Council regular who has his own adversarial relationship with SURJ, two of whose members quickly were in his face as police officers approached and intervened.

“It is not against the law to yell at people,” said Fitzhugh. Among the cops standing nearby was Chief Al Thomas, but when she asked, no one answered her question about the legality of screaming at people.

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Chief Al Thomas and Major Gary Pleasants are on hand, along with about 20 other cops at Lee Park. Photo Eze Amos

Jackson mentioned a May 20 video of Fitzhugh and others shouting at Kessler. “On the video you were cursing and abusing,” said Jackson, who pointed out that was illegal and indicated he knew that from personal experience.

There were some less confrontational discussions between those holding opposing viewpoints.

Artist Aaron Fein said he came to listen to other people. “Certainly there were people with whom I found common ground I didn’t expect, and other opinions weren’t changed.”

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Jason Kessler passed on an opportunity to hold hands in public. Photo Eze Amos

When a speaker from the larger religious group asked everyone to grab the hand of a neighbor, Fein stood in a small circle with Jackson’s group, which was also holding hands. Fein held one hand extended to Kessler, who kept his own firmly in his pocket.

Kessler told some of those talking to him that he supported Jackson because he wasn’t into “white guilt.” He pointed to the spiritual adherents and said, “These people are trying to wipe white people from the face of the earth by 2050. They want to displace white people.”

Brittany Caine-Conley was one of the organizers of the event. “I’m here because I think it’s imperative people of faith organize against racism,” she said. “It’s one of the imperatives of Christianity.”

“We need to stop hate,” echoed Jackson. “We need to stop posting signs that talk about killing people.”

As many of those in the park dispersed, Chief Thomas, when asked how it went, said, “We only have one goal—that everyone stays safe and respectful.”

Correction: Aaron Fein was misidentified in the original version.

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Can the statue be moved? Not just a local issue

Defenders of the statue of General Robert E. Lee include a great-nephew of sculptor Henry Shrady. Rammelkamp Foto

The Charlottesville park bounded by Jefferson, North First, Market and North Second streets isn’t the only Lee Park under heavy scrutiny.

Last July, a group of folks in Dallas led a demonstration at Oak Lawn’s Lee Park to demand that a General Robert E. Lee statue be removed and the park renamed. Activists felt called to “un-dedicate” the statue and rededicate it to “the spirit of the abolitionist movement, raising the spirits of six genuine heroes of the Civil War era”—Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Denmark Vesey, Maria Stewart, Harriet Tubman and Senator Hiram Revels, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Though the acts of un-dedication and rededication had no legal recognition, another issue concerning Confederate war memorials could—and this one hits a bit closer to home.

A Virginia state law says localities can’t “disturb or interfere” with Confederate monuments, but a judge in Danville ruled that legal protection does not apply to structures erected before 1998. A Confederate flag flown since 1996 above the last capitol of the Confederacy at the city-owned Sutherlin Mansion was removed in August.

This decision has been appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court.

On March 10, Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed HB587—Republican Delegate Charles D. Poindexter’s bill—which would clarify conditions of the previous ruling in Danville and prohibit localities from removing any war memorials, including Civil War monuments, regardless of the date they were erected.

Though the Republican-controlled legislature passed the bill by a margin of 82 to 16 votes in the House, with local delegates Rob Bell, Matt Fariss and Steve Landes voting yay, and 21 to 17 in the Senate, Democratic Senator Creigh Deeds says he voted against it.

“Ultimately, localities are going to have to decide how they’re gong to commemorate the past,” Deeds says, adding that the discussion ought to be broader than just between 140 legislators at the General Assembly. “You can’t whitewash or change history,” he says. “You just have to learn from it.”

In Virginia, Deeds says the Civil War is commemorated in many different ways, with Confederate statues in every county, and high schools and roads named after Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis.

While he says he would be cautious about moving Charlottesville’s General Lee statue, he commends Mayor Mike Signer’s proposal of a Blue Ribbon Commission on Confederate Memorials to evaluate the community’s stance on the statue removal and renaming of Lee Park, explain the policy behind the effort, assess costs, explore options and develop a fundraising strategy.

In a statement proposing the task force, Signer alludes to dark chapters in Charlottesville’s past, including slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow, segregation and Vinegar Hill.

“We see one of those chapters every time we’re in Lee Park or Court Square, where, in the 1920s, city leaders elected to celebrate the Confederacy and, by extension, slavery, by placing large monuments to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson,” Signer says.

Deeds hopes the commission will consist of a broad cross-section of community members.

“If [a commission] is appointed, it shouldn’t just be made up of people with a predetermined view of what should happen,” Deeds says. “To be a genuine commission, it needs to be made up of people who are willing to consider all sides to come up with the right approach.”

Signer says planning for the task force is still in the early stages and he is discussing options while researching examples of similar groups in places such as St. Louis and Baltimore. “My hope is that this will be a deliberative and hopeful process that truly engages the community in exploring how we can best change the narrative in Charlottesville,” he writes in an e-mail.

Julie Langan, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, says her department is working to help UVA grad Molly Ward, Virginia secretary of natural resources, develop a list of best practices for how communities should approach historic monuments. Governor McAuliffe requested a report from the group by December, Langan says, and they are in the early stages of electing people to serve on the commission.

“We’ll want geographic representation,” Langan says. “We’ll want people who have diverging points of view.”

Langan, like McAuliffe, believes conclusions should be reached by the community and not regulated by state law.

“My inclination is to view something like the [General Lee] sculpture in Charlottesville more as a work of art than a Confederate memorial,” she says.

In the National Register of Historic Places, Langan points out that documentation for the monument at Lee Park has little to say about the Civil War. It emphasizes the high artistic value of the sculpture, the history of its design and its production.

Paul Goodloe McIntire, who gifted Lee Park to the city in 1918, signed a deed June 14 of that year that said he desired “to erect thereon a statue of General Robert E. Lee and to present said property to the City of Charlottesville, Va. as a memorial to his parents, the late George M. McIntire and Catherine A. McIntire.”

Although some may question whether the city is able to remove the statue or rename the park that McIntire gifted, the deed says, “This conveyance is made upon condition that the said property be held and used in perpetuity by said city as a public park, and that no buildings be erected thereon, but the authorities of said city shall at all times have the right and power to control, regulate and restrict the use of said property.”

So can the statue be moved? Maybe.