Mayor: Alexandria Has Made Progress in Race Relations, But Needs More

Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille said he was working out at the YMCA on Monroe Avenue one morning shortly after George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin when he was approach by a friend.

The friend wanted to discuss the shooting death of the Florida teen, Zimmerman’s trial and the racial tensions spurred by the case but said they just didn’t know how.

It was a sentiment Euille said he heard several times over following Zimmerman’s July 13 acquittal.

People wanted to talk about the case, but they weren’t sure where or how to do it.

That prevailing perplexity was enough for the city’s first black mayor to organize a forum with the local NAACP chapter and the Alexandria’s Human Rights Commission to discuss the case.

“Alexandria has a historic perspective of coming together and confronting any challenges we’re dealing with,” Euille said Saturday at Charles Houston Recreation Center. “As someone having grown up in this city, having lived through the assassination of Martin Luther King, we’ve certainly come an awful long way, but we still have a ways to go in terms of race relations and human relations.”

Euille said he wanted to use the forum to search for positives in the negativity following the verdict.

Rev. Howard-John Wesley, the pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church, LaDonna Sanders, president of the Alexandria Branch of the NAACP, local lawyers and community representatives served as panelists. They discussed the case and answered questions from a smallish crowd.

“This case poked us in many ways,” said Wesley, whose sermon about the verdict was featured in a TIME magazine cover story this week. “At the end of the day, someone was killed and no one was held accountable. … It’s drawn a line in the sand in terms of certain issues—racism, gun rights… The worst thing not to do is discuss this.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who was an attendee at the event but was asked to make some remarks, said there was no question in his mind that if the detectives responding to the scene of the crime had seen Martin holding a gun over Zimmerman, he would have immediately been arrested.

Zimmerman was not arrested until six weeks after the Martin’s death.

“We cannot avoid the fact that race is an integral part of what occurred. It is a reflection of the fact that there still is a very ugly undercurrent of racism that is prevalent in our cities and does have an impact on what’s determined in our courts,” said Moran, who added that more young back men are convicted more frequently for the same crimes that white men of the same age are less likely to be convicted of.

Sanders, who was at the NAACP’s national convention in Orlando the night of the verdict, said the youth contingent wanted to mobilize on Sanford, Fla.

“The youth that night had such a hard time with the verdict,” she said. “It felt like black life was not valued in the U.S.” 

Deronte Artis, a 2011 graduate of T.C. Williams High School, said he didn’t understand why Zimmerman didn’t let the police confront Martin the night of the shooting in February 2012. The entire situation could have been avoided that way, he said.

For him, the case hit very close to home.

“As a young African American male growing up in this city, it could have been me,” he said. “Pretty much you never know. It could be you. As a young African American, you are racially profiled. … It could be me walking through the neighborhood. I am suspicious because I am African American. … As a community, it has to get better. It could be anyone. It could be me. … That makes me not want to even walk to the 7-Eleven anymore.”

Sanders mentioned the NAACP was considering holding an educational session for Alexandria's youth informing them of their rights and teaching them how to react when they come in contact with police. 

When asked about gentrification in Alexandria and its impact on race relations in the city, Euille said Alexandrians “need to have a more gut-wrenching discussion about the changes in the community and why they’re happening.” 

Getting more people involved in the issues facing the city, including looping in more faith-based organizations, would help, he said. 

Tell us: How would you describe race and human relations in Alexandria?