Margaurite Gooden tells the crowd getting rid of DEI means one thing to her: going after Black people. Photo by Eden Brown.
The atmosphere in the packed Yorktown High School hall was intense. As people lined up to ask questions during Virginia Del. Patrick Hope’s Town Hall meeting on Saturday, they talked about not wanting their names used or a photo taken of a speaker who worked in the federal government. They talked about oligarchs, not just in Washington, D.C. but in Arlington. There was anger and there was fear. But there was also a sense of community and resolve. Spontaneous applause erupted for many of the speakers.
Marguarite Gooden, of Hall’s Hill, stole the show. One of the last people to speak at the meeting, she got up, looked around the room and announced, “I don’t see a lot of people that look like me in this room.” But that was exactly why she and a few friends came. She had something important to say: “Ever since Trump was elected, we hear a lot about ‘DEI and wokeism.’ We Black people had no idea what wokeism was! But now we understand. I’ll tell you what this talk about DEI is. It means Black people. It’s discrimination. We need to get our young people involved in fighting back against what is going on in Washington right now. People who don’t vote need to vote. Because, I don’t know if you need to be reminded … . Arlington County has always been known for changing things. It was in Arlington where desegregating schools in Virginia started, kids in my neighborhood, right down the street, broke that barrier. It was in Arlington that the first black firefighters south of the Mason Dixon Line were paid to fight fires. We Black people are used to fighting for our rights here in Arlington. We’ll be okay. But y'all aren’t used to this kind of treatment, and now we are going to have to pull together. It’s going to take all of us to take our government back.” Gooden got a standing ovation for a long minute.
Patrick Hope applauded and said, “Marguarite, I just hope you don’t ever run against me!”
Mike Ingram, an energy auditor, got up to ask a question of Hope. “I’m 75,” he said. “And my lineage goes all the way back to the ‘Arlingtonians for a Better County’ (ABC) which heralded the “Arlington Way” concept. Well, the Arlington Way is no more. But my question is, in addition to making sure we don’t pay the bill for the data centers’ increased energy cost, Dominion Power is asking for more money when homeowners connect their solar energy installation to the grid. It acts as a disincentive for solar power and stifles our efforts to lower energy costs and make energy more renewable. I want to know what the Democrats in Richmond are doing to stand up to Dominion. What are you doing?” Hope, who stopped accepting campaign funds from Dominion in 2019, told Ingram the State Corporation Commission (SCC) which regulates the energy industry in Virginia was looking into it. Ingram indicated later he did not really get an answer to his question, particularly since the SCC was cited. Dominion Energy has a reputation for strategic campaign donations aimed at influencing lawmakers who choose the SCC members.
One longtime Arlingtonian who also works with the National Association of Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) said the attitude towards federal workers was shocking. In one phone-in talk show, someone said it was about time feds got laid off and that “Now these federal employees who have never had to worry about job security will know what it is like to get laid off.” The NARFE member took note of the direct impact on federal workers in Arlington and advised residents to check out the website https://www.narfe.org/federal-benefits-institute/ for guidance on cuts. This recurring theme at the town hall of “don’t just sit there and take it” and “we are here to help” was perhaps an indication that the Arlington Way is not dead after all.