Peaceful Protesters Rally Against Police Violence In Fairfax

FAIRFAX, VA — More than a thousand people, almost all of them wearing protective masks, gathered at the Fairfax County Government Center Wednesday to protest the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the crackdown of protesters across the nation.

The people at the protest spoke of peace but expressed defiance in their signs and words against police violence across the nation against black people. Fairfax County police were not wearing riot gear. They were not yelling at protesters. They weren't there in large numbers. The only time police officers went on alert was when they went to help a young man who fell ill from heat exhaustion.

The Fairfax County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People organized the demonstration, described as the “Justice for Black Lives” car rally. Organizers estimated that at least 500 vehicles showed up in the parking lot at the headquarters of the Fairfax County government. Many people also walked from nearby areas to the government headquarters building.

Speaking to the diverse crowd, Sean Perryman, president of the Fairfax County NAACP, criticized leaders' failure to adequately address police violence as well the coronavirus crisis. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and President Donald Trump "have proven themselves incapable of responding to these crises," he said.

Perryman also wondered why only a few weeks ago the government was unable to provide medical workers and the public with enough personal protective equipment or sufficient testing as the coronavirus ravaged the nation, especially African American communities.

"They couldn't get financial assistance for the 40 million unemployed," Perryman told the crowd. "But now, they've got endless supplies of tear gas and rubber bullets and any manner of weapon you can imagine."

The crowd was filled with young and old people, black and white. Parents and their teenage children were attendance in large numbers, many participating in their first-ever protest. Jason Koduah, who is finishing his junior year at South Lakes High School in Reston, told Patch that he attended the rally to make sure political leaders know they need to listen to African American voices.

"We shouldn't have to face such police brutality and fear for our lives whenever we step outside of our homes," Koduah said.

The 16-year-old said the aggressive response by police agencies across the country to protesters "shows how broken our system is and how the culture within our police forces is wrong and urgently we need change."

"It's sad that when we use our First Amendment rights that we get hurt for it and punished for just doing what we're allowed to do," he said. "As they continue to try and scare us and bully us, we have to show more solidarity and unity and show up even more to let both the police and Trump know that we're not going to back down until we're heard and changes are made."

In his speech, Perryman said many people may be surprised the NAACP invited Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. to speak at the rally.

"That man is not my enemy. The police are not my enemy," Perryman emphasized. "My enemy is injustice. The enemy is systematic racism."

In his comments, Roessler said the Fairfax County Police Department has worked hard to improve its relationship with the community. He noted that the county has a Police Civilian Review Panel that provides a layer of independent oversight of the police department The panel reviews completed FCPD investigations into complaints containing allegations of abuse of authority or serious misconduct.

In an interview with Patch, Perryman said the FCPD is slightly more progressive than police agencies in surrounding jurisdictions. "But they are far from perfect," he said. "Like most police departments, they are nervous about oversight and we need to make sure that we have accountability so that people have faith in the system."

Sonia Myrick, who lives in Reston, attended the rally with her son, who goes to South Lakes High School, and her daughter, who just graduated from George Mason University.

"I'm out today because of the injustice and I'm just tired, exhausted that we're having to do this all over again," Myrick told Patch. "I never thought in 2020 that we would be dealing with this and my children would have to be dealing with this. I just want to make sure something actually changes this time around."

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