African-American Heritage Brings Volunteers and Candidates

This year’s African-American Heritage Festival served as a snapshot of a diverse community: Booths at the festival ranged from aspiring authors to candidates hunting for votes. 

 First-time author Aleysha L. Shoulders had a booth near the entrance to the festival where she sold her first book, When It’s Time to Walk Away, published in May. The book is about a black woman who finds herself sexually harassed in the workplace and is available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

The Democratic Party also had two candidates for 2011 local elections present: Ann Wheeler who is running for supervisor of the Gainesville district of Prince William County and  Dr. Babua Lateef who is running to replace Corey Stewart on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

“As well as the county is doing, I think we can do better,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said she wants to bring VRE stations to Haymarket and Gainesville.

 “There are no other good options [besides driving],” Wheeler said. “Most people have to travel outside of the county for work." 

 Lateef said he wanted less commuting and more people working in the county, and suggested lowering the business property tax to attract more businesses to Prince William.  

“We want to encourage people to spend locally,” Lateef said. “You need the government to stimulate businesses to work together.”

 Both candidates said that more than two-thirds of people employed in Prince William leave the county to work.            

 This is the 21^st year of the festival, which has grown to have more than 120 vendors and attracted some 4,000 visitors, according to festival chairwoman Brenda Lewis. 

"We want to spotlight, celebrate and commemorate the rich diversity within our culture,” Lewis said. “We are really pleased that over the years local community organizations have gotten involved.” 

One such organization is the Phi Kappa Zeta chapter of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority. The chapter, based in Woodbridge, set up a tent and gave out free books to local children to encourage more reading.

“We’ve been doing it for three years,” chapter president Brenda Bowden. “We buy books and then donate them.”

Unity in the Community, a local interfaith organization speaking out against intolerance in Prince William County and Manassas and Manassas Park was out recruiting people to join them in the International Day of Prayer.

The group also works with other groups in the community, including the Prince William County Human Rights Commission and NAACP, according to Unity in the Community’s chairman Dexter Fox.

“It’s subtle stuff, but it’s a lot of working together,” Wicker said. “There’s a lot of growth taking place in the community.” 

The Pop Middleton Male Chorus and the Little Union Step Team from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Woodbridge, were among those who performed music for the festival throughout the afternoon.