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Hear why Virginia's attorney general is offering solutions to racial inequality


(Photo: Jay Korff, ABC7)
(Photo: Jay Korff, ABC7)
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A historic African American church was the backdrop Thursday night for a forum on how to counter racial inequities in Loudoun County and the Commonwealth of Virginia not with words but with priorities and a plan.

“We’ve been too quiet as a county and a commonwealth we’ve just accepted this is just the way it is," says Leesburg Town Council member Ron Campbell.

Earlier this year Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring admitted that he wore blackface to a college party in 1980. Herring then vowed he would be a part of positive change and said he’d dig into solutions to critical problems, like the lack a judicial diversity, offensive highway names and how to quickly remove Confederate monuments.

Thursday night Herring returned with answers.

Herring says, “Of the 410 judges on Virginia circuit court, the District Court and the Court of Appeals, 50 are African American. That’s 12 percent compared to 20 percent of the population.”

He adds, there’s only one African American judge in Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William County's each. None in Loudoun. His solution: lobby the General Assembly in Richmond to do better, since members appoint judges.

He researched changing Route 7, named after racial segregationist Harry Byrd and found it can be done by convincing local leaders, like the Board of Supervisors, to request a name change.

And he pushed citizens to call on state lawmakers to change a law forbidding localities from removing Confederate monuments.

“I think ultimately having grand heroic monuments to white supremacists and placing their names on schools, government buildings, streets and other positions of honor is poisonous to the unity of our Commonwealth,” says Herring.

Leesburg Town Council member Ron Campbell says much has been accomplished in only months and now it’s time to act.

Campbell says, “We have work to do. We can’t depend that others will take care of our issues.

The subject of schools also came upon a hot button issue. It was also announced that Loudoun Freedom Center is working with Loudoun County Public Schools on curriculum development and diversity training.

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