Catherine Read, Ean Eschenburg and Jeff McKay. Eschenburg and Mike Salmon received an award for their video on the county's small family cemeteries. “Family Cemeteries in Fairfax County”
  

Five sequined-clad Bolivian dancers, San Simon Sucre, were an attention-grabbing, glittery climax for the Nov. 4 Fairfax County history conference, following five hours of inspiring presentations on the county’s rich mix of 1.2 million people.

“Fairfax County recently became a majority minority community,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay reported, calling it “a tapestry that celebrates all nations.” 

“Immigrants are who America is,” concurred Lynne Garvey-Hodge, History Commission chair. “We must hold hands and do the best we can to care for and support one another.”

Citing current “chaos in the Middle East,” McKay said he issued a statement because, “We have families directly affected. Even on the international stage, there is so much diversity here, someone in the Fairfax County community is affected.” 

Facing Some Challenges

Abrar Omeish, at-large county school board member, whose family came from Libya, urged all to “see beyond the tropes of bias.” While her family has enjoyed the “blessings of this community,” she has experienced “a lot of beautiful moments and difficult moments.” The Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attack on the United States and some public statements have fed anti-immigrant sentiments. She seeks to “debunk misconceptions,” especially associated with people who practice the Islamic faith. “We must see kinship in one another and have a sense of belonging in a community that saw us as people and enabled us to thrive,” she said.

Keynoter Tom Gjelten, author of “A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story,” credited a 1965 immigration reform law with making “America the diverse country it is today.” That law eliminated “blatantly discriminatory and racist quotas” that favored white European immigrants. In his 2015 book, he traces the Omeish and Keam families’ journeys. As late as 1970, fewer than four percent of people in Fairfax County were born outside the U.S.; today it’s about 33 percent, he said. “Few places in the United States reflect the changes in population like Fairfax County.”

While Gjelten still believes the 1965 law made America’s promise more of a reality, he now thinks he overstated that promise in 2015. With “voices suggesting it was wrong to open America’s doors,” he said. “What I thought was a settled debate turned out to be very much alive,” citing a proposed ban on immigrants from some Muslim countries and Islamophobic and anti-Semitic public comments.

“Diversity leads to more tolerance,” Gjelten said. “The more people are exposed to people from different backgrounds, the more their hostility decreases.”

Former Congressman and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom Davis described countering opposition to mosques. “Societies don’t last if groups feel excluded. You don’t have to demonize people.” Applauding the ethnic mix of students in George Mason University and the public schools, Davis said, “We have a diverse community with a lot of talent. If you tap it, it’s there. The county provides great promise, but challenges. Our society today is increasingly polarized and it’s increasingly important that we talk to each other.”

Daniel Altman, co-founder of NOVA Resettling Afghan Families Together (RAFT), reviewed Afghanistan’s history starting with Alexander the Great and described the 2021 U.S. withdrawal that airlifted over 70,000 Afghans out in two weeks. Over 74,000 visa applications for Afghan people who supported the U.S. government are still pending, a “disgrace,” he asserted; the documents are moving at a “glacial pace.” Over 7,600 Afghan refugees have resettled in Virginia, including over 1,000 in Fairfax County and they are still arriving, he noted. RAFT has furnished 300 homes and offers support like job searches.

   Catherine Read, Robert Beach and Jeff McKay. The commission gave Bob Beach an award for designing the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial at Lorton.
Photo by Glenda Booth   

Virginia Del. Kathy Tran recounted how when she was two her family fled Vietnam and rebuilt their life. “The values of hope, opportunity and freedom are very American values that hold us together. We must build a stronger Fairfax regardless of where people are from, to achieve their own American dream,” she said.

Former Del. Mark Keam, the first Asian-American elected to the Virginia legislature, whose family immigrated from Korea, said, “My success is because this country gave me opportunities very few places in the world would.” He contended that Fairfax County is uniquely welcoming, partly because of the county’s official “One Fairfax” policy and the federal government’s draw. People come to the Washington area from all around the world which has “created a sense of synergy that does not exist in many places in the United States.” Fairfax County is “willing to accept us and be part of Virginia’s change, part of the system. History is not looking backwards. It’s about looking forward and making history. We have to focus on the future and make sure we’re teaching folks what can be.”

Through translator Pablo Nunez, Erik Martinez told the group that he “felt tiny, really tiny in this new culture,” when he came from Guatemala. He praised the Centreville Immigration Forum which helped him find a job. “My life is really great at this moment,” he said. 

Claudia Alvarez, a single mother also from Guatemala, said she too “was lost” until she found Centreville Immigration Forum, which helped her find work and English classes.

Lynette Sappe-Watkins, Executive Director of the non-profit Falls Church Culmore Clinic, told attendees that most of their patients are uninsured, come from other countries and two-thirds have chronic illnesses. The many languages and traditions they bring to the clinic “all add color and depth, a beautiful illustration of what America’s supposed to be,” she said.

Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw told the conference-goers, “Fairfax County is a welcoming place because we realize the ideals of our nation. Somebody like me, whose family has been here since the 18th century, has no more voice than someone who immigrated here from Guatemala yesterday. We are all equally Americans, Virginians and Fairfaxians.”

“My own life has been enriched by so many immigrants,” echoed Springfield history buff Judy Baldwin.

Chairman McKay encouraged the audience to heed his history teacher-mother’s advice, “We must learn from our past and strive to do better.”