Community Corner

Juan Williams Delights Gunston Hall

Fox News commentator spoke on Civil Rights as part of annual SEEDS program

Yesterday author, journalist and Fox News commentator Juan Williams was the featured guest at the Fourth Annual Seeds of Independence Program at Gunston Hall. The Seeds of Independence are annual programs which look back on the history of African-Americans on Mason Neck.

After introductions by Gunston Hall Director David Reese and Seeds Committee member Linda Hartman, the short film, Segregation and Civil Rights on Mason Neck, 1950-1970 was screened. The film featured many members of the Bushrod family as well as other Mason Neck residents, who talked about their struggle to receive an equitable education in the mid-1950s. Several of the persons featured in the film were also in attendance.

Following the film, Williams was introduced by Seeds Committee member Roosevelt Holt.

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Williams then spoke eloquently and humbly about his own thoughts on race relations. He re-told a story about Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, of whom he wrote a biography and talked of Virginia's own struggles with the segregation of schools. But much of Williams’ remarks focused on “the human toll” of segregation and “the reality of the weight of race” in America.

He praised the Mason Neck citizens of the Civil Rights Era for being a “light to America” during this period and placed their importance in a larger context:

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“There is something about this community that sets it apart and that is the ability to see the spark of humanity in each other. There’s a level of empathy that is just extraordinary.”

In closing, Williams urged people who lived through that era in Mason Neck to not suffer modesty and to continue to tell their story, “to shout it from the rooftops so it can be heard for generations to come.”

Williams answered questions from the overflow crowd at the conclusion of his remarks.

Before departing, he spoke with Lorton Patch and allowed that the election of Barack Obama, an African-American, as President, “all politics aside, it is truly remarkable.”

But he noted that even within the African-American community Obama has been criticized. “It shows how difficult and slow change can be.”


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