Hello Middleburg! I speak here, I hope simply, as a citizen, not just a former official.

I write this in February, which is Black History Month. Disconcertingly, or fittingly, depending on your viewpoint, the news from Richmond explodes with racist stories of blackface and accusations of rape by our leading public officials. Memories of the racist event on August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville have not faded. The topic of race contains many nuances and is difficult to address properly, but I will try. However, I will not try to address the political mess.

How did we get here? Are things improving for people of color (and all of us) or are they deteriorating? Can Virginia (and America) resolve this, or are we doomed to take one step forward and fall back?

I experienced culture shock when my family moved from California to Fairfax County Virginia in 1966. Yes, I had seen the Watts riot in Los Angeles about a year before (where a black man arrested for drunken driving experienced severe police brutality in 1965). Many here were then obsessed with on-going school desegregation and the stirring civil rights movement, and yes, the Civil War and Jim Crow. For me, this peaked in 1968 with the assassinations of Martin Luther King. The racist reactions to King's brutal assassination floored me, and I came close to fistfights with a few stridently racist middle school boys.

I see improved attitudes recently, but still. Seeming progress and personal events lulled me as I entered adulthood. However, something would always pop up, forcing me to question race relations. Sadly, I occasionally witnessed racism after moving to Middleburg in 1983.

At first, things seemed normal, as I also witnessed positive interaction. I am certainly not trying to imply that Middleburg exemplifies more racial problems than any other town, rather that we should care more to ease or eliminate them. I definitely do not mean to impugn anyone in the Middleburg community.

Is improvement a mirage? How do we get to real interaction by all people – one-on-one and in groups (and both genders)? Can we have serious discussions of racial fragmentation to get to respect and opportunity for all people, unencumbered by skin color or gender without getting defensive? I do believe that white and people of color need to engage each other, meeting more often and to discuss these issues in order to improve. Gender attitudes also show much room for improvement. Do local churches or other groups encourage these discussions and interactions?

Can we also discuss the memorials to slavery – Civil War monuments and statues largely erected during the Jim Crow era all over Virginia and throughout the south? Can we understand that these are not simply historical artifacts, but offensive celebrations of slavery and racism to people of color? Some of us white folks may think of them as history (and removal as erasing history), but people of color see in them the intimidation many intended them to be when erected during Jim Crow.

I have hope but yearn for optimism. We need genuine interaction (and respect) among all groups of people to break down barriers and to make progress. When we isolate ourselves, stereotypes, misunderstanding, and fear of those we exclude are the natural result.

Please try to reach out and engage. Allowing any of this ugliness to fester, rather than improve is unbearable.

That is my opinion. Do you find this informative? Do you have questions or ideas you want me to address in a future column? I would love to hear your comments, suggestions, and questions, so please send them to the Eccentric!