Union Field Report :: Virginia
Old Problems in the Old Dominion
Suffolk, Virginia
I’d forgotten just how many trees southern Virginia has. Everything is green and bright. The muggy air makes the Blue Ridge Mountains…blue. This week I’ve been on the road, driving from Virginia’s southeast corner, through the foothills to Blacksburg and up I-81 to Northern Virginia, from where I’m writing this at a Tyson’s Corner Hilton.
We held our first meeting on Tuesday night in Suffolk, in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. Just outside the massive Navy base in Norfolk, the area is home to tens of thousands of active duty military personnel and thousands more veterans and retirees.
The Trump Administration’s cuts to the Veterans Affairs Department, potential slashing of Medicaid and Medicare will disproportionately harm those from whom we’ve asked the most. Members of the US House who voted or approve of these cuts should be called out, repeatedly.
One of the meeting’s attendees recounted his family’s visit to Normandy, France on the anniversary of D-Day. Speaking of the American Cemetery there, (when you see it for the first time, the tears flow) he asked how it is that so many Americans gave the last full measure of devotion 80 years ago and now we can convince people to even vote.
It’s a tough question, and an honest one. Being a citizen doesn’t mean simply enjoying the fruits of America’s hegemony or carrying a US passport. We must tell ourselves, and our neighbors, that responsibility is THE key component to citizenship. For too long we’ve taken our collective tasks for granted and we’re now reaping the consequences.
Blacksburg
Go Hokies!
Our Community Conversation in Blacksburg was focused on primary education and the lack of funding in many of Virginia’s rural areas. House of Delegates candidate Lily Franklin was joined by three local educators as we discussed the issues of teacher pay, school repair and refurbishment, and too many kids falling through the cracks.
Currently, there are 13,000 kids in Virginia on the waiting list for state-funded Head Start programs. One of our panelists runs three facilities in the Blacksburg area, one dedicated to kids living below the poverty line. It takes a patchwork of differen programs and requirements to ensure one child has access to education.
In Southwest Virginia, childcare may cost as much as 20% of a family’s annual income. Often the result is one parent staying home, increasing financial burdens and stress. Add poverty to a lack of educational resources, and by the time a student is in highschool, they could be years behind their classmates.
What we used to call ‘social promotion’ that is, moving kids through the system simply to move them through the system, is leaving too many kids without adequate training or preparation for the workforce. In many rural Virginia schools, vocational educational programs have been cut or eliminated.
Here you are, you’re 18, you’ve got a highschool diploma but not able to afford college. We have dimished the value of learning a trade socially and culturally, and subsequently financially, too. Politicians can talk all they want about making education a priority, but it seems to fall behind everytime.
We should also ask ourselves this question: Are we teaching kids the right way? What they need to know? I use Covid as a delineation between the ‘before times’ and now. If public education wasn’t working before Covid, why would we believe it’s working now with out of date strategies, tactics, and objectives?
It would seem to me that we’d want well-educated students prepared for the workforce or continuing education. Have a firm foundation means greater personal, social, and financial stability. That same student, with a solid basis for success will also have less need for public assistance and resources.
Yet, we do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
Tune Out the Noise, Focus on What Matters
I’ve travelled around the country for the last nine months. What I find in those cities, suburbs, and towns are good citizens, solid, upstanding Americans, who are already doing their part for their neighbors and their communities. We owe them more than fleeting praise and a pat on the back.
To create the America we want, we need to heed the lessons of these citizen leaders, these teachers, and the folks who do the hardest work for the least pay or recognition. Only when we align our values with the outcomes we want, will real change be possible.
The answers we’re looking for aren’t here on Substack, on social media, or The New York Times. They’re already out there, waiting for us to see them, emulate them, and create the world we want for all our kids.
It’s Our Time
It took us a long time to find our way here. It will not be easy, not fast, to find our way out. I hope you’ll get involved.
Do you live in a place that needs community, that can help build the army of the future, or has an absentee representative? Reach out to us at The Union and we’ll come see you!
Get involved in your community. It doesn’t have to be political. Support a food bank, volunteer at your library, coach a team. Get to know your neighbors. We must get off the couch and off our phones.
 | A guest post by
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Thanks, Reed. Public Education is important. But within that preparation what we deem vocational education needs to be lifted. There many, many jobs that need young people learning and willing to do these jobs. And they can pay well. Again, thanks. Safe travels.
UVA is caving to Dictator Donnie........more to come and more to fall as his attacks increase on ALL American institutions..... The days of American democracy are fading..........