Young Advocates Push For Change In Purcellville, Virginia

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

On a Sunday afternoon in Purcellville, Va., Noah Franco stood on top of a truck, a megaphone clutched in his hand.

It was a pivotal moment in the 21-year-old’s life as he drew attention from more than 1,000 people in his hometown. And yet, he wasn't quite sure exactly what he wanted to say. 

“I was honestly shaking,” Franco said. “I had no idea what I was going to do. We just had all these people and I needed to address them.”

Franco looked down and saw his former track and field coach, Marc Hunter. Franco, who was cut from his dream sport of baseball in high school, had been welcomed to the track team. 

Once again, Franco could feel a familiar welcoming presence as he shook his former coach's hand.

“They (the Hunters) proved throughout the years, it was more than just track,” Franco said. 

“It was just such a good thing to see such a friendly face and figure there. The sight of someone close to me by my side helped me realize that there was no reason to have any nerves, and that I had the whole town's support in our movement.” 

Composed, Franco led the crowd through an 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence to honor George Floyd, the unarmed Black man whose death has ignited national and global support for the “Black Lives Matter” movement and called reform of policing practices.

Franco, a 2017 Loudoun Valley graduate, was one of a handful of former track and field athletes that organized a peaceful protest for racial equality June 7 in Purcellville. The idea of this event was to help kick-start the education, discussion and spark a sense of accountability amongst individuals.   

“Purcellville really ended up being amazing about it,” said Josh Fox, a 2016 Loudoun Valley graduate, who competed alongside Drew Hunter, and was one of the organizers.

“Purcellville is not exactly the most diverse town. That being said, it was definitely relieving to see the accountability of so many white faces coming out and supporting Black Lives Matter.” 

In the week before June 7, Franco messaged some of his former high school track buddies. The chat immediately turned to the protest movement. 

“This group message we’ve had since high school, and a lot of these guys all are Black kids that I've met through track, and we've gotten really close through that and maintained that relationship,” Franco said. “I remember specifically one of the early days being like, ‘Hey, listen guys, no matter what, I want you to know I support you. I’m not super educated (about the issue of racism) but I’m here for you guys.’ And one of them kind of called me out. If you’re not educated then you're making that choice. Me and my brother, we kind of took that to heart.”

So Franco and his younger brother, Zachary, a 2019 graduate, started discussing what they needed to do to start making an immediate difference. 

“I remember I sat down and I educated myself, but you can only educate yourself for so long and still watch everything happen without being proactive,” Franco said. 

With the help of Fox, his brother Zach, and Rasheem Thornton and Ushindi Namegabe, both 2017 graduates, they decided to organize a march in their hometown. Fox, who is Black and attends the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, and competes on the track team, has been involved in protests throughout Virginia prior to helping with the one in Purcellville. He grew up in Middleburg, a mostly white town, has seen the impact that youth-led leadership can have. 

“I think first, we are going to have to be here (on Earth) the longest, be with each other the longest,” he said. “And then the secondary reason, something I have been preaching to my Black friends is that we have to realize, while we need white voices to help us, it’s not completely up to them. We need to focus on it as a younger generation. The older generations got us to this point and we are not satisfied with this point.”   

From there, a Facebook Page was created generating awareness of the Peace and Justice March.

Franco and Fox said the support and backing of the Purcellville Chief of Police, Cynthia McAlister, and Mayor Kwasi Fraser, were key to the successful planning and staging of the event. The mile-long march that ended on the steps of Town Hall featured a variety of voices speaking on change for racial equality and justice.

“A quote that I will always remember that I learned from a lot of my friends that ran, was ‘If you want to go fast, go alone, but If you want to go far, go together,’” he said. “The people that are behind your back are overwhelming, especially in the town of Purcellville. 

Franco said the intent behind this event was emphasizing the idea of youth leadership, education and making a difference. Since last Sunday, Franco and others have been meeting and working with the town hall to keep momentum going, with a set of goals:

- Town-wide recognition of “Loving Day.” Held on June 12, this day marks the annual celebration of the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia, which struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in 16 U.S. states. 

 - A citizen accountability board (people in the town that will hold the police and those running Purcellville accountable for changes they want to see made, such as more hiring of people of color). 

- Education reforms (adding student unions and required intervention).

“Adding student unions would help give kids a voice and an ability to speak on the topic in everyday life. It would also give a way for students passionate about the subject to speak on and educate other students,” Franco said. “This would also give an outlet for intervention if students report some sort of racism or unequal treatment in the school.”

- Public police statements on BLM (as well as public signing of a bill intended to reform police training).

“We hope that these public statements will come from everywhere, but we are specifically working in our town of Purcellville right now,” Franco said. “We hope that this will inspire and push other towns, large and small to do the same thing.”

- Working on a Black history museum or possible exhibit to add to Purcellville

“We are extremely proud of our former athletes stepping up for something that needed to be addressed,” said Marc Hunter, who splits the Loudoun Valley cross country and track team coaching responsibilities with his wife, Joan.

“I am not sure if we had anything to do with them stepping out. I would say you should look first at how they were raised and what they were taught at home about equality, courage, character.”

Marc and Joan Hunter have five adopted children of color and hope that the student-athletes they’ve coached throughout the years have picked up on their belief system.

“I would like to think that all the kids on all our teams (Cross Country, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track) felt respected, felt comfortable, felt equal,” Hunter said.   

For Franco, this event has served as a catalyst for more change personally. During the speeches at Town Hall, a photo captured an emotional embrace with Fox at an important moment in the town's history. 

“After some verbal conflict with people protesting our march, it destroyed me to see that my best friends have been treated differently their whole lives,” Franco said. “I can’t process why someone wouldn’t be able to see them for the people they are, but I also felt pride because I knew we were up there fighting for the change that’s necessary.

“I think I’m realizing how much of a difference I can make, and how much of a difference everyone (can make). That really pushed me. This can’t be a parade that we throw, it has to mean something. This has to go down in Purcellville history, and after Sunday I can confidently say it did, and it really did spark change.”

Fox he has been fighting for a national standard for police officers, which would make it a government paid job and provide a uniform set of ethics and code of conduct.  

“Being pulled over in the middle of Mobile, Ala., as a Black man is the same thing as getting pulled over in the middle of New York City Times Square, and you’re not going to have to worry about any sort of extra shortcomings happening because of where you are in the country,” Fox said. “A great point that somebody made at the speech that we had at the march was, it’s not that racism is new, cellphones are.” 

Franco and Fox are set to help with a Father’s Day March and Rally for Criminal Justice and Policing Reform in the nearby town of Sterling this coming Sunday. 

“I’ve been telling friends I don’t think we realize, but I kind of think we are in the middle of the second civil rights movement right now,” Fox said. “I look at it as this is kind of an open note history test, and either you were at the protest or you weren’t; you were speaking out or you weren't; and you're either on the right side of history or you're not.

"And when I look back at the original civil rights protests, there’s not nearly as many white faces, there’s not nearly as many white advocates speaking out, there’s not nearly as many white people, who would I consider on the right side of history to stand up for Black people. When I look around now, that’s not the case at all.  There're plenty more white faces, not even just white, but Asian, brown, everything. Because this is an identified movement for the equality of Black people, but not only by Black people. I think that’s such a big thing that is really going to make a difference and has really made me happy to see.”